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Unseen Passage for Class 5 – Life Stories

Reading comprehension lesson 19: Life stories · Set 530 · 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.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) A blackboard (c) Uniforms (d) Story books
  2. 2.Rekha always loved fixing things. As a girl in Indore, she opened up old radios and clocks to see how they worked. After school, she joined a training course for motor mechanics. She was the only girl in a class of thirty. At first, some customers did not trust her to repair their scooters. Rekha did not give up and worked carefully. Slowly, people saw that her repairs lasted longest. Today she runs her own garage and trains other girls.

    What does Rekha do today?
    (a) Teaches at school (b) Sells radios (c) Runs her own garage (d) Drives a bus
  3. 3.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.

    What is Pooja today?
    (a) A teacher (b) A cobbler (c) A nurse (d) A doctor
  4. 4.Fatima lived in a village in Rajasthan where the nearest doctor was forty kilometres away. When she was eleven, her little brother fell very sick. They had to travel all night to reach a hospital. That night, Fatima decided to become a doctor. She studied by a kerosene lamp and walked five kilometres to school. Her teachers helped her prepare for the medical exam. She became a doctor at twenty-six. Then she came back and opened a small clinic in her own village.

    How far away was the nearest doctor?
    (a) Four kilometres (b) Five kilometres (c) Ten kilometres (d) Forty kilometres
  5. 5.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) Every evening (b) Every morning (c) On Saturdays (d) On Sundays
  6. 6.Fatima lived in a village in Rajasthan where the nearest doctor was forty kilometres away. When she was eleven, her little brother fell very sick. They had to travel all night to reach a hospital. That night, Fatima decided to become a doctor. She studied by a kerosene lamp and walked five kilometres to school. Her teachers helped her prepare for the medical exam. She became a doctor at twenty-six. Then she came back and opened a small clinic in her own village.

    Where did she open her clinic?
    (a) In Jaipur (b) In her own village (c) Near the hospital (d) In a big city
  7. 7.Fatima lived in a village in Rajasthan where the nearest doctor was forty kilometres away. When she was eleven, her little brother fell very sick. They had to travel all night to reach a hospital. That night, Fatima decided to become a doctor. She studied by a kerosene lamp and walked five kilometres to school. Her teachers helped her prepare for the medical exam. She became a doctor at twenty-six. Then she came back and opened a small clinic in her own village.

    Why did Fatima decide to become a doctor?
    (a) Her brother fell sick (b) She won a prize (c) She liked hospitals (d) Her teacher told her
  8. 8.Bhimrao was a farmer in a dry village in Maharashtra. For many years, his wells dried up before summer. He watched the rainwater rush away down the hill every monsoon. One year, he dug a small pond at the low end of his field. He also planted trees along the edges to hold the soil. The pond filled with rain and slowly soaked into the ground. The next summer, his well still had water. Soon, ten other farmers in the village dug ponds too.

    Where did he dig the pond?
    (a) On top of the hill (b) In the village square (c) At the field’s low end (d) Near his house
  9. 9.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.

    How did he pay for balls and pads?
    (a) A school gave money (b) With his own savings (c) The girls paid (d) The factory paid
  10. 10.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.

    What did she stitch at first?
    (a) Curtains (b) School uniforms (c) Wedding dresses (d) Bags
  11. 11.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
  12. 12.Fatima lived in a village in Rajasthan where the nearest doctor was forty kilometres away. When she was eleven, her little brother fell very sick. They had to travel all night to reach a hospital. That night, Fatima decided to become a doctor. She studied by a kerosene lamp and walked five kilometres to school. Her teachers helped her prepare for the medical exam. She became a doctor at twenty-six. Then she came back and opened a small clinic in her own village.

    How old was Fatima when her brother fell sick?
    (a) Twenty-six (b) Nine (c) Fifteen (d) Eleven

Answer key

  1. Chalk and slates
  2. Runs her own garage
  3. A nurse
  4. Forty kilometres
  5. On Sundays
  6. In her own village
  7. Her brother fell sick
  8. At the field’s low end
  9. With his own savings
  10. School uniforms
  11. To help an old woman
  12. Eleven

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