Following are the reading comprehension exercises known by many names as comprehension passages, short unseen passage for practice etc. These reading comprehension passages with questions and answers and reading comprehension tips ,will help you improve reading comprehension skills. These English short reading passages for kids may be used as low level reading comprehension worksheets and reading comprehension practice test, These online comprehension ks2 exercise will enhance reading skills. Teachers may use them as free reading comprehension worksheets, gre comprehension passages for elementary students, as well as they will help in teaching reading comprehension skills. Download in pdf and find comprehension strategies and know how to understand reading comprehension questions
PASSAGE -5
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
Growing up with Kites
We flew kites too; we loved to fly them .Made of colored paper and fine bamboo ,Indian kites are as brilliant as huge butterflies and almost as light .The gatekeeper ,Guru ,bought them for us in the bazaar and showed us how to glass our strings, how to run the fine thread through a mixture of flour paste and ground glass until the whole string was armored and then to wind the string round the polished bamboo roller that had a slim bamboo handle at each end and which our small hands could grasp. He showed us how to launch and fly our kites, how to send them higher and higher, standing with our legs well apart, holding our rollers in both hands bracing ourselves against the tug and pull. He taught us how to make our kite bob three times as a challenge to the other kites in the sky and then, as a distant cry of “Dhari,Dhari!”Rose from an invisible roof top, to cross strings with our opponent until the vanquished kite, cut loose, floated helplessly away over the river.
Sometimes we heard a shrill commotion on the road below and looking over the parapet ,saw a crowd of boys running with bamboo poles after a drifting kite mended and patched ,could do battle again.
On the basis of your reading of the above passage answer the following questions:
1.Why does the author find flying kites an enjoyable hobby?
2.How was the string made into a lethal weapon?
3.What all did the gatekeeper Guru teach the authors?
4. How did the sport of kite –flying become a battle?
5.Find words from the passage which mean the following-
(a) splendid (b)keep (c)sharp (d)remote (e)defeated (f) ruined
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PASSAGE -6
Read the following passage carefully-
India has evolved, through its classical and folk traditions, a type of dance and drama that is a form of total theatre. The actor dances out the story through a complex language of gestures. This form cuts across the language barriers of the subcontinent .Some of the classical dance –drama forms enact well-known stories originating from Hindu mythology.
The chief source of classical dance is Bharata Muni’s Natya Shastra a treatise on the origin and function of natya .The actor is equipped with a complicated repertoire of gestures. Movements are land down for every part of the body, the eyes and hands being the most important .There are 24 single-handed gestures and 13 involving both hands. One gesture may mean more than 30 different things quite unrelated to each other .The pataka gesture of the hand ,for example ,in which all the fingers are extended and held close together with the thumb bent, can represent heat, rain, a crowd of men ,the night, a forest, a horse ,or a flight of birds.
The artistic pleasure of Hindu dance and theatre is determined by how successful the artist is in expressing a particular emotion and evoking the rasa .Literally rasa means ‘taste’, or ‘flavour’,and is that exalted sentiment or mood which the spectator experiences after witnessing a performance.
Read the questions given below and write the option you consider the most appropriate answer-
(i) In a dance – drama the actor tells the story through
(a) Rhythm of dance (b) language of gestures
(c) Vocal music (d) song and dance
(ii) Some of the classical dance –drama forms are based on
(a) Agro –based culture (b) Religious ceremonies of many religions
(c) Stories from Hindu mythology (d) Customs and traditions
(iii) The chief source of classical dance is
(a)Bharat Natyam (b)Kathkali (c)Natya Shastra (d)not yet known
(iv) The artistic pleasure of Hindu dance and theatre is determined by the artist’s expression
(a)emotion (b)taste (c)emotion and taste (d)face
(v) The word exalted in paragraph means
(a)expressive (b)impressive (c)expensive (d)extremely happy
ANSWER
1. language of gestures 2. Stories from Hindu mythology 3. Natya Shastra
4. emotion 5. expressive
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