B. 1. Arrange the given sentences in the proper chronological order as they appear in the passage. [2]
(i) I would try adding my shrill piping to the birds and insects music.
(ii) The leaves were still pink and tender.
(iii) The banyan trees was like an orchestra pit.
(iv) Red - headed parakeets swarmed about early in the mornings.
Ans. (i) The leaves were still pink and tender.
(ii) Red - headed parakeets swarmed about early in the mornings.
(iii) The banyan trees was like an orchestra pit.
(iv) I would try adding my shrill piping to the birds’ and insects’ music.
The banyan tree was a world in itself, populated with small beast and large insects. While the leaves were still pink and tender, they would be visited by the delicate map butterfly, who committed, her eggs to their care. The ‘honey’ in the leaves - an edible smear - also attracted the little striped squirrels, who soon grew used to my presence in the tree and became quite bold, accepting peanuts from my hand. Red - headed parakeets swarmed about early in the mornings.
At the height of the monsoon, the banyan was like an orchestra pit with the musicians constantly turning up. Birds, insects and squirrels expressed their joy at the termination of the bot weather and the cool quenching relief of the monsoon. A toy flute in my mands, I would try adding to my shrill piping to theirs. But they thought poorly of my musical ability, for, whenever I piped, the birds and the insects maintained a pained and puzzled silence.
The branches were thick with scarlet figs. These berries were not fit for human consumption, but the many birds that gathered in the tree - gossipy rosy pastors, quarrelsome mynas, cheerful bulbuls and coppersmiths, and sometimes a raucous, bullying crow - feasted on them. And when night fell, and the birds rested, the dark flying foxes flapped heavily about the tree, chewing and munching as they clambered over the branches.
B. 2. (a) The following visited the banyan tree. Complete the given table and rewrite it: (1)
Insects / Animals
|
Reasons for visiting
|
(i) Map butterfly
| |
(ii) Squirrels
|
Ans.
Insects / Animals
|
Reasons for visiting
|
(i) Map butterfly
|
To seek shelter for its eggs.
|
(ii) Squirrels
|
To gain relief from the monsoon.
|
(b) The banyan tree is compared to: [1]
Ans. 
B. 3. Vocabulary [2]
Fill in the gaps with appropriate words from the passage which means:
(i) Suitable to be eaten: ___ d ___ ___ l ___
Ans. edible
(ii) Move in a great number: s ___ ___ ___ m
Ans. swarm
(iii) Coming to an end: t ___ ___ m ___ ___ ___ t ___ ___ ___
Ans. terminating
(iv) Chew food noisely: ___ u ___ ___ ___
Ans. munch
B. 4. Language study. [2]
(i) The branches were thick with scarlet figs. (What)
Frame a question with the given word in the bracket and rewrite it.
Ans. What were the branches thick with?
(ii) The tree was visited by delicate map butterfly (which/when/that) the leaves were pink and tender.
(Choose the correct conjunction and rewrite the sentence)
Ans. The tree was visited by the delicate map butterfly when the leaves were pink and lender.
B. 5. Personal Response [2]
“Trees are our best friends.” Explain.
Ans. From tree we are getting our life saving oxygen. Trees are the creature of nature based on which the earth exists. They add to the beauty of the environment. They help us to control the soil erosions. Therefore it is rightly said that “Trees are our best friends”.
