Unseen Passage for Class 5 – Mixed
Reading tip (Scan, then read closely): Read the passage once for the main idea. Scan for the key word of the question. Read that sentence closely and choose the option it proves.
NameDateTime takenScore ___ / 12
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1.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.
What did Savitri sell? (a) Fruit (b) Clothes (c) Vegetables (d) Flowers -
2.Grandma Sushila could not read the small letters in her newspaper. Her glasses had broken last week. Her grandson Dev had an idea. Every morning before school, he read the news aloud to her. Grandma listened and asked many questions. Dev learned new words and began to read faster. After a month, Grandma got new glasses. But she still asked Dev to read to her on Sundays.
When did Dev read the news to her? (a) After dinner (b) At lunch time (c) Before school (d) At night -
3.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.”
What did Sherin learn to drive first? (a) A scooter (b) A bus (c) A car (d) A truck -
4.Kaziranga National Park is in Assam, on the banks of the Brahmaputra river. It is famous for the one-horned rhinoceros. More than half of all one-horned rhinos in the world live here. The park has tall elephant grass, swamps and forests. Tigers, wild elephants and wild buffaloes also live in the park. Every year, floods cover parts of the park, and animals move to higher ground. Visitors can see the animals from an open jeep.
What do animals do during floods? (a) Swim to the sea (b) Move to higher ground (c) Climb trees (d) Hide in caves -
5.Eid ul-Fitr is celebrated by Muslims at the end of Ramzan, the month of fasting. During Ramzan, people do not eat or drink from sunrise to sunset. Eid begins when the new moon is seen in the sky. On Eid morning, people wear new clothes and offer special prayers. Families give food and money to the poor. Friends hug one another and say “Eid Mubarak”. A sweet dish called sheer khurma is made with milk, vermicelli and dates. Children receive gifts called Eidi from elders.
When is Eid ul-Fitr celebrated? (a) In the middle of winter (b) At the start of Ramzan (c) At the end of Ramzan (d) On a full moon -
6.Onam is the harvest festival of Kerala. It falls in August or September, after the monsoon. People believe that the kind King Mahabali visits his people at this time. To welcome him, families make pookalam, a carpet of flower petals, in front of their homes. A grand meal called sadya is served on a banana leaf. It has more than twenty dishes. Snake boat races are held on the rivers. Everyone wears new clothes, and the whole state is full of joy.
Where are the snake boat races held? (a) In the hills (b) On the rivers (c) In school (d) On the roads -
7.Priya’s grandfather grew mangoes in his orchard in Ratnagiri. In summer, Priya visited him during the holidays. Every morning, they walked between the trees to check the ripe fruit. Grandfather taught her to pick a mango gently with a long pole and a net. They packed the mangoes in boxes lined with hay. The hay kept the fruit from getting bruised. On the last day, Priya took a box home for her neighbours.
Why were the boxes lined with hay? (a) To make them sweet (b) To keep them cold (c) To stop bruising (d) To keep insects off -
8.Bihu is the main festival of Assam. There are three Bihus in a year, linked to the seasons of farming. Rongali Bihu, in April, marks the Assamese New Year and the start of spring. Young people perform the lively Bihu dance in bright clothes. The beat of the dhol and the sound of the pepa, a buffalo-horn pipe, fill the air. People give one another a gamosa, a white cloth with red borders. Homes make sweets called pitha from rice. Bihu is a time to welcome new crops and new hope.
Rongali Bihu marks the start of which season? (a) Winter (b) Spring (c) Autumn (d) Monsoon -
9.Joseph loved flying kites on the terrace. On Makar Sankranti, the sky over Ahmedabad was full of colourful kites. Joseph’s kite was yellow with a green tail. It flew higher than all the others. Suddenly, the string broke and the kite drifted away. Joseph felt sad for a moment. Then his neighbour, Aunty Farida, gave him a new kite. Joseph smiled and flew it with her son till sunset.
Where did Joseph fly kites? (a) On the beach (b) In the field (c) On the terrace (d) In the park -
10.Durga Puja is the biggest festival of West Bengal. It is held in autumn, usually in October. Artists spend months making clay idols of Goddess Durga. The idols are placed in large decorated tents called pandals. For five days, people visit pandals, pray and enjoy music and food. Many pandals are built to look like palaces or temples. On the last day, the idols are carried to a river and immersed in the water. People say goodbye and hope the goddess returns next year.
What are the idols made of? (a) Clay (b) Metal (c) Wood (d) Stone -
11.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.
How many other farmers dug ponds? (a) Ten (b) Five (c) Two (d) Twenty -
12.Imran’s school started a vegetable garden behind the library. Each class got a small patch of land. Class 5 planted tomatoes, spinach and beans. Imran watered the plants every day during the lunch break. One week, insects began to eat the spinach leaves. The teacher showed them how to spray water mixed with neem. The insects went away. In winter, the class cooked a spinach soup for the whole school.
When did Imran water the plants? (a) After school (b) Before school (c) On Sundays (d) During lunch break
Answer key
- Vegetables
- Before school
- A scooter
- Move to higher ground
- At the end of Ramzan
- On the rivers
- To stop bruising
- Spring
- On the terrace
- Clay
- Ten
- During lunch break
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