Comprehension Test (Unseen) No.4 for Class-XII, WBCHSE

1.       Read the following passage: 

When I was at college I used to spend my summer vacations in Dehra at my grandmother’s place. I would leave the plains early in May and return late in July. Deoli was a small station about thirty miles from Deora, it marked the beginning of the heavy jungles of the Indian Terai.

The train would reach Deoli at about five in the morning, when the station would be dimly lit with electric bulbs and oil-lamps, and the jungle across the railway tracks would just be visible in the faint light of dawn. Deoli had only one platform, an office for the station-master and a waiting room. The platform boasted of a tea stall, a fruit vendor, and a few stray dogs; not much else, because the train stopped there for only ten minutes before rushing on into the forests.

Why it stopped at Deoli, I don’t know. Nothing ever happened there. Nobody got off the train and nobody got in. There were never any coolies on the platform. But the train would halt there a full ten minutes, and then a bell would sound, the guard would blow his whistle, and presently Deoli would be left behind and forgotten.

I used to wonder what happened in Deoli, behind the station walls. I always felt sorry for that lonely little platform, and for the place that nobody wanted to visit. I decided that one day I would get off the train at Deoli, and spend the day there, just to please the town.

I was eighteen, visiting my grandmother, and the night train stopped at Deoli. A girl came down the platform, selling baskets. It was a cold morning and the girl had a shawl thrown across her shoulder. Her feet were bare and her clothes were old, but she was a young girl, walking gracefully and with dignity.

A)  Complete each of the sentences which follow, choosing the correct answer from the alternatives given:   1x7=7

    i)  When the author went to visit his grandmother he was – a) seventeen b) eighteen c) nineteen d) twenty.

    ii) The distance between Deoli and Dehra was – a) twenty five miles b) thirty miles c) thirty five miles d) forty miles. 
    iii) The train stopped at Deoli for – a) two minutes b) five minutes c) ten minutes d) fifteen minutes.

    iv) In Deoli platform there was a – a) snack stall b) tea stall c) coffee shop d) a bar.

    v) Deoli is the entrance of – a) Terai forest b) Dooars forest c) Kanha forest d) Geer forest.

    vi) The house of the author’s grandmother was at – a) Deoli b) Dehra c) Hardwar d) Simla.

    vii) The train would reach Deoli – a) at dawn b) at dusk c) at night d) at noon.

B)      Answer the questions which follow (each in about 20 words):   2x4=8

    i)On what occasions would the author cross the station at Deoli?

    ii)What made the writer wonder why the train stopped at Deoli at all?

    iii)Why did the author decide to spend a day at Deoli?

    iv)Who did the author see on the platform at Deoli during one of his journeys to Dehra?

C)      Rearrange the following sentences in their proper order:   5

    i)The train that took the author to Dehra, stopped at a small station called Deoli.

    ii) As a college boy the author used to spend his summer vacations at Dehra.

    iii)The heavy jungles of the Indian Terai began from Deoli.

    iv) He would be in Dehra from early May to late July.

    v)In the faint light of dawn the jungles were only partially visible across the railway tracks.

Answers.

A)

i)        --b) eighteen.

ii)       --b) thirty miles.

iii)     --c) ten minutes.

iv)     --b) tea stall.

v)      --a) Terai forest.

vi)     --b) Dehra.

vii)   --a) at dawn.

B)

i)        The author used to spend his summer vacations at Dehra with his grandmother. He crossed the station at Deoli to reach Dehra and again while returning from there.

ii)       While the train stopped at Deoli, nobody got off the train and nobody got in. There were never any coolies on the platform. That made the writer wonder.

iii)     The author felt sorry for that lonely little platform, and for the place that nobody wanted to visit. So he decided to spend a day at Deoli just to please the town.

iv)     The author saw a young girl on the platform selling baskets during one of his journeys to Dehra.

C)                           The proper order of the given sentences is ---- ii, iv, i, iii, v.