CBSE Class 12 English Lost Spring MCQs Set E

Type I. Reference to Context

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

1. Wherever they find food, they pitch their tents that become transit homes. Children grow up in them, becoming partners in survival. And survival in Seemapuri means ragpicking. Through the years, it has acquired the proportions of a fine art. Garbage to them is gold. It is their daily bread, a roof over their heads, even if it is a leaking roof. But for a child it is even more.

Questions

Question. Who do you think the writer is referring to as ‘they’, in the given sentence?
“Wherever they find food, ...”
(a) The teachers
(b) The factory workers
(c) The ragpickers
(d) The journalists
Answer: The ragpickers

Question. “Garbage to them is gold.” Why is it so? Select the correct option.
(a) It provides them food.
(b) For them, it is a means of survival.
(c) It also provides them items which can be sold for cash.
(d) All of the above.
Answer: All of the above.

Question. Of the four meanings of the phrase ‘transit homes’, select the option that matches in meaning with its usage in the extract.
(a) Provides immediate, temporary shelter and protection.
(b) Unhygienic and fragile structure.
(c) A permanent shelter.
(d) Homes with inadequate space for movements.
Answer: Provides immediate temporary shelter and protection.

Question. Select the option that lists reasons why garbage is ‘even more’ for the children.
(1) For children, garbage is a source of wonder.
(2) Garbage is the only means of survival for the children.
(3) The children expect to get some coin, note or a valuable thing in the garbage.
(4) Children earn their livelihood from the garbage.
(5) They get to make new acquaintances there.
(a) (1) and (4) (b) (2) and (5)
(c) (1) and (3) (d) (2) and (4)
Answer: (1) and (3)

Question. “...acquired the proportions of a fine art” suggests that:
(a) ragpicking has regained its lost status.
(b) ragpicking has attained the position of a skill.
(c) a segment of ragpickers are skilled in fine arts.
(d) only a few people are experts in ragpicking.
Answer: ragpicking has attained the position of a skill.

Question. Who are the people living at Seemapuri?
Answer: Migrants from Bangladesh are living in Seemapuri. 

2. This morning, Saheb is on his way to the milk booth. In his hand is a steel canister. “I now work in a tea stall down the road,” he says, pointing in the distance. “I am paid 800 rupees and all my meals.” Does he like the job? I ask. His face, I see, has lost the carefree look. The steel canister seems heavier than the plastic bag he would carry so lightly over his shoulder. The bag was his. The canister belongs to the man who owns the tea shop. Saheb is no longer his own master!

Questions

Question. Why is Saheb on his way to the milk booth? Select the correct option.
(a) He found a job at the tea stall.
(b) He was meeting someone there.
(c) He was going there to buy milk for his family.
(d) The writer asked Saheb to go to the milk booth.
Answer: He found a job at the tea stall.

Question. Of the four meanings of ‘carefree’, select the option that matches in meaning with its usage in the extract.
(a) Showing worry or nervousness.
(b) Very eager or concerned.
(c) Free from anxiety or responsibility.
(d) Having or characterized by desire.
Answer: Free from anxiety or responsibility.

Question. “The steel canister seems heavier than the plastic bag he would carry so lightly over his shoulder.” Identify the figure of speech here.
(a) Irony
(b) Metaphor
(c) Anaphora
(d) Alliteration
Answer: Metaphor

Question. Select the option that lists reason why ‘Saheb is no longer his own master’.
(1) Saheb is bound to his master and feels burdened.
(2) The bag was his own and the canister belongs to his master.
(3) He spends all his day rag-picking.
(4) He was held captive in a jail.
(5) Saheb was forced to go to school.
(a) (1) and (4) (b) (2) and (5)
(c) (3) and (4) (d) (1) and (2)
Answer: (1) and (2)

Question. “Does he like the job? I ask.” Who speaks this line?
(a) Saheb (b) Anees Jung
(c) The man from Udipi
(d) Mukesh
(vi) Who was Saheb’s ‘master’?
Answer: Anees Jung 

Question. Who was Saheb’s ‘master’?
Answer: A tea-stall owner was Saheb’s master.

3. “I will learn to drive a car,” he answers, looking straight into my eyes. His dream looms like a mirage amidst the dust of streets that fill his town Firozabad, famous for its bangles. Every other family in Firozabad is engaged in making bangles. It is the centre of India’s glass-blowing industry where families have spent generations working around furnaces, wielding glass, making bangles for all the women in the land it seems. Mukesh’s family is among them. None of them know that it is illegal for children like him to work in the glass furnaces with high temperatures, in dingy cells without air and light; that the law, if enforced, could get him and all those 20,000 children out of the hot furnaces where they slog their daylight hours, often losing the brightness of their eyes. Mukesh’s eyes beam as he volunteers to take me home, which he proudly says is being rebuilt.

Questions

Question. The simile ‘dream looms like a mirage amidst the dust of streets’ indicates that his dream was ............ .
(a) a reality, yet seemed distant
(b) lost in the sea of dust
(c) illusory and indistinct
(d) hanging in the dusty air
Answer: illusory and indistinct

Question.  ‘I will learn to drive a car,’ he answers, looking straight into my eyes. This sentence highlights Mukesh was ............ .
1. determined
2. fearless
3. hopeful
4. valiant
5. ambitious
6. stern
(a) 1 and 5
(b) 2 and 4
(c) 2 and 5
(d) 3 and 6
Answer: 1 and 5

Question. Which of the following statements is NOT
TRUE with reference to the extract?
(a) Children work in badly lit and poorly ventilated furnaces.
(b) The children are unaware that it is forbidden by law to work in the furnaces.
(c) Children toil in the furnaces for hours which affects their eyesight.
(d) Firozabad has emerged as a nascent producer of bangles in the country.
Answer: bangle making is the most loved occupation in Firozabad

Question. Every other family in Firozabad is engaged in making bangles indicates that ............ .
(a) bangle making is the only industry that flourishes in Firozabad
(b) the entire population of Firozabad is involved in bangle making
(c) majority of the population in Firozabad is involved in bangle making
(d) bangle making is the most loved occupation in Firozabad
Answer: majority of the population in Firozabad is involved in bangle making

Question. Why is Mukesh’s dream compared to a mirage ?
Answer: Mukesh’s dream is compared to a mirage because he could only have dreams and never be able to fulfil them.

Question. The statement ‘The law if enforced........’ suggests that
(a) the police is very active
(b) the law is not being followed
(c) the lawyers are very active
(d) the law is strictly being followed
Answer: the law is not being followed 

4. She still has bangles on her wrist, but no light in her eyes. “Ek waqt ser bhar khana bhi nahin khaya.” she says, in a voice drained of joy. She has not enjoyed even one full meal in her entire lifetime — that’s what she has reaped! Her husband, an old man with a flowing beard says, “I know nothing except bangles. All I have done is make a house for the family to live in.” Hearing him one wonders if he has achieved what many have failed in their lifetime. He has a roof over his head!
The cry of not having money to do anything except carry on the business of making bangles, not even enough to eat, rings in every home. The young men echo the lament of the elders. Little has moved with time, it seems in Firozabad, years of mind-numbing toil have killed all initiative and the ability to dream.

Questions

Question. ‘She still has bangles on her wrist, but no light in her eyes.’ This implies that .............
(a) she is married but has lost the charm in her eyes
(b) she is a married woman who has lost her grace and beauty
(c) though she is married, her eyes are devoid of happiness
(d) she is a married woman who has lost her eyesight
Answer: though she is married, her eyes are devoid of happiness

Question. ‘He has a roof over his head!’ The tone of the author is ............ .
(a) pessimistic
(b) empathetic
(c) sympathetic
(d) optimistic
Answer: optimistic

Question. Choose the term which best matches the statement ‘The young men echo the lament of their elders’.
(a) Acceptance
(b) Reflection
(c) Reiteration
(d) Doubtfulness
Answer: Reiteration

Question. ‘Years of mind-numbing toil have killed all initiative and the ability to dream’. This shows that ............ .
(a) the bangle makers are exhausted yet they are enterprising and have dreams
(b) the drudgery of work has destroyed their willingness to improve their lot
(c) the daily grind has stolen the dreams of the bangle makers and made them dull
(d) the bangle makers have been working so hard that there’s no time to dream
Answer: the drudgery of work has destroyed their willingness to improve their lot

Question. The above extract reflects on the ............ situation of the bangle workers.
(a) struggling
(b) merry-making
(c) pathetic
(d) dependable
Answer: pathetic

Question. Who is the person being referred to as ‘she’ in the first line?
Answer: ‘She’ in the first line refers to Savita’s grandmother. 

5. And daring is not part of his growing up. When I sense a flash of it in Mukesh I am cheered. “I want to be a motor mechanic,’ he repeats. He will go to a garage and learn. But the garage is a long way from his home. “I will walk,” he insists. ‘‘Do you dream of flying a plane?” He is suddenly silent. “No,” he says, staring at the ground.
Questions

Question. What is the theme of the lesson from which the above lines have been taken?
(a) The lives of labourers.
(b) The lost childhood of children.
(c) The education of children.
(d) The lives of bangle makers.
Answer: The lost childhood of children.

Question. What is the occupation in which Mukesh is engaged?
(a) Motor-repairing
(b) Bangle-making
(c) Tea-selling
(d) Rag-picking
Answer: Bangle-making

Question. Which of the following words can be used to describe the working conditions in the banglemaking industry?
(a) Wholesome
(b) Hazardous
(c) Ideal
(d) Rewarding
Answer: Hazardous

Question. When Mukesh grows up, he wants to become a
(a) pilot
(b) tea-shop owner
(c) motor mechanic
(d) tennis player
Answer: motor mechanic

Question. In the author’s view, the rag-pickers here are:
(a) lacking in courage.
(b) bold and daring.
(c) careless and playful.
(d) having high dreams only.
Answer: lacking in courage.

Question. Why does Mukesh say he does not dream of flying a plane?
Answer: He says so because he knows it can’t be achieved. 

6. Food is more important for survival than an identity. “If at the end of the day we can feed our families and go to bed without an aching stomach, we would rather live here than in the fields that gave us no grain,” say a group of women in tattered saris when I ask them why they left their beautiful land of green fields and rivers. Wherever they find food, they pitch their tents that become transit homes. Children grow up in them, becoming partners in survival. And survival in Seemapuri means ragpicking. Through the years, it has acquired the proportions of a fine art. Garbage to them is gold. It is their daily bread, a roof over their heads, even if it is a leaking roof. But for a child it is even more.

Questions

Question. The phrase ‘transit homes’ refers to the dwellings that are:
(a) unhygienic
(b) inadequate
(c) fragile
(d) temporary
Answer: temporary

Question. Identify the figure of speech used in the sentence “Garbage to them is gold”.
(a) Hyperbole
(b) Simile
(c) Synecdoche
(d) Personification
Answer: Hyperbole

Question. Choose the term which best matches the statement “Food is more important for survival than an identity.”
(a) Immorality
(b) Necessity
(c) Obligation
(d) Ambition
Answer: Necessity

Question. What does‘acquired the proportions of a fine art’ mean?
(a) Ragpicking has regained its lost status.
(b) A segment of ragpickers are skilled in fine arts.
(c) Ragpicking has attained the position of a skill.
(d) Only a few people are experts in rag-picking.
Answer: Ragpicking has attained the position of a skill.

Question. ‘The garbage is even more for a child’ means:
(a) sometimes gold is found in the garbage.
(b) children often play on the heap of garbage.
(c) children find many things in the garbage.
(d) the garbage is light to carry for children.
Answer: children find many things in the garbage.

Question. Why does the speaker say food is more important for survival than an identity?
Answer: The speaker says so because finding food is more important than nationality. 

7. “I have nothing else to do,” he mutters, looking away. “Go to school,” I say glibly, realising immediately how hollow the advice must sound. “There is no school in my neighbourhood. When they build one, I will go.”
“If I start a school, will you come?” I ask, halfjoking.
“Yes,” he says, smiling broadly.
A few days later I see him running up to me. “Is your school ready?”
“It takes longer to build a school,” I say, embarrassed at having made a promise that was not meant. But promises like mine abound in every corner of his bleak world.

Questions

Question. Saheb’s muttering and ‘looking away’ suggests his
(a) anger
(b) shyness
(c) embarrassment
(d) anxiety
Answer: anger

Question. Of the four meanings of ‘glibly’, select the option that matches in meaning with its usage in the extract.
(a) showing a degree of informality
(b) lacking depth and substance
(c) being insincere and deceitful
(d) speaking with fluency
Answer: speaking with fluency

Question. Who do you think Saheb is referring to as ‘they’, in the given sentence?
“When they build one, I will go”
(a) The officials
(b) The inhabitants
(c) The teachers
(d) The journalists
Answer: The officials

Question. Select the option that lists the feelings and attitudes corresponding to the following:
(1) I ask half-joking
(2) ...he says, smiling broadly
(a) (1) part arrogance, part seriousness
(2) hesitation
(b) (1) part amusement, part irritation
(2) monetary submissiveness
(c) (1) part concern, part hurt (2) pride
(d) (1) part humour, part earnestness
(2) self-belief
Answer: (1) part arrogance, part seriousness
(2) hesitation

Question. Select the option that lists reasons why Saheb’s world has been called ‘bleak’.
(1) The absence of parental presence
(2) The poor socio-economic conditions
(3) His inability to address problems
(4) His lack of life-skills
(5) The denied opportunities of schooling
(a) (1) and (4) (b) (2) and (5)
(c) (3) and (5) (d) (2) and (4)
Answer: (2) and (5)

Question. Why does the writer describe her advice as ‘hollow’?
Answer: She says so because she did not mean what she had said.