Month: June 2010

The Cock, The Cat and The Mouse – Audio Story

 The Cock, The Cat and The Mouse

Listen to and read the story, The Cock, The Cat and The Mouse and answer the questions given below:

   Once upon a time . . . a little mouse decided to go and see the world.
Packing some food for the journey, he carefully locked his door and set off
for the unknown. And what a wonderful world he saw! Tall trees, rolling
countryside, flowers and butterflies he had never set eyes on before. On he
hiked till, tired out, he came to a peasant’s cottage. After eating some of
his packed lunch, he thought he would inspect what, to him, was a peculiar
sort of building. He entered the farmyard and his eyes grew round as saucers:
there in front of him were two strange animals he had never seen before. One
was large and handsome, with four legs, covered all over with soft fur, and
sporting splendid white whiskers that gave it a solemn respectable air. It was
dozing against the wall. The other, a two-legged creature, had red, yellow and
green feathers and a fierce, bad-tempered look. A pair of cruel eyes in a
red-crested head glared at the little mouse.
   “How do you do, sir! How do you do…” began the mouse’s greeting, as he
felt foolish at not knowing the stranger’s name. But the feathered creature
simply puffed out its chest, screeched a loud “Cocka-doodle-doo!” and strutted
towards the mouse, now paralyzed with fear. The little mouse saw the big
yellow beak hovering over him. “I must run!” he squeaked, turning tail and
fleeing as fast as his legs would carry him. He spied a hole in the wall and
dived into it. Inside, three faces stared at him in amazement.
   “Where did you appear from?” they asked.
   “I’ve come . . .” gasped the little mouse breathlessly, “. . . from far
away! Where am I now?”
   “This is our home. We’re field mice. What happened?” And the little mouse
told them about the animals he had met in the farmyard: one handsome and
harmless, the other brightly coloured and ferocious. The three field mice
laughed. “Calm down,” they said. “Have a cup of coffee. Don’t you realize the
danger you were in? The creature that frightened you is only a cock, but the
nice harmless one is our deadliest enemy, the cat! If he’d seen you, you
wouldn’t be here to tell the tale. As you see, you can’t always judge by
appearances!”

  1. What did the little mouse decide one day?
  2. What did he see during his journey?
  3. What strange creatures did he see in the farmyard?
  4. Describe the two animals the mouse saw there?
  5. Why was he paralyzed with fear?
  6. Where did he dive into to save himself?
  7. What did he find inside the hole?
  8. Why did the field mice laugh when the mouse told them about the animals he had met in the farmyard?
  9. What did the field mice tell him about the two animals?
  10. Find the meaning of the underlined words in the story.( You can take the help of the dictionary given here).

The Conceited Stag- Audio Story

 The Conceited Stag

Listen to and read the story The Conceited Stag and answer the questions given below:

Once upon a time… there was a stag with splendidly long antlers, who was
very conceited. Every time he drank at a pool, he would stand and admire his
reflection in the water. “I am handsome,” he would tell himself. “There’s no
finer set of antlers in the forest!” And off he would prance. Like all stags,
he had long slender legs, but folks said he’d rather break a leg than lose a
single branch of his splendid antlers. Poor foolish stag! How vain he was.
   One day, as he grazed peacefully on the tender shoots on some low branches,
he heard a distant shot. He heard with fear the baying of the hounds.
Terrified, he knew what terrible enemies the hounds were and that, if they
caught his scent, it would not be easy to outrun them. He had to flee at once,
and as quickly as possible. Faster and faster, he sped along the woodland
track, his heart in his mouth. He could hear the baying of the pack at his
heels. Without ever looking back, he ran in a straight line, trying to shake
off his pursuers. Then the wood thinned out into a clearing. “With luck I’ll be
safe now,” he said to himself, running swiftly over the smooth ground. And
indeed, the yelping of the hounds seemed to die away in the distance.
   Only a little further now, and the stag would reach safety. Suddenly, as he
swept under a tree, his antlers caught in the low-hanging branches. He shook
his head desperately, trying to break free, but although he struggled, his
antlers were held fast. The hounds were coming closer and closer. Just before
the stag met his doom, he had time to think: “What a mistake I made in
regarding my antlers as the best and most precious part of my body. I should
have had more respect for my legs. They tried to carry me to safety, while my
antlers will be the death of me!”

  1. Why was the stag conceited?
  2. Where did he admire his reflection?
  3. What did he hear one day while he was grazing?
  4. Why was he terrified?
  5. What did he do to save himself?
  6. Was he able to save himself? Why?
  7. What were the stag’s last thoughts?
  8. Give the meaning of the underlined words in the story. (You can also search for these words in the dictionary given here.) 

The Milk Maid and Her Pail – Audio Story

The Milk Maid and Her Pail

Listen to and read the story of  The Milk Maid and Her Pail and answer the questions given below:

Martha, the milkmaid made her living by selling milk. She always dreamt of becoming rich and famous.

One morning, like every morning, she set out with a pail of milk over her head. Suddenly, a thought came into her mind, “With the money, I’ll get after selling this milk, I shall buy eggs. The eggs would hatch to give me a lot of chickens. I’ll sell them to buy a piglet. Then I’ll feed the piglet and when he grows fat, I’ll sell him. This will give me enough money to buy a kid. When the kid would grow into a goat, I’ll sell it. This will give me enough money to buy a cow. The cow would give me more milk, which I would sell and buy a necklace for myself. Then I will wear that necklace and go around the village.  Other girls would be jealous of me. What fun would it be!”

All the while, she was dreaming, she was unaware of her surroundings. She suddenly tripped over a stone and fell. And so did her pail of milk. A cat rushed in and lapped up the milk before it seeped into the ground. “Oh, there go my chickens, piglet, goat and cow!” she cried. “All my dreams have been shattered. Had I been more careful I would have earned the money.”

When Martha went back home, she narrated the entire incident to her father. He said, “Martha, dreams inspire us to achieve our goals. But to reach those goals, we must do our job with full dedication and concentration. Dreams can come true only through hard work! Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.”

 

  1. How did Martha make a living?

  2. What did she always dream of?

  3. What thoughts came to her mind one morning, when she set out with a pail of milk on her head?

  4. What happened while she was day-dreaming?

  5. Who lapped up all the milk?

  6. Was Martha able to realise her dreams?

  7. Where did Martha go after the incident?

  8. To whom did she narrate the whole incident?

  9. What did her father tell her?

  10. What is the meaning of  – Do not count your chickens before they are hatched?

The Three Wishes – Audio Story

The Three Wishes

Once upon a time, there lived a poor woodcutter.

He lived in a small cottage with his wife.Every morning, he would go to the forest to cut firewood.

He would sell it in the town-market in the evening. With the money he got after selling it, he would buy

 food for himself and his wife. The woodcutter was content, but his wife wanted to lead a better life. So she often prayed to God.

One fine morning, the woodcutter reached the forest. However, he found it difficult to decide which tree to cut. Finally he selected a tall tree with a fat trunk.

 He was about to strike it with his axe when he heard a voice say, ” Do not cut the tree, Sire. Have pity on me.” He turned around but saw none.

Suddenly he realised that it was the tree that was speaking. The tree said, “If you spare me, I will grant you three wishes.”

The woodcutter was very excited. He rushed back home and told about his adventure in the woods to his wife. His wife was overjoyed and she served him hot porridge.

“Oh! Just porridge? I wish fresh hot bread were to fall through the chimney,” he said.

Lo and behold! Fresh hot bread began falling from the chimney.

“You have wasted one wish. I wish these hot breads were to hang down your nose,” said the woodcutter’s wife.

And indeed the next moment, the fresh hot loaves were hanging from her husband’s nose.

The woodcutter’s wife tried to calm him, ” Do not worry, dear husband. We still have one wish. We can wish for all the good things and then we can lead comfortable lives,” she said.

” But how can I be comfortable with these hot loaves hanging from my nose,”said the woodcutter. “I wish they go up the way they came.”

And the loaves indeed went up the chimney the moment he uttered those words. 

Listen to and read the story “The Three Wishes” and then answer the following questions:

  1. Where did the poor woodcutter live?
  2. Where did he go every morning?
  3. Where did he sell the firewood?
  4. What did he buy from the money he got after selling firewood?
  5. Was the woodcutter’s wife content with her life?
  6. Describe the woodcutter’s adventure in the forest?
  7. What did the tree grant the woodcutter and why?
  8. What did the woodcutter’s wife serve him when he gave her the good news?
  9. What was the woodcutter’s first wish?
  10. How did the woodcutter’s wife react when she saw fresh hot bread falling down the chimney?
  11. What was their third wish?
  12. Did the woodcutter and his wife use the three wishes wisely?
  13. What do you learn from this story?
  14. Find the meaning of the words underlined in the story? 

The Continuous or Progressive Tenses

The Continuous or Progressive Tenses

The Continuous or Progressive Tenses describe an action that goes on or continues or progresses for sometime.

To make them we use the helping verb be and the present participle (am, is, are for the present continuous and was, were for the past continuous).

 

  • The Present Continuous Tense

The simple present tense is the everyday or habitual present. The present continuous is the real or immediate present which tells us what is happening at the time of speaking e.g.

What are you doing, John?

I am doing my homework, father.

Study the following examples to see the difference in the use of the simple present and the present continuous:

Present Continuous Simple Present
What are you learning now?We are learning English grammar. Which days in the week do you learn grammar?We learn it on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Where are you going now?I am going to school. How do you go to school?I go to school by bus.
What is your father doing?My father is watching television. What do you watch on television?I watch cartoon films.
What is your mother doing?She is writing a letter to grandmother. Do you write letters to your friends and relatives?Yes, I do.

 

Notice that the present continuous of go and come is often used for the future, e.g.

We are going for a picnic tomorrow.

My friends are coming to our house next week.

The present continuous of go, followed by an infinitive, is often used for the future, e.g.

I am going to finish my work tomorrow.

Are they going to repair the roads before the rains?

  • The Past Continuous Tense

We make this with was/were and the present participle.

The past continuous tense shows an action that went on for some time in the past, e.g.

Mother and father were sitting in garden while I was watering the plants. My younger brother was playing under the tree, mother was reading a magazine and father was having his tea.

It is also used to express an action that was going on when another happened. The second action is in the simple past tense, e.g.

She lost her watch while she was playing.

I was going to the market when I saw the accident.

  • The Future Continuous Tense

This tense is formed by the simple future of the verb be and the past participle of the principal verb. It shows that a person will keep on doing something in the future, e.g.

We will be studying mathematics in the next lesson.

We will be playing football in the field at 5 o’clock this evening.

On Sunday, my parents will be going for a movie and I will be looking after my little sister. 

 

Snow White and Rose Red – Audio Story

Snow White and Rose Red 

Listen to the story and attempt the following questions:

  1. Where did the widow live with her two beautiful daughters?
  2. Where was the cottage situated?
  3. Why did the people appreciate the cottage?
  4. What was the name of the two daughters and why did their mother give them these names?
  5. Describe the two girls and their nature?
  6. Where did the girls go after completing their work?
  7. What did their mother teach them every evening?
  8. Who knocked at their door on a cold winter evening?
  9. What did they find on opening the door?
  10. What did the big brown bear want?
  11. Did the girls and their mother allow the bear to stay with them?
  12. When did the bear leave their house?
  13. Why did the bear thank the girls?
  14. Whose beard was caught in a bush?
  15. How did the two girls help the dwarf?
  16. Did the dwarf thank them for helping him?
  17. How did the girls save the dwarf  from  the large bird?
  18. What was the dwarf holding when the girls saw him again?
  19. How did the jewels sparkle?
  20. What did the dwarf try to do when the bear appeared before him?
  21. Was he able to run away?
  22. What did the bear want the dwarf to do?
  23. What was the bear changed into?
  24. Who had changed the prince into a bear and when?
  25. Where did the prince invite the girls and why?
  26. What happened in the end?

Tense

Tense

Verbs are the most important words in a sentence. They express actions.  The time of an action changes and the verb also changes.

Tense in a verb shows:

(a)    The time of an action

(b)   Whether it is complete or still going on.

Let us look at the chief tenses and their names:

  Present Past Future
Simple I work/He plays I worked/He played I shall work/He will play
ContinuousOrProgressive I am working/He is playing I was working/He was playing I shall be working/He will be playing
Perfect (i.e. complete) I have worked/He has played I had worked/He had played I shall have worked/He will have played

 

To form these tenses, we must know these four parts of the verb:

(a)    The Present Tense form (which is the same as the infinitive or root form)

(b)   The Present Participle ( which you can always make by adding –ing to the root form)

(c)    The Past Tense and the Past Participles of irregular or strong verbs (like write, see, drink, break).

(d)   Regular or weak verbs (like work, walk, learn) add ed or t to make the past tense or past participle. (Note that they are weak, because they need the help of ed, d, t: the strong verbs are strong because they do not need any such help).

The Simple Tenses

The Simple Present Tense expresses the following:

  1.      It expresses general truths, things that are always true, e.g.

The earth moves round the sun.

Two and two make four.

Fish live in water

We make butter and cheese from milk.

 2.      It expresses habitual actions, e.g.

I wake up at six o’clock everyday.

We go to school by bus.

I drink a glass of milk everyday.

Cows eat grass.

In this usage , we often use adverbials of frequency like often,  sometimes, never, rarely, always, frequently, etc. e.g.

Do you go to the park often?

Yes, I go regularly.

No, I go very rarely.

I go there sometimes.

I never go to the park.

3.     We use the simple present tense to describe a process or a recipe,  giving directions step by step e.g.

Take a cup of milk in a pan. Put it on fire. Add a spoon of sugar and let it boil. etc.

The Simple Past Tense

1.       The simple past tense is used to describe what happened in the past, often with a definite adverbial of time like yesterday, last week/month/year/evening, an hour ago, long ago, then, etc. answering the question When did…………. e.g.

               He went to Bombay yesterday.

               My grandmother wrote me a lovely letter.

               I did my graduation in 1995.

2.       In indirect speech it replaces the simple present in direct speech, e.g.

               He said that he woke up at 6 a.m. everyday, had breakfast at 8 a.m. and went to work at 9 a.m. etc.

The Simple Future Tense

The simple future tense expresses future time and is often accompanied by an adverbial of future time, like tomorrow, next year, in a month’s time, etc. e.g.

I shall see you tomorrow.

Father will be home soon.

We will go for a picnic on Sunday.

The Hen that laid Golden Eggs – Audio Story

The Hen that laid Golden Eggs 

Listen to and read the story,  The Hen that laid Golden Eggs and answer the questions given below:

Once upon a time,  there was  a  farmer  who  had  a  wonderful  hen . It laid a golden egg everyday. Each  morning ,  the farmer  went  to  the  marketplace  and  sold  the  eggs  for  a  great  deal  of  money. Soon the farmer grew rich.   However, the richer he grew, the greedier he became. So he fed the hen nice corn with the hope that she would lay two golden eggs everyday. But to the farmer’s utter dismay, the hen laid only one golden egg every day. He tried everything, but the hen continued to lay just one golden egg.

One morning, the farmer thought, “If this hen lays golden eggs, then her insides may be of gold. I must cut her open and get all the golden eggs at once.” And with a sharp knife, the greedy farmer cut the poor hen.

To his utter surprise, the farmer found that his hen’s insides were like any other hen’s.

  1. What did the farmer have?
  2. What did it lay everyday?
  3. What did the farmer do with the golden egg everyday?
  4. Was the farmer satisfied?
  5. What more did he want from the hen?
  6. What did the farmer do to satisfy his greed?
  7. What did he find inside the hen?
  8. What do you learn from this story?

 Choose the correct word:

  1. The farmer had a dreadful/wonderful hen.
  2. It laid a silver/golden egg everyday.
  3. The farmer sold the egg for a little/great deal of money everyday.
  4. Soon the farmer grew very poor/rich.
  5. The farmer became generous/greedy.

The Blue Jackal

Once upon a time,there lived a jackal in a forest by the name of Chandaraka. One day, Chandaraka, driven by hunger, went to a nearby village in search of food. He was extremely hungry. Unfortunately, he met a group of dogs and they started chasing him. The jackal got frightened and fled in panic. He entered a washer man’s house in a hurry. While trying to hide himself, the jackal slipped and fell into a tub full of blue color, which the washer man had kept ready to dye the clothes.

Soon the bark of the dogs ceased and the jackal came out of the tub. There was a big mirror fixed on the wall of the house. The jackal saw himself in the mirror and was surprised to see his blue colored body. He came out of the house and quickly ran back to the forest. When Chandraraka reached the forest, every animal failed to recognize this new creature. Infact they got frightened and ran in all directions.

Taking advantage of the situation, the jackal planned to keep the situation in his favor. He asked, “Why are you running like this? There is no need to panic. I am a unique creation of God. He told me that the animals in this jungle had no ruler and he had nominated me as your king. He had named me, Kakudruma and told me to rule this forest. Therefore, all of you can live safely under the cover of my protection.”

The innocent animals believed the shrewd jackal and accepted him as the king. The jackal appointed the lion as his minister, the tiger as his chamberlain and the wolf as the gatekeeper. After allotting positions to the animals, the new king Kakudruma banished all the jackals in the forest for the fear of being recognized. Now, the animals hunted for food and brought it to the self-proclaimed king. After taking his share, the king would distribute the remaining food equally among his subjects. So like this, he was leading a luxurious life.

One day when the blue jackal was holding his court, a herd of jackals were passing by howling to their glory. Suddenly the blue jackal forgot that he was a king and not an ordinary jackal anymore. Unable to control his natural instinct, Kakudruma howled at the top of his voice. Soon, the animals realized that they had been fooled by a jackal. In a fit of anger, all the animals, at once pounced on the blue jackal and killed him.

Moral: The one who abandons one’s own folk will perish.

Read the story of The blue Jackal and then attempt the following questions:

  1. What was the name of the jackal?
  2. Why did he go to the nearby village?
  3. Who frightened and chased the jackal?
  4. Whose house did the jackal enter?
  5. What did he fall into?
  6. Why had the washer man prepared the tub of blue color?
  7. Where did the jackal see his blue colored body?
  8. Did the animals of the forest recognize the jackal?
  9. How did the animals react?
  10. What did the jackal tell the animals?
  11. What positions did the jackal allot to the animals?
  12. How did the jackal lead this new life?
  13. What did the jackal forget one day and why?
  14. What was he unable to control?
  15. How did the animals recognize that he was an ordinary jackal?
  16. What did the animals then do?
  • Give the meaning of the following words: chase, panic, hide, cease, unique, nominate, protection, shrewd, luxurious, pounced

Cinderella

The story of Cinderella is ancient, and there are variations in many countries. The most common version was translated from Charles Perrault’s “Cendrillon”, which first appeared in 1697.

Cinderella story book

Once upon a time,

there was a pretty young girl named Cinderella. Cinderella was a good, sweet, kind, pretty young girl. Cinderella’s widowed father, Baron Hardup, married again to the Baroness, a mean woman with two ugly daughters of her own. They lived together along with Buttons, the Baron’s servant and Cinderella’s friend. Cinderella’s mean stepmother and the two ugly stepsisters made Cinderella do all of the cooking and cleaning. She no longer had nice things and wore only tattered old clothes, while her stepmother and stepsisters had very nice clothes and lived very comfortably.

The Prince and Dandini, his servant, swap places so that the Prince can meet ordinary people. In this way, the Prince meets Cinderella in the woods, and Dandini suggests a ball so they can meet again.

Soon after, a letter came inviting everyone to the palace for the ball. Cinderella had no good clothes to wear to the ball, and was upset “Don’t cry, child,” said a gentle voice. “I am your fairy godmother, and I have come to help you”. Then the fairy-godmother waved her wand. Four mice became four proud horses, and a big, round pumpkin became a glittering coach. Again the fairy-godmother waved her wand and turned Cinderella’s torn dress into a beautiful gown. “You must leave the ball by midnight”, she warned. “After that, the magic spell will be broken.”

At the ball, the Prince was enchanted by Cinderella, and danced with her all evening. She felt as if she were floating on a dream! But as the clock struck midnight, Cinderella ran from the palace. She was in such a hurry that she left one glass slipper behind. The Prince ran after her, but it was too late.

The next day, the Prince and Dandini go door-to-door to find the young woman who had lost her slipper. When they got to Cinderella’s house, both stepsisters tried on the glass slipper, but their feet were much too big. Cinderella’s stepmother told them that there were no other ladies in the house. When Cinderella appeared and asked if she could try on the slipper, her stepmother was furious. Of course, the slipper fitted, and the fairy-godmother’s magic spell restored her dress and riches. The Prince would be married at last. And Cinderella’s dreams would all come true.


And they lived happily ever after……..


Read the story of Cinderella and answer the questions given below:

  1. What kind of a girl was Cinderella?
  2. What was the name of Cinderella’s father?
  3. Describe Cinderella’s stepmother?
  4. How did Cinderella’s stepmother and stepsisters treat her?
  5. Name the Baron’s servant and the Prince’s servant?
  6. Who invited everyone to the ball?
  7. Why was Cinderella upset?
  8. Who came to her help?
  9. What did the fairy-godmother do to help Cinderella?
  10. What did the fairy-godmother say to Cinderella before she left for the ball?
  11. How did the Prince feel when he saw Cinderella?
  12. How did Cinderella feel at the ball?
  13. What did she leave in her hurry?
  14. How did the Prince find Cinderella?
  15. How did Cinderella’s stepmother react when Cinderella asked if she too could try on the slipper?
  16. Did the slipper fit Cinderella’s foot?
  17. What happened in the end?
  18. Give the meaning of – mean, ugly, tattered, glittering, warning, furious.