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Unseen Passage for Class 5 – Mixed

Reading comprehension lesson 20: Class 5 practice test · Set 327 · 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.

NameDateTime takenScore ___ / 12
  1. 1.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 Ramesh sit?
    (a) Under a neem tree (b) Inside the bus stand (c) In a big shop (d) Under a banyan tree
  2. 2.Riya and her brother found a lost puppy outside their building in Pune. It was wet and shivering after the rain. Riya wrapped it in an old towel. Her brother brought a bowl of warm milk. The puppy had a blue collar with a phone number on it. Their mother called the number. An hour later, a young girl came running to their door. She hugged the puppy and thanked them again and again.

    How did they find the owner?
    (a) Asked the guard (b) Went to a vet (c) Put up posters (d) Called the number
  3. 3.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.

    Why could Grandma not read the newspaper?
    (a) She was sleepy (b) The paper was late (c) She was too busy (d) Her glasses broke
  4. 4.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) Woollen coats (b) Yak farms (c) Mountain lakes (d) Buddhist monasteries
  5. 5.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.

    Onam is the harvest festival of which state?
    (a) Kerala (b) Odisha (c) Bihar (d) Tamil Nadu
  6. 6.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.

    Who told her that bees help plants?
    (a) A neighbour (b) A visitor (c) Her teacher (d) Her mother
  7. 7.Ananya and her friends went trekking in the hills near Shimla. Their guide, Bhola, walked in front with a stick. After two hours, thick fog covered the path. Bhola told everyone to hold hands and walk slowly. He knew the path by the sound of a small waterfall. Soon the fog cleared, and they saw snowy peaks far away. Ananya took a photo and shared her biscuits with Bhola.

    Who was the guide?
    (a) Ananya (b) A teacher (c) A soldier (d) Bhola
  8. 8.Dasan was a fisherman in a coastal village in Tamil Nadu. He knew the sea better than anyone in his village. One stormy night, a small boat with three young fishermen was caught in big waves. Everyone else was too scared to go out. Dasan tied a rope to his own boat and rowed into the storm. After an hour, he came back pulling the small boat behind him. All three young men were safe. Since then, Dasan has trained many villagers to swim and save lives at sea.

    Why did no one else go out?
    (a) They had no boats (b) They were asleep (c) They were away (d) They were too scared
  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) Book Didi (b) Teacher Amma (c) Library Nani (d) Kitab Amma
  10. 10.Holi is the festival of colours, usually celebrated in March. It marks the end of winter and the coming of spring. On the night before Holi, people light a bonfire called Holika Dahan. The bonfire stands for good winning over evil. Next morning, friends throw coloured powder, called gulal, at one another. Children fill water guns, called pichkaris, with coloured water. Many people now use colours made from flowers, which are safe for the skin. Later, everyone washes up and shares sweets like gujiya.

    What is the bonfire called?
    (a) Holika Dahan (b) Pichkari (c) Gulal (d) Gujiya
  11. 11.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.

    What is langar?
    (a) A drum (b) A dance (c) A free meal (d) A fair
  12. 12.Meera’s class was planning a trip to the zoo. Everyone had to bring a water bottle and a cap. On the day of the trip, it was very hot. Meera saw that her friend Salma had forgotten her cap. Meera had two caps in her bag, so she gave one to Salma. At the zoo, they watched the tigers sleep in the shade. They also fed the deer with leaves. On the bus home, Salma thanked Meera for the cap.

    What had Salma forgotten?
    (a) Her bag (b) Her bottle (c) Her lunch (d) Her cap

Answer key

  1. Under a neem tree
  2. Called the number
  3. Her glasses broke
  4. Buddhist monasteries
  5. Kerala
  6. A visitor
  7. Bhola
  8. They were too scared
  9. Kitab Amma
  10. Holika Dahan
  11. A free meal
  12. Her cap

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