Unseen Passage: Samples for Practice | English Grammar Class 7 PDF Download

Q.1. Read the passages given below and answer the questions that follow each of them:
Very soon, Galileo found himself in the University. He was a strong young man with red hair and a cheerful face but was very short-tempered. He often disagreed with his teachers. The professors at Pisa disliked him because he was determined to think for himself and test all the theories they taught him through practical experiments. They were content with teaching what ancient Greek philosophers had taught for so long. But as a true scientist, Galileo refused to accept any idea without questions.
Answer the following Questions:
(i) What was the weakness of Galileo?

Ans: Galileo was very short tempered.

(ii) What showed that Galileo was a true scientist?

Ans: Galileo refused to accept any idea without questions and without experimenting himself, this showed that he was a true scientist.

(iii) How did Galileo look?

Ans: Galileo looked like a strong young man with red hair and a cheerful face.

(iv) Why did the professors at Pisa dislike him?

Ans: Professors at Pisa disliked him because he was determined to think for himself and test all the theories they taught him by practical experiments.

(v) Find the word that means:

• To get angry very soon
• Very old

Ans: To get angry very soon - Short tempered.
Very old - Ancient

Q.2. Read the passages given below and answer the questions that follow each of them:
India is the largest country in South-East Asia. India has very high mountains in the North, called the Himalayas. It is surrounded by the Arabian Sea in the West, the Bay of Bengal in the East, and the Indian Ocean in the South. India has various types of climates. The climate on the Himalayan mountains is cold and wet. The southern part of India is hot. The capital of India is New Delhi. The Indian National flag has three colours in it and is called the tricolour or Tiranga.
Answer following questions:
(i) By what is India surrounded on three sides?

Ans: India is surrounded by the Arabian Sea in the West, the Bay of Bengal in the East and the Indian Ocean in the South.

(ii) Why is the Indian National flag called ‘Tiranga’?

Ans: The Indian National flag has three colours in it so it is called the `Tiranga‘.

(iii) Which are the very high mountains of India and where are they located?

Ans: The high mountains of India are called the Himalayas and they are located in the North.

(iv) Name the capital of India.

Ans: The capital of India is New Delhi.

(v) Find the opposite from the passage of the following: (a) Smallest (b) Dry

Ans: (a) Largest (b) Wet

Q.3. Read the passages given below and answer the questions that follow each of them:
The great defect of our civilization is that it does not know what to do with its knowledge. Science has given us power fit for God, yet we use it like small children. For example, we do not know how to manage our machines. Machines were made to be man’s servants, yet he had grown so dependent upon them that they in a fair way have become his master. Already, most men spend most of their lives looking after and waiting upon machines. And the machines are very stern masters. They must be fed with coal and petrol to drink, and oil to wash waste, and they must be kept at the right temperature. And if they do not get their meals when they expect them, they grow sulky and refuse to work, or burst with rage, and blow up, and spread ruin and destruction all around them. So we have to wait upon them very attentively and do all that we can, to keep them in good temper. Already we find it difficult either to work or play without the machines, and a time may come when they will rule us altogether just as we rule animals.

And this brings me to the point at which I asked, “What do we do with all the time that the machines have saved for us, and the new energy they have given us? On the whole, it must be admitted, we do very little. For the most part, we use our time and energy to make more and better machines, but more and better machines will only give us still more time and still more energy, and what we are to do with them ?‘‘ The answer, I think, is that we should try to become more civilized. For the machines themselves, and the power which the machines have given us, are no civilization but aids to civilization. (C.M. Joad)
Complete the following sentences on the basis of your reading of the passage:
(i) If the machines are not properly looked after and kept fully satisfied,_________.

Ans: If the machines are not properly looked after and kept fully satisfied, they grow sulky and refuse to work.

(ii) The best way to use the additional time and energy, that machines have given to us is ____.

Ans: The best way to use the additional time and energy, that machines have given to us is trying to become more civilized.

(iii) Our civilization is defective because ________.

Ans: Our civilization is defective because it does not know what to do with its knowledge.

(iv) A time is soon expected to come when ________.

Ans: A time is soon expected to come when machines will rule us altogether just as we rule animals.

(v) Write the meaning of this sentence in simple words: ‘Science has given us power, fit for God, yet we use them like small children.’

Ans: Science has given us a lot of power but we don’t use it properly.

Q.4. Read the passages given below and answer the questions that follow each of them:
Once a greedy man had a goose that laid a golden egg every day. He sold the golden egg in the market. This made him very rich. His greed increased day by day. After some time he said to himself, “My goose lays one egg in a day. That gives me seven eggs in a week. That is a very slow process. I will kill it and get all the golden eggs at once.” So he foolishly killed the goose. There was no gold in her body. All the geese are the same. The greedy man wept and repented for his foolishness. He said, “Oh! I have lost all with my greed”.
Answer the questions that follow:
(i) How did the man become rich?

Ans: The man sold the golden egg everyday in the market and became rich.

(ii) Why did he kill the goose?

Ans: He killed the goose to get all the golden eggs at once.V

(iii) What did the goose lay daily?

Ans: The goose laid a golden egg daily.

(iv) According to the man what was the slow process?

Ans: The goose gave one egg a day i.e., seven eggs in a week. This was the slow process.

(v) Find the opposites of (a) Decreased (b) Wisely

Ans: (a) Increased (b) Foolishly

Q.5. Read the passages given below and answer the questions that follow each of them:
Agnes Bojakhiu was born in Skopje, Yugoslavia to Albanian parents. Her father was a prosperous merchant. She was attracted to the life of a missionary in India at a very early age. At eighteen, taking the name of Teresa in the memory of Little Flower of Lisieux, she entered the Missionary Order of the Loreto Sisters and on January 20, 1931, she stepped off a steamship onto the quay at Calcutta, then the largest city in the Empire after London.

For sixteen years, she taught Geography to the daughters of well-to-do British and Bengali society in one of the most prestigious convents in Calcutta. One day in 1946, however, during a train journey to Darjeeling, a town on the slopes of the Himalayas, she heard a voice. God was asking her to leave the comfort of her convent, to go and live among the poorest of the poor in the vast city beyond.

Having first obtained permission from the Pope, she changed into a plain white cotton sari and founded a new religious order whose vocation was to relieve the misery of the most neglected of men.

In 1950, the Order of the Missionaries of Charity was born, a congregation that thirty-five years later would have two hundred and eighty-five thousand charitable foundations throughout India and all the other continents, including countries behind the Iron Curtain.
Complete the following on the basis of your reading of the passage:
(i) After joining the Missionary Order of the Loreto Sisters, Teresa ____________.

Ans: After joining the Missionary Order of the Loreto Sisters, Teresa taught Geography to rich girls in one of the most prestigious convents in Calcutta.

(ii) Mother Teresa headed the Missionaries of Charity, whose aim was ____________.

Ans: Mother Teresa headed the Missionaries of Charity, whose aim was to relieve the miseries of the most neglected of men.

(iii) Mother Teresa was formerly called ___________.

Ans: Mother Teresa was formerly called Agnes Bojakhiu.

(iv) Mother Teresa left the comforts of the convent because _______________.

Ans: Mother Teresa left the comforts of the convent because she heard the voice of God instructing her to live among the poorest of the poor.

(v) Find out words from the passage which have the same meaning as:

1. A person’s trade or profession
2. Successful.

Ans: (1) Vocation (2) Prosperous.