hundred dresses 1 vsa

IMPORTANT PASSAGES FOR COMPREHENSION

 Read the following passages and answer the questions that follow :

PASSAGE 1

Today, Monday, Wanda Petronski was not in her seat. But nobody, not even Peggy and Madeline, the girls who started all the fun, noticed her absence. Usually, Wanda sat in the seat next to the last seat in the last row in Room Thirteen. She sat in the corner of the room where the rough boys who did not make good marks sat, the corner of the room where there was most scuffling of feet, most roars of laughter when anything funny was said, and most mud and dirt on the floor.

Wanda did not sit there because she was rough and noisy. On the contrary, she was very quiet and rarely said anything at all. And nobody had ever heard her laugh out loud. Sometimes she twisted her mouth into a crooked sort of smile, but that was all. I

[H.B.S.E. March 2017 (Set-B)]

Questions :

 (a) Where did Wanda Petronski usually sit?

 (b) Did Peggy and Madeline notice Wanda’s absence?

 (c) How did most of the boys create fun in the classroom?

 (d) What kind of a girl was Wanda?

 (e) Find words or phrases from the passage which mean the same as :

 (i) on the other hand, (ii) very seldom.

 Answers :

 (a) She usually sat in the corner next to the last seat in the last row.

 (b) No, Peggy and Madeline did not notice Wanda’s absence.

 (c) They created fun by scuffling their feet on the ground and laughing loudly.

 (d) Wanda was a quiet and calm girl.

 (e) (i) on the contrary, (ii) rarely.

PASSAGE 2

 Nobody knew exactly why Wanda sat in that seat unless it was because she came all the way from Boggins Heights and her feet were usually caked with dry mud. But no one really thought much about Wanda Petronski, once she sat in the corner of the room.

 The time when they thought about Wanda was outside of school hours — at noon-time when they were coming back to school or in the morning early before school began, when groups of two or three, or even more, would be talking and laughing on their way to the school yard.

 Then, sometimes, they waited for Wanda — to have fun with her.

Questions :

 (a) Where did Wanda come from?

 (b) What happened after Wanda sat in the corner of the room?

 (c) When did classmates think of Wanda?

(d) Why did they wait for Wanda?

(e) Find a word in the passage which means ‘precise’.

 Answers :

(a) Wanda came from Boggins Heights.

(b) After she sat in the corner of the room nobody thought much of her.

(c) They thought of her outsides of school hours.

(d) They waited for her to have fun with her.

(e) exactly.

PASSAGE 3

The next day, Tuesday, Wanda was not in school, either. And nobody noticed her absence again.

 But on Wednesday, Peggy and Maddie, who sat down front with other children who got good marks and who didn’t track in a whole lot of mud, did notice that Wanda wasn’t there. Peggy was the most popular girl in school. She was pretty, she had many pretty clothes and her hair was curly. Maddie was her closest friend. The reason Peggy and Maddie noticed Wanda’s absence was because Wanda had made them late to school.

 They had waited and waited for Wanda, to have some fun with her, and she just hadn’t come.

 They often waited for Wanda Petronski — to have fun with her.

  Questions :

 (a) Did Wanda come to school on Tuesday?

 (b) Where did Peggy and Maddie sit?

 (c) Who was the most popular girl in the school?

 (d) Why did Peggy and Maddie think of Wanda?

 (e) Which word in the passage means ‘famous’?

 Answers :

 (a) No, Wanda did not come to school on Tuesday.

 (b) Peggy and Maddie sit in the front where other children who got good marks sat.

 (c) Peggy was the most popular girl in the school.

 (d) They thought of Wanda because she had made them tale for school.

 (e) popular.

PASSAGE 4

Wanda didn’t have any friends. She came to school alone and went home alone. She always wore a faded blue dress that didn’t hang right. It was clean, but it looked as though it had never been ironed properly. She didn’t have any friends, but a lot of girls talked to her. Sometimes, they surrounded her in the school yard as she stood watching the little girls play hopscotch on the worn hard ground.

 “Wanda,” Peggy would say in a most courteous manner as though she were talking to Miss Mason. “Wanda,” she’d say, giving one of her friends a nudge, “tell us. How many dresses did you say you had hanging up in your closet ?”

 “A hundred,” Wanda would say.

 “A hundred!” exclaimed all the little girls incredulously, and the little ones would stop playing hopscotch and listen.

 Questions :

 (al What kind of dress did Wanda wear?

 (b) How did Peggy make fun of Wanda?

 (c) Did Wanda have many friends?

 (d) What would Wanda say when Peggy questioned her about dresses?

 (e) Find a word from the passage which means ‘polite’.

 Answers :

 (a) She wore a faded blue dress.

 (b) Peggy made fun of Wanda by asking a question about how many dresses she bad at home.

 (c) No, Wanda did not have many friends.

 (d) Wanda would say that she had a hundred dresses lined up in her closet.

 (e) courteous.

PASSAGE 5

 Peggy was not really cruel. She protected small children from bullies. And she cried for hours if she saw an animal mistreated. If anybody had said to her, “Don’t you think that is a cruel way to treat Wanda?” she would have been very surprised. Cruel? Why did the girl say she had a hundred dresses? Anybody could tell that that was a lie. Why did she want to lie? And she wasn’t just an ordinary person, else why did she have a name like that? Anyway, they never made her cry.

 As for Maddie, this business of asking Wanda every day how many dresses and how many hats, and how many this and that she had was bothering her. Maddie was poor herself. She usually wore somebody’s hand-me-down clothes. Thank goodness, she didn’t live up on Boggins Heights or have a funny name.

 Questions :

 (a) How did Peggy react when she saw an animal mistreated?

 (b) How would Peggy react if someone said that she was cruel towards Wanda?

 (c) What did Peggy and Maddie think of Wanda?

 (d) How do you know that Maddie was also poor?

(e) Find a word from the passage which means ‘people who frighten weaker persons’.

Answers :

 (a) When she saw an animal mistreated, she would cry for hours.

 (b) She would be surprised.

 (c) She thought that Wanda wasn’t just an ordinary person.

 (d) Maddie wore somebody’s hand-me-down clothes. This shows that she was also poor.

 (e) ‘bullies’.

PASSAGE 6

Sometimes, when Peggy was asking Wanda those questions in that mocking polite voice,  Maddie felt embarrassed and studied the marbles in the palm of her hand, rolling them around and saying nothing herself. Not that she felt sorry for Wanda, exactly. She would never have paid any attention to Wanda if Peggy hadn’t invented the dresses game. But suppose Peggy and all the others started in on her next? She wasn’t as poor as Wanda, perhaps, but she was poor. Of course, she would have more sense than to say she had a hundred dresses. Still, she would not like for them to begin on her. She wished Peggy would stop teasing Wanda Petronski.

 Questions :

 (a) When did Maddie feel embarrassed?

 (b) When would Maddie never have paid any attention to Wanda?

 (c) What additional benefit did Maddie think she had than Wanda?

 (d) What did Maddie wish?

 (e) Find a word from the passage which means ‘satirical’.

 Answers :

(a)Maddie felt embarrassed when Peggy asked Wanda questions about her dresses.

(b)She never has paid any attention to Wanda if Peggy hadn’t invented the dresses game.

(c)She thought that she had more sense to say about her dresses.

(d)Maddie wished that Peggy would stop teasing Wanda.

(e)’mocking’.

PASSAGE 7

Today, even though they had been late to school, Maddie was glad she had not had to make fun of Wanda. She worked her arithmetic problems absent-mindedly. “Eight times eight—let’s see …” She wished she had the nerve to write Peggy a note because she knew she never would have the courage to speak right out to Peggy, to say, “Hey, Peg, let’s stop asking Wanda how many dresses she has.” When she finished her arithmetic she did start a note to Peggy. Suddenly she paused and shuddered. She pictured herself in the schoolyard, a new target for Peggy and the girls. Peggy might ask her where she got the dress that she had on, and Maddie would have to say it was one of Peggy’s old ones that Maddie’s mother had tried to disguise with new trimmings so no one in Room Thirteen would recognise it.

Questions :

 (a) Why was Maddie glad?

 (b) How did Maddie want to ask Peggy not to make fun of Wanda?

 (c) What made Maddie feel ‘shuddered’?

 (d) How did Maddie think Peggy would humiliate her?

 (e) Find a word from the passage which means ‘trembled’.

 Answers :

 (a) Maddie was glad she had not had to make fun of Wanda.

 (b) She wanted to ask Peggy not to make fun of Wanda by writing a note to her.

 (c)  She shuddered when she thought that Peggy would find Maddie a new target for making fun of her.

(d)  She thought that Peggy would humiliate her by pointing out that she was wearing a dress given to her by her (Peggy’s) mother.

 (e)  ‘shuddered’.

 PASSAGE 8

 As for Wanda, she was just some girl who lived upon Boggins Heights and stood alone in the schoolyard. She scarcely ever said anything to anybody. The only time she talked was in the schoolyard about her hundred dresses. Maddie remembered her telling about one of her dresses, pale blue with coloured trimmings. And she remembered another that was brilliant jungle green with a red sash. “You’d look like a Christmas tree in that,” the girls had said in pretended admiration.

 Questions :

 (a) Who lived on Boggins Heights?

 (b) How did Pegg make fun of Wanda?

 (c) What were Wanda’s drawings about”

 (d) What did Maddie remember one of her dresses?

 (e) Find a word from the passage which means ‘shining’

Answers:

(a) Wanda Petronski

(b) by teasing and asking her about her dresses, shoes, hats, etc.

(c) designer dresses.

(d) a dress of pale blue with coloured trimmings.

(e) brilliant

PASSAGE 9

 The minute they entered the classroom, they stopped short and gasped. There were drawings all over the room, on every ledge and windowsill, dazzling colours and brilliant, lavish designs, all drawn on great sheets of wrapping paper. There must have been a hundred of them, all lined up. These must be the drawings for the contest. They were! Everybody stopped and whistled or murmured admiringly.

 As soon as the class had assembled, Miss Mason announced the winners. Jack Beggles had won for the boys, she said, and his design for an outboard motor was on exhibition in Room Twelve, along with the sketches by all the other boys.

  Questions :

 (a) What was there in the room?

 (b) How did they react to the drawings?

 (c) Who won the contest meant for girls?

 (d) Who won the contest meant for the boys?

 (e) Find a word from the passage which means ‘gathered’.

Answers:

(a) Drawings

(b) They stopped short and gasped.

(c) Wanda Petronski

(d) Jack Beggles

(e) assembled

 Passage-10: (Page 64)

Today, Monday, Wanda Petronski was not in her seat. But nobody, not even Peggy and the girls who started all the fun, noticed her absence. Usually, Wanda sat in the seat next seat in the last row in Room Thirteen. She sat in the corner of the room where the rough did not make good marks sat, the corner of the room where there was most scuffling of roars of laughter when anything funny was said, and most mud and dirt on the floor.

Questions:

(a) Today, why was Wanda Petronski not in her seat?

(b) Who were Peggy and Madeline?

(c) Where did Wanda usually sit in the class?

(d) What kind of boys sat in that corner?

(e) Find a word from the passage which means ‘noisy and dragging movements of the feet’.

Answers:

(a) Today Wanda Petronski was absent from the class. Actually, she has left school forever.

(b) Peggy and Madeline were close friends and classmates of Wanda.

(c) Wanda usually sat in the seat next to the last seat in the last row.

(d) Rough boys who did not get good marks sat in the last row.

(e) scuffling.