Reach for the Top | Question and Answer |
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Thinking about the Text
Question I Answer these questions in one or two sentences each. (The paragraph numbers within brackets provide clues to the answers.)
(1) Why was the ‘holy man’ who gave Santosh’s mother his blessings surprised?
Answer The holy man who gave Santosh’s mother his blessing was surprised because he had believed that Santosh’s mother wanted a son but the grandmother told him that they are not curious to have a son.
(2) Give an example to show that even as a young girl Santosh was not ready to accept anything unreasonable.
Answer Santosh, from the very starting, lived life according to her own wish. She was not satisfied with the traditional method of life and was not willing to accept anything unreasonable. Where other girls were wearing traditional Indian dresses, Santosh chose shorts.
(3) Why was Santosh sent to the local school?
Answer Because of the predominant tradition in the family Santosh was sent to the local school even though her parents have sufficient money to send their kids to the best schools.
(4) When did she leave home for Delhi, and why?
Answer When she turned sixteen and was under pressure to get married, Santosh threatened her parents that she was never going to marry if she did not get a proper education. Therefore she left home and got herself enrolled in a School in Delhi.
(5) Why did Santosh’s parents agree to pay for her schooling in Delhi? What mental qualities of Santosh are brought into light by this incident?
Answer When the parents of Santosh rejected the payment for her education, she politely informed them of her plans to earn money by working part-time to reimburse her school fees. Then, her parents agreed to pay for her schooling in Delhi. This shows that Santosh was a mentally strong girl and was determined to work very hard to get herself properly educated before being married like other village girls.
Question II Answer each of these questions in a short paragraph (about 30 words).
(1) How did Santosh begin to climb mountains?
Answer From her room in Kasturba Hostel, she looked at the people going up the Aravalli Hills and vanishing after some time. On investigating she found nobody except a few mountaineers, and she asked if she could join them. They agreed and even encouraged her to take climbing and so she later joined them on their climbing expedition. This was how she started climbing mountains.
(2) What incidents during the Everest expedition show Santosh’s concern for her team-mates?
Answer During the Everest mission, Santosh showed enormous concern for her fellow climbers. Although she failed in rescuing the life of one of them, she did manage to rescue another mountaineer by artificial respiration.
(3) What shows her concern for the environment?
Answer Santosh was a passionate environmentalist. Her interest in the environment is obvious from the fact that she collected and brought down 500 kilograms of garbage from the Himalayas.
(4) How does she describe her feelings at the summit of the Everest?
Answer Santosh asserted that her feeling at the top of Everest was “indescribable”. Unfurling the Indian flag on the highest peak of the world was a marvelous and spiritual moment for her and she felt proud as an Indian.
(5) Santosh Yadav got into the record books both times she scaled Mt Everest. What were the reasons for this?
Answer When Santosh Yadav first climbed Mt Everest, she became the youngest woman in the world to reach the feat. When she climbed Everest the second time, she became the only woman to have climbed it twice.
Question III Complete the following statements.
1. From her room in Kasturba Hostel, Santosh used to ______
2. When she finished college, Santosh had to write a letter of apology to her father because _______
3. During the Everest expedition, her seniors in the team admired her while endeared her to fellow climbers_________
Answer
(1) Look villagers climbing up the mountain and suddenly vanishing after sometime.
(2) She got herself enrolled at the Uttarkashi’s Nehru Institute of Mountaineering without his approval.
(3) During the Everest trip, her seniors in the team appreciated her climbing skills, physical condition, and psychological strength at the same time as her concern for others and a wish to work together with the men challenged her to fellow climbers.
Question IV Pick out words from the text that mean the same as the following words or
expressions. (Look in the paragraphs indicated.)
1. took to be true without proof (1):
2. based on reason; sensible; reasonable (2):
3. the usual way of doing things (3):
4. a strong desire arising from within (5):
5. the power to endure, without falling ill (7):
Answer
(1) Assumed
(2) rational
(3) Custom
(4) urge
(5) Resistance
Part II
Maria Sharapova
Thinking about the Text
Question
Working in small groups of 4−5 students, go back over the two passages on Santosh Yadav and Maria Sharapova and complete the table given below with relevant phrases or sentences.
| Points of comparison | Santosh Yadav | Maria Sharapova |
| Their humble beginning | ||
| Their parents approach | ||
| Their will power and strong desire to succeed | ||
| Evidence of their mental toughness | ||
| Their patriotism |
Answer
| Points of comparison | Santosh Yadav | Maria Sharapova |
| Their humble beginning | “She was born in the small village of Joniyawas of Rewari District in Haryana.” | My father was working as much as he could to keep.. |
| Their parents approach | Santosh was also under pressure from her parents to do the same”
When her parents refused to pay for her education” |
The latter (her mother) was compelled to stay back in Siberia…
My father working as much …. either. |
| Their will power and strong desire to succeed | “She began living life on her own terms”
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Instead of letting that depress me, I became more quietly determined and mentally tough. |
| Evidence of their mental toughness | Equipped with iron will, physical endurance, and an amazing mental toughness | and that something in her lifted her on Monday, 22 August 2005 to the world number one position in women’s tennis. |
| Their patriotism | So, I did not go back home, instead. I headed straight for the training | My blood is totally Russian. I will play the Olympics for Russia if they want me. |
Thinking about language
Look at the following sentences. They each have two clauses, or two parts each with their own subject and verb or verb phrase. Often, one part (italicised) tells us when or why something happened.
• I reached the market when most of the shops had closed. (Tells us when I reached.)
• When Rahul Dravid walked back towards the pavilion, everyone stood up. (Tells us when everyone stood up.)
• The telephone rang and Ganga picked it up. (Tells us what happened next.)
• Gunjan has been with us ever since the school began. (Tells us for how long he has been with us.)
Question I) Identify the two parts in the sentences below by underlining the part that gives us the information in brackets, as shown above.
(1) Where other girls wore traditional Indian dresses, Santosh preferred shorts. (Contrasts her dress with that of others)
(1) Where other girls wore traditional Indian dresses, Santosh preferred shorts.
(2) She left home and got herself enrolled in a school in Delhi.(Tells us what happened after the first action.)
(2) She left home and got herself enrolled in a school in Delhi.
(3) She decided to fight the system when the right moment arrived.(Tells us when she was going to fight the system.)
(3) She decided to fight the system when the right moment arrived.
(4) Little Maria had not yet celebrated her tenth birthday when she was packed off to train in the United States. (Tells us when Maria was sent to the U.S.)
(4) Little Maria had not yet celebrated her tenth birthday when she was packed off to train in the United States.
Question II Now rewrite the pairs of sentences given below as one sentence.
1. Grandfather told me about the old days. All books were printed on paper then.
(1) Grandfather told me about the old days when all books were printed on paper.
2. What do you do after you finish the book? Perhaps you just throw it away.
(2) After finishing the book, perhaps you just throw it away.
3. He gave the little girl an apple. He took the computer apart.
(3) He gave the little girl an apple and took the computer apart.
4. You have nothing. That makes you very determined.
(4) Having nothing makes you very determined.
5. I never thought of quitting. I knew what I wanted.
(5) I never thought of quitting as I knew what I wanted.
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