RUDRA SIR
AN EXPERIENCED ENGLISH TEACHER
9051036979
A Great Train Journey
Word Meanings
1. Spiraling – threshing round and round like a spring
2. Shudder – tremble
3. Grin – broad smile
4. Anticipation – expectation that something will happen.
5. Ragged- dressed in old torn clothes.
6. Glowered – pulled down the eyebrows as a sign of anger, frowned
7. Sauntered – walked in a leisurely way.
Antonyms
1. Lonely – befriended
2. Musty – fragrant
3. Concealed – resealed
4. Concerned – unperturbed
5. Aromatic – bland
6. Confronted – avoided
7. Fortune – poverty.
Question and Answer
1. “Suraj waved to a passing train and kept waving until only the spiraling smoke remained.”
a) How do we know that Suraj liked trains?
b) How did Suraj get into the carriage of a goods train?
c) What did he notice inside it?
Ans a) We know that Suraj liked trains because he liked waving to trains. He wondered about the people in them
and about where they were going and what it would be like there when the train had passed, leaving behind only
the hot, empty track, Suraj felt lonely. Passing trains, moving trains, crowded trains, shreiking, panting trains
fascinated him.
Ans b) Suraj walked the length of the goods train. The carriage doors were closed and as there were no windows,
he could not see inside. He looked around to see if he was being observed, and them satisfied that he was alone
began trying the doors. He was almost at the end of the train when a carriage door gave away to his thrust.
Ans c) The inside of the carriage was dark. Suraj stood outside in the bright sunlight peering into the darkness,
trying to recognize bulky, shapeless objects. He stepped into the carriage and felt around. The objects were crates,
and through the cross section of woodwork, he felt straw.
2. “ He went from one create to another and soon his perseverance was rewarded”
a) Who is referred to as ‘he’ in the above extract? How was his perseverance rewarded?
b) What happened when he was absorbed in this act?
c) Whom did he meet inside the carriage? Why did that person think that he was eligible to go to China?
Ans a) Suraj is referred to as he in the above extract.
RUDRA SIR
AN EXPERIENCED ENGLISH TEACHER
9051036979
The cover of one of the crates had not been properly nailed down. So, Suraj got his fingers under the edge and
raised up the lid. He plunged his hand into the straw and pulled out an apple.
Ans b) Absorbed in this act, Suraj did not notice a sight shudder passed through the train. Suraj stared out of the
opened door and realized that the train was moving, moving fast, moving away from his home and puffing into the
unknown.
Ans c) Suraj met a dirty bearded hippy in the carriage. His mouth was open wide and he had a paan stained grin.
When Suraj expressed his wish to go to China, the hippy asked him if he could cook, scrub a deck or sail a ship.
As Suraj answered all the questions in the affirmative, the hippy considered him eligible to go to China.
3. ‘Suraj felt a thrill of anticipation
a) Why did suraj feel a chill of anticipation?
b) When did he want to be with at that moment and why/
c) How did he each his hometown?
Ans a) Suraj felt a thrill of anticipation as he wondered what his parents would do when he failed to come home
that night. They would think that he had run away, or been kidnapped or been involved in an accident. They would
have the police out and there would be search parties. Suraj relished the idea that he would be famous : the boy
who disappeared!
Ans b) Suraj wished his friend Ranji was with him at that moment. He also wished the ragged hippy was still with
him because an adventure was always more fun when one had company.
Ans c) When Suraj reached his hometown, he could not understand that after travelling forty or fifty miles how he
returned home. The train had not turned and it had not moved backwards, he was certain of that too. He climbed
out of the compartment and looked up and down the platform. He found that the engine had changed end it was
only the local apple train.
