CBSE Class 12 English HOTs A Road Side Stand Set 04

Question. Have you ever stopped at a roadside stand? What have you observed there?
Answer: Yes, I have stopped at such places while motoring on highways. They are owned by poor people who live in the countryside near to the highway. Generally they sell local produce such as foodstuffs, fruits or items of daily use. The quality varies from stand to stand and you can bargain for reducing the quoted price if you want to really buy something from them.

Question. The city folk who drove through the countryside hardly paid any heed to the roadside stand or to the people who ran it. If at all they did, it was to complain. Which lines bring this out? What was their complaint about?
Answer: The following lines bring out the complaining attitude of the city people who drove by the shed in the countryside.
'............. then out of sorts'
At having the landscape marred with the artless paint.
'Of signs that with N turned wrong and S turned wrong'.
The complaint of these passers-by was that the artless paint was spoiling the pristine beauty of the landscape. They were displeased that the board out there had signs of N and S pointing in the wrong directions. Moreover, they were critical of wild berries being sold in wooden containers.’

Question. What was the plea of the folk who had put up the roadside stand?
Answer: The folks who had put up the roadside stand wanted the passers-by to stop and buy the berries or the squash which they sold so that they could have some ready cash, with which they could improve their lot and better their miserable lives.

Question. The government and other social service agencies appear to help the poor rural people, but actually do them no good. Pick out the words and phrases that the poet uses to show their double standards.
Answer: The government and the party which is in power were least interested in the welfare of these poor rural people. Even the social service agencies were doing nothing for them. They have their own vested interests. The words and phrases which show their double standards are 'greedy good-doers', 'beneficent beasts of prey', 'swam over their lives', 'enforcing benefits', 'calculated', 'to soothe them out of their wits.'

Question. What is the 'childish longing' that the poet refers to? Why is it 'vain'?
Answer: 'Childish longing' literally means to want and wait for something without putting logic on it. The longing is, in a way, innocent also. Similarly, the poet refers to the longing of the people running the roadside stand as childish because they are always waiting for prospective customers. They keep their windows open to attract customers and become sad when nobody turns up. They hope that some car will stop there but their waiting goes in 'vain' when they see that people come either to turn their cars or to ask where the way goes.

Question. Which lines tell us about the insufferable pain that the poet feels at the thought of the plight of the rural poor?
Answer: The poet intensely feels that all the miserable pain from which the poor rustics suffer must be removed at one stroke. The following lines express his feelings.
'I can't help owning the great relief it would be,
To put these people at one stroke out of their pain'.

EXTRACT BASED QUESTIONS 

“The little old house was out with a little new shed
In front at the edge of the road where the traffic sped,
A roadside stand that too pathetically pled,
It would not be fair to say for a dole of bread,
But for some of the money, the cash, whose flow supports
The flower of cities from sinking and withering faint.”

Question. Where was the new shed put up?
(a) Behind the house
(b) In front of the house
(c) Besides the house
(d) At the door of the house
Answer: (b) In front of the house

Question. Who are referred to as 'the power of cities'?
(a) The poor people
(b) The elite class
(c) Village people
(d) People living in cities
Answer: (b) The elite class

Question. The word in the extract 'withering' means.
(a) Decay
(b) Admire
(c) Encourage
(d) Intended
Answer: (a) Decay

Question. Identity the figure of speech used in these lines, 'polished traffic'.
(a) Metaphor
(b) Simile
(c) Transferred Epithet
(d) Alliteration
Answer: (c) Transferred Epithet

“A roadside stand that too pathetically pled,
It would not be fair to say for a dole of bread,
But for some of the money, the cash, whose flow supports
The flower of cities from sinking and withering faint.”

Question. Why is it unfair to say that these people are begging for a 'dole of bread'?
(a) As they are unreasonably begging for money
(b) Because they have something to sell
(c) They are beggars
(d) As they shamelessly beg for bread
Answer: (b) Because they have something to sell

Question. 'Pathetically pled' in the extract implies
(a) the plead of the owner to stop the passerbys
(b) to steal some money by the travellers
(c) they plead to the rich city dwellers to buy something
(d) to sell breads to the passerbys
Answer: (c) they plead to the rich city dwellers to buy something

Question. The poor people look at the city money for their
(a) survival and betterment
(b) sorrow and misery
(c) growth and opportunity
(d) well being
Answer: (a) survival and betterment

Question. The figure of speech used in last line "the flower of cities from sinking and withering faint" is
(a) Alliteration
(b) Simile
(c) Personification
(d) Metaphor
Answer: (d) Metaphor

“The polished traffic passed with a mind ahead,
Or if ever aside a moment, then out of sorts
At having the landscape marred with the artless paint
Of signs that with N turned wrong and S turned wrong
Offered for sale wild berries in wooden quarts,
Or crook-necked golden squash with silver warts,
Or beauty rest in a beautiful mountain scene,”

Question. What does 'polished traffic' mean?
(a) The old house
(b) Roadside stand
(c) Luxurious vehicles
(d) The city traffic
Answer: (c) Luxurious vehicles

Question. Explain 'out of sorts'.
(a) Unhappy
(b) Out of mind
(c) Cheerful
(d) Bonhomie
Answer: (a) Unhappy

Question. Why the travellers feel out of sorts?
(a) As the landscape was spoiled with rustic painting
(b) Because the breads sold were stinky
(c) The letter S and N in the word STAND were painted in reverse
(d) Both (a) and (c)
Answer: (d) Both (a) and (c)

Question. What does 'passed with a mind ahead' convey?
(a) The city people were rich
(b) City people were self-centered and did not think about others
(c) City dwellers were in a hurry to reach their destination
(d) Both (a) and (c)
Answer: (d) Both (a) and (c)

Question. What are the usual complaints made by the city people when they stop at the roadside stand?
(a) The artless paint of roadside stand
(b) The poop people pleading for money
(c) The word S and N
(d) Both (a) and (c)
Answer: (d) Both (a) and (c)

Question. How do the rich people's complaints sound to the poor people?
(a) Infuriating
(b) Goon
(c) Soothe
(d) Pleased
Answer: (a) Infuriating

Question. How did the rich people 'mar' the landscape?
(a) By begging for money
(b) By their lavishing houses
(c) By constructing untidy stand at the roadside
(d) Both (a) and (c)
Answer: (c) Untidy stand at the roadside

Question. What does 'of signs with S turned wrong and N turned wrong' convey?
(a) The owner was rich
(b) The owner was uneducated
(c) The owner was intelligent
(d) The owner has done it purposefully
Answer: (b) The owner was uneducated

“Offered for sale wild berries in wooden quarts,
Or crook-necked golden squash with silver warts,
Or beauty rest in a beautiful mountain scene,
You have the money, but if you want to be mean,
Why keep your money (this crossly) and go along.”

Question. What articles are ‘offered for sale' at the stand?
(a) Wooden containers of wild berries
(b) Golden squash or gourd
(c) Paintings of mountain scenery
(d) Both (a) and (b)
Answer: (d) Both (a) and (b)

Question. What is the meaning of “beauty rest in a beautiful mountain scene”?
(a) Scenic painting made by owner
(b) The view at the back of the house
(c) Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder
(d) The beautiful landscape of the old house
Answer: (a) Scenic painting made by owner

Question. What do the poor people of the roadside stand feel when city people decline to buy anything?
(a) They feel happy and cheerful
(b) They feel dejected and angry
(c) They feel cheated
(d) They feel to have a scufffle with city dwellers
Answer: (b) They feel dejected and angry

Question. What qualities of the offered articles make them unfit for sale?
(a) The articles were wild
(b) They lacked polished look
(c) They were cheap
(d) Both (a) and (b)
Answer: (d) Both (a) and (b)

“The hurt to the scenery wouldn’t be my complaint
So much as the trusting sorrow of what is unsaid:
Here far from the city we make our roadside stand
And ask for some city money to feel in hand
To try if it will not make our being expand,
And give us the life of the moving-pictures’ promise
That the party in power is said to be keeping from us.”

Question. Who made the roadside stand and where?
(a) City people, near their homes
(b) Villagers, at their courtyards
(c) Poor people, far from the city
(d) Local people, on the mountains
Answer: (c) Poor people, far from the city

Question. Who wanted to feel the money in their hands?
(a) City people
(b) Wealthy citizens of the city
(c) Rural people
(d) Affluent people
Answer: (c) Rural people

Question. What was the promise made by the government?
(a) To give a lavishing home to local people of the village
(b) To provide basic drinking and water facility
(c) To provide subsidy to the poor
(d) To give a comfortable life to the poor people
Answer: (d) To give a comfortable life to the poor people

Question. In the extract, 'hurt to the scenery' implies
(a) the mismatching paint of the roadside stand
(b) harm caused to the natural scenery
(c) the painting of the mountains
(d) Both (a) and (b)
Answer: (b) harm caused to the natural scenery

Question. The people at the roadside stand expect from rich
(a) their generosity to alleviate poverty
(b) cruelty of rich to abolish their articles
(c) buy the things that were sold by them
(d) to take them back to cities
Answer: (a) their generosity to alleviate poverty

Question. What does 'city money' implies?
(a) Meagre amount of money with travellers
(b) Little money with city dwellers
(c) The hard earned money
(d) A lot of money with the city people
Answer: (d) A lot of money with the city people

Question. What are 'moving pictures'?
(a) Movies
(b) Movies with full of action
(c) Movies with fake promises
(d) Thriller movie
Answer: (c) Movies with fake promises

Question. How are rich politicians responsible for the misery of the poor people?
(a) They keep the money in their own malicious hands
(b) They deprive the poor of their rights, happiness and all that they deserve
(c) They make false promising before elections
(d) All of the options
Answer: (d) All of the options

“It is in the news that all these pitiful kin
Are to be bought out and mercifully gathered in
To live in villages, next to the theatre and the store,
Where they won’t have to think for themselves anymore,
While greedy good-doers, beneficent beasts of prey,
Swarm over their lives enforcing benefits
That are calculated to soothe them out of their wits,”

Question. Who is going to exploit the rural people?
(a) City dwellers
(b) politicians
(c) Government
(d) Both (b) and (c)
Answer: (d) Both (b) and (c)

Question. Identify the figure of speech.
(a) Oxymoron
(b) Alliteration
(c) Metaphor
(d) Both (a) and (b)
Answer: (d) Both (a) and (b)

Question. The phrase in the extract 'greedy good-doers' implies
(a) the people who work for betterment of poor
(b) politicians who are well aware of their duties
(c) selfish people who also raise false hopes
(d) Both (a) and (b)
Answer: (c) selfish people who also raise false hopes

Question. 'Beast of prey' means
(a) men in power who exploit others
(b) politicians in lurch of money
(c) animal that hunts other animals
(d) killing people for personal benefit
Answer: (a) men in power who exploit others