Factual Passage - 8 | English Grammar Advanced - Class 10 PDF Download

Read the passage given below and answer the questions which follow
1. Based on a novel by Jay Parini, The Last Station deals with the somewhat unedifying last months of the 82-year-old Leo Tolstoy (Christopher Plummer) that concluded with his public death at the remote southern Russia railway station of Astapovo in 1910, the end of the line and the last station of the cross. During this time his wife Sofya (Helen Mirren) battles for his soul and the copyright of his valuable works with the writer’s manipulative disciple Vladimir Chertkov (Paul Giamatti), who regards himself as the guardian of the great man’s reputation and wants the money from War and Peace to be used to advance the cause of universal love and passive resistance. Their battles are observed and recorded by Tolstoy’s new secretary, Valentin Bulgakov, played by James McAvoy with the same amiable diffidence he brought to the role of Idi Amin’s confidant in The Last King of Scotland.
2. The events were documented in copious diaries kept by the participants and by newsreel cameramen from all over the world, and the film is well acted, handsomely designed and bizarrely comic in a manner more Chekhovian than Tolstoyan. The opening titles tell us that Tolstoy was the world’s most famous novelist and widely regarded as a living saint, and it is just as well to be reminded, because he comes over as a rather ludicrous Lear-like fool: pompous, ill-tempered, insensitive, constantly talking of love but rarely practicing it.
On the basis of your reading of the above excerpt, choose the correct option to answer the following questions
Q1: James McAvoy, in The Last Station plays the role of
(a) Tolstoy’s Disciple
(b) Idi Amin’s Disciple
(c) Tolstoy’ New Secretary
(d) Idi Amin’s Confidant
Ans: (c)

Q2: What does the movie ‘The last Station’ focus on?
(a) Childhood of Leo Tolstoy
(b) Last months of Tolstoy’s life
(c) Tolstoy’s marriage to Sofya
(d) School life of Tolstoy
Ans: (b)

Q3: What was the bone of contention between Sofya and Vladimir?
(a) Fight for Tolstoy’s money
(b) Fight for Tolstoy’s mansion
(c) Fight for Sofya’s money
(d) Copyright of Tolstoy’s works
Ans: (d)

Q4: The last Station is based on the novel by
(a) Helen Mirren
(b) Jay Parini
(c) Leo Tolstoy
(d) Sofya Tolstoy
Ans: (b)

Q5: Which character does Christopher Plummer play in the movie?
(a) James McAvoy
(b) Valentin Bulgakov
(c) Leo Tolstoy
(d) Vladimir Chertkov
Ans: (c)