Easy English Reading: Passage Questions and Answers

English Unseen Passage 1 ​

Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:

I was ten years old then, and my brother, Nick, was fourteen. For both of us this buying of a gift for our mother on Mother's Day was a time of excitement and great importance. It was our first gift to her. We were very poor. It was just after the First World War and we lived in difficult times of trouble. Our father worked sometimes as a waiter. Birthday and Christmas gifts were taken care of by him as well as he could, but such a thing as a Mother's Day gift was out-of-the-ordinary luxury. But we had been lucky, Nick and myself. A second-hand furniture store had opened on the block, and deliveries were made by means of loading the furniture on a pushcart which we carefully pushed through traffic, to the customer's home. We got a nickel each and, perhaps, a tip. I remember how Nick's thin, dark face lighted up with the joy of the present. He had first thought of it in school; and the thought of surprise and giving grew in him, and me, and we were highly excited.

Questions :

1. How old is the narrator?
2. What work did the father do? Was it a regular job? Pick out the word that gives you the answer.
3. Why couldn't the family afford a Mother's Day gift?
4. Which gifts were bought by the father?
5. What made the boys feel lucky?
6. How much were they paid for their work?

English Unseen Passage 2 ​

Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:

With the state gearing up for eight- phase Panchayat polls in April, 2011. The state election commission (SEC) has uploaded online formats for Panchayat voters through which they can make addition, modification and deletion in the existing electoral roll. The format which will be available on the website, www.secbihar.org, will help the voters to apply for inclusion or deletion of their names from the electoral roll, free of cost.

Urban voters can also apply, as for rural voters, for inclusion of their names in the electoral roll. They can either download the application format from the SEC website or apply to respective Block Development Officers (BDOs) or any other officer deputed for the job.

No application in these respects will be entertained by the SEC office, said its sources. While format B needs to be filled up for deletion of wrong names entered in the voters' list, through format C, any other information can be included.

To include a name in the roll, voters or electorates need to fill up the format D.

The SEC has also made it clear that under no circumstances any application or voters will be entertained after January 18. Meanwhile, the voters should either apply online or to respective BDOs and applications filled up both online and to the BDO will not be entertained, said SEC sources.

Questions :

1. How many possible phases are there for Panchayat polls?
2. Write down the website for the format?
3. Who is the in-charge officer for rural areas?
4. Why is January 18 important in the given passage?
5. What are the formats B and C for?
6. Expand the given words: (a) SEC (b) BDOS

English Unseen Passage 3 ​

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Buddha was one of the world's greatest religious teachers. His real name was Gautam Sidhartha. He was born as a prince. His father was the king of Kapilvastu. But he did not want to become a king. He wanted to find out the meaning of life. He left his palace as a young man. He went out to seek the truth. For years he lived a hard life of poverty. He went to many teachers. But they could not help him. At last, the light came to him. He was thinking deeply under a Bodhi tree near Gaya. He became the Buddha or 'Enlightened One'.

Questions :

1. Who was Buddha?
2. Where was Buddha born?
3. What was his real name?
4. How did he become the Buddha or 'Enlightened one'?

English Unseen Passage 4 ​

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The landlords of India, as is well known, are largely the creation of British imperialism. The bigger landlords have always solidly stood with imperialism and have been its strongest props in the countryside. Nationalism has no meaning to these people - except jobs in the higher services; and if any political power is to be given to Indians on account of nationalist forces gathering strength, then the balance of such power. They themselves are not interested in opposing or even agitating against imperialism. Their entry into politics is merely to ensure that their interests do not suffer on account of any power being 'transferred' to Indian hands. No one with the least political understanding or experience can talk of unity with the landlords. Here is the second breach in national unity.

Questions :

1. Who are the creations of British imperialism?
2. What are their interests in entry into politics?
3. What, according to the author, is the second breach in national unity?

English Unseen Passage 5 ​

Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:

What does it mean to eat intelligently? It means exercising enough to keep your from accumulating enough fat but not so much that you get incredibly thin. Dieting is something that you should never resort to. The growing body requires all the essential food groups. Eat well, eat enough and eat sensibly.

Skipping meals can lead to stomach ulcers. Your body pours acid into your stomach as it digests food. Eating too little or not eating at regular times can result in the acid tearing away the tissue that lines the stomach. It doesn't matter if you eat a few big meals or many small ones, but eat at regular times everyday. Fast foods,soft drinks, excessive consumption of fat, meat products,liquor, etc. have to be replaced by the traditional foods of Indians such as cereals, wheat, vegetables,pulses,rice and milk.

Questions :

1. What does ‘eat intelligently’ mean ?
2. Why is Dieting not advisable ?
3. Why is it important to eat regularly ?
4. Which foods does the author recommend ?

English Unseen Passage 6 ​

Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:

An old man had three sons who often quarrelled with one another. They paid no heed to their father's advice not to do so. One day he called his sons together and gave them a bundle of sticks and asked each of them tried but failed. The old man then asked them to untie the bundle and break the sticks separately. Not to speak of the eldest,even the younger ones broke the sticks without any difficulty. Then the old man told his sons that they should see the power of union. If they lived united,no harm would come to then; if they quarrelled, they would have to face difficulty.

Questions :

1. How did the three sons behave with one another ?
2. What did the old man do next ?
3. Were the sins able to break the bundle ?
4. What morals do you get from the above passage?

English Unseen Passage 7 ​

Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and under estimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.

Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.

Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

Questions :

1. What would be fatal for the nation? Explain in short.

2. What will happen when the nation returns to business as usual?

3. How long will the revolt continue to shake the foundations of the nation?

4. Match the words with their meanings:

   Column-A	Column-B
   1. Overlook	(i) Hot and perspiring
   2. Legitimate	(ii) Base
   3. Sweltering	(iii) Ignore
   4. Foundation	(vi) Justifiable

English Unseen Passage 8 ​

Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:

The great advantage of early rising is that one can start one's work long before others. The early riser has done a large amount of hard work before other men have got out of bed. In the early morning, the mind is fresh and no sounds or noises disturb our attention. The work done at that time is generally well done. Also, one finds time to take some exercise in the fresh morning air. Exercise supplies him with a good deal of energy that enables him to work hard until the evening. By beginning so early, he knows that he has plenty of time to do his work thoroughly. He has not to hurry over any part of his work. He gets to sleep long before midnight. At that time, sleep is most refreshing. After a sound night's rest, he rises early next morning in good health for the labour of a new day.

Questions :

1. What advantage does an early riser have over others?
2. Why should one exercise in the morning?
3. Why should one begin one's work so early?
4. What are the uses of going to sleep long before midnight?

English Unseen Passage 9 ​

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There is a public library in every town in Great Britain. There are branch libraries in most of the villages. Anyone may become a member and it costs nothing to borrow books. Three books may be borrowed at a time, but only two may be novels. If there are four people in a family, they can take home twelve books. These books can be kept for a fortnight, so there is no difficulty in providing the family with all the reading material that is needed. If at the end of the fortnight, you have not finished reading a book, you may renew it for another fortnight. If the book you want is out, you may ask for it to be kept for you. And if you pay the cost of a postcard, the librarian will let you know when the book has been returned and is ready for you.

Questions :

1. How many books may be borrowed at a time?
2. How long can the books be kept?
3. How much does it cost to borrow books from a public library in Britain?
4. How can one get the book one wants if it is out?

English Unseen Passage 10 ​

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What are volcanoes? In appearance it looks like a cone-shaped mountain. But the slope of the cone is rather flat and hollow. This is the crater, which is as it were, the mouth of the volcano. The volcano is formed by molten rock coming up from below the earth's crust; by molten rock we mean rock which is so hot that it runs like liquid. This rock is called lava.

Imagine a sort of pipe coming up from deep down in the earth's surface passing through the rocks of the earth's crust and coming up to the crater. The lava forces its way up this pipe and overflows to form the sides of the volcano. The volcanic mountain is therefore found in the areas where the earth's surface is for some reason weak and cannot resist the pressure of the molten lava.

One of the most famous volcanic eruptions of ancient times was of Mount Vesuvius near Naples in 79 AD. Some neighbouring towns were buried under huge amount of ashes. The ash preserved the bodies of many of the victims which can still be seen today.

English Unseen Passage 11 ​

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A little boy used to play in the shade of a tree. One day the boy sat leaning against the trunk of the tree, cried and sighed "I am hungry". "Eat my fruits", said the kind tree and it bent down one of its branches. The little boy ate the fruits and felt satisfied.

Many years passed and the boy grew up. Then once again he sat under the tree with a look of dejection and helplessness. "What is it?" the tree asked. "My wedding day is bare a week away and I have nowhere to live". "Cut down my branches and build yourself a house," said the tree. The young man set to work immediately.

Time passed and now the young man was a sailor. Once again he sat under the tree with a look of remorse on his face. It again asked what the matter was, he pleaded, "My captain is cruel, so to survive I must own a ship". "Cut down my trunk and build a ship", said the tree.

The sailor grew old but once again he turned to the tree with a laden expression on his face. It was cold and the sailor, leaning on his stick, was trembling. "Make a fire of me", said the stumps of the tree. It soon burnt in the fire softly humming a tune.

English Unseen Passage 12 ​

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Work is worship and unless we treat it as such,neither we nor our country will progress. There is nothing to be ashamed of doing work. Some people feel that it is below their dignity to do certain jobs. It is said that a foreign diplomat once visited Abraham Lincoln when he was the President of America. As the visitor went in, he found the great president polishing his shoes. Shocked at what he saw, the diplomat asked him whether he himself polished his shoes. President Lincoln asked, "Why, who, polishes yours"? The great Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar carried the luggage of a snobbish young man when the latter was looking around for a porter to carry the light luggage he had. Mahatma Gandhi too teaches us about the dignity of work. Let us follow the examples of great people and realise that labour is dignifying and should be equated with worship.

Question :

1. According to the passage, whose example should we follow? (i) our own (ii) others (iii) great people
2. Supply one word from the passage for ‘praying to God’ .
3. Why was the foreign diplomat shocked?
4. Who carried the luggage of the young man?
5. What does Mahatma Gandhi teach us?

English Unseen Passage 13 ​

Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:

By instinct, most parents love and care for their children. Yet, very often, their expectations and ambitions put too much pressure on the children. When children cannot reach the level of their parent's ambition, they can suffer from tremendous frustration and stress.

This may lead to drug experimentation and other related behaviours as a way of avoiding the realities of the situation.

From the beginning, children should be allowed to develop in their own natural, happy way within the control of parental love, guidance and care without too much pressure. A change of some conventional parental attitudes may help to prevent many cases of drug dependence and other adolescent problems. We should also understand our parental responsibilities to the world environment. Remember that the living space of this world is limited and we must have enough space for our future generations to live happily.

Question :

1. What is the basic nature of parents towards their children?
2. Why are the children under pressure due to parents?
3. What are the various problems children suffer from?
4. How should the children be developed from the beginning?
5. What should we remember as a parent?
6. Find out from the passage the word which means 'starting'.
7. Give the word from the passage which is opposite of 'solutions'.

English Unseen Passage 14 ​

Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:

Captain Arthur Keller and Katherine lived in Tuscombia. Alabama. They were blessed with a baby girl on June 27, 1880. The child was named Helen. Within 20 months, Helen was taken ill and was on the brink of death. The sickness left her permanently blind and deaf. The child developed into a savage with a useless mind, always screaming. weeping, kicking and biting. However, the arrival of a teacher. Anne Sullivan on March 3, 1887 proved to be epoch-making. In fact, Helen calls it, "My soul's Birthday." with Anne's help. Helen learnt to read Braille in English, Latin, Greek, French and German. The handicapped girl conquered her disabilities and led a normal life. She wrote an autobiographical volume called "optimism" and a long poem, "The song of the Stone wall.' Helen Keller's example should teach us to overcome our handicaps which are nothing compared to hers. Shall we sit and mourn or stand and fight?

Question :

1. When was Hellen Keller born?
   1. on June 27, 1880
   2. on June 21. 1889
   3. on June 21, 1886
2. Supply one word from the passage which means, suffering from fever or some disease.
3. What did Helen learn with the help of her teacher Anne?
4. Write the name of Helen's autobiographical volume?
5. What does Helen's example teach us?

English Unseen Passage 15 ​

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Health is a positive state of physical and mental well-being. When we feel secure-by being physically healthy and free from disease, by feeling content and by living in a comfortable and clean environment-we are in a state of positive health. Our close and harmonious interactions with family members, neighbours and friends help us to stay well mentally.

According to this definition, very few people in the world enjoy positive health. In rich and developed countries, family ties appear to be weakening, neighbours may be strangers and friendship is sometimes restricted to business contacts. In those countries environmental conditions have improved considerably, the populations have achieved a better nutritional status, and there is often plenty of money available to buy most of life's comforts. People in developed countries may enjoy better physical health, but they are far from achieving positive health, as many are not so content mentally.

Question :

1. How can people feel secure and in a state of positive health?
2. On the basis of the passage define 'Health".
3. What is necessary for keeping us well mentally?
4. The people of developed countries are far from achieving positive health. Why?
5. What is the state of social relations of the rich and developed countries as shown in the passage?

English Unseen Passage 16 ​

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I was born in a middle-class Tamil family in the island town of Rameswaram in the erstwhile Madras state. My father, Jainulabdeen had neither much formal education nor much wealth: despite these disadvantages, he possessed great innate wisdom and a true generosity of spirit. He had an ideal helpmate in my mother, Ashiamma. I do not recall the exact number of people she fed everyday, but I am quite certain that far more outsiders ate with us than all the members of our own family put together.

I was one of many children. a short boy with rather undistinguished looks, born to tall and handsome parents. We lived in our ancestral house, which was built in the middle of the nineteenth century. It was a fairly large pucca house, made of limestone and brick, on Mosque Street in Rameswaram. My austere father used to avoid all inessential comforts and luxuries. However, all necessities were provided for in terms of food, medicine or clothes. In fact, I would say, mine was a very secured childhood, both materially and emotionally.

The Second World War broke out in 1939, when I was eight years old. For reasons I have never been able to understand, a sudden demand for tamarind seeds erupted in the market. I used to collect the seeds and sell them to a provision shop on Mosque Street. A day's collection would fetch me the princely sum of one anna.

Question :

1. Where was the author born?
2. Write the sentence from the passage which shows that the author's father was a wise man.
3. How did the author look in his childhood?
4. What kind of the house did the author live in?
5. When did the Second World War start?
6. Find out the word from the passage which is opposite of 'cruelty'.
7. Write the word from the passage which means 'belonging to forefathers'.

English Unseen Passage 17 ​

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The Maliks were going to have a house of their own in Delhi. They had purchased a plot in the most fashionable colony of the city sometime ago. Now that they were posted back in Delhi, they thought they might as well have the house built. Mrs. Malik also decided that after completion of the house, she would stay back in Delhi even if her husband was transferred to another station. She was sick of their postings. Every other year they were moved to a new place. Now that the children were grown up, it was not desirable to shift them from school to school. Mrs. Malik said, if he must, Mr. Malik could go all alone. She would settle down permanently in Delhi with the children. She would have her mother-in-law for company. Mr. Malik had no objection to it.

Question :

1. Where was the plot situated?
2. What was Mrs. Malik tired of?
3. Why did Mrs. Malik not want her children to change schools again and again?
4. Whom did Mrs. Malik want to live with?

English Unseen Passage 18 ​

Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:

The coloured paper to make its faces came from Son a Chinaman who had a store in town. Sometimes his goods were packed in coloured paper and he always saved it for us. A long time ago, in China, he had flown kites, too. Father kept the paper in a box. It was used only for Rashida's kite, which we all knew was special; it could sing. We wound the kite strings round bamboo rollers which father had brought with him from Punjab. He had been the best kite flyer in his village. He used to tell us stories of the kite seasons there and of the Basant Panchami, the spring festival, when all India flew kites and there were competitions to see who flew them best. Amma told us stories, too, legends about brave young Rajahs using kites as messengers of love, of a general who cheered his soldiers by tying a lantern to a kite and telling them it was the star of victory, of villagers who all night long flew singing kites so that they might sing away every harm and hurt.

Question :

1. Who provided the coloured paper to make kites?
2. Why did the villagers stay up all night long?
3. How did the general encourage his soldiers?
4. What stories did the narrator's father use to tell them?
5. What was special in Rashida's kite?
6. Why did father keep the paper in a box?
7. What did the brave young Rajahs use as messengers of love?
8. Where had your father brought the bamboo rollers from?

English Unseen Passage 19 ​

Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:

Games, though essential, should not become the be-all and the end-all of student life. Generally the sportsmen waste too much time on them and fail in their examination. One must never devote more than an hour to sports and after that should not even think about them. Again, if a player plays a game rashly, there is every danger of his breaking a limb. If it is played without the spirit of sportsmanship, it can lead to bad blood and quarrels. In some of the colleges, there is a tradition that if the visiting team is winning a match, the home team plays foul, picks a quarrel and try to injure the visitors. If we acquire the qualities of true sportsmanship, there will be no narrow mindedness, no corruption and no injustice.

Question :

1. Why do sportsmen generally fail in the examination?
2. What causes bad blood and quarrels in games?
3. Why does the home team quarrel with the visitors?
4. How can narrow mindedness be avoided?

English Unseen Passage 20 ​

Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:

Some people regard sleep as one of the pleasures of life and get as much sleep as they can. Others go a step further and claim that sleep is the natural state for man and keeping awake is unnatural. But some others and the number of such people have increased in the twentieth century. They regard it as a waste of time. These people complain that even twenty-four hours of the day would not be enough for all the things they have to do. They are worried by the thought that at least one-third of their lives are wasted in sleep. The majority of people still believe that a good night's rest is the best tonic, and it is in sleep that a body recovers its health. But a few believe that sleep dulls both mind and body making them unfit for action. However, there is no scientific proof for this. In 1933, a young man was convinced that sleeping was a habit which could be given up. He stayed awake when scientists observed his behaviour. They found that after a week his mind was so affected by sleeplessness that the experiment had to be stopped. If he had continued, he might have died. Although we have no proof in this case, we know that animals deprived of sleep die, and also that in the olden days sleep-deprivation was a method of carrying out the death penalty.

Question :

1. Is sleep one of the pleasures of life?
2. Why do some people regard sleep as a waste of time?
3. What is the best tonic according to the majority of people?
4. What happens to the animals who are deprived of sleep?

Conclusion ​

Mastering English starts with consistent practice. By working through these easy reading passages and answering the provided questions, you'll build the confidence and vocabulary needed for more advanced texts. Keep practicing and watch your comprehension soar!