Get authentic, complete, and step-by-step solved exercises for DAV Class 7 English Practice Book Unit 12: Reading for Understanding. This comprehensive guide covers all 5 unseen reading comprehension passages and poems with detailed question answers, strictly adhering to the DAV Education Board curriculum.
Master reading comprehension techniques, contextual vocabulary, inference skills, true/false evaluation, and textual analysis across all poems and scientific/historical prose passages in Unit 12.
12.1 Poem: The Countryside Retreat
Read the poem given below and answer the questions that follow:
I am going where the green grass grows
And fields flaunt their wild flowers;
Where swallows swoop and skim under the willows
And the clear river shimmers
In summer sunshine.
Behind me lies the dust of dreary city
And the toiling troubled traffic;
People pushing past;
Litter lying unlovely in lay-bys.
High on the hills hawks hover
And larks rise singing sonatas to the sunrise
Where the grass blows in the wind
I shall lie and listen to the birdsong and silence.
1. Answer the questions by choosing the correct option:
(a) Which season of the year is it?
• winter
• summer ✓
• autumn
• spring
(Reason: The poem explicitly mentions “In summer sunshine”.)
(b) Which of the following does not describe the city?
• people
• traffic
• litter
• rivers ✓
(Reason: The clear shimmering river belongs to the countryside, whereas traffic, pushing people, and litter describe the city.)
(c) Which of the following is not a bird?
• swallow
• hawk
• lark
• hover ✓
(Reason: ‘Hover’ is an action verb meaning to stay in one place in the air; swallow, hawk, and lark are all birds.)
(d) What does the poet want to do?
• swim in the river
• lie in silence ✓
• push people
• grow flowers
(Reason: The final line states, “I shall lie and listen to the birdsong and silence”.)
(e) Which word among the following means the same as ‘musical composition’?
• sonatas ✓
• unlovely
• toiling
• dreary
(Reason: A sonata is a classical musical piece or instrumental composition.)
12.2 Passage: ‘Do Touch’ (Special Garden for the Visually-Challenged)
Summary & Context: The National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) at Lucknow developed a dedicated 0.1-hectare botanical garden for visually-handicapped and physically-disabled visitors. It features zero-elevation chequered tiled footpaths, tactile plants (coarse, succulent leaves), fragrant flowers for olfactory identification, and Braille signs alongside future automated audio tour buttons.
1. Complete the following statements based on your reading:
- (a) The NBRI has developed a garden for the visually-challenged people to facilitate their aesthetic enjoyment of floral beauty and fulfill their need to come close to Nature.
- (b) To ensure that the visitors do not slip in the park during rainy season, the footpaths are specially constructed with chequered tiles at a zero-level elevation line.
- (c) The visually-challenged visitors can sense whether a plant is a herb, a shrub or a tree by touching and feeling the general appearance, height, and texture of the stems and leaves.
- (d) Plants with fragrant flowers have been planted in this garden so that the visitors can identify and enjoy different plant species through their sharp sense of smell.
- (e) The visitors can learn the names of several plants and other details about them by feeling and reading the descriptive signs written in Braille script.
- (f) In all, there are six such gardens for the visually-challenged people in the world (it is the first in India and sixth globally).
- (g) These gardens for the visually-challenged people will be modernised by adding ultramodern sound/audio facilities that will enable the visitors to hear recorded literature detailing all the peculiarities of a plant at the press of a button.
12.3 Passage: ‘Powerful Future’ (Electricity-Generating Fabric)
Summary & Context: Scientists in Germany developed synthetic, machine-washable fibres that generate solar electricity when exposed to light. Sandwiching three layers of silicon between two electrodes, these fibres could transform everyday clothing into portable power sources for mobile phones, MP3 players, and wearable computers without electricity bills.
1. Complete the statements:
- (a) German scientists have proposed to make synthetic fibres that can be woven into machine-washable clothes that generate electricity when exposed to light.
- (b) List three things that can run on power generated by synthetic fibre:
(i) MP3 player
(ii) mobile phone
(iii) palmtop / wearable computer - (c) Mention one advantage of solar synthetic fibre:
It provides clean, portable electricity without electric bills, and the fabric has ten-times longer life than ordinary fabric. - (d) The colour of the fibre can be changed by adjusting the thickness of a transparent protective coating applied over the fibre.
2. Find words from the passage which mean the following:
| Clue / Definition | Word from Passage |
|---|---|
| (a) to change completely | revolutionise |
| (b) increased | inflated |
| (c) to produce | generate |
12.4 Passage: ‘Shy Sea Monster’ (The Octopus)
Summary & Context: Despite popular myths portraying octopi as terrifying monsters attacking ships, the octopus is actually a shy, retiring invertebrate. With eight sucker-bearing arms, regenerative limbs, copper-based blue blood (hemocyanin), exceptional problem-solving intelligence, and camouflage abilities, it defends itself using harmless purple-black ink smoke screens and jet propulsion.
1. Write T for true and F for false statements:
| Statement | True / False |
|---|---|
| (a) Besides having a good eyesight, octopi have a highly developed sense of hearing. | F (Octopi are almost deaf) |
| (b) Octopi do not forget things easily. | T (They have both long-term and short-term memory) |
| (c) Most stories we have heard about octopi may be imaginary. | T (Mythical monster stories are untrue) |
| (d) The cloud of purple-black ink produced by an octopus is highly dangerous. | F (The ink does not hurt anyone; it is a smoke screen) |
2. Complete the following statements:
- (a) The octopus is generally thought to be dangerous because fictional stories and book illustrations have portrayed it wrapping giant tentacles around ships and helpless sailors.
- (b) Besides using their eyes, octopi can explore things around them through their highly sensitive sense of touch using the two rows of suckers on their eight arms.
- (c) The octopus can be called a blue-blooded animal because its blood contains hemocyanin, a bluish-copper containing respiratory pigment.
- (d) The octopus saves itself from its enemy by discharging a cloud of purple-black ink to create a temporary smoke screen and rapidly escaping.
- (e) Octopi generally change their colour to blend into their surrounding environment, turning white, red, or even glowing blue for camouflage.
3. Find words from the passage which mean the following:
| Clue / Definition | Word from Passage |
|---|---|
| (a) to find / know more | exploring |
| (b) to vacate | evacuate |
| (c) quickly | rapidly |
12.5 Passage: ‘Kegling, Anyone?’ (History of Bowling)
Summary & Context: Indoor bowling originated around 300 AD in German monasteries as a religious ceremony. Monks placed a club (a kegel, used for self-defence) representing the devil at the end of a hallway, and churchgoers rolled round rocks to knock it down and cleanse their sins. By 1500 AD, Martin Luther codified standard rules, and over centuries, balls evolved from rocks to drilled wooden balls, hard rubber, plastic, and modern resin.
1. Complete the statements:
- (a) German monks started bowling as a religious ritual for encouraging people to attend Church services.
- (b) A kegel is a large bottle-shaped wooden club. People carried it with them for self-protection.
- (c) German people participated in the bowling ceremony so that they could knock down the ‘devil’ and become absolved of their sins.
- (d) Rules for bowling were first of all made in the year 1500 by the famous religious leader Martin Luther and a group of bowling enthusiasts.
2. Evolution of Bowling Balls:
| Year / Era | Quality of Ball Used |
|---|---|
| (a) 300 AD | Round rocks / large smooth stones |
| (b) 1900 AD | Wooden bowling balls with drilled finger holes |
| (c) 1904 AD | Hard rubber balls (with a maximum weight limit of 7.5 kg) |
| (d) Since 1960 | Balls made of plastic and urethane (and high-performance resin in modern times) |