Summary Writing Examples | English Language for Grade 10 PDF Download

Q.1. Read the article about allergies. Then write a summary explaining why some people develop allergies.

Allergy has become more and more common over the last 30 years. Now one-third of us are affected by an allergy at some point in our lives and half of these sufferers are children. In the UK, three million people suffer from asthma, and five per cent of children suffer from food allergy.
Allergy is a reaction that occurs when the immune system has a strange and unnecessary reaction to a substance which is normally harmless, such as pollen or peanuts. To defend your body against an attacker, the immune system remembers these dangerous micro-organisms and attacks them if it meets them again. This work is done by antibodies. The immune system in allergy sufferers makes antibodies against harmless substances because it mistakenly believes them to be dangerous.
An allergic reaction may not happen the first time a sufferer meets an allergen (the substance causing the reaction, such as pollen, milk or strawberries). Sometimes people can eat nuts for years and then suddenly become allergic to them. What has happened is that the immune system has now decided the substance is dangerous and has made an allergy antibody. This antibody then attaches itself to cells, which contain histamine. As they do that, the surface of the cells are broken, and histamine is released. The histamine and other chemicals inflame the tissues. This leads to the symptoms of allergy, such as swelling, rashes, sneezing, sore eyes and breathlessness. Anaphylaxis is the most severe allergic reaction of all and is most often triggered by wasp or bee stings or peanuts. This must be treated immediately.
Some people are born with the ability to make lots of allergy antibodies, and they are more likely to develop allergies and allergic disorders such as hay fever and asthma. We eat more processed foods, with a wide range of additives and colourings; more and more people have central heating and double glazing, making our houses warmer and less draughty-an ideal environment to breed the house dust mite.
There may also be a link between allergies and antibiotics. At one time our immune systems were kept busy fighting off disease and trying to win the battle for health, but antibiotics have reduced the amount of work our immune systems have to do. Now experts think they may direct spare energy to harmless substances such as strawberries.
A good deal of research is being devoted to finding a cure for allergies. Sufferers may be given medicine to control symptoms, and they may also be offered tests to find out what substances trigger an allergic reaction so that they can avoid contact with these in future.

Sample Answer: 
You are more at risk of having an allergic reaction if your family suffers from allergies. Individuals can inherit the tendency to make allergy antibodies and become more prone to allergic disorders. The conveniences of our lifestyle, such as processed food, may be to blame for the increase in allergies, as they expose us to more allergens. Antibodies may also be responsible, as the immune system relies on these drugs to protect us Incorrect! from infection. Consequently, the immune system has spare capacity which it directs at innocent things which then become allergens. Sufferers are offered drugs to relieve symptoms.

Q.2. Read the following article by a cookery teacher. Write a summary of the advantages for young people if they learn how to cook.

“I grew up in a family where cooking was an important part of life. I have always been really choosy with my food. I never liked to see vegetables on my plate and if they did appear, I used to find naughty ways of making them disappear. I was lucky, however, that I always had plenty of fish and seafood in my diet. Vegetables eventually became an important part of each meal when I went to college and spent more time cooking for myself.
You might be interested to know that the human body has two periods of accelerated growth during our lives, and both happen when we are young. The first one is when we are born and during the first few months of our life. The second period is adolescence when we need to develop the muscles and bones for adulthood. A regular intake of calcium and iron is essential during this period.
With this in mind, encouraging our children to eat food with high calcium and iron content is the responsibility of the parents. It is during this period that we should encourage children to start cooking, to try different recipes and make nutritious food part of their daily routine. It is easier for children to eat something that has been prepared with their own hands, and discover how a simple vegetable changes when it becomes part of a delicious soup, stew or salad. This is what we have experienced at our cookery school. We have taught children who didn’t like certain foods, and then gradually after some classes, they began cooking for themselves and enjoyed dishes that they would not previously have eaten.
Teaching children at school has been a great experience for me. I find it amazing to watch children being able to produce flavoursome meals using vegetables, eggs and fish, then setting the table and serving the food.
It is also lovely to see the friendships that are established between the children, enjoying their culinary masterpieces with one another in a fun and friendly environment.
In the kitchen, children who cook learn different skills that they will keep forever. They all have different backgrounds and habits. However, in a kitchen, everybody is important, and it doesn’t matter if you are tall or short, male or female, athletic or academic; cooking is for all ages and levels. They develop team skills and learn to appreciate that each individual’s contribution is vital for the group.
If children cook, there is no doubt that they have a better diet, which will benefit their health for the rest of their lives. My primary goal as a teacher is to encourage my students to develop these good habits from an early age. Maybe some of my students will take this further and decide to follow a career related to cooking. This is an industry which is growing all over the world and we need well-trained cooks everywhere.
If children enjoy cooking, it is really easy to encourage them. Why not take them for dinner or even buy them their own cooking utensils? Preparing breakfast together at the weekend is a good time to get them started and it’s a great way to spend quality time as a family.”

Sample Answer:
In this article, it (1) explains the advantages if young children are taught how to cook for themselves. (2) First of all, it is easy for children to eat something that they have cooked by themselves and they might even enjoy the food that they have not eaten before. (3) Another advantage is that they can make friends with other children and also have some fun doing it together. (4) In addition, they can learn different skills such as team building skills. (5) Finally, it can help children to have a better diet (6) as well as some of them might choose to work in jobs related to cooking.

Q.3. Read the article about new medical gadgets. Then write a summary explaining the aims behind the development of the technology and the issues that need to be addressed if the gadgets are to be suitable for the home.

Brushing your teeth twice a day should keep the dentist away. But if a group of scientific researchers have their wish, it will make the rest of your body healthy too. A toothbrush that checks blood sugar and bacteria while you brush is currently in development in the USA. It is one of many gadgets proposed by engineers and doctors at the Center for Future Health in New York –others include a pair of spectacles that help to jog your memory, and a home camera designed to check for cancer.
The devices seem fanciful, but the basic principles are simple. The gadgets should make it easy for people to detect illness long before it strikes and so seeks treatment far earlier than normal. Instead of relying on hi-tech hospitals, the emphasis is shifted to the home and easy-to-use gadgets. In the long run, the technology may even prevent illness by encouraging us to lead healthier lives.
Intelligent bandages are a good example. Powerful sensors within the bandage could quickly identify tiny amounts of bacteria in a wound and determine which antibiotics would work best. The cut could then be treated instantly, so avoiding possible complications.
Socks are long overdue for a makeover. In the future, they will be able to automatically detect the amount of pressure in your foot and alert you when an ulcer is imminent.
All the projects should have far-reaching implications, but the biggest single development is a melanoma monitor designed to give early warnings of cancer. The device could be used to take a picture of your body each week, then compare it to previous images. If a problem is found, the system would advise you to get a check-up at your doctor’s surgery.
If all this sounds nerve-wracking, then help is at hand. Experts are also working on a ‘digital doctor’, complete with a comforting bedside manner. A standard computer would be able to understand your voice and answer questions about your symptoms in plain English and in a way which would calm your nerves.
Stress is no sweat either. A portable communication aid could recognise certain phrases and tones and let you know when you are about to lose your temper. The software would also suggest ways of keeping your cool.
Computer therapists are a little way off yet, but the projects are ready to be prototyped and trialled. Researchers are still struggling, however, with making the technology cheap and simple enough for the domestic user. Thatis going to be the difficult part.

Sample Answer:
New medical equipment that we can use in our own homes may soon be available. Gadgets are being developed in America which will enable us to check the state of our bodies for any warning signs of illness. As a result, people would have the convenience of detecting illness without having to go to a hospital. Moreover, they would be likely to ask for treatment while their illness was at an early stage. The equipment might even encourage people to live more healthily. However, the gadgets need to be cheap and simple enough to be usable at home.

Q.4. Read the article about a person who survived a shipwreck. Write a summary about what he did to survive.

A Chinese man, Poon Lim, is famous for being the longest shipwreck survivor. He spent 133 days in the sea when his ship went down in the South Atlantic after leaving Cape Town. It took just two minutes for the ship to sink, and the only man who managed to survive was Poon Lim.
Despite the mad chaos of the sinking, exploding ship, Lim was still able to grab a life jacket, which was vital, as he had never learnt to swim well. He floated in the ocean for what he estimated to be around two hours until he spotted one of the ship’s life rafts. It was a wooden raft about two and a half metres square, partially covered by a canvas roof. After much effort, Lim succeeded in reaching it and although weak, managed to pull himself aboard. Luckily for Lim, on the life raft, there were some bottles of juice and tins of biscuits, together with two flares, a flashlight and even some chocolate.
Once Lim realised that his emergency provisions were running out, he knew that he had to invent ways to find food and water. He used the canvas from the roof and his life jacket to make a container to catch rainwater. He had never been fishing and had no skills to help him, but he improvised by making a fishing hook out of the wire from the flashlight and the jagged edges of the biscuit tins.
By day 60, he was aware that he was losing physical strength so he began to swim around the life raft twice a day. This routine continued until a particularly bad storm nearly destroyed his life raft. Against all the odds, he survived and was able to repair the damage. However, this experience left him feeling even more terrified about his situation.
Lim had never seen such a variety of beautiful sea creatures and spent many hours observing the fish that swam around him. However, he was alarmed by the threatening sharks that at times surrounded his life raft, and occasionally attacked him.
Lim survived for almost five months. On two occasions he spotted a ship, and once a plane passed by near him, but each time his shouts and frantic waving went unnoticed. The nightmare only came to an end when he was picked up by Brazilian fishermen on April 5, 1943, about ten miles from land. They sailed to Belem, Brazil, a town at the mouth of the Amazon River.
Upon arriving in Belem, suffering from severe sunburn, he spent four weeks at the local hospital to recover and regain his physical fitness. He explained to people that he had worked hard not to lose a sense of hope that he would finally be rescued. Lim went on to live to the age of 72, and even now, 133 days remains the longest time for one person to survive being lost at sea in a life raft. When he was told about his record, Lim said: “I hope no one will ever have to break it.”

Sample Answer:
In this article, it explains how a man called Ponn Lim managed to survive at sea (1) for 133 days. The first thing that he did was to grab a life jacket (2) and then swam to a life raft. After that he (3) was able to use the rations stored (3) on the raft. Once he could see that these supplies (4) were running short. He found ways to find food and water such (5) as catching rain water with his life jacket as (6) well as making a fishing hook to catch fish. (7) In addition to stay fit he would swim around the raft and he would also never lose the sense (8) of hope that he would survive and be rescued.

Q.5. Read the following article about the increasing problem of noise in our society.
How much noise are we subjected to in our normal daily lives without noticing it? How much does this noise affect our body and senses?

Whether it’s a dog barking or the banging of a door, if it’s a sound that disturbs or annoys us, then it’s a sound that is unwanted. Consciously we may not take today’s noise seriously, but unconsciously our bodies still have an automatic response that makes us remember when sudden or loud sounds meant danger. Our blood pressure rises, our heart rate and breathing speed up and subsequently we become hot and sweaty.
Previously, medical science was mostly concerned with noise levels powerful enough to cause hearing damage. But in the 21st century, where everyday noise is a rule rather than an exception, it is thought that the effects leave us in a state of almost constant agitation. Experts have researched many ways in which we can counteract this problem. Let’s consider some of their ideas and suggestions.
Firstly, you should try to start the day with some silence. This means you should get up a little earlier because it could be the most important bit of relaxation you get all day. For a few minutes, sit completely still with a straight back and empty your mind. This is not as easy as it sounds, but take a deep breath and quietly repeat to yourself, “My body is released and relaxed, my heartbeat is normal, my mind is calm and peaceful.” Keep repeating this until any remaining tension is gone and you will feel much more at ease. Imagine yourself looking up at a blue sky full of soft, white clouds.
It would also help to stop talking so much and start thinking instead! Although it may sound rude and unsociable, disciplining yourself to remain silent is a great way to refresh your mind and put things into perspective. As Professor Stephen Palmer, Director of the Centre for Stress Management, explains, “Peace really does come from within. To escape unwanted noise and thoughts, I advise my clients to take their minds through a series of relaxing images. It could be anything from sitting under a cool, shady tree to looking at the stars at night. The great thing about this exercise is that you can find peace for yourself even when you seem to be completely surrounded by noise.”
Apart from hearing, we have senses of touch, smell, taste and sight – so use them! Here’s an idea… switch off all of the noise in your house. Turn off the TV and computer, throw away your mobile phone. Take some time to appreciate your environment by breaking up your day with quiet periods, at least once every couple of hours. Try to seek out somewhere quiet to get away from noisy situations and make the most of the chances for peace that you have. Eat your lunch outside on a park bench and not in the office or classroom.
Finding your own moments of peace and quiet is becoming an increasingly important part of maintaining all-round health. So take a moment to listen to nothing; your body will thank you for it.

Sample Answer:
Our world can be stressful with so (1) much noise around us, but there are ways to reduce it. We can turn off any sounds in our home, so then we might start to enjoy our surroundings (2) by sitting back, closing our eyes and thinking of images that relax us. We can start this (3) at the beginning of the day (4) and then increase the frequency by dividing up the day into times (5) where there are quiet periods. If we think more (6) deeply about the things that matter we might start (7) to reduce the sound of our idle chatter as (8) well.