Class 10 English Chapter 1 Extract Based Question Answers - First Flight

1. Direction: Read the given extract and answer the questions that follow:
Early in the new year of 1956 I traveled to Southern Iraq. By then it had crossed my mind that I should like to keep an otter instead of a dog and that Camusfeama, ringed by water a stone’s throw from its door, would be an eminently suitable spot for this experiment.

Q1: When did the author travel to Southern Iraq?
Ans: In the new year of 1956 the author had traveled to southern Iraq.

Q2: What did the author desire to keep instead of a dog?
Ans: The author desired to keep an otter instead of a dog.

Q3: Pick out the words from the passage that mean the same as-  thought came to mind.
Ans: crossed my mind

Q4: What did the writer decide to experiment with?
Ans: The writer decided to have an otter as a pet instead of a dog.

2. Direction: Read the given extract and answer the questions that follow:
When I casually mentioned this to a friend, he casually replied that I had better get one in the Tigris marshes for there they were as common as mosquitoes and were often tamed by the Arabs. We were going to Basra to the Consulate General to collect and answer our mail from Europe. At the Consulate General we found that my friend’s mail had arrived but that mine had not.

Q1: Who is ‘I’ in this passage?
Ans: ‘I’ in the passage is used for Gavin Maxwell.

Q2: What did the author mention to a friend?
Ans: The author mentioned that he wanted to keep an otter as a pet.

Q3: What did his friend advise him?
Ans: His friend advised him to get an otter from Tigris marshes.

Q4: Pick out the word from the passage that means the same as “Post”.
Ans: Mail

3. Direction: Read the given extract and answer the questions that follow:
I cabled to England, and when, three days later, nothing had happened, I tried to telephone. The call had to be booked twenty-four hours in advance. On the first day the line was out of order on the second the exchange was closed for a religious holiday. On the third day there was another breakdown. My friend left, and I arranged to meet him in a week’s time. Five days later, my mail arrived.

Q1: What did the author cable to England?
Ans: The author cabled to England to get information about his mail.

Q2: What happened after three days?
Ans: The author did not receive any mail after three days.

Q3: When did the author receive the mail?
Ans: Five days later the author received the mail.

Q4: Pick out the word from the passage that means the same as- sent a message by telegram.
Ans: cabled

4. Direction: Read the given extract and answer the questions that follow:
The creature that emerged from this sack on to the spacious tiled floor of the Consulate bedroom resembled most of all a very small medievally conceived dragon. From the head to the tip of the tail he was coated with symmetrical pointed scales of mud armour, between whose tips was visible a soft velvet fur like that of a chocolate-brown mole. He shook himself, and I half expected a cloud of dust, but in fact it was not for another month that I managed to remove the last of the mud and see the otter, as it were, in his true colours.
Q1: Write the name of the creature which came out from the sack?
Ans: The creature which came out of the sack was an otter.

Q2: What was there on its tips?
Ans: There was a small chocolate brown mole.

Q3: How did the creature/otter look?
Ans: The creature looked like a small medievally conceived dragon.

Q4: Pick out the word from the passage that means the same as- clean.
Ans: ‘remove’

5. Direction: Read the given extract and answer the questions that follow:
Mijbil, as i called the otter, was, in fact, of a race previously unknown to science, and was at length christened by zoologists Luthragale perspicillata maxwell or Maxwell’s otter. For the first twenty-four hours Mijbil was neither hostile nor friendly, he was simply aloof and indifferent, choosing to sleep on the floor as far from my bed as possible. The second night Mijbil came on to my bed in the small hours and remained asleep in the crook of my knees until the servant brought tea in the morning, and during the day he began to lose his apathy and take a keen, much too keen interest in his surroundings. 

Q1: How did the zoologists name Mijbil?
Ans: Zoologists name Mijbil as Lutrogale perspicillata maxwell.

Q2: How did Mijbil behave in the beginning hours?
Ans: Mijbil behaved in a manner which was neither friendly nor hostile.

Q3: Where did Mijil sleep on the second night?
Ans: Mijbil slept on the author’s bed in the crook of his knees, on the second night.

Q4: Pick out the word from the passage that means the same as- enemy.
Ans: hostile

6. Direction: Read the given extract and answer the questions that follow:

Two days later, Mijbil escaped from my bedroom as I entered it, and I turned to see his tail disappearing round the bend of the condo that led to the bathroom. By the time I got there he was up on the end of the bathtub and fumbling at the chromium taps with his paws. I watched, amazed, in less than a minute he had turned the tap far enough to produce a trickle of water, and after a moment or two achieved the full flow. 

Q1:What did Mijbil do two days later?
Ans: Mijbil went inside the author’s bathroom to have fun with water.

Q2: Where did Mijbil go?
Ans: Mijbil escaped from the author’s bedroom and went into the bathroom.

Q3: What was Mijbil doing?
Ans: Mijbil was fumbling at the chromium taps with his paws.

Q4: Pick out the word from the passage that means the same as- trying to do something in a clumsy manner.
Ans: fumbling

7. Direction: Read the given extract and answer the questions that follow:
Very soon Mij would follow me without a lead and come to me when I called his name. He spent most of his time in play. He spent hours shuffling a rubber ball round the room like a four-footed soccer player using all four feet to dribble the ball, and he could also throw it, with a powerful flick of the neck, to a surprising height and distance. But the real play of an otter is when he lies on his back and juggles with small objects between his paws. Martiles were Mij’s favourite toys for this pastime he would lie on his back rolling two or more of them up and down his wide, flat belly without ever dropping one to the floor.

Q1: Identify Mij and ‘I’.
Ans: Mij was the author’s pet and ‘I’ refers to the author, Gavin Maxwell.

Q2: How did Mij spend his time?
Ans: Mij spent most of his time in play.

Q3: What did Mij look like while playing?
Ans: Mij looked like a four footed soccer player while playing.

Q4: Pick out the word from the passage that means the same as- moving with dragging.
Ans: shuffling

8. Direction: Read the given extract and answer the questions that follow:

The day’s passed peacefully at Basra, but I dreaded the prospect of transporting Mij to England, and to Camusfeama. The British airline to Landon would not fly animals, so I booked a flight to Paris on another airline and from there to London. The airline insisted that Mij should be packed into a box not more than eighteen inches square, to be carried on the floor at my feet. I had a box made, and an hour before we started. I put Mij into the box so that he would become accustomed to it, and left for a hurried meal.

Q1: What did the author dread?
Ans: The author dreaded the prospect of transporting Mijbil to England.

Q2: Name the airline mentioned in the passage.
Ans: It was the British Airlines. 

Q3: How did the writer go to London?
Ans: The writer went to London via Paris on another airline.

Q4: Pick out the word from the passage that means the same as- terribly afraid of.
Ans: Dreaded