Unseen Passage for Class 5 – Life Stories

Reading comprehension lesson 19: Life stories · Set 743 · 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.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) Forty kilometres (b) Ten kilometres (c) Four kilometres (d) Five kilometres
2. 2.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) Rahul (b) Arun (c) Ammini (d) Her son
3. 3.Joseph Pinto was the postman of a group of hill villages in Goa for thirty years. He walked about fifteen kilometres every day, because there were no roads for vehicles. In the rains, he wrapped the letters in plastic to keep them dry. Many old people could not read, so he read their letters aloud to them. He also wrote replies for them. When he retired, the villagers held a party under the big mango tree. They gave him a walking stick carved with all their names.
   
   What was Joseph Pinto’s job? (a) Postman (b) Teacher (c) Driver (d) Farmer
4. 4.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 was the shop called? (a) Bano Tailors (b) Noor Stitches (c) Grandma’s Shop (d) Lucknow Uniforms
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.
   
   How many women did she teach? (a) Three (b) Two (c) Five (d) Ten
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 Pooja study? (a) At a friend’s house (b) Under the street lamp (c) In a library (d) In a coaching class
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.
   
   How old was she when the floods came? (a) Sixty-five (b) Sixty (c) Seventy (d) Fifty
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 often did the ferry come before? (a) Twice a day (b) Once a day (c) Once a week (d) Every hour
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”.
   
   What does the village call her? (a) Teacher Amma (b) Kitab Amma (c) Library Nani (d) Book Didi
10. 10.Joseph Pinto was the postman of a group of hill villages in Goa for thirty years. He walked about fifteen kilometres every day, because there were no roads for vehicles. In the rains, he wrapped the letters in plastic to keep them dry. Many old people could not read, so he read their letters aloud to them. He also wrote replies for them. When he retired, the villagers held a party under the big mango tree. They gave him a walking stick carved with all their names.
    
    Why did he walk every day? (a) He had no bicycle (b) He liked walking (c) Doctors told him to (d) There were no roads
11. 11.Joseph Pinto was the postman of a group of hill villages in Goa for thirty years. He walked about fifteen kilometres every day, because there were no roads for vehicles. In the rains, he wrapped the letters in plastic to keep them dry. Many old people could not read, so he read their letters aloud to them. He also wrote replies for them. When he retired, the villagers held a party under the big mango tree. They gave him a walking stick carved with all their names.
    
    How did he keep letters dry? (a) Put them in a tin (b) Kept them at home (c) Used an umbrella (d) Wrapped them in plastic
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.
    
    What was Tsering’s job? (a) Farmer (b) Teacher (c) Electrician (d) Driver

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