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Unseen Passage for Class 5 – Life Stories

Reading comprehension lesson 19: Life stories · Set 437 · 12 questions
TalentJR

Reading tip (Follow the person): Find the person and the problem they saw. Follow what they did, in order. Find what changed in the end, and why.

NameDateTime takenScore ___ / 12
  1. 1.Suresh worked as a guard in a factory in Ranchi. On Sundays, he coached cricket in an empty field near his home. At first only boys came. One day, a girl named Salma asked if she could play too. Suresh gave her a bat and watched her hit the ball over the fence. Soon more girls joined, and he started a girls’ team. He bought balls and pads with his own savings. Last year, his team won the district cup.

    When did he coach cricket?
    (a) On Sundays (b) Every morning (c) Every evening (d) On Saturdays
  2. 2.Uncle Shankar has driven the school bus in Mysuru for twenty-two years. He knows the name of every child who rides with him. He keeps a notebook with all their birthdays. On each birthday, he plays a song and gives the child a toffee. He never drives fast, even when the bus is late. Once, he stopped the bus to help an old woman cross the road. Many of his first students now send their own children on his bus. They say he is part of their family.

    True or false: Shankar drives fast when the bus is late.
    (a) False (b) True
  3. 3.Thangam lived in a village in the Nilgiri hills of Tamil Nadu. Her family grew vegetables, but the plants gave few beans. A visitor from the farm college told her that bees help plants make fruit and seeds. Thangam learned to keep bees in wooden boxes. She placed the boxes at the edge of the fields. That season, the plants gave many more beans. She also sold honey at the weekly market. Now many families in her village keep bees too.

    Where did Thangam live?
    (a) In a big city (b) In the Thar desert (c) In the Nilgiri hills (d) Near the sea
  4. 4.Tsering Dorje was an electrician in a small village in Ladakh. In winter, the village often lost power for days. Tsering learned how to set up solar panels at a training camp in Leh. He fixed panels on the roof of the village school first. Now the classrooms have lights even on the coldest days. Then he helped every home in the village get a solar lamp. Children can study after dark. The villagers call him the man who brought the sun indoors.

    What was Tsering’s job?
    (a) Teacher (b) Electrician (c) Driver (d) Farmer
  5. 5.Noor Bano learned sewing from her grandmother in Lucknow. After her husband fell ill, she needed to earn money for the family. She started stitching school uniforms on an old sewing machine at home. Her work was neat, and soon many parents came to her. She taught five women from her lane to sew as well. Together, they opened a small shop called Noor Stitches. Now they make uniforms for three schools. Noor Bano says that a skill grows when it is shared.

    Why did she need to earn money?
    (a) Her husband fell ill (b) She wanted a car (c) She lost her shop (d) She moved city
  6. 6.Ramesh was a cobbler who sat under a neem tree near the bus stand in Nagpur. He mended shoes and bags from morning till night. He earned very little, but he saved a few coins every day in a tin box. His dream was to send his daughter, Pooja, to college. Pooja studied hard under the street lamp after helping her father. When she finished school, Ramesh opened the tin box. There was enough money for her first year at college. Today Pooja is a nurse.

    Where did Ramesh sit?
    (a) Under a neem tree (b) In a big shop (c) Inside the bus stand (d) Under a banyan tree
  7. 7.Thangam lived in a village in the Nilgiri hills of Tamil Nadu. Her family grew vegetables, but the plants gave few beans. A visitor from the farm college told her that bees help plants make fruit and seeds. Thangam learned to keep bees in wooden boxes. She placed the boxes at the edge of the fields. That season, the plants gave many more beans. She also sold honey at the weekly market. Now many families in her village keep bees too.

    What is the main idea of the passage?
    (a) Hills are cold (b) Honey is sweet (c) Bees helped her farm (d) Markets are busy
  8. 8.Uncle Shankar has driven the school bus in Mysuru for twenty-two years. He knows the name of every child who rides with him. He keeps a notebook with all their birthdays. On each birthday, he plays a song and gives the child a toffee. He never drives fast, even when the bus is late. Once, he stopped the bus to help an old woman cross the road. Many of his first students now send their own children on his bus. They say he is part of their family.

    Why did he once stop the bus?
    (a) To pick up a child (b) To help an old woman (c) To fix a tyre (d) To buy toffees
  9. 9.Every evening, Mohan closed his tea stall near the railway station in Kanpur. Then he spread a mat under a street light. Children who could not go to school came there to learn. Mohan had studied only up to Class 10, but he taught them reading and simple maths. He bought chalk and slates with the money he earned from selling tea. Some of his students later joined the government school nearby. One of them, Ravi, is now a teacher himself. Mohan still runs his stall and his evening class.

    What did he buy with his money?
    (a) Chalk and slates (b) Uniforms (c) Story books (d) A blackboard
  10. 10.Kamala Devi grew up in a village in Bihar where there were no books. She learned to read only after she got married, with help from her daughter. Reading made her feel she could see the whole world. In 2005, she cleared one room of her house and filled it with old books. She asked people in the town to give away books they did not need. Soon, children came every evening to read and do homework. Today the library has over three thousand books. The village calls her “Kitab Amma”.

    What does the village call her?
    (a) Book Didi (b) Library Nani (c) Teacher Amma (d) Kitab Amma
  11. 11.Thangam lived in a village in the Nilgiri hills of Tamil Nadu. Her family grew vegetables, but the plants gave few beans. A visitor from the farm college told her that bees help plants make fruit and seeds. Thangam learned to keep bees in wooden boxes. She placed the boxes at the edge of the fields. That season, the plants gave many more beans. She also sold honey at the weekly market. Now many families in her village keep bees too.

    Who told her that bees help plants?
    (a) A neighbour (b) Her teacher (c) Her mother (d) A visitor
  12. 12.Savitri sold vegetables from a cart in the lanes of Bhopal. She could not read, so she found it hard to keep accounts. Her granddaughter Komal taught her numbers and letters every night. Within a year, Savitri could read prices and write her own accounts. She started keeping a notebook of what she sold each day. With the money she saved, she bought a bigger cart with a shade on top. Now Savitri helps other sellers learn to count and write.

    Who taught her numbers and letters?
    (a) Another seller (b) A teacher (c) Her son (d) Komal

Answer key

  1. On Sundays
  2. False
  3. In the Nilgiri hills
  4. Electrician
  5. Her husband fell ill
  6. Under a neem tree
  7. Bees helped her farm
  8. To help an old woman
  9. Chalk and slates
  10. Kitab Amma
  11. A visitor
  12. Komal

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