Q1) Read the passage given below and write the option that you consider

the most appropriate in your answer sheet: (5 marks)

The beginning of this fun-filled season with the sun hidden behind the grey
clouds brings cheer to many of us, waiting eagerly to splash in the rain. Of
course, not everything about rain is glamorous. Especially when you think
about endless traffic jams, the bad roads dotted with potholes, uncleared
garbage and the spate of waterborne diseases. Also, viral infections like
colds and coughs make their presence felt.

Most infectious diseases prevalent in the rainy season can be prevented by

simply washing our hands regularly. Scrubbing hands regularly with water
and soap can prevent us from contracting respiratory and diarrheal
diseases.

Kids have a lower level of immunity, and hence hand washing becomes a
crucial part of their lifestyle. When playing, especially during monsoon
season, kids come into contact with germs and can unknowingly become
infected simply by touching their nose, eyes or mouth. The Food and Drug
Administration states that the human influenza virus can survive on
surfaces for up to eight hours, making people susceptible to catching it
each time they touch the infected surface. Hence repeated hand washing
is required.

To make the best of the rainy season, we should follow some simple
guidelines. First of all, if we decide to get wet in the rain we should change
into a dry set of clothes at the earliest. Also, we should keep raw food items
at bay and wash vegetables and fruits thoroughly before use. Moreover,
strict kitchen hygiene should be maintained in order to enjoy one of the
most beautiful seasons of the year. Also, in order to have a trouble-free
rainy season, home-made fresh food should be given preference over the
fast food sold in the market.

Q (i). People wait for the rains since they can__________in it.

(a) splash

(b) have potholed roads

(c) spate of waterborne diseases

(d) endless traffic jams

Q (ii). After getting wet in rain we should put on dry

clothes____________

(a) as late as possible

(b) whenever we like to

(c) as early as possible

(d) when we fall sick

Q (iii). Besides maintaining kitchen hygiene, we

should_________________ so as to keep us disease free in the rainy
season.

(a) avoid raw fruits

(b) enjoy raw fruits

(c) avoid vegetables

(d) consume more fruits and vegetables

Q (iv). The passage suggests that small children should wash their
hands_____________ ____________in the rainy season since they
have lower immunity.

(a)Frequently

(b) rarely

(c) after every meal

(d) before every meal

Q (v). The word in the passage which means the same as’ prone and
vulnerable ‘is _______.

(a) dotted

(b) hygiene

(c) susceptible
(d) influenza

CBSE Class 9 English Unseen Passage – Passage 2

Q 2. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow.
(5 marks)

What exercise is to the body, reading is to the mind. There are different
purposes for reading. One of them is deriving pleasure. Children reading for
their pleasure rarely stop to ask about the words. They want to get on with
the story. If the word is important, they can usually make a good guess
about what it is. “He drew an arrow from his quiver”. Easy to see that a
quiver is some sort of gadget to put arrows in. More complicated words
they figure out by meeting them in different contexts. People learn to read
well and get a good vocabulary from books, not workbooks or dictionaries.
As a kid, I read years ahead of my age, but I never looked up words in
dictionaries and didn’t even have a dictionary. In my lifetime, I don’t believe
I have looked at even as many as fifty words – neither have most good
readers. Most people don’t know how dictionaries are made. Each new
dictionary starts from scratch. The company making the dictionary
employs thousands of ‘editors’, to whom they give a list of words. The job of
the editor is to collect as many examples as possible of the ways in which
these words are actually used. They look for the words in books,
newspapers, and so forth and every time they find one, they cut out or
copy that particular example. Then after reading these examples, they
decide ‘from the context’ what the writer in each case had meant by the
words. From these, they make definitions. A dictionary, in other words, is a
collection of people’s opinions about what words mean as other people
use them.

Q (i). How do children find out meanings when they are reading for
pleasure?

Q (ii). Does the passage suggest that a dictionary is essential for a good
vocabulary? Why or why not?

Q (iii). Write any one step in the process of making a dictionary.

Q (iv). Define a dictionary in your own words.

Q (v). Find the phrase in the passage which means ‘calculate/think about
until one understands.’

Students can also practise the unseen passages questions by solving

the CBSE Class 9 English Sample Papers.

Unseen Passage for Class 9 English – Passage 3

Q3) Read the passage given below and write the option that you consider
the most appropriate in your answer sheet: (5 marks)

Time is running out, and the parents are worried with just 10 days left for the
schools to reopen after homework. Since the children have enjoyed their
vacations, it is their parents who are surfing the internet, painting the
charts, writing essays and preparing science models. Some busy parents
who are well off but cannot spare time are compelled to send their wards
to the “holiday homework special” classes.

Sumedha, who holds classes for completing the children’s homework, says
that she charges anything between Rs.1000 and 5000 per child, depending
on the class and volume of homework. Many schools give away prizes for
the best homework or add the marks in internal assessments. This makes it
almost imperative for parents to get the best quality. The majority of
parents complain that the level of homework is so high that their children
are clueless about how to do it. Also, many of them fret that the quantum
of holiday homework is so much that children fail to complete it within the
stipulated holidays.

In spite of all the troubles, all parents agree that holiday homework is
essential for the children. Some of them opined that homework helps
establish and strengthen bonds between them and their children as it
brings them close to each other. Some others think that holiday homework
keeps the children in touch with their studies when they are not going to
school.

Q (i). The two objections raised by parents regarding holiday homework

are____________

(a) children playing through the holidays and the amount of homework

(b) high level of homework and amount of homework

(c) too much time and a high level of homework

(d) lack of ideas among children and level of homework

Q (ii). Holiday homework special ‘classes are conducted

for________________

(a) busy parents

(b) children of busy parents

(c) for all well off children

(d) teachers

Q (iii). That _________________makes it necessary that quality

homework is done.

(a) Schools assign difficult homework

(b) parents are doing the homework

(c) schools add marks of the homework to internal assessment

(d) parents are paying a heavy price for homework.

Q (iv). Besides keeping the children in touch with their studies homework
____________between parents and children.

(a) sets up bonds

(b) builds bonds

(c) weakens bonds

(d) sets up and builds bonds

Q (v). The word/phrase ______________in the passage means the

same as “expressed opinion”.

(a) running out

(b) spare

(c) imperative
(d) opined

CBSE Class 9 English Comprehension – Passage 4

Q4) Read the given passage carefully and choose the best answer from
the given alternatives: (5 Marks)

Nepal lies between India and Tibet, among the Himalayan Mountains. The
tallest mountain in the world, Mount Everest, is in Nepal, and there are
several mountains nearly as high. When mountaineers try to climb Mount
Everest, they take the help of the Sherpas, the strong and hardy people
who live in these mountains, to carry heavy loads and act as guides.

A long time ago, the Sherpas crossed over the mountains from Tibet and
made their homes along the southern slopes of the Himalayas in Nepal.

Some Sherpa families have three houses, one house in the lower hills, one a
little higher, and one further up. The houses are in small village groups of
about forty or fifty. Round each group of houses, there are cultivated fields,
usually built in the shape of terraces right up the hillsides. In the highest
fields, the Sherpas grow potatoes; In the lower fields, they grow barley; and
turnips, garlic and other vegetables in the lower ones. They also graze their
yaks on the higher mountain slopes in the summer and on the lower slopes
in the winter. Yaks are very hardy, large cattle with thick, hairy blackish-
brown coats and long horns. The Sherpas use them for almost everything
they need. They ride them, plough with them, and use them to carry their
goods. The hairy wool of these animals is made into cloth, and their skins
into leather boots and tents. The yaks also provide milk, fat and meat. Their
dung is dried and used as fuel instead of wood or coal.

Answer the questions by choosing the best alternatives:

Q (i). What is the situation in Nepal?

(a) between Mount Everest and Tibet

(b) between Tibet and India

(c) between Tibet and Himalayas

(d) between Tibet and Mount Everest

Q (ii). Sherpas are not known for :

(a) their strength and hardness

(b) for cunningness

(c) their carrying heavy loads

(d) acting as guides.

Q (iii). Where do the Sherpas have their houses?

(a) on the lower hills

(b) on a little higher

(c) another a little higher up

(d) all the three above.

Q (iv). These things Sherpas do not grow on the lower fields :

(a) potatoes

(b) turnip and garlic

(c) other vegetables

(d) barley.

Q (v). What are the things for which yaks are not used?

(a) for sports

(b) wool of these animals is made into cloth

(c) their skins into leather boots and tents

(d) to carry their goods.