CBSE Class 12 English The Interview MCQs Set D

Question: Which period of history do Umberto’s novels deal with?
a) Renaissance
b) Dark age
c) Modern era
d) Medieval period
Answer: d

Question: Why did Umberto start writing novels?
a) To avail an opportunity
b) To be in limelight
c) To share his views
d) To make best use of empty spaces means free time
Answer: d

Question: What satisfied Umberto’s taste for narration?
a) Stories
b) Children’s works
c) Interviews
d) Novels
Answer: d

Question: What facts are being showcased in the interview held between Eco and Padamanabhan?
a) He takes pride in being an academician, a university professor first
b) Being a novelist is a secondary thing for him
c) Uses his free time for writing novels
d) All these
Answer: d

Question: Why were the journalists and publishers puzzled by the success of The Name of the Rose?
a) Because readers like trash and it was a serious novel
b) Because it was becoming popular
c) Because of its high rated success
d) None
Answer: a

Question: What do Rudyard Kipling and his wife express about interviews?
a) Immoral
b) Not good
c) Very bad
d) Immoral and offensive crime against a person
Answer: d

Question: What was Lewis Carroll’s opinion of interviews and autographs?
a) Wonder
b) Terror
c) Horror
d) None
Answer: c

Question: What do his works for children speak about?
a) His passion for children
b) Children are nuisance
c) Children love to be happy
d) Non-violence and peace
Answer: d

Question: Explain Denis Brain’s statement “Almost everything of moment reaches us through one man asking questions of others.”
a) The interviewer has the power
b) The interviewer has status
c) The interviewer can elicit the truth and has the power to influence
d) All of the above
Answer: d

Question: ‘An interview is a supremely serviceable medium of communication’ is a
a) a medium to gossip
b) a medium to be the talk of the town
c) a medium to prosper
d) a noble medium of interaction and introspection
Answer: d

Question: What do you understand by the expression ‘Thumbprints on his windpipes’?
a) Creating excessive pressure on throat
b) Creating excessive pressure on vocal chords
c) Creating excessive pressure and tension for someone
d) None
Answer: c

Question: At what age did Umberto Eco start writing novels?
a) At the age of 55
b) At the age of 52
c) At the age of 57
d) At the age of 50
Answer: d

Question: Why do most celebrity writers despise being interviewed?
a) They don’t like journalists
b) Unwarranted intrusion in their life
c) Their privacy is hurt
d) None
Answer: b

Question: What is the reason for huge success of the novel The Name of the Rose?
a) Mystic
b) Metaphysics and medieval history period used
c) Detective style and theology
d) All of the above
Answer: d

Question: How does Umberto Eco find so much time to write so much?
a) Using early morning time
b) Using his office time
c) Using his family time
d) Using empty spaces (free times) like waiting for someone, break time
Answer: d

Question: What did the author present in this book?
a) Varied opinions of politicians
b) Varied opinions of civilians
c) Varied opinions of armymen
d) Varied opinions of celebrities regarding an interview
Answer: d

Question: What kind of novel was The Name of the Rose?
a) Hilarious
b) Fiction
c) Non-fiction
d) A serious one
Answer: d

Question: In what way have interviews become a common place of journalism?
a) Because of its power, influence and medium of communication
b) Because of its pomp
c) Because of its glory
d) Because of its rapport
Answer: a

Question: According to Umberto, what will happen to the world if we eliminate empty spaces from the universe?
a) The world will become beautiful
b) The world will be completely ours
c) The world will shrink and will become as big as a fist
d) The world will be round
Answer: c

Read the extracts given below and attempt the questions that follow:

1. Some might make quite extravagant claims for it as being, in its highest form, a source of truth, and, in its practice, an art. Others, usually celebrities who see themselves as its victims, might despise the interview as an unwarranted intrusion into their lives, or feel that it somehow diminishes them, just as in some primitive cultures it is believed that if one takes a photographic portrait of somebody then one is stealing that person’s soul. V. S. Naipaul ‘feels that some people are wounded by interviews and lose a part of themselves,’

Questions

Question. What are the positive points people make about interviews?
(a) It is an enjoyable session where one can talk and laugh.
(b) It is a source of truth and in its practice, an art.
(c) One comes to know people better.
(d) One comes to know the thinking and inner feelings of the person being interviewed.
Answer: It is a source of truth and in its practice, an art.

Question. How do celebrities usually consider themselves when being interviewed?
(a) As victims of the interview.
(b) As heroes of the interview.
(c) As something which has to be done and got over.
(d) they are indifferent to all types of interview.
Answer: As victims of the interview.

Question. Why do celebrities usually despise interviews?
(a) They hate talking about their personal lives.
(b) They are usually introverts who like to be left alone.
(c) They consider interviews as unwarranted intrusions into their lives.
(d) They don’t want to share their lives with others.
Answer: They consider interviews as unwarranted intrusions into their lives.

Question. What are V.S. Naipaul’s views on interview?
(a) It is an enjoyable experience.
(b) People are wounded, and lose a part of themselves.
(c) Interviews bring celebrities and their audience closer to one another.
(d) People like talking about interviews more than giving interviews.
Answer: People are wounded, and lose a part of themselves.

Question. How do interviews ‘wound’ people who are interviewed?
(a) By invading their privacy.
(b) By highlighting their achievements.
(c) By expressing their opinion about them.
(d) By criticizing them all the time.
Answer:  By invading their privacy.

Question. Why are taking photographs of people not allowed in some cultures?
Answer: They feel it is a way of stealing their souls.

2. Yet Kipling had himself perpetrated such an ‘assault’ on Mark Twain only a few years before. H. G. Wells in an interview in 1894 referred to ‘the interviewing ordeal’, but was a fairly frequent interviewee and forty years later found himself interviewing Joseph Stalin. Saul Bellow, who has consented to be interviewed on several occasions, nevertheless once described interviews as being like thumbprints on his windpipe. Yet despite the drawbacks of the interview, it is a supremely serviceable medium of communication.

Questions

Question. How did Kipling view interviews?
(a) A crime, an assault which merits punishment.
(b) A delight, a relaxing event where one can talk about oneself.
(c) It is like someone trying to choke you to get information out of you.
(d) It is refreshing like the morning dew settling on the leaves.
Answer: A crime, an assault which merits punishment.

Question. Whom did Kipling assault with an interview?
(a) Mark Twain
(b) Lewis Carroll
(c) H.G. Wells
(d) Saul Bellow
Answer: Mark Twain

Question. How did Saul Bellow view interviews?
(a) An interesting conversation between two people.
(b) A very pleasant experience of chatting together.
(c) Thumbprints on his windpipe.
(d) As bad as stale food being eaten and getting an upset stomach.
Answer: Thumbprints on his windpipe.

Question. How does the author describe the interview?
(a) A wasting of time which one can put to better use.
(b) A method by which the public comes to know the life of celebrities.
(c) A useful interaction with people to know their thoughts, likes, etc.
(d) As a supremely serviceable medium of communication.
Answer: As a supremely serviceable medium of communication.

Question. The word ‘perpetrated’ means .....
(a) to do something wrong
(b) to do something right
(c) to avoid doing something
(d) to make sure you do something useful
Answer: to do something wrong

Question. Why do some people refer to interview as an ‘ordeal’?
Answer: Some people regard interview as an ‘ordeal’ because they feel it reduces their importance 

3. I remember that my dear friend Roland Barthes was always frustrated that he was an essayist and not a novelist. He wanted to do creative writing one day or another but he died before he could do so. I never felt this kind of frustration. I started writing novels by accident. I had nothing to do one day and so I started. Novels probably satisfied my taste for narration.
Mukund: Talking about novels, from being a famous academic you went on to becoming spectacularly famous after the publication of The Name of the Rose.

Questions

Question. Why was Roland Barthes always frustrated?
(a) He could not write essays which he wanted to do.
(b) He was an essayist and not a novelist.
(c) His novels would not sell.
(d) His short stories sold at a very slow rate.
Answer: He was an essayist and not a novelist.

Question. Why didn’t Umberto Eco feel frustrated like his friend?
Answer: He did’t feel so because he had started writing novels by accident at the age of 50.

Question. What type of style did Umberto Eco use for his writing?
(a) Expository
(b) Persuasive
(c) Descriptive
(d) Narrative
Answer: Narrative

Question. The publication of which book of Umberto made him famous?
(a) The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana
(b) The Name of the Rose
(c) The Prague Cemetery
(d) Faucault’s Pendulum
Answer: The Name of the Rose

Question. ‘I never felt this kind of frustration’. What does the speaker refer to by the world ‘this’?
(a) He refers to his own frustration of not being able to write a novel.
(b) He refers to Roland’s frustration of not being able to write a novel.
(c) He refers to his frustration when his book was a failure.
(d) He refers to Roland’s frustration with the quality of his essays.
Answer: He refers to his own frustrations of not being able to write a novel.

Question. What does the world ‘academic’ mean in this context?
(a) A place where one studies like a college or university.
(b) A place where people store books.
(c) A collection of books.
(d) A person who teaches or researches at a college or university.
Answer: A place where one studies like a college or university.

4. And this is because journalists and publishers believe that people like trash and don’t like difficult reading experiences. Consider there are six billion people on this planet. The Name of the Rose sold between 10 and 15 million copies. So in a way I reached only a small percentage of readers. But it is exactly these kinds of readers who don’t want easy experiences. Or at least don’t always want this. I myself, at 9 pm after dinner, watch television and want to see either ‘Miami Vice’ or ‘Emergency Room’. I enjoy it and I need it. But not all day. Mukund: Could the huge success of the novel have anything to do with the fact that it dealt with a period of medieval history that... Umberto Eco: That’s possible. But let me tell you another story, because I often tell stories like a Chinese wise man. My American publisher said while she loved my book, she didn’t expect to sell more than 3,000 copies in a country where nobody has seen a cathedral or studies Latin. So I was given an advance for 3,000 copies, but in the end it sold two or three million in the U.S.

Questions

Question. What belief do most journalists and publishers have?
(a) Very few people read at all.
(b) People like reading trash and not difficult reading.
(c) The more they publish, the more satisfaction they get.
(d) Stories should be entertaining for people who read them.
Answer: People like reading trash and not difficult reading.

Question. Why does Umberto Eco watch television at 9 p.m?
(a) He has nothing else to do.
(b) He hates going out for a walk.
(c) He thinks it is better to watch T.V. than read a book.
(d) He enjoys it and he needs it.
Answer: He enjoys it and he needs it.

Question. What did Eco’s publisher anticipate about the sale of ‘The Name of the Rose’?
Answer: Eco’s publisher expected that only about 3,000 copies of the book would be sold.

Question. ccording to Eco what was the reason for the success of his book?
(a) It was a thriller.
(b) It dealt with metaphysics.
(c) The success of the book has a mystery.
(d) The book was advertised well in advance.
Answer: The success of the book was a mystery.

Question. How do we know that Eco’s publisher was surprised by the success of ‘The Name of the Rose’?
(a) She had expected to sell 3 million copies in the US.
(b) She had expected to sell only 3000 copies.
(c) She had enjoyed reading it.
(d) She liked references to the cathedral and Latin studies.
Answer: She had expected to sell only 3000 copies.

Question. The Journalist had misjudged the readers by saying that
(a) people did not enjoy reading trash.
(b) people did not enjoy. Eco’s style of writing.
(c) people did not enjoy reading about heavy stuff like medieval history.
(d) people loved novels based on medieval history.
Answer: people did not enjoy reading trash

5. Maybe I give the impression of doing many things. But in the end, I am convinced I am always doing the same thing… And then I have a secret. Did you know what will happen if you eliminate the empty spaces from the universe, eliminate the empty spaces in all the atoms? The universe will become as big as my fist. Similarly, we have a lot of empty spaces in our lives. I call them interstices. Say you are coming over to my place. You are in an elevator and while you are coming up, I am waiting for you. This is an interstice, an empty space. I work in empty spaces.

Questions

Question. Read the questions given below. Imagine they were interjections raised by the interviewer based on the above extract.
Choose the option that correctly describes the given questions.
(1) If you are “always doing the same thing”, isn’t your work lacking in originality?
(2) Could you elaborate on these larger ethical, philosophical interests that inform your work?
(3) All writing happens in empty spaces. In fact, why don’t I tell you all about my experiences?
(a) (1) is not relevant; (2) is appropriate; and (3) is unnecessary
(b) (1) is appropriate; (2) is repetitive; and (3) is useful information
(c) (1) is inappropriate; (2) is relevant; and (3) is not relevant
(d) (1) is unnecessary; (2) is intrusive; and (3) is extrapolatory
Answer: is inappropriate; (2) is relevant; and (3) is not relevant

Question. Based on your reading of Part I of ‘The Interview’, which one of the following may NOT be an appropriate title to the above extract?
(a) The Empty Spaces of Umberto Eco
(b) Big Exposé: Eco’s Secret Revealed!
(c) “I am always doing the same thing”: Eco’s Echoes
(d) Umberto Eco, Mr. Prolific!
Answer: Big Exposé: Eco’s Secret Revealed!

Question. “I work in empty spaces”. Choose the option that most accurately captures Eco’s idea of empty spaces.
(i) management of time
(ii) organization of space
(iii) philosophical inclination
(iv) command of thought
(a) Options (i) and (ii)
(b) Options (iii) and (iv)
(c) Options (i) and (iii)
(d) Options (ii) and (iv)
Answer: Options (i) and (iii)

Question. Umberto Eco states that ‘empty spaces’ actually fill spaces, and without them the universe would be the size of the human fist. He also goes on to say that it is in an interstice such as waiting, which the dictionary defines as a time for pause, that he works. That is, passive waiting is essentially active writing time. Choose the literary device that best describes what Eco does with the concepts of ‘empty spaces’ and ‘waiting’.
(a) Juxtaposition
(b) Irony
(c) Oxymoron
(d) Symbolism
Answer: irony

Question. According to Eco which of the following can be defined as ‘interstices’?...........
(a) Waiting for a visitor to arrive
(b) Eating lunch or dinner
(c) Sleeping at night
(d) Talking to friends
Answer: Waiting for a visitor to arrive

Question. What trait of Eco’s character is revealed in the above extract?
Answer: He was able to do so many things simultaneously.

6. Saul Bellow, who has consented to be interviewed on several occasions, nevertheless once described interviews as being like thumbprints on his windpipe. Yet despite the drawbacks of the interview, it is a supremely serviceable medium of communication. “These days, more than at any other time, our most vivid impressions of our contemporaries are through interviews,” Denis Brian has written. “Almost everything of moment reaches us through one man asking questions of another. Because of this, the interviewer holds a position of unprecedented power and influence.”

Questions

Question. How would you describe Denis Brian’s opinion on interviews? Choose the most appropriate option.
(1) Appeasing (2) Utilitarian
(3) Approving (4) Praising
(a) Options (1) and (2)
(b) Options (3) and (4)
(c) Options (2) and (3)
(d) Options (1) and (4)
Answer: Options (2) and (3)

Question. According to Saul Bellow, interviews are like thumbprints on his windpipe. What emotion might best describe such an image?
(a) Sadness
(b) Frustration
(c) Pain
(d) Fear
Answer: Pain 

Question. Denis Brian states that the interviewer occupies a position of power and influence as___________
(a) everything reaches us through one man asking questions of another.
(b) the interview is a supremely serviceable medium of communication.
(c) our most vivid impressions of our contemporaries are through interviews.
(d) interviews are like thumbprints on the interviewee’s windpipe.
Answer: everything reaches us through one man asking questions of another.

Question. The use of the word “serviceable” implies that interviews are _________
(a) significant.
(b) powerful.
(c) advanced.
(d) useful.
Answer: useful.

Question. What does the narrator mean when he says ‘interviews as being like thumbprints on his windpipe’?
Answer: He means that he felt choked and suffocated when he sat for interview.

Question. Interviews are helpful in
(a) giving the most confusing impression of the interviewee.
(b) giving the most vivid impression of the interviewer.
(c) giving the most vivid impression of the interviewee.
(d) giving the most clear understanding of the interviews in general.
Answer: giving the most vivid impression of the interviewee.