English Class 10 Chapter 6 Question Answer First Flight

Mijbil the Otter

Solutions For All Chapters First Flight 10

Oral Comprehension Check (Page 84)

Question 1. What ‘experiment’ did Maxwell think Camusfearna would be suitable for?
Answer. Maxwell thought Camusfearna, which was ringed by water, would be a suitable place to keep an otter instead of a dog.

Question 2. Why does he go to Basra? How long does he wait there, and why?
Answer. He went to Basra to the Consulate-General to collect and answer his mail from Europe. He waited for about five days because his mail was delayed in reaching him.

Question 3. How does he get the otter? Does he like it? Pick out the words that tell you this.
Answer. Maxwell’s friend sent him the otter in a sack, with a note saying, “Here is your otter.” Yes, he liked it. Words like “a phase of my life that has not yet ended,” “an otter fixation,” and “shared by most other people, who have ever owned one” show his liking.

Question 4. Why was the otter named ‘Maxwell’s otter’?
Answer. The otter was of a previously unknown race to science and was later christened by zoologists as Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli, or Maxwell’s otter.

Question 5. Tick the right answer. In the beginning, the otter was
Answer.  aloof and indifferent

Question 6. What happened when Maxwell took Mijbil to the bathroom? What did it do two days after that?
Answer. When Maxwell took Mijbil to the bathroom, the otter went wild with joy, plunging, rolling and splashing in the water like a hippo. Two days later, Mijbil escaped into the bathroom and turned on the tap by himself to play with the water.

Oral Comprehension Check (Page 86 – 87)

Question 1. How was Mij to be transported to England?
Answer. Mij was to be transported to England by air in a box not more than eighteen inches square, kept on the floor at Maxwell’s feet during the flight.

Question 2. What did Mij do to the box?
Answer. Mij tore the lining of the box to shreds, injured himself on the sharp edges, and became blood-spattered and exhausted.

Question 3. Why did Maxwell put the otter back in the box? How do you think he felt when he did this?
Answer. Maxwell had to put Mij back in the box because the flight was about to leave and he had no other option. He must have felt very miserable and guilty doing so.

Question 4. Why does Maxwell say the airhostess was “the very queen of her kind”?
Answer. Maxwell says this because the airhostess was extremely kind and sympathetic. She even suggested that he could keep the otter on his knee during the flight.

Question 5. What happened when the box was opened?
Answer. As soon as the box was opened, Mijbil jumped out and ran down the aircraft at high speed, creating chaos until he finally returned to Maxwell and nuzzled his face and neck.

Oral Comprehension Check (Page 88)

Question 1. What game had Mij invented?
Answer. Mij invented a game with a ping-pong ball. He would place it on the high end of a sloping suitcase and run to the lower end to catch and ambush it, then repeat the process for a long time.

Question 2. What are ‘compulsive habits’? What does Maxwell say are the compulsive habits of (i) school children (ii) Mij?
Answer. Compulsive habits are actions that are impossible to control and are repeated regularly.
(i) School children’s compulsive habits are placing their feet squarely on the centre of each paving block, touching every seventh upright of iron railings, or passing to the outside of every second lamp post.
(ii) Mij’s compulsive habit was galloping the full length of a low wall outside a school whenever he returned home, though never while going out.

Question 3. What group of animals do otters belong to?
Answer. Otters belong to the group of animals called Mustellines, which also includes badgers, mongooses, weasels, stoats, and minks.

Question 4. What guesses did the Londoners make about what Mij was?
Answer. The Londoners guessed that Mij was a baby seal, a squirrel, a walrus, a hippo, a beaver, a bear cub, a leopard that had changed its spots, or even a brontosaur—but almost never an otter.

Thinking about the Text

Question 1. What things does Mij do which tell you that he is an intelligent, friendly and fun-loving animal who needs love?
Answer: Mij plays with marbles on his belly, turns the water taps by himself, invents games with a ping-pong ball, follows Maxwell without a lead, and nuzzles his face in affection. These show he is intelligent, friendly, fun-loving, and needs love.

Question 2. What are some of the things we come to know about otters from this text?
Answer: Otters love water and make splashes, they are playful and enjoy juggling objects, they can learn quickly, they belong to the Mustelline group, and they are rare in many places though common in marshes of Iraq.

Question 3. Why is Mij’s species now known to the world as Maxwell’s otter?
Answer: Because Mij belonged to a race previously unknown to science, zoologists later named it Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli, after Maxwell.

Question 4. Maxwell in the story speaks for the otter, Mij. He tells us what the otter feels and thinks on different occasions. Given below are some things the otter does. Complete the column on the right to say what Maxwell says about what Mij feels and thinks.

Answer:

5. Read the story and find the sentences where Maxwell describes his pet otter. Then choose and arrange your sentences to illustrate those statements below that you think are true.
Maxwell’s description

(i) Makes Mij seem almost human, like a small boy
“He would follow me without a lead and come to me when I called his name.”
“He spent hours shuffling a rubber ball round the room like a four-footed soccer player.”
“He would lie on his back rolling two or more marbles up and down his wide, flat belly without ever dropping one.”

(ii) Shows that he is often irritated with what Mij does
“He would sometimes screw it up still tighter, chittering with irritation and disappointment at the tap’s failure to cooperate.”

(iii) Shows that he is often surprised by what Mij does
“I watched, amazed; in less than a minute he had turned the tap far enough to produce a trickle of water, and after a moment or two achieved the full flow.”

(iv) Of Mij’s antics is comical
“He spent hours shuffling a rubber ball round the room like a four-footed soccer player using all four feet to dribble the ball.”
“Outside a dog show I heard ‘a hippo’.”
“‘Is that a walrus, mister?’ reduced me to giggles.”

(v) Shows that he observes the antics of Mij very carefully
“Every drop of water must be, so to speak, extended and spread about the place.”
“Marbles were Mij’s favourite toys for this pastime: he would lie on his back rolling two or more of them up and down his wide, flat belly without ever dropping one to the floor.”

(vi) Shows that he thinks Mij is a very ordinary otter
No sentence supports this. (Maxwell never thinks Mij is ordinary.)

(vii) Shows that he thinks the otter is very unusual
“Mijbil, as I called the otter, was, in fact, of a race previously unknown to science.”
“With the opening of that sack began a phase of my life that has not yet ended, and may, for all I know, not end before I do.”

Thinking about Language

I. Describing a Repeated Action in the Past
To talk about something that happened regularly in the past, but does not happen any longer, we use would or used to. Both would and used to can describe repeated actions in the past.
(a) Mij would follow me without a lead and come to me when I called his name.
(b) He would play for hours with a selection of toys.
(c) On his way home… Mij would tug me to this wall.
(d) When I was five years old, I used to follow my brother all over the place.
(e) He used to tease me when Mother was not around.
To describe repeated states or situations in the past, however, we use only used to. (We cannot use would for states or situations in the past.) So we do not use would with verbs like be, have, believe, etc. Look at the following sentences.

(a) When we were young, we used to believe there were ghosts in school.
(Note: believe shows a state of mind.)
(b) Thirty years ago, more women used to be housewives than now.
(Note: be here describes a situation.)
From the table below, make as many correct sentences as you can using would and/or used to, as appropriate. (Hint: First decide whether the words in italics show an action, or a state or situation, in the past.)
Then add two or three sentences of your own to it.

Answer:

1. Emperor Akbar used to be fond of musical evenings.
   (Be shows a state, so we use used to.)
2. Every evening we would take long walks on the beach.
   (This is a repeated action, so we use would.)
3. Fifty years ago, very few people used to own cars.
   (Own shows a state/situation, so we use used to.)
4. Till the 1980s, Shanghai used to have very dirty streets.
   (Have shows a state/situation, so we use used to.)
5. My uncle would spend his holidays by the sea.
   (This is a repeated action, so we use would.)

II. Noun Modifiers

To describe or give more information about a noun (or to modify a noun), we use adjectives or adjectival phrases. Look at these examples from the text:
(a) An eminently suitable spot     (c) Symmetrical pointed scales
(b) His wide, flat belly                   (d) A ricocheting bullet
Nouns can also be used as modifiers:
(a) The dinner party
(b) A designer dress
(c) The car keys
We can use more than one noun as modifier. Proper nouns can also be used:
(a) The Christmas dinner party
(b) A silk designer dress
(c) The Maruti car keys
In the examples below, there is an adjectival phrase in front of a noun modifier:
(a) The lovely Christmas party
(b) A trendy silk designer dress
(c) The frightfully expensive golden Maruti car keys

1. Look at these examples from the text, and say whether the modifiers
(in italics) are nouns, proper nouns, or adjective plus noun.
(i) An otter fixation              (iv) The London streets
(ii) The iron railings            (v) soft velvet fur
(iii) The Tigris marshes      (vi) A four-footed soccer player
Answer:

1. An otter fixation – Noun + Noun (otter modifies fixation)
2. The iron railings – Adjective + Noun (iron describes railings)
3. The Tigris marshes – Proper Noun + Noun (Tigris is a proper noun)
4. The London streets – Proper Noun + Noun (London is a proper noun)
5. Soft velvet fur – Adjective + Noun (soft describes velvet fur)
6. A four-footed soccer player – Adjective phrase + Noun (four-footed describes player)

2. Given below are some nouns, and a set of modifiers (in the box). Combine the nouns and modifiers to make as many appropriate phrases as you can. (Hint: The nouns and modifiers are all from the texts in this book.)

Answer:

• plump girls
• three girls
• triangle dresses
• ordinary person
• ridiculous thoughts
• college boys
• birthday gifts
• loud scream
• heartbreaking farewell
• time expression
• first flight
• incorrigible chatterbox
• medical profession (or any profession word – from text it can be general)
• slack physique
• invigorating coffee
• panoramic view
• family celebration
• white handkerchief
• temple crossing
• rough stone
• hundred boys / hundred dresses (both possible)
• bare landscape
• tremendous roar
• uncomfortable marriage
• railroad crossing
• love subject (can also be subject of love)

III. Read this sentence:

He shook himself, and I half expected a cloud of dust.
The author uses a cloud of dust to give a picture of a large quantity of dust. Phrases like this indicate a particular quantity of something that is not usually countable. For example: a bit of land, a drop of blood, a pinch of salt, a piece of paper.

1. Match the words on the left with a word on the right. Some words on the left can go with more than one word on the right.

Answer:

2. Use a bit of/a piece of/a bunch of/a cloud of/a lump of with the italicised nouns in the following sentences. The first has been done for you as an example.
(i) My teacher gave me some advice. My teacher gave me a bit of advice.
(ii) Can you give me some clay, please. __________________________
(iii) The information you gave was very useful._____________________
(iv) Because of these factories, smoke hangs over the city._______________
(v) Two stones rubbed together can produce sparks of fire._______________
(vi) He gave me some flowers on my birthday._______________________

Answer:

(i) My teacher gave me a bit of advice. ✅ (Already done)
(ii) Can you give me a lump of clay, please.
(iii) The information you gave was very useful. → The information you gave was a piece of information.
(iv) Because of these factories, a cloud of smoke hangs over the city.
(v) Two stones rubbed together can produce a spark of fire.
(vi) He gave me a bunch of flowers on my birthday.