ENGLISH NOTES

Summary The Making of a Scientist’ is the story of a scientist named Ebright H Ebright. It is an interesting study of how Ebright became a scientist. After the early death of his father, Ebright was everything for his mother. He used to get top grades in schools. When he was just in the second standard, he had already collected 25 species of butterflies found around his hometown. The book ‘The Travels of Monarch X’ gave him a thorough knowledge about the monarch butterflies. In the second year of his high school, Ebright began to search an unknown hormone in the gold spots of butterflies. In later years, he discovered how a cell could read the blueprint of its DNA. Comprehension Questions  Answer the following questions in 30-40 words:  1. Ebright became a collector at an early age. How?  Ebright was the only child of his parents. He had no company at home to play with. So, he started collecting things in his spare time. He would collect coins, fossils, rock...

Summary This story is about a scientist who discovers a potion to make a man invisible. After swallowing the potion, the scientist turns to various mischiefs. He steals clothes from a supermarket and then steals lots of cash. To avoid getting noticed, the scientist moves from London to a small village. He stays at a local inn in the village. When he is out of money, he steals from a clergyman’s house. The local people suspect him and police is called. He escapes the police because of his ability to become invisible. Comprehension Questions  Answer the following questions in 30-40 words:  1. How did Griffin first become visible?  Griffin first became visible after he slipped into a big London store for keeping warm and overslept there while wearing some clothes taken from the store. The clothes made him visible to the shop assistants when the shop opened in the morning. To escape from them, he had to shed all his clothes to become invisible again. 2. Why w...

Summary This story is about a thief who gets a taste of his own medicine. Horace Danby steals only once in a year. He is fond of books and spends most of his booty on buying books. He plans meticulously before attempting a burglary. During his burglary attempt at a big house, he gathers all the necessary information and enters the house for stealing from the safe. He is cheated by a lady thief, who claims herself to be the owner of the house. Finally, Horace ends up in prison only to repent at the way he was deceived by a person from his own profession. Comprehension Questions  Answer the following questions in 30-40 words: 1. What was the passion of Horace Danby and how did he satisfy it?  The passion of Horace Danby was collecting rare and expensive books. To satisfy this passion, he needed money and arranged it by robbing one safe every year and then secretly buying the books through an agent. 2. How did Danby prepare for the robbery at Shotover Grange?...

Summary In this poem the poet, Whitman compares man to animals. He finds that man lacks many virtues that animals have. The poet says that he feels more at home with animals than with human beings because humans are selfish, fake and always dissatisfied, while the animals are not selfish. They are not fake and most importantly they are satisfied. They show their love for us. Comprehension Questions  Answer the following questions in 30-40 word:  1. What is the difference between animals and humans with regards to their attitude to their condition, sins and God?  Human beings cry about their condition. They lie awake at night in the dark and weep for their sins. They make the poet sick by discussing their duty about God. But animals do not do any of these things. That is why the poet likes them. 2. Why does the poet want to take a turn?  The poet is fed up living in the world of humans. They don’t have a clear conscience and weep over their si...

Summary Every child feels that he/she is controlled and instructed not to do one thing or another. The child feels that his/her freedom is being curtailed. In this poem, the poet Robin Klein expresses the views of a small girl, Amanda, about liberty in life. How does the girl react to the restriction imposed upon her by her parents is very interesting. Comprehension Questions  Answer the following questions in 30-40 words: 1. Why does Amanda seem moody most of the times?  Amanda seems moody most of the times because she is trying to make an escape from her sorry reality where she is nagged most of the times. It is indeed a sorry state for a small child like Amanda to bear. Here the only defence against such reality is her imagination where she often escapes to. Hence, it makes her look moody and uninterested. 2. Why does Amanda wish to be a mermaid, an orphan, or Rapunzel?  Amanda wishes to be a mermaid so she could drift alone by blissfully langu...

Summary In this poem, John Berryman tells us about our reactions at some material loss. A boy loses a ball. He is very upset at the loss. Buying a new ball does not cost much. It is also easily available. But the poet wants the child to understand and accept the loss. He wants him to also learn to overcome the loss himself. Comprehension Questions Answer the following questions in 30-40 words: 1. What is the theme of the poem —’The Ball Poem’? In this world sometimes we lose things which we love and are attached to. We must not feel disheartened, dejected and desperate but try to stand up and bear the loss through self-understanding as the boy who lost the ball he loved was trying to learn. 2. What shows that the ball was valuable for the boy? The ball was valuable for the boy is obvious from the way he reacts after losing it He was shocked, remained fixed, trembled with grief staring at the place where the ball had fallen. All this shows that he loved the ball and...