CBSE Class 10 English A Letter to God and Unseen Passage Assignment Set 10

Answer: Lencho was a poor farmer whose ripe field of corn and beans needed only a shower. He called the big drops ten-centavo coins and the hailstones five-centavo coins because he believed the rain would turn into a good harvest, which meant money for his family.

Teacher's Note:
1. A farmer measures rain by the harvest it brings.
2. The comparison shows his hope and his dependence on the crop.

Answer: The hail lasted for an hour and covered the whole field, so it looked as if it had been sprinkled with salt. Not a leaf was left on the trees and the corn and beans were destroyed. Lencho was filled with sorrow, because the season's crop was lost and his family would go hungry.

Teacher's Note:
1. The salt image shows the field turned white and lifeless.
2. His grief is the turning point that leads him to write to God.

Answer: Lencho's only hope was help from God. He had been taught that God sees everything, even what is hidden in the depth of one's conscience, so he trusted that his need would be known without anyone telling Him.

Teacher's Note:
1. Lencho's hope rests on his unquestioning faith.
2. He did not think of any human help at all.

Answer: Lencho asked God for a hundred pesos. He needed the money to sow his field again and to live until the next harvest, since the hailstorm had left his family with nothing to eat.

Teacher's Note:
1. The amount he asked for was a specific, modest sum.
2. It shows that he asked only for what he needed to restart his work.

Answer: The postmaster was a fat, amiable man who first laughed at the address on the envelope but became serious when he read the letter. He was moved by Lencho's complete faith in God and decided to answer so that this faith would not be destroyed.

Teacher's Note:
1. He felt the trust of a simple man must not be shaken.
2. His kindness is what gives the story its irony.

Answer: He collected the money from his employees and gave part of his own salary, and some friends also helped. He could gather only seventy pesos, which he put into an envelope signed 'God'.

Teacher's Note:
1. He could not reach the full amount of a hundred pesos.
2. Signing the reply as 'God' kept Lencho's belief intact.

Answer: Lencho found only seventy pesos, whereas he had asked for a hundred. He did not doubt God, so he wrote another letter asking for the rest, and he blamed the post office employees, calling them a bunch of crooks.

Teacher's Note:
1. His faith in God was unshaken, so he looked for human fault.
2. The mistake shows how he misjudged the people who helped him.

Answer: The remark shows that Lencho trusted God completely but had little faith in human beings. He could not imagine that the postmaster and his staff had helped him, so he suspected them of dishonesty.

Teacher's Note:
1. His view of people is shaped by a hard life.
2. This contrast between faith in God and distrust of men is the story's central irony.

Answer: Lencho is a hard-working, honest farmer who loves his land and family. His greatest quality is a simple, unshakable faith in God, which makes him write a letter to Him. He is also innocent and a little naive, since he does not realise that people helped him, and he distrusts the post office staff. Yet he is not greedy, as he asks only for what he needs to sow again.

Teacher's Note:
1. A good character sketch covers qualities with examples from the text.
2. Lencho's faith and his innocence are the two points to stress.

Answer: Politeness is called a limited part of benevolence because it needs only a wish to make people comfortable for a short time, while they are with us. It does not demand a big sacrifice, whereas full benevolence means kindness shown in every situation.

Teacher's Note:
1. The passage defines politeness as benevolence in small matters.
2. Politeness is limited because it concerns the present moment and minor comforts.

Answer: The passage says the greatest enemy of politeness is ego. A polite person must be ready to give up pride in thought, speech and action, which an egoist finds hard to do.

Teacher's Note:
1. Politeness requires humility.
2. Ego makes a person place his own comfort above that of others.

Answer: Politeness reduces stress, makes a person more productive and keeps him mentally healthy. It also protects one's future and wins the liking of others at no cost.

Teacher's Note:
1. The writer lists personal and social benefits.
2. Remember that it costs nothing but may bring much profit.

Answer: among your thoughts. The second paragraph defines it in these words.

Teacher's Note:
1. The answer is taken directly from paragraph 2.
2. Copy the phrase exactly as given.

Answer: everyone: people of lower status, workers, children and even animals. Politeness is not shown only to elders.

Teacher's Note:
1. The sentence is completed from paragraph 2.
2. A single word or the full list is acceptable.

Answer: Benevolence. It appears in the first line of the paragraph.

Teacher's Note:
1. Benevolence means the desire to do good to others.
2. Scan the first paragraph for the matching word.

Answer: Etiquette. The phrase is 'social etiquette' in the last sentence of the paragraph.

Teacher's Note:
1. Etiquette means accepted rules of polite behaviour.
2. Look for a word about social rules in paragraph 4.