Why was the young seagull afraid to fly? | Class 10 English - First Flight Chapter Two Stories about Flying, Two Stories about Flying NCERT Solutions

“The sight of the food maddened him.” What does this suggest? What compelled the young seagull to finally fly?

Who do you think helped the narrator to reach safely? Discuss this among yourselves and give reasons for your answer.

Describe the narrator’s experience as he flew the aeroplane into the storm.

What made the woman in the Control Centre look at the narrator strangely?

In the case of a bird flying, it seems a natural act, and a foregone conclusion that it should succeed. In the examples you have given in answer to the previous question, was your success guaranteed, or was it important for you to try, regardless of a possibility of failure?

Have you ever had a similar experience, where your parents encouraged you to do something that you were too scared to try? Discuss this in pairs or groups.

Study the sentences given below.

(a) They looked like black mountains.

(b) Inside the clouds, everything was suddenly black.

(c) In the black clouds near me, I saw another aeroplane.

(d) The strange black aeroplane was there.

The word ‘black’ in sentences (a) and (c) refers to the very darkest colour. But in (b) and (d) (here) it means without light/with no light.

‘Black’ has a variety of meanings in different contexts. For example:

(a) ‘I prefer black tea’ means ‘I prefer tea without milk’.

(b) ‘With increasing pollution the future of the world is black’ means With increasing pollution the future of the world is very depressing/without hope’.

Now, try to guess the meanings of the word ‘black’ in the sentences given below. Check the meanings in the dictionary and find out whether you have guessed right.

Questions.

1. Go and have a bath, your hands and face are absolutely black____ .

2. The taxi-driver gave Ratan a black look as he crossed the road when the traffic light was green____.

3. The bombardment of Hiroshima is one of the blackest crimes against humanity____.

4. Very few people enjoy Harold Pinter’s black comedy____.

5. Sometimes shopkeepers store essential goods____.

6. Villagers had beaten the criminal black and blue____.

Why does the narrator say, “I landed and was not sorry to walk away from the old Dakota…”?

“They were beckoning to him, calling shrilly.” Why did the seagull’s father and mother threaten him and cajole him to fly?

“I’ll take the risk”. What is the risk? Why does the narrator take it?

What made Mr Keesing allow Anne to talk in class?

Are there people like Lencho in the real world? What kind of a person would you say he is? You may select appropriate words from the box to answer the question.

   greedy            naive                   stupid                ungrateful 
   selfish            comical               unquestioning

Chubukov says of Natalya: “... as if she won’t consent! She’s in love; egad, she’s like a lovesick cat...” Would you agree? Find reasons for your answer.

Why didn’t Valli want to make friends with the elderly woman?

Did Lencho try to find out who had sent the money to him? Why/Why not?

What ideals does Nelson Mandela set for the future of South Africa?

Anne says teachers are most unpredictable. Is Mr Keesing unpredictable? How?

How does Mandela describe the systems of government in his country

(i) in the first decade, and
(ii) in the final decade of the twentieth century?

What does courage mean to Mandela?

Do you think Mr Keesing was a strict teacher?

Was Lencho surprised to find a letter for him with money in it?

1. This is the bus (what kind of bus?). It goes to Agra. (use which or that)

2. I would like to buy (a) shirt (which shirt?). (The) shirt is in the shop window. (use which or that)

3. You must break your fast at a particular time (when?). You see the moon in the sky. (use when)

4. Find a word (what kind of word?). It begins with the letter Z. (use which or that)

5. Now find a person (what kind of person). His or her name begins with the letter Z. (use whose)

6. Then go to a place (what place?). There are no people whose name begins with Z in that place. (use where)

What do these statements tell you about Anne Frank as a person?
(i) We don’t seem to be able to get any closer, and that’s the problem. Maybe it’s my fault that we don’t confide in each other.
(ii) I don’t want to jot down the facts in this diary the way most people would, but I want the diary to be my friend.
(iii) Margot went to Holland in December, and I followed in February, when I was plunked down on the table as a birthday present for Margot.
(iv) If you ask me, there are so many dummies that about a quarter of the class should be kept back, but teachers are the most unpredictable creatures on earth.
(v) Anyone could ramble on and leave big spaces between the words, but the trick was to come up with convincing arguments to prove the necessity of talking.

What “twin obligations” does Mandela mention?

Why does Anne need to give a brief sketch about her family? Does she treat ‘Kitty’ as an insider or an outsider?

There are some examples of diary or journal entries in the ‘Before You Read’ section. Compare these with what Anne writes in her diary. What language was the diary originally written in? In what way is Anne’s diary different?

How did Anne justify her being a chatterbox in her essay?

Why did Anne think she could confide more in her diary than in people?

What makes writing in a diary a strange experience for Anne Frank?

What does Kisa Gotami understand the second time that she failed to understand the first time? Was this what the Buddha wanted her to understand?