First Flight ch08 Mijbil the Otter - CBSE Test Papers

CBSE Test Paper 01
Mijbil the Otter

  1. What happened when the author walked in the streets of London?
  2. Why did Maxwell say the air hostess was ‘the very queen of her kind'?
  3. What did the otter look like?
  4. What games did Mijbil play?
  5. What did Mij do to the box?
  6. What queries did the people make about the otter in London? Which was the most surprising query for the author?
  7. How was Mij to be transported to England?
  8. What are some of the things we come to know about Otters from this text?
  9. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:
    It was slack time of the day, and there were only six to seven passengers in the bus. They were all looking at Valli and laughing with the conductor. Valli was overcome with shyness. Avoiding everyone's eyes she walked quickly to an empty seat and sat down. It was a new bus, its outside painted a gleaming white with some green stripes along the sides. Inside, the overhead bars shone like silver.
    1. Why were all the passengers laughing?
    2. Where was Valli going?
    3. Write the adjective form of 'shyness'.
    4. Which word in the passage means the same as 'shining'?
  10. Read the passages given below and answer the questions that follow them: (4 marks)
    Suddenly Valli clapped her hands with glee. A young cow, tail high in the air, was running very fast, right in the middle of the road, right in front of the bus. The bus slowed to a crawl, and the driver sounded his horn loudly again and again. But the more he honked, the more frightened the animal became and the faster it galloped - always right in front of the bus.
    1. Why did Valli clap her hands with glee?
    2. Why did the bus slow to a crawl?
    3. Why did the honking do to the animal?
    4. Find a word similar in meaning to 'fearful/afraid’.
CBSE Test Paper 01
Mijbil the Otter

Solution
  1. When the author walked in the streets of London along with Mijbil, the average Londoner could recognise an otter. The people guessed about the otter, some guessed it to be a baby seal, a squirrel, a walrus or bear cub etc. Mijbil was anything, not an otter for them. All were very surprised to see Mij.
  2. Maxwell said that the air hostess was 'the very queen of her kind' because she was a very friendly and cooperative lady. He took her into his confidence about the incident with his pet. When she found the author in trouble for his otter, she permitted him to put the otter on his knees. This made the author develop a profound admiration for her.
  3. The otter looked like a very small, medievally-conceived, dragon. From the head to the tip of the tail he was coated with symmetrical pointed scaled of mud armour, between whose tips were visible a soft velvet fur like that of a chocolate-brown mole. 
  4. Mijbil spent most of his time in play. He spent hours shuffling a rubber ball around the room like a four-footed soccer player using all four feet to dribble the ball. It played with ping-pong balls and marbles etc. Mijbil invented new games to play.
  5. The author came back from the meal and saw complete silence in the box. He saw the airholes and chinks around the lid, blood had trickled and dried. Thus, Mij had torn the lining of the box to pieces. When he opened the box Mijbil was exhausted and blood-spattered whimpered and caught at the author's leg.
  6. For some time, the author stayed in London with the otter. There he took Mij for walks in the streets. Now the otter had developed some compulsive habits. He used to take the author near the wall of a primary school. Wherever he went with the otter, people started to ask random questions and guess about the otter. They became very surprised to see it and did not recognize it. They thought it was a seagull, a bear cub, etc, although it belonged to the small group of animals called Mustellines. The other animals of this group were-mongoose, badger, weasel, mink stoat, etc. More random guesses hit on ‘a baby seal’ and ‘a squirrel.’ ‘Is that a walrus, mister?’ Outside a dog show, the author heard ‘a hippo’. He also heard 'A beaver, a bear cub, a leopard — one, apparently, that had changed its spots — and a ‘brontosaur’'. But for the author, the most surprising expression and the query was from a labourer digging a hole in the street. On seeing it, he left his digging work and laid down his tools and asked with surprise-“What is that supposed to be?”
  7. Maxwell and Mij had a peaceful time at Basra. Then there arose the problem of transporting Mij to England. Since British Airlines did not fly animals, Maxwell had to book a special flight to Paris on another airline and from there to London. The airline laid two conditions. Firstly, the animals should be packed in a box not more than eighteen square inches. Secondly, the box should be carried on the floor near the passenger's feet. Hence, Mij was put in the box. Maxwell had put Mij in the box and left for a meal. When he came back, he saw a horrific spectacle. There was complete silence in the box. However, from its air holes and chinks around the lid, blood had trickled and dried. He took off the lock and tore open the lid. Mij, exhausted and covered with blood, whimpered and caught his leg. He removed the last of it so that there were no cutting edges left.
  8. Some of the things, we come to know about otters from this text are that otters are intelligent, fun-loving and friendly animals. These creatures have many extraordinary qualities which attract us easily. The otters love galloping, jumping and enjoying in water. They love to play ping- pong balls. Mij would play for hours with a selection of toys, ping-pong balls, marbles, rubber fruit, and a terrapin shell that the author had brought back from his native marshes. With the ping-pong ball, he invented a game of his own which could keep him engrossed for up to half an hour at a time. Otters are friendly creatures on earth. They are fond of free life.
    1. All the passengers were laughing as they were amused when Valli said that she could get on the bus by herself without anyone's help.
    2. Valli was going to the town. She wanted to fulfill her dream to ride a bus.
    3. shy
    4. gleaming
    1. Valli clapped her hands with glee on seeing a cow on the road.
    2. The bus slowed to a crawl as a cow had come in front of it and was running in the middle of the road.
    3. The honking made the animal frightened.
    4. Frightened.