Unseen Passage for Class 5 – Life Stories

Reading comprehension lesson 19: Life stories · Set 586 · 12 questions

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.

1. 1.Lalita Ben lived at the foot of a bare, rocky hill in Gujarat. When she was young, the hill had many trees, but people had cut them for firewood. Lalita Ben decided to plant one sapling every week. She carried water up the hill in two pots every morning. Goats ate many of her young plants, so she built fences of thorny branches. After twenty years, a small forest covered the hill. Birds and rabbits came back to live there. Children now call it “Lalita’s Forest”.
   
   What were the fences made of? (a) Thorny branches (b) Bamboo (c) Bricks (d) Iron wire
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 did Rekha open up as a girl? (a) Old cameras (b) New phones (c) Toy cars (d) Old radios and clocks
3. 3.Lalita Ben lived at the foot of a bare, rocky hill in Gujarat. When she was young, the hill had many trees, but people had cut them for firewood. Lalita Ben decided to plant one sapling every week. She carried water up the hill in two pots every morning. Goats ate many of her young plants, so she built fences of thorny branches. After twenty years, a small forest covered the hill. Birds and rabbits came back to live there. Children now call it “Lalita’s Forest”.
   
   Why did she build fences? (a) To stop the wind (b) To mark her land (c) To keep out children (d) Goats ate the plants
4. 4.Every morning, Rupa rows a boat across the wide river in her village in Assam. Before, children had to wait for a ferry that came only twice a day. Many of them missed school. Rupa had grown up rowing with her father, who was a boatman. She decided to take the children across herself. She leaves at seven every morning and comes back for them at three. She asks for no money. Parents say their children have not missed a day since.
   
   With whom did Rupa grow up rowing? (a) Her brother (b) Her teacher (c) Her mother (d) Her father
5. 5.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 did some customers not trust her to do? (a) Repair their scooters (b) Run a garage (c) Teach girls (d) Drive a car
6. 6.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”.
   
   How did she get more books? (a) She bought new ones (b) The school sent them (c) People gave old books (d) She wrote them
7. 7.Ammini Amma lived beside a river in Kerala but never learned to swim. When she was sixty, floods came to her village. She was scared and had to be rescued in a boat. After the floods, she decided to learn swimming. Every morning, she practised in the river with a young coach named Arun. Within three months, she could swim across the river. Now, at sixty-five, she teaches swimming to village children for free. She says it is never too late to learn.
   
   Who was her coach? (a) Ammini (b) Rahul (c) Her son (d) Arun
8. 8.Every morning, Rupa rows a boat across the wide river in her village in Assam. Before, children had to wait for a ferry that came only twice a day. Many of them missed school. Rupa had grown up rowing with her father, who was a boatman. She decided to take the children across herself. She leaves at seven every morning and comes back for them at three. She asks for no money. Parents say their children have not missed a day since.
   
   How much money does Rupa ask for? (a) Fifty rupees (b) A little (c) Ten rupees (d) None
9. 9.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”.
   
   Where did Kamala Devi grow up? (a) In a village in Bihar (b) In a town in Assam (c) In Delhi (d) In a city in Bihar
10. 10.Gopal was a potter in a small town in West Bengal. People had started buying plastic pots, and his business was slow. One day, his son suggested making clay water bottles and lamps with painted designs. Gopal was unsure, but he tried. His son showed the new pots at a town fair. Many visitors liked them because clay keeps water cool naturally. Soon orders came from other cities. Now Gopal teaches young people in his town to make pottery.
    
    Why was his business slow? (a) His shop closed (b) Clay was costly (c) He was ill (d) People bought plastic
11. 11.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 was his dream? (a) Move to a city (b) Buy a bus (c) Send Pooja to college (d) Buy a big shop
12. 12.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.
    
    Where did he fix panels first? (a) On a shop (b) On the school roof (c) On his own house (d) On the temple

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