Read the following quotation and answer the questions that

follow.

Question 1.
What, according to you, does this quotation express?

Answer:
The quotation tells us to dream and then work towards fulfilling that
dream.

Question 2.
Is it essential to dream high? How can anyone make one’s dream come
true?

Answer:
Yes, it is good to dream high. If we work with dedication and careful
planning, we can make our dreams come true.

Question 3.
What is your dream in life?

Answer:
My dream in life is to become a doctor who will work to find cures of
deadly viruses like the Corona virus.

Question 4.
Have you ever heard of a child with special needs becoming a champion?

Answer:
Yes, I have heard of a child with special needs becoming a champion. A
fourteen year old girl who had hearing disability won the mini marathon
at the sports day in our school.

Comprehension

I. Answer the following questions.

Question 1.
What was Michael Stone’s dream?
Answer:
Michael Stone’s dreamed of becoming a champion pole-vaulter.

Question 2.
What impact did the mother’s stories have on Michael?
Answer:
Michael’s mother, Mildred Stone was very good at telling stories. When
Michael was young, she told him a number of stories about flying. Her
stories were full of details they inspired Michael to dream high. In his
dreams, he would run faster than trains and fly like an eagle.

Question 3.
How did Michal prepare himself to become an Olympic champion?
Answer:
Michael started working hard from the age of 14. He began a careful,
disciplined weightlifting programme. On alternate days, he practised
running and worked with weights. His father supervised him as a coach
and a trainer. Michael worked hard to reach perfection and all this helped
him become and Olympic champion.

Question 4.
Michael’s mother and father had different ideas about training. How did
these two approaches help Michael fulfil his dream?
Answer:
Michael’s parents had different ideas about training. Mother encouraged
Michael to dream big and to dream about flying. And his father demanded
him to do hard work. Mother provided inspiration and the father helped
build his stamina and technique. Thus Michael derived help from both his
parents.

Question 5.
What was so special about Michael’s achievement?
Answer:
Michael was blind but he broke National and International Junior Olympics
record for Pole vault.

Vocabulary

I. Synonyms:

Use a thesaurus/dictionary to find out synonyms of these words from the

biographical account you have read.

Answer:
 Word Synonyms
quench satisfy, decrease, fulfil, fill, reduce
glamour attraction, charm, fascination, appeal
passion excitement, feeling, intensity, joy, desire, zeal
persistence perseverance, grit, tenacity, endurance
arrogant pretentious, proud, vain, haughty, pompous
pounding beating, racing, throbbing

Note: Synonyms are words with similar not the same – meaning.
Synonyms should belong to the same part of speech.

II. Suffixes:

Suffixes are groups of letters that are attached to words at their ends.
(Groups of letters attached to words at their beginnings are called
prefixes.) Suffixes generally change the parts of speech of the words to
which they are attached.

Look at the following words taken from the passage.

competition, excitement, persistence, immediately, wonderful, effortless, childhood,
national, intensity.

Now, pick out the suffix from each word and form new words of your own
in the table given below. One is done for you.

Answer:

Word Suffix new Word

competition -ion Completion, preparation,

creation
excitement -ment government, adjustment,
acknowledgement,
improvement, disappointment
persistence -ence Dependence, reference,
difference, audience

immediately -ly Clearly, slowly, dearly, lovely,

costly

wonderful -ful Careful, beautiful, meaningful,

powerful, peaceful
 effortless -less Tasteless, careless, painless,
odourless

childhood -hood Neighbourhood, motherhood,

likelihood, parenthood
national -al Arrival, additional, fatal,
external, internal

intensity -ity Clarity, majority, priority,

seniority, minority

III. Collocations :

A collocation is an arrangement of words or other elements, especially

those that commonly co occur.
e.g.: heart-felt congratulation.
There are certain word combinations.

 Adjective + Noun : e.g. bright/harsh/intense/strong light

 Verb + Noun : e.g. cast/ emit/give/provide/shed light
 Noun + Verb : e.g. light gleams/glows/shines
 Noun +Noun : e.g. a light source
 Preposition+ Noun : e.g. by the light of the moon
 Noun+ Preposition : e.g. the light from the window
 Quantifier+ Noun : e.g. (of) a beam / ray of light

Use a dictionary and write which word in column 1 can collocate with
those in the next five columns. Put a tick (✓) mark in the relevant
column. Use the apt collocations in your own sentences.

Answer:

word sympathy opinion welcome congratulations dream

heart-felt y y
deep y

childhood y

express y y y

strong y

warm y
Sentences using collocations:

1. The mother has heartfelt sympathy on her children.

2. I received heartfelt congratulations from my friends when I
obtained good marks.
3. You have our deep sympathy on the loss of your father.
4. Becoming a police officer was my childhood dream.
5. He expresses his opinion on his marriage with Latha.
6. Expressing strong opinion on you is very difficult to me.
7. She received a warm welcome from her friends in America.

Grammar

Look at the following sentences taken from the reading passage:

1. As he raced down the golden-lined wheat fields, he would always

outrun the locomotives passing by.
2. When he heard the singing of some distant robins in flight, he knew it
was his time to fly.
3. Since the other vaulter had fewer misses, Michael needed to clear this
vault to win.

In the above sentences the clauses with as and when denote time
whereas since denotes reason. As and when refer to time and the other
parts state what happened at that time. In the third sentence, the clause
beginning with since states the reason and the other states the
consequence.

The words as, when, since are conjunctions, which connect two sentences
(clauses). The clauses containing these words are called Adverbial
clauses. These adverbial clauses cannot stand independently, so they are
called Dependent clauses orSubordinate clauses. The clause that stands
on its own is an Independent clause or Main clause.

The linkers as, when and since (Adverbs) are placed before the clauses to
make them Subordinate clauses.

Now, read the biographical account once again and pick out the Adverbial
clauses and Main clauses and write them in the table or in your notebook.

Answer:

Sentence from the Adverbial/Dependent Main/Independent

text Clause Clause
As long as Michael could As long as Michael could he had always
remember, he had always remember, dreamt of flying.
dreamt of flying.
Michale’s mother read him When he was growing up Michale’s mother
numerous stories about read him numerous
flying when he was stories about flying
growing up.
As soon as he landed on As soon as he landed on Michael immediately
the inflated landing mat, the inflated landing mat, began preparing for
Michael immediately his next attempt at
began preparing for his flight.
next attempt at flight.
As he lay on his back and As he lay on his back he knew the other
heard the crowd groan, he and heard the crowd vaulter had missed
knew the other vaulter groan, his final jump.
had missed his final jump.

As he began sprinting As he began sprinting something felt

down the runway, down the runway, wonderfully different,
something felt wonderfully yet familiar.
different, yet
Familiar.
When he heard the singing When he heard the he knew it was his
of some distant robins in singing of some distant time to fly.
flight, he knew it was his robins in flight,
time to fly.
When he took a deep When he took a deep it happened.
breath, it happened. He breath,
began to fly.

Complete the following sentences with appropriate Adverbial clauses. Use

the adverbs wherever they are given in brackets.

1. The teacher entered the class ___________.

2. The dog ran into a speeding car ___________.
3.1 was in deep sleep ___________.
4. Someone knocked at the door ___________.
5. The crowd cheered Michael Stone ___________. (as soon as)
6. It is high time the cricket board thought of different alternatives
___________. (as)
Answer:

1. The teacher entered the class when the period had started.
2. The dog ran into a speeding car as it did not see the car.
3. I was in deep sleep when John came home and rang the bell.
4. Someone knocked at the door as I was cooking dinner.
5. The crowd cheered Michael Stone as soon as he cleared the 17 feet
6½ inches jump.
6. It is high time the cricket board thought of different alternatives as
many players have not been performing well in the recent matches.
Writing

You have read the biography of Michael Stone. Think of some world-
famous sporting personalities from India. Collect information about any
one of them and write a biographical sketch.
You may include the following:
1. Date and place of birth
2. Information about the family
3. Achievements of the person : awards, prizes, honors, etc.
4. Important events in the life of the person – education, marriage,
profession, etc.
5. Inspiration to others/message to the society
6. Contribution to his/her field and society

P V Sindhu

Born: 5 July 1995, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India. Both her parents
have been national level volleyball players.

Early years: Started playing badminton at the age of 8 as she was

inspired by the success of Pullela Gopichand, the 2001 All England Open
Badminton Champion. She joined Pullela Gopichand's Gopichand
Badminton Academy.

Accomplishments

Sindhu broke into the top 20 of the BWF World Ranking in September
2012, at the age of 17.

First Indian to become the Badminton World Champion.

Olympic Games

Silver medal – second place 2016 Rio de Janeiro Women's singles

Bronze medal – third place 2020 TokyoWomen's singles

World Championships

Gold medal – first place2019 Basel Women's singles

Silver medal – second place 2017 Glasgow Women's singles

Silver medal – second place 2018 Nanjing Women's singles

Awards,
Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna

Padma Shri

Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award in India, in January 2020

Biography

P V Sindhu, one of India’s greatest sports persons, was born on 5th July
1995 in Hyderabad to parents who were both National level Badminton
players. She started playing badminton when she was eight years old and
was inspired by the 2011 All England Badminton Champion, Pullela
Gopichand. She enrolled in his Badminton Academy. She was ranked in
the top 20 of world ranking at the age of seventeen. She is the first
Indian to become Badminton World Champion in 2019. Sindhu has won
medals at many other events including Silver medal at the Olympics
(2016) and the World Championships in 2017 and 2018. The Indian
government has awarded her the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award,
the Padma Shri and the Padma Bushan.

Study Skills

You have finished reading the text “True Height”. Write the summary of
the story in your own words. Use the following ideas to complete your
summary effectively.

 Make a note of the important points in the text and the supporting
details.
 Sequence of the events.
 Identify the words/ phrases which carry ideas.
 Use appropriate linkers.
 Focus on the words/phrases that express the essence of the text.
 Present the ideas briefly in your own words.
 Do not include examples in the summary.

Summary of True Height

“True Height” is an emotional story by David Naster about the pole

vaulter Michael Stone. Born to Bert and Mildred Stones, Michael was
inspired by his mother to always fly high. His father Bert, who was also
his coach and trainer, was a practical man. He wanted Michael to work
very hard and practice to achieve success. Michael was a good student,
helped his parents at the farm and was also dedicated and determined to
succeed as a pole vaulter. The support, training and inspiration from his
parents played a pivotal role in Michael becoming an expert at pole-vault.
He developed a flexible body of an athlete and had the strength of a body
builder. When Michael cleared 17 feet and 6 and half inches to create
National and International Junior Olympics record, he was overwhelmed
with congratulations. His father Bert also became emotional at that
moment. This feet of Michael was even more significant because Michael
Stone was blind.