Podar International School (IB &
CIE)
Comprehension- Paper 2 (Practice)
Section A : Reading
Read the following passage carefully.
Understanding Mother
Thomas Alva Edison did not go to school until he was eight years old
because his family moved from one town to another, and because of his
illness. He finally joined a small school where all the classes were held in
one room. The teachers were a man called G.B. Engle and his wife. Most
of the teaching consisted of giving the students things to learn by heart.
Edison liked to ask why and get answers, not just memorize the things
the teacher taught him. It was not surprising therefore that he did not do
well in this school.
After three months in this school, Edison heard Engle say, That Edison
boy does not have a good mind. He cannot learn. Edison was a quite boy
but this comment made him very angry. He took his hat and coat and
went home. I will never go back to that school, he said.
When Edisons mother learnt from him what had happened, she was
angrier than he was. The next morning she went to see Mr. Engle. I
understand that you think my son does not have a good mind, Nancy
Edison said.
He does not work carefully enough on his studies, the teacher
complained.
I have been a teacher, Edisons mother told Engle, and in my opinion
my son has a better mind than most boys of his age. She added that
Engles way of teaching must be wrong.
Engle responded that a mothers love had made her unable to believe
what was true about her son. Nancy Edison became angry. I will teach
the boy myself, she said. He wont come here again!
Edison went to school for only three months of his life. After that his
mother was his teacher. She arranged for him to study every day, not
only in winter but also in summer when the other boys were busy
playing. He did not mind this because his mother gave him not just
learning but the love of learning. She taught him that it was more
important to think than to remember facts.
Nancy Edisons way of teaching was to read to Edison the best books she
could find books by Shakespeare and Dickens and many important
history books. When he was eight years old, Edison became interested in
reading good books himself. He had to learn to do everything for himself.
Certain things that required remembering facts and rules, he never really
learnt. He learnt to do sums but he did not really like to do them.
He did not think of numbers the way most people do. One day, when he
had learnt that a bushel of wheat weighs eighty pounds, he said to his
mother, I am a bushel of wheat.
Why do you say that? she asked.
I weigh eighty pounds, he said.
When Edison was nine years old he got a schoolbook about science,
containing some experiments that could be done at home. Giving him
this book was like encouraging him to see a whole new world. He tried all
the experiments in the book. After that Edison spent all the money he
got to buy things of experiments.
Some of Edisons experiments destroyed things in the house. After this
had happened a few times, Nancy Edison told him to move all his
experimental materials out of the part of the house where the family
slept. Edison found space in the cellar, which he used as his first
laboratory. He was ten years old then. When his laboratory was ready for
use, it was difficult for his mother to make him leave it even to eat!
I) Now answer the following questions in the given space:
1) Why did Edison start his schooling late?
Give two reasons.
(2)
i) ____________________________________________________________________
ii) ___________________________________________________________________
2) What sort of person do you think Thomas Alva Edison was?
Give one phrase in your own words about his character.
(1)
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Give a quotation from the passage to support your answer.
(1)
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
3) Give two words / phrases from the passage to show that Edisons
performance in school was poor.
(2)
Ans: 1st Word / Phrase: _____________________________________________
2nd Word / Phrase: _________________________________________________
4) How did Edison react on his teachers remark?
(1)
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
5) Why was Nancy angry with Engles?
(1)
_______________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
6) Though Engle and Nancy both were teachers, they had different styles
of teaching.
Give a phrase from the passage for each (Nancy and Engles teaching)
to show the difference.
(2)
Nancy: _____________________________________________________________
Engle: ______________________________________________________________
7) Find three examples from the passage, which show Edisons liking for
learning.
(3)
1st Example: ________________________________________________________
2nd Example: _______________________________________________________
3rd Example: ________________________________________________________
8) What is your impression about Nancy Edison?
Give one phrase in your own words about her character.
(1)
________________________________________________________________________
Give a quotation from the story to support your answer.
(1)
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
9) Edisons mother gave him not just learning but the love of learning.
Explain the given sentence in your own words.
(2)
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
10) Why did Thomas call himself the bushel of wheat?
(1)
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
11) Why did Nancy shift Thomas laboratory to the cellar?
(1)
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Give an evidence from the passage to support your answer.
(2)
________________________________________________________________________
