CBSE Class 12 English HOTs A Road Side Stand

Stanzas for comprehension

Stanza 1
And one did stop, but only to plow up grass
In using the yard to back and turn around,
And another to ask the way to where it was bound,
And another to ask could they sell it a gallon of gas
They couldn’t (this crossly), they had none, didn’t it see?

Question. Why did the first of the cars stop at the stand?
(a) to buy wild berries
(b) to buy some petrol
(c) to buy some flowers
(d) to use the yard in order to turn back
Answer : D

Question. Why did the second car stop there?
(a) to ask the way
(b) to buy wild berries
(c) to buy some flower
(d) none of the above
Answer : A

Question. Why did the third car stop there?
(a) to take turn back
(b) to have some drinking water
(c) to ask the way
(d) to ask if they could give him a gallon of gas
Answer : D

Question. Who is the poet of this poem?
(a) Walt Whitman
(b) Stephen Spender
(c) Robert Frost
(d) John Keats
Answer : C

Question. Find the words in the stanza which mean the same as
(a) tear up
(b) Petrol
Answer : (i) plow up (ii) gas.

Stanza 2
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

Question. Who is poet of this poem?
(a) Stephen spender
(b) John Keats
(c) Robert Frost
(d) Walt Whitman
Answer : C

Question. Where did the polished traffic pass by?
(a) a roadside stand
(b) a village School
(c) a hospital
(d) a deserted house
Answer : A

Question. How did one who looked ‘aside a moment’ feel?
(a) tense
(b) excited
(c) overjoyed
(d) irritated
Answer : D

Question. What did the ‘artless paint’ do to the landscape?
(a) increased its attraction
(b) spoiled the beauty
(c) made it complicated
(d) added brightness
Answer : B

Question. Find words from the stanza which means the same as.
(a) elegant
(b) feeling Annoyed.
Answer : (i) polished (ii) out of sorts.

Stanza 3
Sometimes I feel myself I can hardly bear
The thought of so much childish longing in vain,
The sadness that lurks near the open window there,
That waits all day in almost open prayer
For the squeal of brakes, the sound of a stopping car,
Of all the thousand selfish cars that pass.
Just one to inquire what a farmer’s prices are.

Question. What can the poet not bear?
(a) the rich helping the poor
(b) the poor serving the rich.
(c) the sight of the roadside stand
(d) the poor man waiting all day for some car to stop at his stand.
Answer : D

Question. What does the poor man wait for?
(a) for some car to stop at his stand
(b) for help of govt.
(c) both (a) & (b)
(d) none of the above
Answer : A

Question. What do these lines show about the rich city people?
(a) they are indifferent to the fate of the poor
(b) they are heartless people
(c) they are self centred
(d) all of the above
Answer : D

Question. What is meant by ‘Childish longing’ in this extract?
(a) the longing of a child to have some toy
(b) the waiting of the poor peasant for some car to stop at his stand
(c) the sadness of the face of the poor peasant
(d) the sadness and the face of poor peasant’s wife
Answer : B

Question. Find words from the stanza which mean the same as.
(a) keeps waiting silently
(b) long high pitched sound.
Answer : (i) lurks (ii) squeal

A Road Side Stand