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

1. Direction: Read the given extract and answer the questions that follow:
“ GAUTAMA Buddha (563 B.C.- 483 B.C.) began life as a prince named Siddhartha Gautama, in northern India. At twelve, he was sent away for schooling in the Hindu sacred scriptures and four years later he returned home to marry a princess. They had a son and lived for ten years as befitted royalty.”

Q1: Who was Gautama Buddha?
Ans: Gautama Buddha was a prince born in North India.

Q2: What did Gautama Buddha study?
Ans: Gautama Buddha studied Hindu Sacred Scriptures.

Q3: Find the exact word from the extract which means ‘people of the royal family’. ‘
Ans: ‘Royalty’ from the extract means ‘people of the royal family’.

Q4: When did Gautama Buddha marry?
Ans: Gautam Buddha married after his schooling at the age of sixteen.

2. Direction: Read the given extract and answer the questions that follow:
“At about the age of twenty-five, the Prince, heretofore shielded from the sufferings of the world, while out hunting chanced upon a sick man, then an aged man, then a funeral procession, and finally a monk begging for alms. These sights so moved him that he at once went out into the world to seek enlightenment concerning the sorrows he had witnessed.”

Q1: Why did Gautama Buddha go out to seek enlightenment?
Ans: Gautama Buddha was highly moved by seeing the sufferings of man. So he went out to seek enlightenment.

Q2: What did Gautama Buddha see while hunting?
Ans: Gautama Buddha chanced upon a sick man, then an aged man, then a funeral procession, and finally a monk begging for alms while hunting.

Q3: Find the exact word from the extract which means ‘a state of high spiritual knowledge’.
Ans: ‘Enlightenment’ from the extract means ‘a state of high spiritual knowledge’.

Q4: Describe the thoughts of Gautam Buddha while he encountered the different stages of life.
Ans:  Gautam Buddha was so upset and worried while encountering the different stages of life as a sickman, an aged man, a funeral and a monk begging for alms.

3. Direction: Read the given extract and answer the questions that follow:
“He wandered for seven years and finally sat down under a peepal tree, where he vowed to stay until enlightenment came. Enlightened after seven days, he renamed the tree the Bodhi Tree and began to teach and to share his new understandings. At that point he became known as the Buddha.”

Q1: What was the name of the peepal tree under which Buddha sat?
Ans: The name of the peepal tree under which Buddha sat was Bodhi tree.

Q2: What did Buddha do while sitting under the tree?
Ans: Buddha began to teach and share his new understandings while sitting under the tree.

Q3: Find the exact word from the extract which means ‘solemnly promise to do a specified thing’.
Ans: ‘Vowed’ from the extract means ‘solemnly promise to do a specific thing’.

Q4: After how many days Gautam Buddha got enlightenment?
Ans:  Gautam Buddha got enlightenment after seven days of his vow that he would sit until enlightenment came.

4. Direction: Read the given extract and answer the questions that follow:
 “The Buddha preached his first sermon at the city of Benares, most holy of the dipping places on the River Ganges; that sermon has been preserved and is given here. It reflects the Buddha’s wisdom about one inscrutable kind of suffering. “ 

Q1: Where did Buddha preach his first sermon?
Ans: Buddha preached his first sermon at Benares.

Q2: What does the sermon preached by Buddha reflect?
Ans: It reflects Buddha’s wisdom about one inscrutable kind of suffering.

Q3: ‘Find the exact word from the extract which means impossible to understand’.
Ans:  ‘Inscrutable’ from the extract means ‘impossible to understand’.

Q4: How is Benares described in the lesson?
Ans: Benares is described in the lesson as the most holy of the dipping places on the river Ganges.

5. Direction: Read the given extract and answer the questions that follow:
“ Poor Kisa Gotami now went from house to house, and the people pitied her and said, “Here is mustard-seed; take it!” But when she asked, “Did a son or daughter, a father or mother, die in your family?” they answered her, ‘Alas! the living are few, but the dead are many. Do not remind us of our deepest grief.” And there was no house but some beloved one had died in it.”

Q1: Why did Kisa Gotami travel from house to house?
Ans: Kisa Gotami travelled from house to house to collect mustard seeds.

Q2: What did Kisa Gotami ask before taking the mustard seeds?
Ans: Kisa Gotami asked everyone before taking the mustard seeds whether a family member had ever died in their family or not.

Q3: Find the exact word from the extract which means ‘dearly loved’.
Ans: ‘Beloved’ from the extract means ‘dearly loved’.

Q4: What did people reply to Kisa Gotami when she asked about the death of a family member?
Ans: The people replied to Kisa Gotami that there was no house but some beloved one had died in it and she should not remind them of their deepest grief.

6. Direction: Read the given extract and answer the questions that follow:
“Not from weeping nor from grieving will anyone obtain peace of mind; on the contrary, his pain will be greater and his body will suffer. He will make himself sick and pale, yet the dead are not saved by his lamentation. He who seeks peace should draw out the arrow of lamentation, and complaint, and grief.”

Q1: Who said these lines?
Ans: Buddha said these lines.

Q2: How can a person seek peace?
Ans: The person who seeks peace should draw out the arrow of lamentation, complaint and grief.

Q3: Find the exact word from the text which means ‘to express sadness about something’.
Ans: ‘lamentation’ from the extract means ‘to express sadness about something.

Q4. What effect does the weeping or grieving have on us?
Ans: Weeping or grieving makes our pain greater than before. The person will make himself sick and pale.