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Unseen Passage for Class 5 – Mixed

Reading comprehension lesson 20: Class 5 practice test · Set 231 · 12 questions
TalentJR

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.

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  1. 1.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 teacher (b) Her mother (c) Her father (d) Her brother
  2. 2.Baisakhi is a harvest festival celebrated mainly in Punjab. It falls on 13 or 14 April every year. By this time, the wheat crop is ripe and ready to be cut. Farmers thank God for a good harvest. For Sikhs, the day is also important because the Khalsa was founded on Baisakhi. People visit gurdwaras and share a free meal called langar. Men and women dance the bhangra and giddha to the beat of the dhol. Fairs with swings and food stalls are held in many villages.

    In which month is Baisakhi?
    (a) August (b) January (c) October (d) April
  3. 3.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.

    What was Gopal’s work?
    (a) Painter (b) Tailor (c) Potter (d) Farmer
  4. 4.Diwali is called the festival of lights. It is celebrated in October or November, on the darkest night of the month. Before Diwali, people clean their homes and buy new clothes. In the evening, rows of small clay lamps called diyas are lit everywhere. Many families draw rangoli patterns with coloured powder at the door. People share sweets with neighbours and friends. Many people now choose green celebrations without loud crackers. The lights stand for the victory of good over evil.

    What is Diwali called?
    (a) The festival of kites (b) The harvest festival (c) The festival of lights (d) The festival of colours
  5. 5.Lakshmi’s village had no bridge over the stream. In the rainy season, the water rose high and children could not reach school. One year, the villagers decided to build a bamboo bridge. The men cut bamboo, and the women tied it with strong ropes. The children carried water and food for the workers. In ten days, the bridge was ready. Now everyone could cross the stream even in the rains. Lakshmi called it the “Together Bridge”.

    What did Lakshmi call the bridge?
    (a) The Rainy Bridge (b) The Together Bridge (c) The School Bridge (d) The Bamboo Bridge
  6. 6.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
  7. 7.Every winter, Sunil and his father go to the lake near their village in Rajasthan. Thousands of birds fly there from cold countries. Sunil counts the cranes and the ducks in his notebook. This year he saw a flamingo for the first time. Its legs were long and its feathers were pink. Sunil’s father told him never to throw stones at the birds. They watched quietly from behind the bushes. At sunset, the birds flew together across the orange sky.

    When do Sunil and his father go to the lake?
    (a) Every month (b) Every summer (c) Every winter (d) In the rains
  8. 8.Ladakh is a cold desert high in the Himalayas. It gets very little rain or snow, so the mountains are mostly bare and brown. Winters are freezing, and temperatures can drop far below zero. The air is thin at this height, so visitors must rest on their first day. People grow barley and apricots in the short summer. Yaks give milk, wool and help to carry loads. Buddhist monasteries, called gompas, stand on hilltops. Pangong Lake changes colour from blue to green during the day.

    What are gompas?
    (a) Yak farms (b) Woollen coats (c) Mountain lakes (d) Buddhist monasteries
  9. 9.Pongal is a harvest festival of Tamil Nadu. It is celebrated in the middle of January and lasts for four days. Families thank the Sun God for a good harvest. They boil fresh rice with milk and jaggery in a new clay pot. When the pot boils over, people shout, “Pongalo Pongal!” The overflowing pot is a sign of plenty. On the third day, cattle are washed and decorated with paint and bells. Houses are decorated with colourful kolams at the door.

    Pongal is a festival of which state?
    (a) Tamil Nadu (b) Punjab (c) Assam (d) Kerala
  10. 10.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 bus (b) A car (c) A truck (d) A scooter
  11. 11.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 pandals?
    (a) Clay idols (b) Sweets (c) Decorated tents (d) Rivers
  12. 12.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.

    True or false: Savitri learned to read prices within a year.
    (a) False (b) True

Answer key

  1. Her father
  2. April
  3. Potter
  4. The festival of lights
  5. The Together Bridge
  6. Runs her own garage
  7. Every winter
  8. Buddhist monasteries
  9. Tamil Nadu
  10. A scooter
  11. Decorated tents
  12. True

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