A. COMPREHENSION
1. Answer the following questions.
a. What did Amundsen's mother want him to be? Did he follow her wishes?
Ans: Amundsen’s mother wanted him to be a doctor. He followed her wishes until she died.
b. What gave Amundsen the inspiration to be an explorer? How did he prepare for this as a child and as an adult?
Ans: Amundsen was inspired by famous British explorers. As a child, he prepared for life as an explorer by playing a lot of sports, sleeping with his windows open, and reading about explorers.
As an adult, he worked as a ship’s crew member where he watched, listened, and learned useful skills (on board and from the Inuit people) such as how to prevent scurvy, how to keep warm, and how to use dogs to travel by sledge.
c. What key skills did Amundsen learn about survival? Look at the fourth and sixth paragraphs.
Ans: Amundsen learned some useful survival skills, but he was also very determined and well prepared. He made sure he knew how to survive before setting off on his own expeditions
d. What made it difficult to pass through the Northwest Passage? What helped Amundsen achieve it?
Ans: Very cold temperatures, shallow seas and sea-ice made it difficult to pass through the Northwest Passage. Amundsen’s boat, Gjøa, helped him pass through it because it was small enough to pass through these waters and over the shallow areas.
e. When did Amundsen get to the North Pole?
Ans: Amundsen reached the North Pole in1926.
f. What did Amundsen's companions mistake the Eskimos for? Why?
Ans: Amundsen’s companions mistook the Inuit for Caribou because they were so far away.
g. How did Amundsen 'talk' to the Eskimos?
Ans: Amundsen ‘talked’ to the Eskimos by using a mixture of simple expression, body language, and tone of voice: ‘expression of the fact, nods, and shakes of the head, gestures and tones of the voice’.
h. How did Amundsen die?
Ans: Amundsen disappeared on a rescue mission in 1928, so we cannot be sure of how he died.
2. Copy the sentences that are true. Correct the sentences that are wrong and rewrite them.
a. Scurvy is caused by a lack of vitamin C. True
b. Getting to the North Pole was difficult.
c. Amundsen was the first person to be able to claim that he had been to both Poles. True
d. There is no sunlight from March to September at the South Pole.
e. The North Pole is not on land. True
f. Polar bears, seals, and walruses are native to the North Pole.
3. Answer the following questions with reference to context.
a. ‘Some other “two-legged caribous” joined the first, until five figures were outlined against the sky.’
i. Inuit/Eskimo people
ii. 3
b. ‘Their leader, seeing this pacific move, imitated it by turning to his followers and uttering a command.’
i. Peaceful gesture
ii. When the leader of the Inuit people saw Amundsen make the peaceful move of instructing his men to put their weapons aside, he did the same with his men.
4. Look at the two fact files about the Poles. Write four sentences in which you compare the Poles.
1. The North Pole has no land mass, mainly ice and snow. At the South Pole, the land is covered in ice and snow 2700 meters thick.
2. At the North Pole, the Sun rises in March and sets in September. At the South Pole, the Sun stays on the horizon from September to March.
3. The South Pole is colder than the North Pole.
4. The North Pole is at sea, 700km to nearest land. The South Pole is inland, 1,300km to nearest sea.
B. WORKING WITH WORDS
1. Look again at the extract from Amundsen’s book. Find out what these words mean and use each one in a sentence.
a) steadfastly: in a resolutely or dutifully firm and unwavering manner
b) ostentatiously: in a showy way that is designed to impress
c) pacific: peaceful in character or intent
d) reciprocate: respond to an action or gesture by making a corresponding one.
Sentences:
a. Steadfastly: She steadfastly refused to speak.
b. Ostentatiously: The room was ostentatiously decorated in white and silver.
c. Pacific: Pakistan has maintained a pacific stance against India.
d. Reciprocate: Someday, I will reciprocate your kindness to me.
2. You have learnt these proverbs. Can you complete them?
a) The early bird catches the worm.
b) Look before you leap.
c) Learn to walk before you run.
d) Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched.
e) You may lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.
3. Choose one of the proverbs and explain the meaning to the class.
C. LEARNING ABOUT LANGUAGE
1. Copy the table. Give your own examples for each part of speech.
2. Write the following sentences and give the function of each underlined word.
a. Yellow describes snake and crawled tells of an action.
b. Shoaib is the name of a person and large describes the company.
c. Tap is the name of a thing; yesterday tells when it was leaking (helps describe the action).
d. Me stands in place of a noun (the person speaking) and morning is the name given to the early part of the day.
e. And joins two parts of the sentence; are fed tells of an action (continuing).
f. Saw tells of a past action; in shows the relationship between peacock and forest.
g. Oh! Shows a feeling or emotion; new describes the car.
E. COMPOSITION
What would it be like to live in the Amundsen-Scott Ice Station for a year?
Living at the Amundsen-Scott Ice Station would be an unparalleled experience for me. I would get to experience some of the harshest environments on Earth. Although Ice Station has a lot of facilities available, it would still be a challenge. During the winters, I would be limited to the confinement of the facility. The hardest part would be to live during the darkest months of the year, from March to September. Without a proper cycle of sunrise and sunset, one could lose track of time.
There are a lot of things that I would miss like different weathers, greenery, and trees. I would get tired of seeing just the blanket of ice and snow around us. I would miss travelling to different places during vacations, and much more. Anyways, if I ever got the chance to live at the Amundsen-Scott Ice Station, I would gladly accept it, because it would be an adventure of a lifetime.
Roald Amundsen
Gjoa
Eskimos
Caribou
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