Detective No. 30 by L Swenson - Question Answer - Word Meaning - Extra Questions for Practice

Summary of the Story Detective No. 30

John was bored because his friend Billie was away, so he decided to play detective. He saw a man parking a car and followed him. The man acted suspiciously, entering a house and later coming out disguised. John noted the car's license plate number. The next day, John's father read about a burglary in that house and called the police after John shared what he saw. At the police station, John identified the thief, leading to the man's arrest. John received a $100 reward for his help. 

Word Meaning

1. Unhappy: Not happy; feeling sad.
2. Interesting: Something that grabs attention or is fun to do.
3. Zipper fastener: A device used to close clothes, bags, etc.
4. Badge: A small piece of metal or plastic with words or symbols, worn to show who you are or what you do.
5. Detective: A person who finds out information, especially to solve crimes.
6. Thief: A person who steals things.
7. Parked: Stopped and left a vehicle in a place.
8. Engine: The part of a car that makes it move.
9. Handbrake: A brake in a car that is used to keep it still when parked.
10. Path: A way or track laid down for walking or made by continual treading.
11. License plate: A metal plate on a car with numbers and letters that identifies the car.
12. Whiskers: Long hairs growing on the face of an animal or person.
13. Suitcase: A large case with a handle used for carrying clothes and other things when traveling.
14. Inspector: A police officer of high rank.
15. Reward: Money or another gift given for doing something good or finding something.
16. Jewellery: Decorative items like rings, necklaces, and bracelets.
17. Break into: Enter a building by force, usually to steal something.
18. Offering: Providing something to someone.
19. Suddenly: Quickly and unexpectedly.
20. Afraid: Feeling fear or worry.
21. Seals: Stickers or stamps used to mark something.
22. Muddy: Covered with or full of mud (wet earth).
23. Roared: Made a very loud sound.
24. Prove: Show something is true with evidence.
25. Brains: Intelligence or mental ability.
26. Uniform: Special clothes worn by all members of a group or organization.
27. Policemen: Men who are members of the police force.
28. Television: A device that receives broadcast signals and displays them on a screen.
29. Neighbours: People who live near you.
30. Shaking hands: Grasping someone's hand as a greeting or to show agreement.

Let's Infer

1. Rearrange the main events of the story in the order in which they happened. 

ANSWER:

1. b - One day, John saw a man parking his car, and followed him into a shop.
2. a - He saw the big-nosed man go around to the back of the house.
3. g - A little later he saw a man with grey whiskers carry a suitcase out of the house.
4. c - He noted down the number of the car.
5. d - The next morning, John's father noticed a newspaper report on the burglary in Mr. Stone's house.
6. f - John's father called up the police and asked them to come home.
7. e - John's father took Billie and John to the police station.
8. i - John identified the burglar at the police station.
9. h - The police found the burglar after obtaining useful information from John.
10. j - He received a reward of $100.

2. Do you agree with the following statements? Say Yes (Y) or No (N).

ANSWER:

1. John was a full-time detective. No (N) 
2. Sticking a seal on the man's coat helped John notice that the man leaving Mr. Stone's house was the same man who entered it. Yes (Y) 
3. The man left the engine of his car running before entering the house because he wanted to make a quick getaway later. Yes (Y) 
4. The report that John's father read in the newspaper said that the man who burgled Mr. Stone's house had been caught. No (N) 
5. John's father asked the police to come home so that he could tell them who the burglar was. Yes (Y) 
6. Billie had already seen Tarzan but John hadn't. Yes (Y) 
7. John found it difficult to identify the burglar in the police station because there were other men standing with the burglar. No (N) 
8. The grey-haired gentleman who gave John $100 was Mr. Stone. Yes (Y)

Let's Discuss

1. Do you agree with the burglar’s statement?

   • The burglar's statement is correct. John watched carefully and reported details. His help was important to catch the thief. Without him, the police would have struggled to find the suspect.

2. Which three words describe John best? And why?

   • John is observant because he notices important details like the car's license plate. He is intelligent for using his observations to help the police. Additionally, he is careful in taking notes.

3. Qualities of a good detective:

• Observant: Noticing and remembering details that might be important for solving a case.
• Intelligent: Using reasoning and analysis to piece together clues and understand the case.
• Patient: Taking the time to thoroughly investigate and follow up on leads without rushing.
• Careful: Pays attention to details and ensures accuracy in collecting and reporting information.

Extra Questions and Answers for Practice

1. Why was John unhappy at the beginning of the story?

   • John was unhappy because his friend Billie had gone to the dentist with his mother, leaving John alone with nothing interesting to do.

2. What idea made John brighten up?

   • John's face brightened when he remembered his Detective No. 30 badge. He decided to play detective and follow a thief.

3. What unusual action did the man take with his car?

   • The man started his car engine, pulled up the handbrake, and then got out, leaving the engine running. He then quickly walked to Mr. Stone's house and went around to the back.

4. Why did John think the man who came out of Mr. Stone's house was different from the man who went in?

   • John thought the man was different because the man who came out had grey whiskers and wore a grey cap, while the man who went in had a smooth face, a big nose, and wore a hat.

5. What did John do to identify the car the man drove?

   • John carefully noted the license plate number of the car and wrote it down on a piece of paper.

6. How did John’s father react when John told him about the man?

   • John's father was initially skeptical but decided to call the police when John told him everything he had seen.

7. What key piece of evidence did John provide to the police to help them identify the thief?

   • John provided the police with the license plate number of the car, which was dark green and muddy.

8. How did the policemen verify John's story at the police station?

   • The policemen verified John's story by asking him to identify the man he had followed. John pointed out the man with the big nose and then confirmed it was the same man by finding the red seal he had stuck on the man’s coat.

9. What was the outcome for John and Billie at the end of the story?

   • John and Billie were praised for their clever detective work, and John received a hundred-dollar reward for helping to catch the thief.

Poem: The Magical Earth by Gulzar - New Learning to Communicate - Literary Reader 7

The Magical Earth

An Interactive Guide by Gulzar

Contents

• Poem Text
• Difficult Words with Definitions
• Summary of the Poem
• Questions & Answers
• Important Questions
• Interactive Quiz

Poem Text

There is something indeed in the earth of my garden

Is this earth magical?

The earth knows how to do magic!

If I sow a guava seed, it gives me guavas

If I put in a jamun kernel, it gives me jamuns

A bitter gourd for a bitter gourd, a lemon for a lemon!

If I ask for a flower, it gives me pink flowers

Whatever colour I give to it, it returns that to me

Has it hidden all these colours in the soil below?

I dug a lot but found nothing

The earth knows how to do magic!

The earth knows how to do magic

It shows so many tricks

When it balances these long coconut trees on its fingers

It does not even let them fall!

The wind does its best, but the earth does not let them fumble!

A sherbet, or milk, or water

Anything may fall, it absorbs them all

How much water does it drink?!

It gulps down whatever you give

Be it from a jug or a bucket

Amazingly, its stomach never fills

I have heard that it can even hide a river inside!

The earth knows how to do magic!

Are there sugar godowns under the earth?

Or rocks of lime?

How does this earth put sweetness into fruits?

From where does it get all this?

Pomegranates, plums and mangoes—in all of them

Sweetness, but different kinds

The leaves tasteless but the fruits sweet

The musambi sweet, the lemon sour

Undoubtedly, it knows magic!

Otherwise, why is the bamboo tasteless,

and the sugarcane sweet?

Difficult Words with Definitions

1. Magical: Having special, mysterious, or supernatural qualities.

2. Kernel: The inner, softer part of a seed, nut, or fruit stone.

3. Fumble: To handle something clumsily.

4. Sherbet: A sweet flavoured drink.

5. Absorb: To soak up or take in a liquid or substance.

6. Godowns: Warehouses or storage places, especially in South Asia.

7. Musambi: Sweet lime, a citrus fruit.

8. Undoubtedly: Without doubt; certainly.

Summary of "The Magical Earth"

In "The Magical Earth," Gulzar expresses a childlike wonder at the mysterious and magical qualities of the earth. He observes how the earth acts like a magician, transforming seeds into their corresponding plants and fruits—a guava seed becomes a guava tree, a jamun kernel becomes a jamun tree. It even returns flowers in the exact color planted. The poet marvels at the earth's physical strength, personifying it as a skilled performer balancing tall coconut trees against the wind.

The earth's capacity seems endless; it absorbs any liquid poured into it without ever getting full, as if it could hide a whole river inside. The ultimate magic, for the poet, lies in the earth's ability to create different flavors. He wonders how it infuses fruits with various kinds of sweetness while keeping leaves tasteless, and how it can produce a sweet sugarcane right next to a tasteless bamboo. This constant display of mysterious power convinces the poet that the earth truly knows how to do magic.

Questions & Answers

1. This is a poem in praise of the magical powers of earth. Do you agree?

   Yes, the poem is a celebration of the earth's seemingly magical and wondrous abilities.

2. The word earth in the poem refers to:

   c. the substance that plants grow in.

3. Say whether the following statements are True (T) or False (F).

   • a. If you plant a guava seed, you will get a guava later. - True
   • b. If you plant the seed of a particular vegetable, the earth will give you that vegetable later. - True
   • c. If you want a flower of a particular colour, the earth will give you flowers of different colours. - False
   • d. When the wind does its best to make a coconut tree fall down, the earth prevents it from happening. - True
   • e. The earth absorbs only sweet-tasting liquids like sherbet. - False
   • f. The earth has huge quantities of groundwater. - True
   • g. The earth stores large quantities of sugar. - False
   • h. The earth puts the same sweetness into all fruits. - False
   • i. Even though both the bamboo and the sugarcane are tropical plants, only the latter tastes sweet. - True

4. Personification is a literary device... Pick out any two examples of the tricks that 'magician earth' performs.

   Two examples of tricks the 'magician earth' performs are:

   1. It balances tall coconut trees "on its fingers" and doesn't let them fall, even when the wind blows hard.
   2. It "gulps down" any liquid you give it from a jug or bucket, and its "stomach never fills."

Important Questions

1. Why does the poet call the earth ‘magical’?
   The poet calls it magical because it performs wonders like turning a tiny seed into a fruit-bearing tree, producing colorful flowers, and absorbing endless water without ever filling up.

2. How does the earth balance the tall coconut trees?
   It is personified as holding them steady on its "fingers," preventing them from falling even when the wind tries to push them over.

3. What question does the poet ask about sweetness in fruits?
   He wonders how the earth creates so many different kinds of sweetness for fruits like mangoes, plums, and pomegranates, and where this sweetness comes from.

4. What is the contrast between bamboo and sugarcane that puzzles the poet?
   The poet is puzzled that although both plants grow from the same earth, the bamboo is tasteless while the sugarcane is full of sweetness.

5. What message do you learn from this poem?
   The poem teaches us to look at the natural world with a sense of wonder and appreciation. It reminds us that everyday processes, like a seed growing into a plant, are truly magical and mysterious.

Interactive Quiz

1. What is the main theme of the poem "The Magical Earth"?

a) The challenges of gardening b) The scientific process of plant growth c) The wondrous and mysterious powers of the earth d) The different types of soil

2. What literary device is most prominent in the line "When it balances these long coconut trees on its fingers"?

a) Simile b) Personification c) Metaphor d) Alliteration

3. According to the poet, what happens if he plants a jamun kernel?

a) It gives him guavas b) It gives him jamuns c) It gives him pink flowers d) It gives him lemons

4. What puzzles the poet about the flavors of plants?

a) Why all fruits are sweet b) Why leaves are sweet but fruits are tasteless c) Why bamboo is tasteless while sugarcane from the same earth is sweet d) Why all flowers taste the same

5. What does the poet mean when he says the earth's "stomach never fills"?

a) The earth has a small appetite b) The earth can absorb a seemingly infinite amount of water c) The earth only drinks milk d) The earth is always hungry for soil

Lemon-Yellow and Fig by Manohar Malgonkar - Literary Reader 7 - Class 7 Q&A Solved

Lemon-Yellow and Fig

Contents

• Story Summary
• Word Meanings
• Let's Infer: Questions & Answers
• Important Questions
• Interactive Quiz

Summary of Lemon-Yellow and Fig

In the story "Lemon-Yellow and Fig," the protagonist is a young salesman who has recently secured a job selling saris and choli pieces in a shop in Bombay. His employer, Mr. Ratnam, hired him based on his perceived honesty. The protagonist takes his job seriously and is doing well, even making significant sales in a short time.

However, a strange coincidence occurs when two women, one wearing a distinct perfume, visit the shop on the same day. The first woman purchases a sari and pays with a one-hundred-rupee note. When the second woman, wearing the same perfume, comes in later, the protagonist becomes suspicious. He thinks they might be attempting a scam where one woman distracts him while the other claims to have given a one-hundred-rupee note for a smaller purchase.

To outsmart any potential trick, the protagonist discreetly removes the one-hundred-rupee note from the cash box, pretending to send it to his brother in a nearby shop. He then serves the second woman, who pays with smaller notes. Everything seems fine until the arrival of Mr. Ratnam, the owner.

Mr. Ratnam conducts a stock check and praises the protagonist's skills, revealing that he had sent his own daughter and sister to the shop to test his honesty. However, when they open the cash box, they discover that one hundred rupees are missing. Stunned and unable to explain the discrepancy he himself created, the protagonist is seen as a thief. Mr. Ratnam, disappointed, fires him on the spot. The story ends with the protagonist, now unemployed, ironically having to re-emphasize the very honesty that his own cleverness caused to be questioned.

Word Meanings

1. Saris: Traditional Indian women's garments, typically made of silk or cotton and draped elegantly around the body.

2. Choli: A short-sleeved, midriff-baring blouse worn with a sari.

3. Munim: An accountant or clerk responsible for financial matters.

4. Accomplice: A person who helps another in committing a crime or wrongdoing.

5. Cursory: Hasty, done quickly with little attention to detail.

6. Discrepancy: A lack of compatibility or similarity between two or more facts.

7. Denomination: The face value of a banknote or coin.

8. Scam: A fraudulent or deceptive scheme to trick someone.

9. Hunch: An intuitive feeling or guess based on limited information.

10. Bohni: The first sale of the day in a shop, believed by some to influence the day's success.

Let's Infer: Questions & Answers

1. The narrator describes an experience that he had:

   b. in the morning.

2. What is the job that the narrator is referring to? Did he like his job? How can you tell?

   The narrator's job is selling saris and choli pieces in a shop. Yes, he liked his job. We can tell because he describes it as a "good job" and mentions that he was "beginning to excel at it."

3. 'I was lucky to get the job.' Why does the narrator say this?

   He says this because the owner, Mr. Ratnam, hired him not based on experience but on a "hunch" that he had an honest face. The narrator recognized this as a fortunate opportunity based on trust.

4. Why do you think the young lady gave the narrator a one-hundred-rupee note rather than 40 in, say, ten-rupee notes?

   In the context of the narrator's suspicion, a large denomination note is a key element of the classic scam he fears. It creates the potential for a dispute over the amount of change owed.

5. How did the narrator conclude that the two customers belonged to the same household? Did he guess correctly? How do you know?

   He concluded they were together because they both wore the same distinct perfume. He did guess correctly. We know this because the shop owner, Mr. Ratnam, later reveals that the two women were his own daughter and sister, whom he sent to the shop together.

6. Why did the narrator examine the notes? What had he already concluded about the two women? Why was he not sure that it was the same 'old trick'?

   He examined the notes because he was still suspicious of a scam. He had already concluded the two women were working together as accomplices. He was not sure it was the same "old trick" because the second woman paid with smaller notes, which didn't fit the pattern of the scam he was expecting.

7. Was Mr Ratnam's visit to the shop related in any way to the visit of the two ladies to the shop earlier? How do you know?

   Yes, his visit was directly related. We know this because Mr. Ratnam explicitly tells the narrator, "I sent my daughter and then my sister to your counter" to test his customer service and honesty.

8. What did Mr Ratnam do when he found that a sum of one hundred rupees was missing from the cash box? Why did he do so?

   When Mr. Ratnam found one hundred rupees missing, he immediately fired the narrator. He did so because, from his perspective, the missing money was clear evidence of theft, and he was deeply disappointed that his trust in the narrator's "honest face" had been broken.

Important Questions

1. Why was the narrator's honesty so important to Mr. Ratnam?

   Mr. Ratnam hired the narrator based on the "hunch" that he had an honest face. His trust was the foundation of the narrator's employment, which is why he decided to test it and why he was so disappointed by the apparent theft.

2. What was the "old trick" or scam the narrator was afraid of?

   The narrator was afraid of a scam where two accomplices work together. The first person pays with a large note (like 100 rupees). Later, the second person makes a small purchase and then claims they also paid with a large note, hoping to confuse the salesman into giving extra change.

3. Describe the protagonist's plan to outsmart the suspected scammers.

   To prevent the suspected scam, the protagonist took the one-hundred-rupee note from the cash box and pretended to send it to his brother via a helper. This way, if the second woman claimed to have paid with a large note, he could prove it wasn't in the cash box.

4. What is the main irony in the story's ending?

   The main irony is that the narrator, in his attempt to be clever and prevent being cheated, ends up creating a situation that makes him look like a thief. His own actions to prove his diligence led to him being fired for dishonesty.

5. How did the protagonist's overthinking and suspicion lead to his downfall?

   Instead of simply trusting the process and his own ability to handle transactions honestly, the protagonist overthought the situation. His suspicion led him to take a secretive action (removing the money) which he couldn't explain later, directly causing Mr. Ratnam to believe he had stolen it.

Interactive Quiz

1. On what basis did Mr. Ratnam initially hire the narrator?

a) His previous experience b) A strong recommendation c) He had an honest face d) He was a family friend

2. What specific detail made the narrator suspect the two women were accomplices?

a) They looked alike b) They wore the same distinct perfume c) They arrived at the same time d) They bought the same saris

3. Why did Mr. Ratnam send the two women to the shop?

a) To buy saris for a wedding b) To help the narrator with sales c) To test the narrator's honesty and skills d) To check on the shop's inventory

4. What action did the narrator take that ultimately cost him his job?

a) He argued with a customer b) He gave the wrong change c) He closed the shop early d) He secretly removed money from the cash box

5. What was the value of the sari bought by the first woman?

a) 90 rupees b) 100 rupees c) 40 rupees d) 10 rupees

6. The narrator's "clever" plan backfired because it created a...

a) profit for the shop b) happy customer c) cash discrepancy d) new sales record

7. What does the term "Bohni" refer to in the story?

a) A type of sari b) The shop owner's name c) The last sale of the day d) The first sale of the day

8. What was Mr. Ratnam's final emotion towards the narrator?

a) Anger b) Disappointment c) Confusion d) Happiness

9. Who were the two women customers revealed to be?

a) Famous actresses b) Plainclothes police officers c) Mr. Ratnam's daughter and sister d) Professional scammers

10. The central theme of the story revolves around...

a) The difficulty of finding a job b) The art of selling saris c) The importance of family d) Irony and misjudgment