Class 8 English Chapter 5 Practice Question Answers - The Summit Within

Q1: When was the first Indian expedition to Mount Everest held?
Ans: The first Indian expedition to Mount Everest was held in 1965.

Q2: Who was H.P.S. Ahluwalia?
Ans: H.P.S. Ahluwalia was a Major in the army who took part in the first Indian expedition to Mount Everest.

Q3: True - False:
(i) Major H.P.S. Ahluwalia was a member of the first successful Indian expedition to Mount Everest in 1965.
Ans: True
(ii) With every passing day, the thought of climbing the mount became more remote for Major H.P.S. Ahluwalia.
Ans: True
(ii) Major Ahluwalia chose Everest to climb because it is the highest, the mightiest, and has defied many previous attempts.
Ans: True
(iv) Major believed that once you start to climb Everest, you can give up halfway.
Ans: False

Q4: Fill in the blanks:
(i) Of all the emotions which surged through me as I stood on the summit of ______, looking over miles of the panorama below us, the dominant one I think was humility.
Ans: Everest
(ii) By climbing the summit of Everest, you are overwhelmed by a deep sense of ______.
Ans: joy and thankfulness
(iii) The man who has been to _____ is never the same again.
Ans: the mountains
(iv) As I look back at life after climbing Everest I cannot help remarking about the other summit — the summit of the mind — ______.
Ans: no less formidable and no easier to climb

Q5: Word - Meaning from the given chapter:
(i) Humility
Ans: Modesty
(ii) Formidable
Ans: Inspiring fear or respect
(iii) Endurance
Ans: Tolerating power
(iv) Communion
Ans: Friendship

Q6: What does he believe about climbing the summit of Everest?
Ans: Major Ahluwalia believes a profound sense of delight and gratitude comes from climbing the summit of Everest that will remain with the person for his whole life.

Q7: What does he say about a man who has climbed mountains?
Ans: Major Ahluwalia believes that once someone has climbed mountains it is completely changed. The experience changes the person.

Q8: What does he think of while looking back at having climbed the mountains?
Ans: When Major H.P.S. Ahluwalia looks back at life after climbing Everest Mountains, he does not think of any other summit. The summit of Everest is the summit of the mind.

Q9: What did he think of while getting down from the summit?
Ans: Major Ahluwalia when coming down from the summit, once his physical exhaustion vanished, he asked himself why he chose to climb Everest, why was he clingy about having climbed Everest.

Q10: What question and answer did he have to his questions about climbing Everest?
Ans: As he had climbed Everest himself, he had so many positive questions about his choice but he also wondered why people climb the mountains. He believed there is only one answer that the mountains are there for climbing.

Q11: What does climbing the mountain present?
Ans: Climbing the mountains is challenging. It presents great difficulties. Man takes pleasure in conquering obstacles. The obstacles in climbing a mountain are physical. A climb to a summit requires endurance, willpower, and persistence. It requires both the physical and mental power of a human.

Q12: Why did Major choose to climb the mountain? Answer in relevance with his personal choice.
Ans: Major chose to climb the mountain because since childhood he has been attracted by the mountains. He had been miserable and lost whenever he was in the plains, away from mountains. He believes that mountains are nature at their best. He also believed like everyone else that mountains are ways of making a connection with god.

Q13: What did he feel about glimpsing a peak in the distance?
Ans: Major Ahluwalia explains that while looking at the peak in the distance, he felt like he was in some other world. He experienced a change within himself which was kind of mystical. The beauty of the peak had his attention like Everest. It was an irresistible challenge for him.

Q14: To what questions does Major relate the question “why I climbed Everest”?
Ans: Major relates his question “why I climbed Everest” to the questions asked such as “Why you breathe, why do you help your neighbor? Why do you want to do good?'' He believes that there is never a final answer to this question the same as there is no answer to these questions.

Q15: Write three stanzas of the poem “The School Boy”.
Ans:
I love to rise in a summer morn,
When the birds sing on every tree;
The distant huntsman winds his horn,
And the skylark sings with me.
O! What sweet company.

But to go to school in a summer morn,
O! it drives all joy away;
Under a cruel eye outworn,
The little ones spend the day,
In sighing and dismay.

Ah! Then at times I drooping sit,
And spend many anxious hours.
Nor in my book can I take delight,
Nor sit in learning’s bower,
Worn throw with the dreary shower.

Q16: How does he answer his question: why did he choose Everest?
Ans: He had answers to all his questions. He knew that climbing Everest is a great challenge as it is the highest and the mightiest peak. It even requires the last ounce of energy left in the person. Once a person has begun the journey, he cannot give up halfway, even if his life is at risk. The passage of going back is as difficult as the passage of going forward. Climbing the mountain gave him a sense of joy and thankfulness, a sense of battling and winning.

Q17: What is more to the fact that Everest is just a physical climb?
Ans: There is more to the fact that Everest is more than a physical climb. One who climbs the mountain-top becomes conscious in a special manner of his smallness in this big universe. The physical conquest can be considered only one part of the achievement. There is more to it than just climbing the mountain. The experience is both emotional and spiritual. The achievement is followed by a sense of fulfillment. There is the contentment of a deep urge to ascend above one’s surroundings. It happens because of the eternal love for adventure in an individual.

Q18: You draw inspiration from each other. And then, without first being aware of it, you are at the summit. What did Major Ahluwalia mean by this?
Ans: While explaining his summit to the mountain, Major told that while going towards the summit on the last heights, you share a rope with another climber that is when you have to hold it. Your partner cuts the step in the hard ice and you inch your way up. The climb is grim. Breathing gets difficult, you feel like giving up. But still, you go on and on. You and your companion are each other’s strengths. You both become each other’s inspiration, this goes on and in no time, you are at the summit.

Q19: “These are not symbols of conquest but of reverence.” Why does Major speak these lines? What does he mean?
Ans: When Major and his companions had reached the summit, they knew it was worthwhile. He looks at the beauty of the mountain and sees how the peak looks like a jeweled necklace around the neck of your summit. They are grateful to God for keeping them alive through the journey. They bowed down and made their obeisance to God they worshipped. Each one of them left a picture on the Everest of their Gods. Major Ahluwalia left a picture of Guru Nanak, Rawat left a picture of Goddess Durga, Phu Dorji left a relic of Buddha, and Edmund Hillary buried a cross under a cairn in the mountains. It did not mean they had won, to them they paid respect to God and nature.

Q20: “There is another summit. It is within yourself.” What does the author mean by these lines?
Ans: The author meant that there is another summit, it is within oneself. It is in one’s mind. Each man carries within himself his mountain peak. One must climb it to reach the last limit of his knowledge. It is scary, it cannot be measured, and no one else can climb it for someone else. Only the person himself can do it. It is strenuous physically, mentally, and emotionally. Its effect is similar to climbing the mountain, you feel thrilled. There is a change in a person that nothing else could bring than trying to be better with each passing day.