This play has been translated into Engli | Class 10 English - First Flight Chapter The Proposal, The Proposal NCERT Solutions

What made Mr Keesing allow Anne to talk in class?

Are there people like Lencho in the real world? What kind of a person would you say he is? You may select appropriate words from the box to answer the question.

   greedy            naive                   stupid                ungrateful 
   selfish            comical               unquestioning

Chubukov says of Natalya: “... as if she won’t consent! She’s in love; egad, she’s like a lovesick cat...” Would you agree? Find reasons for your answer.

Why didn’t Valli want to make friends with the elderly woman?

Did Lencho try to find out who had sent the money to him? Why/Why not?

What ideals does Nelson Mandela set for the future of South Africa?

Anne says teachers are most unpredictable. Is Mr Keesing unpredictable? How?

Do you think Mr Keesing was a strict teacher?

How does Mandela describe the systems of government in his country

(i) in the first decade, and
(ii) in the final decade of the twentieth century?

What does courage mean to Mandela?

How did Valli save up money for her first journey? Was it easy for her?

How did Valli plan her bus ride? What did she find out about the bus, and how did she save up the fare?

Who or what did Lencho have faith in? What did he do?

What are ‘compulsive habits’? What does Maxwell say are the compulsive habits of

(i) school children
(ii) Mij?

Study the sentences given below.

(a) They looked like black mountains.

(b) Inside the clouds, everything was suddenly black.

(c) In the black clouds near me, I saw another aeroplane.

(d) The strange black aeroplane was there.

The word ‘black’ in sentences (a) and (c) refers to the very darkest colour. But in (b) and (d) (here) it means without light/with no light.

‘Black’ has a variety of meanings in different contexts. For example:

(a) ‘I prefer black tea’ means ‘I prefer tea without milk’.

(b) ‘With increasing pollution the future of the world is black’ means With increasing pollution the future of the world is very depressing/without hope’.

Now, try to guess the meanings of the word ‘black’ in the sentences given below. Check the meanings in the dictionary and find out whether you have guessed right.

Questions.

1. Go and have a bath, your hands and face are absolutely black____ .

2. The taxi-driver gave Ratan a black look as he crossed the road when the traffic light was green____.

3. The bombardment of Hiroshima is one of the blackest crimes against humanity____.

4. Very few people enjoy Harold Pinter’s black comedy____.

5. Sometimes shopkeepers store essential goods____.

6. Villagers had beaten the criminal black and blue____.

What does Mandela thank the international leaders for ?

What did being free mean to Mandela as a boy, and as a student ? How does he contrast these “transitory freedoms” with “the basic and honourable freedoms”?

The author describes the things that Valli sees from an eight-year-old’s point of view. Can you find evidence from the text for this statement?

How does he get the otter? Does he like it? Pick out the words that tell you this.

What does Mandela mean when he says he is “simply the sum of all those African patriots”, who had gone before him ?