Unseen Passage for Class 5 – Life Stories

Reading comprehension lesson 19: Life stories · Set 802 · 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.As a child in Kochi, Sherin loved watching the big blue buses go by. Her uncle was a bus driver, and he sometimes let her sit in the front seat. People laughed when she said she would drive a bus one day. Sherin learned to drive a scooter, then a car, and then a heavy vehicle. She practised for months and passed a difficult driving test. At twenty-four, she became the first woman bus driver in her depot. She says, “Never let anyone laugh away your dream.”
   
   How old was she when she became a bus driver? (a) Eighteen (b) Thirty (c) Twenty (d) Twenty-four
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) Toy cars (b) Old cameras (c) Old radios and clocks (d) New phones
3. 3.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) Nine (b) Eleven (c) Fifteen (d) Twenty-six
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) Lucknow Uniforms (c) Noor Stitches (d) Grandma’s Shop
5. 5.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.
   
   In what did she keep bees? (a) Clay pots (b) Tree holes (c) Wooden boxes (d) Baskets
6. 6.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) There were no roads (b) He liked walking (c) Doctors told him to (d) He had no bicycle
7. 7.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) Wedding dresses (b) Curtains (c) Bags (d) School uniforms
8. 8.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 Saturdays (b) Every evening (c) On Sundays (d) Every morning
9. 9.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) Once a day (b) Once a week (c) Twice a day (d) Every hour
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”.
    
    How did she get more books? (a) The school sent them (b) People gave old books (c) She wrote them (d) She bought new ones
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.
    
    Where did he save coins? (a) In a bag (b) In a bank (c) Under his mat (d) In a tin box
12. 12.As a child in Kochi, Sherin loved watching the big blue buses go by. Her uncle was a bus driver, and he sometimes let her sit in the front seat. People laughed when she said she would drive a bus one day. Sherin learned to drive a scooter, then a car, and then a heavy vehicle. She practised for months and passed a difficult driving test. At twenty-four, she became the first woman bus driver in her depot. She says, “Never let anyone laugh away your dream.”
    
    Where did Sherin grow up? (a) Chennai (b) Kochi (c) Mumbai (d) Mysuru

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