Factual Passage - 20 | English Grammar Advanced - Class 10 PDF Download

Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow.

1. Holiday plans ensure promises and perils; hopes and hypes; excitement and disappointments; good news and not–so good news. The not–so good news is that not everyone can plan a vacation to Arctic Alps or to the Amazon to observe the diverse wildlife there for obvious reasons like lack of resources or failure to obtain the necessary sanction for leave. The good news is that there is so much to eye, experience and enjoy right where you live – amidst the hustle and bustle of the city. For some, vacation is all about circus, beach, malls, movies, shopping, reading, and catching up on sleep. But for nature enthusiasts, this is the time to make the best of wildlife spotting in the city.

2. The wildlife diversity and cities have always been treated as an oxymoron. In highly congested and thickly populated cities with myriad skyscrapers, flyovers, malls, heritage buildings, and magnificent edifices, it’s incredibly amazing to see wildlife abound in their own secretive niches. The untamed birds, insects, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and of course the untended plants are all over.

3. Summer vacations render an awesome reprieve from the stressful work schedule and also bestow time to enjoy pleasant surprises over a cup of morning coffee in your own neighbourhood – birds g, squirrels relishing mangoes, spotted owlets peeping out in stupor from tree holes, and butterflies hovering over the peacock flower.

4. This is the season to look out for the fiery blossoms of Indian Laburnum and Copper Pods. Indian Laburnum otherwise known as the golden shower tree produces gorgeous pendulous inflorescence and is a greatly refreshing sight to behold when the city is actually reeling under a heatwave. Copper pods produce dense clusters of crinkled yellow flowers which are highly relished by the rose-ringed parakeets.

5. Birds to look out for in home gardens and in the neighbourhood are magpie robins, tree pies, golden orioles, wagtails, hoopoes, sunbirds, sparrows, tailor birds, barbets, kingfishers, woodpeckers, babblers, warblers, bee-eaters, bulbuls, shrikes, shikras, koels, pipits, parakeets, rollers and sometimes even the rare paradise flycatchers and pitta. Each bird has a distinct call and it is easy to trace their presence to their sound, which is otherwise not too easy.

Attempt the following questions on the basis of the passage you have read:
(a) An ‘oxymoron? here refers to __________.
(i) oxygen
(ii) skyscrapers
(iii) wildlife in congested cities
(iv) flyovers

Correct Option is (iii) wildlife in congested cities

(b) For nature enthusiasts, vacation is the time to _________.
(i) look for wildlife around
(ii) go for movies
(iii) catch up on sleep
(iv) go to mall

Correct Option is (i) look for wildlife around

(c) One feels stressed in summer vacation because one needs time to look for wildlife around the city. (True/False)

False

(d) We find magpie robins and tailor birds around our houses.

True

(e) Birds can be distinguished because every bird has __________.

a distinct call

(f) People plan a vacation to the Amazon or Arctic Alps to observe __________.

the diverse wildlife

(g) Summer is the season to look out for the fiery blossoms of _________ and.

Indian Laburnum, Copper pods

(h) Find the word from the passage which means the same as “easy to see or understand”. (para 1)

“obvious.