Unseen Passage: Learning

During our growing up years, we as children have been taught — both at home and school — to worship the photos and idols of the Gods of our respective religions. When we grew a little older, we were told to read holy books like the Bhagwad Gita, the Bible and the Quran; we were told that there are a lot of life lessons to be learnt from these holy books. We were then introduced to stories from our mythologies which taught us about ethics and morality — what is good and what is bad. I also learnt to be respectful towards my parents who made my life comfortable with their hard work and love and care, and my teachers who guided me to become a good student and a responsible citizen.

Much later in life, I realised that though we learn much from our holy books, there is a lot to learn from our surroundings. This realisation dawned upon me when I learnt to enquire and explore. Everything around us— the sun, the moon, the stars, rain, rivers, stones, rocks, birds, plants and animals — teach us many valuable life lessons.

No wonder that besides the scriptures in many cultures, nature is also worshipped. The message that we get is to save our environment and maintain ecological balance. People are taught to live in harmony with nature and recognise that there is God in all aspects of nature.

Nature is a great teacher. A river never stops flowing. If it finds an obstacle in its way in the form of heavy rock, the river water fights to remove it from its path or finds an alternative path to move ahead. This teaches us to be progressive in life, and keep the fighting spirit alive.

Snakes are worshipped as they eat insects in the field that can hurt our crops, thus protecting the grains for us. In fact, whatever we worship is our helper and makes our lives easy for us. There are many such examples in nature, but we are not ready to learn a lesson. Overcome with greed, we are destroying nature. As a result, we face natural disasters like drought, flood and landslides. We don’t know that nature is angry with us.

However, it is never too late to learn. If we learn to respect nature, the quality of our life will improve.

On the basis of your understanding of the above passage, answer the following questions:

1. When we are children, we are taught to __________.
   1. go to school every day
   2. help your parents
   3. study regularly
   4. worship the photos and idols of the Gods of our respective religions
2. What do we learn from the holy books?
   1. life lessons
   2. good manners
   3. about nature
   4. about our past
3. Why should we respect our parents?
   1. They teach us good values.
   2. They work hard to make our life comfortable.
   3. It is our duty.
   4. All of these
4. The narrator learnt that we learn a lot from our surroundings when he learnt to __________.
   1. ask questions
   2. enquire and explore
   3. analyse the scripture
   4. decipher the scriptures
5. In many cultures besides scriptures, __________ is also worshipped.
   1. Idols
   2. planets
   3. nature
   4. water
6. According to the author, where do we learn more than our holy books?
   1. parents
   2. grandparents
   3. surroundings
   4. family
7. What message do we get from the scriptures?
   1. to save our environment and maintain ecological balance
   2. to respect our parents
   3. to be kind
   4. to be virtuous
8. What does the river teach us?
   1. to be progressive in life
   2. to face the obstacles
   3. to never give up
   4. to face the challenges
9. The synonym of ‘advised’ is__________.
   1. ethics
   2. respective
   3. guided
   4. morality
10. The synonym of ‘search’ in para 2 is __________.
    1. dawned
    2. enquire
    3. valuable
    4. explore
11. The word which means the same as ‘valuable’ is __________.
    1. proper
    2. desirable
    3. available
    4. useful
12. The word which means the same as ‘harmony’ is__________.
    1. beauty
    2. friendship
    3. discomfort
    4. honesty

Answer

1. worship the photos and idols of the Gods of our respective religions
2. life lessons
3. They work hard to make our life comfortable.
4. enquire and explore
5. nature
6. parents
7. to save our environment and maintain ecological balance
8. to be progressive in life
9. guided
10. explore
11. useful
12. friendship

Q. Answer the following questions briefly:

1. What are we taught in our childhood and growing years?
2. Why should we respect our parents and teachers?
3. What message do we get when we worship nature?
4. How does a river face an obstacle that comes in its way?
5. What does a flowing river teach us?

Answer

1. In our childhood and growing up years, we are taught to worship the photos and idols of the gods of our respective religions and also read the holy books like the Bhagwad Gita, the Bible and the Quran.
2. We should respect our parents as they make our lives comfortable with their hard work, love and care; and teachers guide us to make us good students and responsible citizens.
3. By worshipping nature, we get the message to save our environment and maintain ecological balance. People are taught to live in harmony with nature and recognise that there is God in all aspects of nature.
4. A river finds an obstacle in its way in the form of a heavy rock, the river water fights to remove it from its path or finds an alternative path to move ahead.
5. A flowing river teaches us to be progressive in life and keep the fighting spirit alive.

Q. Choose the meanings of the words given below with the help of the options that follow:

1. Guided
   1. answered
   2. advised
   3. fought
   4. polished
2. Explore
   1. search
   2. frequent
   3. describe
   4. request
3. Valuable
   1. proper
   2. desirable
   3. available
   4. useful
4. Harmony
   1. beauty
   2. friendship
   3. discomfort
   4. honesty
5. Ethics
   1. conduct
   2. deed
   3. action
   4. moral philosophy

Answer

1. advised
2. search
3. useful
4. friendship
5. moral philosophy