COMPREHENSION - HINTS

COMPREHENSION

1. Read the passage / story quickly toget the general ideas.
2. Read it again slowly to know the details.
3. Study the questions thoroughly. Turn tothe relevant portion of the passage / story . Read them again and write neatly in your own words.
4. Answer in complete sentences. If the questions require one word answer then you can give the one word answer. Answers should not be lengthy.
5. If you are asked to give the meaning of any word you should expess the ideas as clearly as possible in your own words.
6. If you are required to give a title or heading to the passage/ story, you can name it either after the main character,object, incident mentioned in the passage, or after some saying or proverb illustrated by the passage.
7. Give a suitable title.

A FEW EXAMPLES

LINCOLN - THE PRESIDENT OF AMERICA

Abraham Lincoln is one of those great men whose life-story is also the history of the nation to which they belong. The famous phrase " from log cabin to White House " sums up the career of Abraham Lincoln. However, his greatness does not lie in the fulfilment of his personal ambition, but in his work for his country and for humanity. It is to him, as to no other individual, that the United States of America owes its present position as one of the greatest world powers. It was Lincoln who laid the foundation of freedom and unity. And yet after having accomplished all this, he had the humility to say, "I have done nothing to make any human being remember that I have lived."
QUESTIONS:
1) To whom does the USA owe its present position ?
2) Which line in the paragraph speaks of his humility ?
3) Pick out the phrase that tells that from a poor family he became the President of America.
4) In what does the greatness of Lincoln lie ?
5) Give a suitable title.

FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE - LADY WITH THE LAMP

Florence Nightingale was moved to tears when she read about the distress of the poor wounded soldiers at Scutary. Wounded soldiers were dying in hundreds everyday. There were only a few doctors and nurses to attend the large number of wounded soldiers who were brought from the battlefield. At that time women nurses were never heard of in army hospitals. But the cry of the wounded soldiers reached the ears of Miss Nightingale and she offered her services as a nurse at the Military Hospital at Scutary. Her offer was accepted by the government. With a little band of thirty-eight nurses she sailed for Scutary.
QUESTIONS:
1) What made Miss Nightingale very sad ?
2) Why were the wounded soldiers dying in hundreds ?
3) Why did Nightingale offer her services at the hospital ?
4) Who went with her to Scutary ?
5) Give a suitable title for the passage.

HELLEN KELLER - BLIND LADY WITH A VISION

Helen Keller was aged two when an illness took away her sight and hearing. Since she was deaf she also lost the ability to speak, for we learn to speak by imitating what we hear. So as a child she lived in a dark and silent world. At first it seemed impossible that she would ever understand others or be understood by them. Hers was thus a very lonely world. She was helped by a wonderful teacher called Miss Sullivan. She was blind as child but recovered her sight after an operation. Miss Sullivan volunteered to help Helen and taught her to speak, read and write. Helen, later, went to a university and even gained a degree. She then spent the rest of her life working to help the blind and the deaf.
QUESTIONS:
1) How old was Helen Keller when she lost her sight and hearing ?
2) Why did Helen live in a "dark" and "silent" world ?
3) Who helped Helen in learning ?
4) How did Helen make use of her education ?
5) Give a suitable title.

WORLD WATER DAY - CONSERVE WATER

‘World Water Day’ is observed on every March 22 since 1993. The United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution A/RES/47/193 of 22 December 1992 by which 22 March of each year was declared World Day for Water, to be observed starting in 1993, in conformity with the recommendations of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), held in Rio de Janeiro, contained in Chapter 18 (Fresh Water Resources) of Agenda 21. Member contries were invited to devote the day, as appropriate in the national context, to concrete activities such as the promotion of public awareness through the publication and diffusion of documentaries and the organization of conferences, round tables, seminars and expositions related to the conservation and development of water resources and the implementation of the recommendations. Officially the UN Water group decides each year a specific theme to mark the occasion. The theme of 2008 is "Water and Sanitation".
QUESTIONS:
1) When is ‘World Water Day’ observed ?
2) Why is ‘World Water Day’ observed ?
3) Which is the agency that has declared ‘World Water Day’ ?
4) What is the theme of ‘World Water Day’ 2008 ?
5) Give a suitable title.

FATHER'S DAY - THANK YOU FATHER

Do you know that every 3rd Sunday of June is celebrated as the national ‘Father’s Day’? It is a national day in America. Sonora Smart Dodd of Washington State proposed the idea of the ‘Father’s Day’ in 1909 to honor her father, William Smart. Mr. Smart, a Civil War veteran, raised his 6 children (including Sonora) by himself on a rural farm in Eastern Washington State after his wife (Sonora’s mother) died in childbirth with their 6th child.
The first ‘Father’s Day’ was observed on June 19, 1910 in Spokane, Washington. At about the same time in various towns and cities across USA, the other people began to celebrate the Father’s Day. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge supported the idea of a ‘National Father’s Day’, but it took many years until 1966 when President Lyndon Johnson finally signed a presidential proclamation declaring the 3rd Sunday of every June.
Father’s Day has become a day not only to honor your father, but all father figures. Stepfathers, uncles, grandfathers, and adult male friends shall be honored on ‘Father’s Day’.
QUESTIONS:
1) When is ‘Father’s Day’ observed ?
2) Why is ‘Father’s Day’ observed ?
3) When was the first ‘Father’s Day’ observed ?
4) Who is the President who supported the idea of ‘National Father’s Day’?
5) Who implemented the idea and when?

ANIMAL WELFARE DAY - LOVE THEM

World Animal Welfare Day is celebrated every year on the 4th of October in memory of the patron of animals St. Francis of Assissi who died on 4-10-1226.
India has a rich and varied fauna that includes about 85,000 species, of which 340 species are mammals, 1,200 birds, 420 reptiles, 140 amphibians, 2,000 fish, 50,000 insects, and 4,000 molluscs and other invertebrates. Habitat destruction, hunting and poaching, pollution are the main cause for extinction of wild animals.
The Top 10 animals that are extinct now are : Aurochs (1627), Aepyornis (1649), Dodo (1681), Steller’s Sea Cow (1768), Great Auk (1844), Tarpan (1851), Quagga (1883), Guadalupe Island Caracara(1900) Passenger Pigeon (1914), Carolina Parakeet(1918).
The Top 10 animals which are facing extinction now are : Tasmanian Wolf, Halcon Fruit Bat, Ghana Fat Mouse, Kouprey, Javan Rhinoceros, Iriomote Cat, Black Lion Tamarin, Pygmy Hog, Tamaraw, Indus Dolphin.
QUESTIONS:
1) When is ‘World Animal Welfare Day’ celebrated ?
2) Why is ‘World Animal Welfare Day’ celebrated ?
3) Who is the patron saint of animals ?
4) Name some of the animals which are already extinct.
5) Name some of the animals which are facing extinction now.