Unseen Passage for Class 6 with Questions

Reading comprehension lesson 21: Science and environment passages · Set 93 · 12 questions

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.

1. 1.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.
   
   True or false: Most plastic rots away like fruit peels. (a) True (b) False
2. 2.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.
   
   What is the imaginary line the Earth spins on called? (a) Equator (b) Orbit (c) Pole (d) Axis
3. 3.Green plants make their own food. This process is called photosynthesis. Leaves take in carbon dioxide from the air through tiny holes. Roots take up water from the soil. A green substance in the leaves, called chlorophyll, traps sunlight. Using the energy of sunlight, the leaf turns water and carbon dioxide into sugar. Oxygen is given out into the air. Animals and people breathe in this oxygen.
   
   Where do the roots take up water from? (a) From sunlight (b) From the leaves (c) From the air (d) From the soil
4. 4.Bees visit flowers to collect sweet nectar. While they feed, yellow dust called pollen sticks to their hairy bodies. When a bee flies to the next flower, some pollen rubs off. This carrying of pollen is called pollination. Pollination helps plants make fruits and seeds. Mangoes, apples and many vegetables depend on it. Without bees, farmers would harvest far less food. So bees are tiny helpers of every farm.
   
   What would happen without bees? (a) Flowers grow bigger (b) Farmers get less food (c) More rain would fall (d) Farms become quieter
5. 5.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 is earthworm waste called? (a) sprays (b) manure (c) castings (d) tunnels
6. 6.The monsoon is a seasonal wind that brings rain to India. In summer, the land heats up faster than the sea. Moist winds then blow from the sea towards the land. The south-west monsoon usually reaches Kerala in early June. Over the next few weeks, it spreads across most of the country. Farmers wait eagerly for it because many crops need its rain. Rice, for example, grows in fields full of water. A weak monsoon can mean a poor harvest.
   
   What does “eagerly” mean in the passage? (a) Lazily (b) Angrily (c) Sadly (d) Keenly
7. 7.A magnet attracts things made of iron, nickel or cobalt. Every magnet has two ends called poles: a north pole and a south pole. If you bring two north poles together, they push each other away. A north pole and a south pole pull towards each other. In short, like poles repel and unlike poles attract. A magnet hung freely always points north and south. Sailors once used this idea to make the compass. Magnets also work inside fans, speakers and fridge doors.
   
   What does “repel” mean in the passage? (a) Break (b) Pull closer (c) Spin round (d) Push away
8. 8.Every winter, thousands of birds fly to India from colder lands. These travellers are called migratory birds. Many of them come from Siberia and Central Asia. They escape the freezing cold and find food in our lakes and wetlands. Bharatpur in Rajasthan and Chilika Lake in Odisha are famous places to see them. Flamingos, cranes and ducks are among the visitors. In spring, the birds fly back to breed. Protecting wetlands keeps their winter homes safe.
   
   What does the passage call these travelling birds? (a) Migratory birds (b) Wild birds (c) Water birds (d) Song birds
9. 9.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.
   
   Does sound move faster through solids or through air? (a) Through solids (b) Through air
10. 10.The Sun heats water in seas, rivers and lakes. The water turns into an invisible gas called water vapour. This change is called evaporation. High in the sky, the vapour cools and turns into tiny drops of water. These drops join together to form clouds. When the drops become too heavy, they fall as rain. This is called precipitation. Rainwater flows back into rivers and seas, and the cycle begins again.
    
    Why do the drops fall as rain? (a) The Sun pulls them (b) They become too hot (c) The wind blows them (d) They become too heavy
11. 11.The Moon is Earth’s only natural satellite. It goes around the Earth once in about a month. The Moon does not have its own light. It shines because it reflects light from the Sun. As it moves, we see different amounts of its lit side. These changing shapes are called phases. On a full moon night, we see the whole bright face. On a new moon night, we can hardly see it at all.
    
    In “It goes around the Earth”, what does “It” refer to? (a) the Moon (b) a star (c) the Earth (d) the Sun
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.
    
    What do earthworms eat? (a) Dead leaves (b) Grain seeds (c) Live insects (d) Fresh fruit

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