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Unseen Passage for Class 6 with Questions

Reading comprehension lesson 21: Science and environment passages · Set 100 · 12 questions
TalentJR

Reading tip (Cause and effect): Find the topic of the passage in the first sentence. Look for cause-and-effect words: because, so, as a result. Work out new science words from the sentence that explains them.

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  1. 1.A vaccine helps the body fight a disease before the disease attacks. It contains a weak or harmless form of a germ. The body’s defence system learns to recognise it. It then makes special fighters called antibodies. Later, if the real germ enters, the body knows how to beat it quickly. Children in India get vaccines against polio, measles and other diseases. Most vaccines are given as injections, but the polio vaccine can be given as drops. Vaccines have saved millions of lives.

    What happens if the real germ enters later?
    (a) Nothing at all (b) The body gets weaker (c) The body beats it fast (d) The germ grows bigger
  2. 2.Every living thing needs food for energy. Plants make their own food using sunlight. A grasshopper eats grass. A frog eats the grasshopper. A snake eats the frog, and an eagle eats the snake. This link of who eats whom is called a food chain. Every food chain begins with a green plant. If one link disappears, the whole chain is affected.

    What does every food chain begin with?
    (a) A snake (b) A green plant (c) A frog (d) An eagle
  3. 3.Mangroves are trees that grow in salty water along the coast. Their roots stick out of the mud like knobbly fingers. These roots help the trees breathe in wet, airless soil. Mangrove forests protect the coast from strong waves and storms. They also give shelter to fish, crabs and birds. The Sundarbans, shared by India and Bangladesh, is the largest mangrove forest in the world. It is home to the Royal Bengal tiger. Cutting mangroves leaves the coast open to damage.

    What do mangrove forests protect the coast from?
    (a) Hot sunshine (b) Snowfall (c) Earthquakes (d) Strong waves and storms
  4. 4.The Earth spins like a top on an imaginary line called its axis. One full spin takes about twenty-four hours. As the Earth spins, one half faces the Sun and has day. The other half faces away and has night. The Earth also moves around the Sun. One trip around the Sun takes about 365 days, which is one year. The tilt of the Earth’s axis gives us seasons. So spinning gives us day and night, while the tilt and the yearly trip give us seasons.

    How long does one trip around the Sun take?
    (a) About 24 hours (b) About 365 days (c) About 30 days (d) About 100 days
  5. 5.Plastic is cheap, light and strong. But most plastic does not rot away like leaves or fruit peels. A plastic bag may stay in the soil for hundreds of years. Plastic thrown on the road often blocks drains during the monsoon. Cows and other animals sometimes swallow plastic with food scraps. In the sea, turtles can mistake floating bags for jellyfish. We can help by carrying cloth bags and saying no to straws. Sorting dry and wet waste at home also helps.

    What can plastic on roads block during the monsoon?
    (a) rivers (b) trains (c) drains (d) clouds
  6. 6.Earthworms are called the farmer’s friends. They dig tunnels as they move through the soil. These tunnels let air and water reach plant roots. Earthworms eat dead leaves and bits of rotting plants. Their waste, called castings, makes the soil rich. A field with many earthworms is usually healthy. Chemical sprays can kill these helpful creatures. So many farmers now use natural manure instead.

    What do earthworms eat?
    (a) Live insects (b) Grain seeds (c) Fresh fruit (d) Dead leaves
  7. 7.Sound is made when something vibrates, or moves quickly back and forth. When you pluck a sitar string, it vibrates and makes a sound. The vibrations travel through the air to our ears. Sound can also travel through water and solids. In fact, it moves faster through solids than through air. Sound cannot travel through empty space, where there is no air. That is why space is completely silent. Loud sounds for a long time can harm our hearing.

    Which musical instrument is mentioned in the passage?
    (a) drum (b) flute (c) tabla (d) sitar
  8. 8.The Sun gives us a huge amount of energy every day. Solar panels can turn sunlight into electricity. They are made of special cells that work when light falls on them. Many homes in India now have solar panels on their roofs. Some villages use solar lamps after dark. Solar energy does not make smoke, so it keeps the air clean. Unlike coal, it will never run out. However, panels make less power on cloudy days.

    What do solar panels turn sunlight into?
    (a) electricity (b) smoke (c) water (d) coal
  9. 9.In many Indian cities, people face water shortages in summer. Rainwater harvesting is one simple answer. Rain falling on rooftops is collected through pipes. It is then stored in tanks or sent into the ground through pits. Water sent into the ground raises the level of water in wells. A single roof can collect thousands of litres in one monsoon. Some states have made rainwater harvesting compulsory for new buildings. Saving rain today means more water tomorrow.

    How is rain from rooftops collected?
    (a) By pumps (b) In buckets (c) Through pipes (d) With nets
  10. 10.In many Indian cities, people face water shortages in summer. Rainwater harvesting is one simple answer. Rain falling on rooftops is collected through pipes. It is then stored in tanks or sent into the ground through pits. Water sent into the ground raises the level of water in wells. A single roof can collect thousands of litres in one monsoon. Some states have made rainwater harvesting compulsory for new buildings. Saving rain today means more water tomorrow.

    What does “compulsory” mean here?
    (a) Not allowed (b) Done for fun (c) Very costly (d) Must be done
  11. 11.The Sun gives us a huge amount of energy every day. Solar panels can turn sunlight into electricity. They are made of special cells that work when light falls on them. Many homes in India now have solar panels on their roofs. Some villages use solar lamps after dark. Solar energy does not make smoke, so it keeps the air clean. Unlike coal, it will never run out. However, panels make less power on cloudy days.

    When do panels make less power?
    (a) On sunny days (b) On cloudy days (c) In summer (d) At noon
  12. 12.Earthworms are called the farmer’s friends. They dig tunnels as they move through the soil. These tunnels let air and water reach plant roots. Earthworms eat dead leaves and bits of rotting plants. Their waste, called castings, makes the soil rich. A field with many earthworms is usually healthy. Chemical sprays can kill these helpful creatures. So many farmers now use natural manure instead.

    Why are earthworm tunnels useful?
    (a) They store food (b) Air and water get in (c) They hold seeds (d) They keep out rain

Answer key

  1. The body beats it fast
  2. A green plant
  3. Strong waves and storms
  4. About 365 days
  5. drains
  6. Dead leaves
  7. sitar
  8. electricity
  9. Through pipes
  10. Must be done
  11. On cloudy days
  12. Air and water get in

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