PSEB Class 12 Chapter 7 In celebration of being Alive Important Question Answers from A Rainbow of English book
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- In celebration of being Alive Textbook Questions
- In celebration of being Alive Extra Question Answers
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PSEB Class 12 English Chapter 7 In celebration of being Alive Textbook Questions
I COMPREHENSION
1. Short Answer Type Questions:
1. According to Dr Barnard, what is the business of living?
Ans. According to Dr Barnard, the business of living is the celebration of being alive. It’s pure joy and not just something for a few moments of amusement, pleasure or recreation.
2. What do the people with brave and positive attitude teach us?
Ans. People with brave and positive attitude teach us to enjoy life to the fullest and to concentrate on what we still have and not what we have lost. What we have lost will never come back, and someday, what we still have may also go away. So, we should not take what we still have for granted and enjoy life with what we have.
3. In which incident were Dr Barnard’s gloomy thoughts rooted?
Ans. Dr Barnard’s gloomy thoughts stemmed from a road accident that occurred to him and his wife. He and his wife just had a lovely meal and were crossing the road when a car came and hit Dr. Barnard. He got knocked into his wife who then fell onto the other lane. A car in the other lane hit her. The incident resulted in him suffering from eleven broken ribs and a perforated lung. The wife ended up with a badly fractured shoulder.
4. What was Dr. Barnard’s father’s attitude towards life?
Ans. Dr. Barnard’s father’s attitude towards life was centered around his strong faith in God. He believed that everything happened due to God’s will and that everything, even suffering, happened for a reason. He believed that suffering made a person more noble in nature.
5. What introduced Dr Barnard to the suffering of the children?
Ans. Dr. Barnard learned about the suffering of children at a very young age. When he was a little boy, his father showed him a half-eaten mouldy biscuit that had the imprint of two tiny teeth. The biscuit was the last thing Dr. Barnard’s baby brother had eaten before dying due to an abnormal heart.
6. Why couldn’t Barnard’s brother survive?
Ans. Barnard’s brother had an abnormal heart. Unfortunately, at the time of his suffering, such advanced heart surgeries were not present. There was no way to save him. Therefore, Barnard’s brother could not survive.
7. Why does Dr. Barnard consider the suffering of the children heart breaking?
Ans. Dr. Barnard considers the suffering of children to be particularly heartbreaking. Children tend to be naive and innocent and they put their complete faith in the doctors and nurses and believed every word they said. They allowed the doctors to put them through mutilating surgeries, and even if they did not recover fully, they never complained.
8. What made the driver and the mechanic choose their roles?
Ans. The mechanic was a blind seven-year-old boy. Because he could not see, he could only use his body to push the trolley. Therefore, he got the role of mechanic. On the other hand, the driver did not have one arm, but he did have eyesight. So, he got the role of driver and he steered the trolley by scraping his foot on the ground and holding onto the trolley with the one hand.
2. Long Answer Type Questions:
1. What was the lesson Dr. Barnard learned from the two brave youngsters?
Ans. The two brave youngsters did not dwell on what they had lost. Instead, they used what they still had to have a Grand Prix in the hospital and to enjoy life. The two youngsters took control of an unattended breakfast trolley. The blind seven-year-old boy took the role of a mechanic and gave the trolley motor power. The boy did not have eyesight, but he did have his upper body, which he used to the fullest. The other boy, who had his arm amputated due to a malignant tumor, could not push the trolley. However, he had his eyesight, and so he took the role of the driver and steered the trolley. With this, Dr. Barnard learnt that the business of living was to celebrate life and what we still had with us, and not to dwell on the past and what we had lost.
2. In the hospital, Dr. Barnard experienced not only agony and fear but also anger. How?
Ans. After the tragic road accident, Dr. Barnard had eleven broken ribs and one perforated lung. His wife had a badly fractured shoulder. While he and his wife were recovering from the incident in the hospital, Dr. Barnard experienced agony and fear because of his and his wife’s injuries. However, he was also angry, because he did not see why he and his wife were suffering. He could not treat his patients anymore, who were reliant on him. He and his wife could no longer take care of their son, who was now lonely without them. It made him gloomy and bitter towards the universe and again questioned why people suffer.
3. Write in detail about Dr. Barnard’s brother’s suffering?
Ans. Dr. Barnard’s brother was born with an abnormal heart. The condition was serious and could not be treated in those times as the required sophisticated treatments and surgeries had not been invented then. So, his brother unfortunately passed away, and at a very young age. Dr. Barnard got to know about his brother’s suffering when he was a little boy from his father. His father showed him a half-eaten mouldy biscuit that had the imprint of two tiny teeth. The biscuit turned out to be the last thing that his brother had eaten before he finally passed away. The biscuit had been kept by his father as a remembrance.
4. What was an eye-opener for Dr. Barnard at Cape Town’s Red Cross Children’s Hospital? Explain.
Ans. Dr. Barnard was shocked to see two children who had gone through a lot of suffering, having fun. He observed the driver, who had gotten an amputation on a complete arm, steer the trolley. The mechanic, a blind seven year old boy, used the rest of his body to push the trolley forward. The two boys were enjoying and laughing, which surprised the heart surgeon because he expected them to be gloomy due to their suffering. The two boys were proud and happy with the Grand Prix, and they had no hint of misery on their face. This made Dr. Barnard realize that the business of living is simply to celebrate the joy of being alive. This not only gave the surgeon solace but also opened his eyes to the realization that suffering made people appreciate life more.
5. How did the driver and the mechanic put up an entertaining show with an unattended trolley?
Ans. The driver and the mechanic were two brave youngsters who took control of an unattended trolley and started racing it in Cape Town’s Red Cross Children’s Hospital. The mechanic, a blind seven-year-old boy, used his upper body to push the trolley forward and provided excellent motor power. The driver, who had one arm and shoulder amputated, sat on the lower deck of the trolley while holding on with the other arm, and used his foot to scrape the floor and steer the trolley. The rest of the patients laughed and cheered, more entertained by the race the two patients were putting on instead of the Indianapolis car race. They ended the race by stopping the trolley and sending plates and silverware flying everywhere.
6. What made the mechanic lose his eyes?
Ans. The blind mechanic was a seven-year-old child. The incident that resulted in his blindness was tragic and shocking. One night, his mother and father were drunk and fighting. The fight was turning violent, and the mother finally picked up an oil lantern and threw it at the father. However, the lantern did not hit the father and missed him. Instead, the lantern landed on the child and broke, sending burning hot oil and fire over his head and shoulders. The child ended up suffering from third-degree burns of the upper part of his body and unfortunately, some of the oil and fire entered the child’s eyes, making the child blind.
7. How did Dr. Barnard correct his notions about ‘suffering’?
Ans. The narrator still believed that suffering did not make a person better. However, he now had something else he believed in. He now believed that while you didn’t automatically become a better person by suffering, you did start to appreciate life and the importance of living to the fullest after suffering. For example- one usually does not appreciate the warmth of a blanket until the person has been out freezing in the cold weather. Similarly, one does not appreciate light until the person has been in complete darkness for a long time. Therefore, after experiencing suffering, one starts to appreciate what they have more than dwelling on what they have lost. They know how horrible suffering is and so they live life to the fullest.
8. Write a note on the theme of the chapter, ‘In Celebration of Being Alive’.
Ans. The story is centered around suffering and the topic of why people suffer and how one can recover after a traumatizing and horrifying experience. The chapter highlights a philosophical discussion on the reason for living and suffering in a clear and concise manner. The chapter also briefly reflects the difference in a religious person’s outlook and a scientific and logical person’s outlook on suffering. The story sheds light on the business of living and how suffering helped a person appreciate life more by taking the example of two intrepid youngsters who continued to be positive and cheerful despite having experienced horrifying and heartbreaking tragedies.
II VOCABULARY PRACTICE
1. Form adjectives using suffixes- al, -ful, -able
| drink | option | avoid |
| nation | care | peace |
| beauty | count | profession |
Ans.
| drinkable | optional | avoidable |
| national | careful | peaceful |
| beautiful | countable | professional |
- Match the nouns in column A with their definitions in column B:
| A | B |
| 1. A pedestrian is someone | 1. who buys something, esp. from a shop. |
| 2. A compass is an instrument | 2. who has lost both his parents. |
| 3. A kidnapper is someone | 3. that is used for finding directions. |
| 4. A customer is a person | 4. who has taken a person away by force and is demanding money for his safe return. |
| 5. A referee is a person | 5. who controls a sports match or contest. |
| 6. An orphan is a child | 6. who is walking in a street, not travelling in a vehicle. |
Ans.
| A | B |
| 1. A pedestrian is someone | 6. who is walking in a street, not travelling in a vehicle. |
| 2. A compass is an instrument | 3. that is used for finding directions. |
| 3. A kidnapper is someone | 4. who has taken a person away by force and is demanding money for his safe return. |
| 4. A customer is a person | 1. who buys something, esp. from a shop. |
| 5. A referee is a person | 5. who controls a sports match or contest. |
| 6. An orphan is a child | 2. who has lost both his parents. |
GRAMMAR EXERCISES
1. Change the Narration
1. The leader said, “Trust in God.”
Ans. The leader said that they should trust in God.
2. My friend said to me, “Let me go home now as it is already twelve.”
Ans. My friend told me to let her go home then as it was already twelve.
3. She said, “What a lovely scene!”
Ans. She exclaimed in excitement that the scene was lovely.
4. My father said to me, “Learn your lesson every day.”
Ans. My father told me that I need to learn my lesson every day.
5. Columbus said to the courier, “Oh, leave me alone.”
Ans. Columbus told the courier to leave him alone.
6. The policeman advised me to obey the traffic rules.
Ans. The policeman said to me, “Obey the traffic rules.”
7. She asked him when the postman came.
Ans. She said to me, “When did the postman come?”
8. He asked, “Will you serve me faithfully?”
Ans. He asked if I would serve him faithfully.
9. You said, “You must work hard.”
Ans. You said that you must work hard.
10. He says to me, “I will leave you now.”
Ans. He said to me that he would leave me then.
2. Fill in the blanks with suitable Determiners
1. He did not make…………………(some / any) mistakes in his essay.
Ans. He did not make any mistakes in his essay.
2. I have lost appetite, so I did not eat…………(some / any) bananas.
Ans. I have lost appetite, so I did not eat any bananas.
3. I must sign…………. (an/the) will.
Ans. I must sign the will.
4. When I think of India, I think of………..(some / many) things.
Ans. When I think of India, I think of many things.
5. …………..(A lot, Lot) of people go without food in India every day.
Ans. A lot of people go without food in India every day.
6. She said, “………..pen is mightier than the sword.” (a, the)
Ans. She said, “The pen is mightier than the sword.”
7. ………….(The, A) book you want is not with me.
Ans. The book you want is not with me.
8. ………..(Some, Many) houses were damaged in the cyclone.
Ans. Many houses were damaged in the cyclone.
9. I shall return this book in……….. ( few, a few) days.
Ans. I shall return this book in a few days.
10. I had put in………..(much/any) hard work.
Ans. I had put in much hard work.
3. Do as directed:
1. She was sobbing too deeply to give any answer. (Remove ‘too”)
Ans. She was sobbing so deeply that she could not give any answer.
2. No other season is as refreshing as the spring. (Change the degree of Comparison)
Ans. Spring is the most refreshing season.
3. Seeing the signal, the troops marched out. (Change into a Complex Sentence)
Ans. The troops saw the signal and marched out.
4. You must encourage him, as he is sure to lose. (Change into a Compound Sentence)
Ans. You must encourage him or he will lose.
5. He is respected for his humility. (Change voice)
Ans. His humility makes him respected.
6. i. The scout carried a silken banner.
ii. He had stood first.
(Combine the two sentences)
Ans. The scout carried a silken banner as he had stood first.
7. You will never learn manners. (Change into the Interrogative form)
Ans. Will you never learn manners?
Punjab Board Class 12 English Chapter 7 In celebration of being Alive Extra Question and Answers
Extract-Based Questions
A.
More and more, as I near the end of my career as a heart surgeon, my thoughts have turned to the consideration of why people should suffer. Suffering seems so cruelly prevalent in the world today. Do you know that of the 125 million children born this year, 12 million are unlikely to reach the age of one and another six million will die before the age of five? And, of the rest, many will end up as mental or physical cripples.
Q1. What is the narrator’s profession?
Ans. Heart surgeon
Q2. What does the narrator think of?
Ans. He thinks over the reason behind people’s suffering.
Q3. How many children are not able to reach the age of one?
Ans. About 12 million children are unlikely to reach the age of one.
Q4. How many children die between ages one to five?
Ans. About six million
Q5. What seems to be prevalent in the world?
Ans. Suffering
B.
My gloomy thoughts probably stem from an accident I had a few years ago. One minute I was crossing the street with my wife after a lovely meal together, and the next minute a car had hit me and knocked me into my wife. She was thrown into the other lane and struck by a car coming from the opposite direction.
During the next few days, in the hospital I experienced not only agony and fear but also anger. I could not understand why my wife and I had to suffer. I had eleven broken ribs and a perforated lung. My wife had a badly fractured shoulder. Over and over, I asked myself, why should this happen to us? I had work to do, after all; there were patients waiting for me to operate on them. My wife had a young baby who needed her care.
Q1. What led to the narrator’s gloomy thoughts?
Ans. An accident.
Q2. Who accompanied the narrator at that time?
Ans. His wife
Q3. Why was the narrator angry?
Ans. He was angry because they had to suffer.
Q4. Who got broken ribs and a perforated lung?
Ans. The narrator
Q5. What ahd the narrator done before he met with an accident?
Ans. He had eaten a meal.
C.
I had my first introduction to the suffering of children when I was a little boy. One day my father showed me a half-eaten, mouldy biscuit with two tiny tooth marks in it. And he told me about my brother, who had died several years earlier. He told me about the suffering of this child, who had been born with an abnormal heart. If he had been born today, probably someone could have corrected that heart problem, but in those days they didn’t have sophisticated heart surgery. And this mouldy biscuit was the last biscuit my brother had eaten before his death.
As a doctor, I have always found the suffering of children particularly heartbreaking- especially because of their total trust in doctors and nurses. They believe you are going to help them. If you can’t, they accept their fate. They go through mutilating surgery, and afterwards they don’t complain.
Q1. The narrator’s first introduction to the suffering of children was about ______
Ans. his brother
Q2. What did the father show the narrator as the last thing that was eaten by the brother before his death?
A. bread
B. Burger
C. Pizza
D. A biscuit
Ans. D. A biscuit
Q3. Who has total trust in doctors?
Ans. The children who take treatment from them.
Q4. If the doctor is unable to help the children, they ______________
A. Cry
B. Sue them
C. Accept their fate
D. Kill them
Ans. C. Accept their fate
Q5. The surgeries ________ them
Ans. mutilate
D.
What happened there that morning was that a nurse had left a breakfast trolley unattended. And very soon this trolley was commandeered by an intrepid crew of two- a driver and a mechanic. The mechanic provided motor power by galloping along behind the trolley with his head down, while the driver, seated on the lower deck, held on with one hand and steered by scraping his foot on the floor. The choice of roles was easy, because the mechanic was totally blind and the driver had only one arm.
They put on quite a show that day. Judging by the laughter and shouts of encouragement from the rest of the patients, it was much better entertainment than anything anyone puts on at the Indianapolis 500 car race. There was a grand finale of scattered plates and silverware before the nurse and ward sister caught up with them, scolded them and put them back to bed.
Q1. Who left the breakfast trolley unattended?
Ans. A Nurse
Q2. Who were the driver and mechanic?
Ans. They were patients
Q3. The narrator compares the incident to __________
Ans. The Indianapolis 500 car race
Q4. How did the mayhem end?
Ans. It ended with the scattering of plates and silverware and the nurse scolding the two patients and putting them back to bed.
Q5. The _____ was blind
Ans. mechanic
Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)
Q1. At the time of the accident, the narrator was accompanied by his ____
A. sister
B. colleague
C. wife
D. All of them
Ans. C. wife
Q2. Identify the writer of the lesson “In Celebration of being Alive”.
A. Dr Christian Barnard
B. Helen Keller
C. Rabindranath Tagore
D. A.G. Gardinier
Ans. A. Dr Christian Barnard
Q3. What is the narrator’s profession?
A. writer
B. teacher
C. surgeon
D. priest
Ans. C. surgeon
Q4. What is the narrator’s concern?
A. education
B. sanitation
C. suffering
D. environment
Ans. C. suffering
Q5. Identify the option where the word ‘stem’ is used as used in-
“My gloomy thoughts probably stem from an accident I had a few years ago.”
A. A new stem has grown from the rose plant.
B. Please give me a stem of lily.
C. My concern stems from her careless attitude towards finances.
D. I bought 6 stems of handmade paper daffodils.
Ans. C. My concern stems from her careless attitude towards finances.
Q6. When the narrator was hospitalised, he experienced some emtions. Identify the odd one-
A. anger
B. repentance
C. agony
D. fear
Ans. B. repentance
Q7. The narrator’s father would have said that ________ ennobles one.
A. poverty
B. suffering
C. injuries
D. sadness
Ans. B. suffering
Q8. How old was the narrator when he first realized the suffering of children?
A. little boy
B. middle-aged
C. old man
D. newborn
Ans. A. little boy
Q9. The half-eaten biscuit was full of ______
A. sprinkles
B. mould
C. vitamins
D. dirt
Ans. B. mould
Q10. There were ____ marks in the biscuit
A. foot
B. stamp
C. tooth
D. knife
Ans. C. tooth
Q11. The narrator’s brother had been born with an abnormal _________
A. brain
B. heart
C. lung
D. tooth
Ans. B. heart
Q12. Where did the incident of the breakfast trolley happen?
A. Red cross Children’s hospital
B. Christian Medical College
C. Green cross Charitable hospital
D. None of these
Ans. A. Red cross Children’s hospital
Q13. The mechanic was __________
A. providing directions to the driver
B. providing sound power by screaming “run! go!”
C. providing motor power by running behind the trolley
D. none of these
Ans. C. providing motor power by running behind the trolley
Q14. Who had left the breakfast trolley unattended?
A. a steward
B. a nurse
C. a patient
D. none of these
Ans. B. a nurse
Q15. How did the patients react to the trolley disaster?
A. they were shocked
B. they laughed and shouted
C. they were quiet
D. they cried and wept
Ans. B. they laughed and shouted
Q16. How old had the mechanic been when he had suffered burns?
A. 7 years
B. 7 months
C. 9 years
D. 9 months
Ans. A. 7 years
Q17. The narrator had _______________________________ of the trolley’s driver
A. operated upon the heart
B. closed a hole in the heart
C. diagnosed a malfunction in the heart
D. done a surgery in the heart
Ans. B. closed a hole in the heart
Q18. What problem did the trolley’s driver report?
A. There were no gears
B. the wheels were not oiled
C. the brakes were weak
D. the engine was malfunctioning
Ans. B. the wheels were not oiled
Q19. The business of ________ is joy in the real sense.
A. sensing
B. selling
C. operating
D. living
Ans. D. living
Q20. When does one become a better person?
A. when one is suffering
B. when one has experienced suffering
C. when one has not suffered
D. when one continues to suffer
Ans. B. when one has experienced suffering
True or False
State whether the following are true or false-
1. The narrator is a doctor.
2. The narrator is concerned about the environment.
3. Two patients took over the breakfast trolley which was left unattended by the nurse.
4. The narrator’s brother had died due to lack of medical sophistication.
5. The brother had an abnormal heart.
6. The narrator found the suffering of aged heartbreaking.
7. The narrator’s wife had died in the accident.
8. The narrator suffered burns in the accident
9. The trolley’s driver was blind.
10. The trolley’s mechanic had suffered burns as a seven year old.
Answers-
1. True
2. False
3. True
4. True
5. True
6. False
7. False
8. False
9. False
10. True
Fill in the blanks
1. The nurse at the hospital had left the _________ unattended
2. The business of living is the celebration of ________
3. We cannot appreciate _______ if we have not suffered darkness
4. The narrator’s _______ showed him a half-eaten biscuit
5. The half-eaten biscuit was the _____ thing that the child had eaten before his death
6. The narrator’s brother ____ due to an abnormal _____
7. A ____ hit the narrator when he was crossing the ____
8. Children believe that ______ will help them
9. Narrator’s father believed that _____ is God’s way of testing us.
10. ____ had a fractured shoulder
Answers-
1. Breakfast trolley
2. Being alive
3. light
4. father
5. last
6. Died, heart
7. Car, street
8. doctor
9. suffering
10. Narrator’s wife
Extra Questions
Answer the following questions-
Q1. Why was the narrator angry after the accident?
Ans. He was angry because it seemed unjustified to have happened to them. He had to see patients and his wife had a smalll baby to look after.
Q2. Towards the end of his career as a surgeon, what is the pain that the narrator experiences?
Ans. The narrator is pained by the suffering in the world, especially, the suffering of children.
Q3. What data about child mortality has the narrator shared?
Ans. He shares that of the 125 million children born that year, 12 million were unlikely to reach the age of one and another six million would die before the age of five. Out of the rest, many would end up as mental or physical cripples.
Q4. the narrator’s father is dead. Mention an excerpt from the lesson in support of this claim.
Ans. The excerpt that supports the clain=m that the narrator’s father is dead is-
“My father, had he still been alive, would have said: “My son, it’s God’s will. That’s the way God tests you. Suffering ennobles you – makes you a better person.””
Q5. Why does the narrator feel that suffering does not ennoble one?
Ans. He does not find anything ennobbling in a patient’s thrashing around in a sweat-soaked bed, mind clouded in agony. Nor can he see any nobility in the crying of a lonely child in a ward at night.
Q6. Why is the narrator gloomy?
Ans. He is gloomy to see suffering around him. He feels sad, angry and fear to see unjustified suffering, especially among children who have complete faith in the doctor treating them.
Q7. What do surgeries do to children and how do they react?
Ans. The surgeries motilate the children but they don’t even complain for it.
Q8. What did the two children at the hospital do? What does it indicate?
Ans. They took over the unattended breakfast trolley and ran across the ward, dragging it. This marked their zeal for being alive despite their suffering.
Q9. How did the two children change the narrator’s perspective?
Ans. The narrator realized that one becomes a better person after experiencing suffering. It is not important what one has lost but it is important what one is left with.
Q10. Give an apt title to the lesson’s summary.
Ans. The summary of the lesson can be aptly titled as – “The road of suffering leads us to the destination called life”.