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MEDDLESOME MATTY

CLASS 8

COMPREHENSION PASSAGE 1

© copyright Pearson Education

One ugly trick has often spoiled The sweetest and the nest; Matilda, though a pleasant child, One ugly trick possessed. Which, like a cloud before the skies, Hid all her better qualities.

Sometimes she’d lift the teapot lid, To peep at what was in it; Or tilt the kettle, if you did But turn your back a minute. In vain you told her not to touch, Her trick of meddling grew so much.

Her grandmamma went out one day, And by mistake she laid Her spectacles and snuffbox gay Too near the little maid; ‘Ah well,’ thought she, ‘I’ll try them on, As soon as grandmamma is gone.’

Forthwith she placed upon her nose The glasses large and wide, And looking around, as I suppose, The snuffbox too she spied: ‘Oh, what a pretty box is this, I’ll open it,’ said little Miss.

‘I know that grandmamma would say, “Don’t meddle with it, dear.” But then she’s far enough away, And no one else is near; Besides, what can there be amiss In opening such a box as this?’

So thumb and finger went to work To move the stubborn lid, And presently a mighty jerk The mighty mischief did; For all at once, ah! Woeful case, The snuff came puffing in her face.

NAME ______________________________________ DATE _________________


MEDDLESOME MATTY

CLASS 8



Poor eyes, and nose, and mouth, and chin, A dismal sight presented; And as the snuff got further in, Sincerely she repented. In vain she ran about for ease, She could do nothing else but sneeze.

She dashed the spectacles away, To wipe her tingling eyes, And as in twenty bits they lay, Her grandmamma she spies. ‘Heyday! And what’s the matter now,’ Cried grandmamma, with lifted brow.

Matilda, smarting with the pain, And tingling still, and sore, Made many a promise to refrain From meddling evermore; And ‘tis a fact, as I have heard, She ever since has kept her word.

A. Answer the following questions.

1. What ‘ugly trick’ did Matilda possess? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. What error did Grandmamma make before she went out? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Find out what a snuffbox is. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. Describe the mess Matilda got into when she tried to open the snuffbox. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. What did Matilda promise to do after that incident? Did she keep the promise? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

NAME ______________________________________ DATE _________________


MEDDLESOME MATTY

CLASS 8



B. Rewrite the following in your own words.

1. Which, like a cloud before the skies, hid all her better qualities. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. In vain you told her not to touch, her trick of meddling grew so much. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Forthwith she placed upon her nose, the glasses large and wide; ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. And presently a mighty jerk, the mighty mischief did; ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. She dashed the spectacles away, to wipe her tingling eyes, and as in twenty bits they lay, her grandmamma she spies. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

C. Find words in the poem which mean the following: D. Describe an experience when you or someone else got into trouble for meddling with something.

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1. Had _____________________ 2. Glasses ____________________ 3. Sad _____________________ 4. Sore _____________________

5. At once _____________________ 6. Something is wrong ______________ 7. Sees _____________________ 8. A truth _____________________

NAME ______________________________________ DATE _________________


ON THE ROAD TO BADRINATH

CLASS 8



… Even as we left Chamoli and began the steady, winding climb to Badrinath, the nature of the nature of the terrain underwent a dramatic change. No longer did the green fields slope gently down to the riverbed. Here they clung precariously to rocky slopes and ledges that grew steeper and narrower, while the river below, impatient to reach its con-fluence with the Bhagirathi at Deoprayag, thundered along the narrow gorge. Badrinath is one of the four dhams, or four most holy places in India. (The other three are Rameshwaram, Dwarka and Jagannath Puri.) For the pilgrim traveling to this holiest of the holies, the journey is exciting, possibly even uplifting, but for those who live perma-nently on these crags and ridges, life is harsh, a struggle from one day to the next. No wonder so many young men from Garhwal find their way into the Army. Little grows on these rocky promontories; and what does grow is at the mercy of the weather. For most of the year the fields lie fallow. Rivers, unfortunately, run downhill and not uphill. The harshness of life, typical of much of Garhwal, was brought home to me at Pipalkoti, where we stopped for the night. Pilgrims stop here by the coach load, for the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam’s rest-house is fairly capacious, and small hotels and dharamshalas abound. Just off the busy road is a tiny hospital, and here, late in evening, we came across a woman keeping vigil over the dead body of her husband. The body had been laid out on a bench in the courtyard. A few feet away, the road was crowded with pilgrims in festival mood; no one glanced over the low wall to notice this tragedy.

... Pipalkoti is hot (and pipal trees are conspicuous by their absence), but Joshimath, the win-ter resort of the Badrinath Temple establishment, is about 6,000 feet above sea-level and has an equable climate. It is now a fairly large town, and although the surrounding hills are rather bare, it does have one great tree that has survived the ravages of time. This is an ancient mulberry tree, known as the Kalpavriksha (Immortal Wishing tree), beneath which the great Sankaracharya meditated, a few centuries ago. It is re-putedly over two thousand years old, and is certainly larger than my modest four-roomed flat in Mussourie. Sixty pilgrims holding hands might just about encircle its trunk. I have seen some big trees, but this is certainly the old-est and broadest of them. I am glad that Sankaracharya meditated beneath it and thus ensured its preservation. Otherwise it might well have gone the way of other great trees and forests that once flourished in this area.

NAME ______________________________________ DATE _________________



CLASS 8



A small boy reminds me that it is a Wishing tree, so I make my wish. I wish that other trees might prosper like this one. ‘Have you made a wish?’ I ask the boy. ‘I wish that you will give me one rupee,’ he says. His wish comes true with immediate effect. Mine lies in the uncertain future. But he has given me a lesson in wishing… A. Answer the following questions based on your reading of the passage.

1. How was the terrain of Chamoli different from that of the climb to Badrinath? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. What are the four dhams of the Hindus in India? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Write a descriptive paragraph on the harsh life in Garhwal. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. Which incident made the harshness of the Garhwal life hit the author? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. What was the woman outside the hospital doing? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6. How does the author describe Joshimath? Which aspect of the town does the author focus upon? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7. What are the author’s views about tress? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

8. What does the author mean when he says, ‘Mine lies in the uncertain future’? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

NAME ______________________________________ DATE _________________



CLASS 8



B. Choose the correct meaning of the words given below: C. Get into groups of five and make posters to spread awareness about the benefits of planting tress and taking care of plants. Put them up in your class and try to emulate the points in the posters. Write your plan in the space given below. Then make the poster. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1. dramatic

A. acting B. sudden C. slow

2. precariously

A. fiercely B. independently C. uncertainly

3. confluence

A. place where two rivers meet

B. influence C. confuse

4. crags

A. caves B. mountains C. steep rocks

5. promontory

A. high land jutting out into sea

B. promotion C. forewarning

6. capacious

A. wearing a cap B. spacious C. capable

7. vigil

A. caution B. keep watch C. cover

8. equable

A. moderate B. equal C. extreme

NAME ______________________________________ DATE _________________


IN PRAISE OF GULMOHAR BLOSSOMS

CLASS 8



What can rival your lovely hue O gorgeous boon of the spring? The glimmering red of a bridal robe, Rich red of a wild bird’s wing? Or the mystic blaze of the gem that burns On the brow of a serpent King? What can rival the valiant joy Of your dazzling, fugitive sheen? The limpid colours of the lustrous dawn That colour the ocean’s mien? Or the blood that poured from a thousand breasts To succour a Rajput queen? What can rival the radiant pride Of your frail, victorious fire? The flame of hope or the flame of hate, Quick flame of my heart’s desire? Or the rapturous light leaps to heaven From a true wife’s funeral pyre?

A. Read the poem carefully and fill in the blanks to complete the summary.

The poetess is describing the ________________________ blossom. She calls it the _________________________ and feels that neither the red of a bride’s garment nor the red of the wild bird’s wing can ___________________________ it’s colour. The poetess feels that the colour has a shine. She compares this to the soft colours that are ___________________ in the ocean’s waters and to the __________________ that poured from the bodies of valiant soldiers so that their queen could hold her head high. She feels that there is a sense of pride in its flame-like colour and compares this flame to the flame of _________________________ and _________________________ And also that which lights the ___________________________ of a wife who dies for her husband.

NAME ______________________________________ DATE _________________



CLASS 8



B. Find the words in each stanza that rhyme. The first stanza has been done for you. Spring _______________________ _____________________ Wing _______________________ _____________________ King _______________________ _____________________ C. The poetess has used metaphors, which are comparisons. Similes are also comparisons using words such as ‘like’ or ’as’. Pick out the metaphors and change them to similes. The first one has been done for you. D. These are some words from the poem with their letters jumbled up. Write the correct word and its meaning. The first one is done for you.

The glimmering red of a bridal robe The hue is glimmering red like that of a bride’s robe

METAPHOR SIMILE

1. ggeoorse gorgeous Richly coloured, magnificent

2. tmiycs

3. emg

4. obwr

5. zglnizda

6. idlmpi

7. emin

8. rcosucu

9. idrsee

10. uuorratps

NAME ______________________________________ DATE _________________



CLASS 8



E. Collect information on any one of the following: Shalimar Bagh (Srinagar), Nishad Bagh (Srinagar), Vrindavan Gardens (Mysore) or Botanical Gardens (Kolkata). Write a short article on any one of them. _________________________________________________________________________

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NAME ______________________________________ DATE _________________


JANE SAVES Mr ROCHESTER

CLASS 8



One night, I woke up suddenly. It was about two o’clock in the morning. I thought I heard a sound. Everything was very quiet. I listened carefully and the sound came again. Some-one was walking about outside my room. ‘Who’s there?’ I called. Nobody answered. I felt cold and frightened. The house was silent. I tried to sleep again. Then I heard a laugh. It was a terrible, cruel laugh! I listened. Someone was walking away, going up the stairs to the attic. What was happening? I decided to go and find Mrs Fairfax. I put on some clothes and left my room. The house was quiet now, but suddenly could smell smoke. Something was burning! I ran to find out. The smoke was coming from Mr Rochester’s room. I ran into the room and looked around. Mr Rochester’s was sleeping in his bed, and the bed was on fire. ‘What can I do?’ I thought. Quickly, I looked around the room, Luckily, there was some water in one corner. As quickly as I could, I took the water and threw it all over the bed. Mr Rochester woke up. ‘What’s happening?’ he shouted. ‘Jane! Is it you? What are you doing?’ ‘Mr Rochester,’ I said, ‘Your bed is on fire! You must get up at once.’ He jumped out of bed. There was water everywhere and the fire was still smoking. ‘Jane, you’ve saved me from the fire! How did you know about it? Why did you wake up?’ Mr Rochester asked. I told him about the noise outside the door and the terrible laugh.

NAME ______________________________________ DATE _________________



CLASS 8



Mr Rochester looked serious and angry. ‘I must go upstairs to the attic. Stay here and wait for me, please. Do not wake Mrs Fairfax.’ he left the room and I waited for him. At last, he came back. He was still looking very serious. ‘You can go back to bed, now, Jane. Everything is all right now.’ ‘Who lives in the attic?’ I asked Mrs Fairfax the next day. ‘Only Grace Poole,’ she answered. ‘She is one of the servants. She is a strange woman.’ I remembered Grace Poole. She was a strange, silent woman who did not often speak to other servants. So perhaps it was Grace Poole who walked around late at night and laughed strangely outside the doors. That evening, when Adele finished her lessons, I went downstairs. Mrs Fairfax met me. ’Mr Rochester left the house early this morning,’ she said. ’He is go-ing to stay with his friends. I think he will stay with them for some weeks. I do not know when he will come back.’ A. Answer these questions.

1. What did Jane

a. hear? B. smell? C. see?

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2. Where was the fire burning and how was it extinguished?

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3. What does the narrator tell you about Grace Poole?

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4. There seems to be some mysterious situation as indicated in the passage.

Where is the probable answer to the mystery? Hoe do you know?

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5. Who do you think Adele is? Why do you think so?

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NAME ______________________________________ DATE _________________



CLASS 8



B. ‘I must go upstairs to the attic. Stay here and wait for me please.’

1. Who said this and to whom was this said? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Who lived in the attic? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. What do you think were the speaker’s feelings when he said this? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

C. When we tell someone else what conversation we had with a third person, we use reported speech.. Often you go home and tell your parents what a friend saidto you in school. At such times you do not use the exact words used by the speaker. Read these examples of direct speech from the passage and see how they read when changed to re-ported speech.

1. Direct speech: ‘Who’s there?’ I called. Reported speech: I asked who was there.

2. Direct speech: ‘What can I do?’ I thought. Reported speech: I wondered what I could do.

When the direct speech is a bit longer, reporting it becomes more complicated. Look at the next example:

1. Direct speech: ‘What’s happening?’ he shouted. ‘Jane! Is it you? What are you doing? Reported speech: Mr Rochester shouted out to Jane asking her if it was she. He wanted to know what was happening and what she was doing.

Now try to report some other speeches from the passage.

1. ‘Mr Rochester,’ I said, ‘your bed is on fire! You must get up at once.’

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2. ‘Jane, you’ve saved me from the fire! How did you know about it? Why did

you wake up?’ Mr Rochester asked.

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NAME ______________________________________ DATE _________________



CLASS 8



3. Mr Rochester looked serious and angry. ‘I must go upstairs to the attic. Stay

here and wait for me, please. Do not wake Mrs Fairfax.’

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4. ‘You can go back to bed now, Jane. Everything is all right now.’

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5. ‘Mr Rochester left the house early this morning,’ she said. ‘He is going to stay

with his friends. I think he will stay with them for some weeks. I do not know

when he will come back.’

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D. There can be several ways of expressing a thought, an idea, etc. Look at the following sentences:

Jane heard a sound. She woke up and listened carefully. Hearing a sound, Jane woke up and listened carefully. Now, rewrite the following sentences in a similar manner.

1. I picked up the hockey stick. I walked up to the door.

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2. He crept up behind me. He whispered in my ear.

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3. I heard a footstep behind me. I screamed.

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4. Maya shouted in pain. She fell down and fainted.

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5. I hid behind the door. I waited for the thief to attempt an entry.

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NAME ______________________________________ DATE _________________



CLASS 8



E. What firefighting equipment do you have in your school? How would you deal with a small fire? What should be done in the case of a bigger one? How would you deal with a burn? Discuss these important issues in class. Now write a composition on the given situation.

A fire breaks out in your house; you are alone at home. What do you do?

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NAME ______________________________________ DATE _________________


GRANNY’S TREE-CLIMBING

CLASS 8



My grandmother was a genius. You’d like to know why? Because she could climb trees. Spreading or high, She’d be up their branches in a trice. And mind you, When last the climbed a tree, she was sixty-two. Ever since childhood, she had this gift For being happier in a tree than in a lift; And though, as years went by, she would be told That climbing trees should stop when one grew old And that growing old should be gone about gracefully, She’d laugh and say, ‘Well, I’ll grow old disgracefully. I can do it better.’ And we had to agree; She hadn’t been up, at one time or another (Having learned to climb from a loving brother When she was six) but it was feared by all That one day she’d have a terrible fall. The outcome was different while we were in town She climbed a tree and couldn’t come down! We went to the rescue, and then The doctor took Granny’s temperature and said, ‘I strongly recommended a quite week in bed.’ We sighed with relief and tucked her up well. Poor granny! For her, it was like a season in hell. Confined to her bedroom while every breeze Whispered of summer and dancing leaves Then sat up and said, ’I’ll lie here no longer! And she called for my father and told him undaunted That a house in a treetop was what she wanted. My Dad knew his duties. He said, ’That’s all right You’ll have what you want, dear, I’ll start work tonight.’ With my expert assistance, he soon finished the chore: Made her a treehouse with windows and a door. So Granny moved up, and now everyday I climb to her room with glasses and tray. She sits there in state and drinks grape juice with me, Upholding her right to reside in a tree.

NAME ______________________________________ DATE _________________



CLASS 8



A. Answer the following questions.

1. Why does the poet call his grandmother a genius?

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2. What objection did people have to Granny’s tree-climbing?

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3. Who had taught Granny the art of tree-climbing?

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4. What was everyone afraid of?

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5. Why was being in bed ‘like a season in hell’ for Granny?

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B. Have a class discussion about the characters mentioned in the poem. Write a character sketch of the following persons.

1. Granny ____________________________________________________________

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2. The poet’s father ______________________________________________________

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C. Say whether these statements are true or false.

1. Granny’s tree-climbing has been referred to as a gift. ______________

2. Granny had climbed a few trees in the garden. ______________

3. Granny had been climbing trees since she was six years old. ______________

4. The doctor said that Granny should not climb trees any more. ______________

5. Granny refused to lie in bed once she was strong enough. ______________

6. The old lady’s grandson took her orange juice everyday. ______________

NAME ______________________________________ DATE _________________



CLASS 8



D. The opposite of ‘gracefully’ is ‘disgracefully’. Add prefixes to the following to form opposites.

E. Read these two sentences:

Every since childhood, she had this gift. She had the gift for a long time. We often make mistakes while using ‘for’ and ‘since’. Read the rule for this in the word box. • ‘Since’ is used to indicate that something happened from a particular time. • ‘For’ is used to indicate that something happened through or during or over a period of time.

Fill in the blanks using ‘since’ or ‘for’ as required. 1. I have lived here _________________________ 1997.

2. I have lived here _________________________ three years.

3. Reema has been studying __________________________ four o’clock.

4. Ganga hasn’t written to me __________________________ ages.

5. The book was misplaced a week ago and has been seen ____________________.

6. _____________________ I met you last I have read two new Harry Potter books.

7. I haven’t met her ___________________ months.

8. Hamid hasn’t been to school ____________________ the last three days.

9. _______________________ when have you known Priya?

10. I have known her ____________________ a few years.

1. Tidy ____________________

2. Satisfied ___________________

3. Distinct ___________________

4. Legible ___________________

5. Complete ___________________

6. Intelligent ___________________

7. Faithful ___________________

8. Religious ___________________

9. Courteous ___________________

10. Partial ___________________

NAME ______________________________________ DATE _________________



CLASS 8



F. People who do odd things are often called eccentric. Talk about some eccentric persons you may know, or have heard, or read about. Wrote a composition describing this person and some of his/her eccentricities. The composition should be in form of a narrative. _________________________________________________________________________

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