Important Questions for CBSE Class 9 English Chapter 5 Mystery
READING
Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow :
1. As they came up the celler steps they both, it was afterwards ascertained,
fancied they heard the front door open and shut, but seeing it closed and nothing there, neither said a word to the other about it at the time. Mrs. Hall passed her husband in the passage and ran on first upstairs. Someone sneezed on the staircase. Hall, following six steps behind, thought that he heard her sneeze. She, going on first, was under the impression that Hall was sneezing. She flung open the door and stood regarding the room. “Of all the curious!” she said. .
2. She heard a sniff close behind her head as it seemed, and turning, was surprised to see Hall a dozen feet off on the topmost stair. But in another moment he was beside her. She bent forward and put her hand on the pillow and then under the clothes.
3. “Cold,” she said. “He’s been up this hour or more.”
4. As she did so, a most extraordinary thing happened. The bedclothes gathered themselves together, leapt up suddenly into a sort of peak, and then jumped headlong over the bottom rail. It was exactly as if a hand had clutched them in the centre and flung them aside. Immediately after, the stranger’s hat hopped off the bedpost, described a whirling flight in the air through the better part of a circle, and then dashed straight at Mrs. Hall’s face. Then as swiftly came the sponge from the washstand; and then the chair, flinging the stranger’s coat and trousers carelessly aside, and laughing drily in a Voice singularly like the stranger’s, turned itself up with its four legs at Mrs. Hall, seemed to take aim at her for a moment, and charged at her. She screamed and turned, and then the chair legs came gently but firmly against her back and impelled her and Hall out of the room. The door slammed violently and was locked. The chair and bed seemed to be executing a dance of triumph for a moment, and then abruptly everything was still.
5. Mrs. Hall was left almost in a fainting condition in Mr. Hall’s arms on the landing. It was with the greatest difficulty that Mr. Hall and Millie, who had been roused by her scream of alarm, succeeded in getting her downstairs, and applying the restoratives customary in such cases.
6. “Tas sperits,” said Mrs. Hall. “I know ’tas sperits. I’ve read in papers of en. Tables and chairs leaping and dancing…”
7. “Take a drop more, Janny,” said Hall. “Twill steady ye.”
8. “Lock him out,” said Mrs. Hall. “Don’t let him come in again. I half guessed-I might ha’ known. With them goggling eyes and bandaged head, and never going to church on a Sunday. And all they bottles-more’n it’s right for any one to have. He’s put the sperits into the furniture. My good old furniture! ’Twas in that very chair my poor dear mother used to sit when I was a little girl. To think it should rise up against me now!”
9. “Just a drop more, Janny,” Said Hall. “Your nerves are all upset.”
10. They sent Millie across the street through the golden five o’clock sunshine to rouse up Mr. Sandy Wadgers, the blacksmith. Mr. Hall’s compliments and the furniture upstairs was behaving most extraordinary. Would Mr. Wadgers come round ? He was a knowing man, was Mr. Wadgers, and very resourceful. He took quite a grave view of the case. “Arm darmed if thet ent witchcraft,” was the view of Mr. Sandy Wadgers. “You warnt horseshoes for such gentry as he.”
Questions :
(a) What was the first mysterious thing that baffled Mrs Hall ?
(b) Name two mysterious happenings.
(c) What frightened Mrs Hall the most ?
(d) How did Mrs Hall react on regaining consciousness ?
(e) Find a word in the passage which is similar in meaning as ‘victory’ (para 4).
Answers :
(a) In the room Mrs hall found no one, yet she heard a sniff close behind her head. Even Mr Hall was away on the topmost stair.
(b) The two mysterious things were : (i) the gathering of the bedclothes themselves together and jumping headlong over the bottom rail, and (ii) hopping the stranger’s hat off the bedpost, whirling in the air and then dashing straight at Mrs Hall’s face.
(c) The turning up of the chair by itself, laughing drily, and then aiming at Mrs Hall for a moment frightened her the most.
(d) Mrs Hall wanted the stranger to be locked out. She said it was he who had put the spirits into the furniture.
(e) ‘triumph’
WRITING
Question.1. Suppose you know a ‘mantra’ which can make you invisible. Express in a diary entry what you would like to do on being invisible.
Answers. Sunday 3, pm May 20, 20…
Dear Diary
I don’t know how I learnt a ‘mantra’ in one of my dreams. But whenever I utter this ‘mantra’ – only five words – I become invisible, that is, I can see others but others cannot see me. So far I have made no use of this unusual ability of mine. Only yesterday, I was struck by some strange questions. Why had I been given this ‘mantra’ ? Am I supposed to use it in some good way ? I think nothing happens in this world without any reason. Some mysterious force wants me to do good to humanity by using this ‘mantra’. Now what should I do ? It would be easy for me to enter the rooms of notorious politicians and criminals. I would gather hard evidences against them to get them arrested. Black marketeers and profiteers must be on my hit lists. I think this would cause a drop in the price rise of essential commodities. The wicked and the corrupt would fear indulging in illegal practices.
But what if I were ever caught ? There is little possibility of it. Even then I would be careful, lest some Mogembo should trap me, unguarded.
Question.2. Write an original story which begins with the words (100-200 words) : ‘I am surely lucky to narrate an experience…’
Answers. I am surely lucky to narrate an experience that seemed to be our last on an Air India flight. It was a cloudless, sunny day. There were about 150 passengers in the economy class. I was seated near a window. The sea below offered a fascinating view. Everything seemed to be normal. We were being served snacks. All of a sudden we went through a severe turbulence. The plane swooped down once so quickly that we thought our end was imminent. Fortunately, the pilots were able to control the plane. There was an emergency announcement. All passengers should be ready for watery landing. I felt my heartbeat had risen terribly high. Many women began to cry. I saw some persons prayed to God for help. I also could not help muttering ‘Ram, Ram’. After a few minutes, which seemed to be hours, the plane steadied. The pilot announced that the danger was over. We began to discuss what could have been the reason for such turbulence. One of the passengers referred to the devastations caused by the area, the Bermuda Triangle, over which we were passing. He told us how a number of planes and ships had disappeared mysteriously in the Bermuda Triangle. He remarked that we all must be very lucky. I thanked God when the plane safely touched the runway.
GRAMMAR
Question.1. Complete the following passage by choosing the most appropriate option.
As they went (a)………….. describing the school, it seemed to me that it(b)………….. the greatest place on earth. I resolved at once to go to that school, although I (c)………… no idea where it was.
(a) (i) in (ii) on (iii) to (iv) up
(b) (i) must be (ii) had been (iii) is (iv) was
(c) (i) have (ii) has (iii) had (iv) was
Answers :
(a) (ii) (b) (i) (c) (iii)
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