NCERT Solutions Class 10 English (First Flight)
The NCERT Solutions in English Language for Class 10 English (First Flight) Chapter – 3 Two Stories about Flying has been provided here to help the students in solving the questions from this exercise.
Chapter – 3 (Two Stories about Flying)
I. His First Fight
Thinking About The Text
1. Why was the young seagull afraid to fly? Do you think all young birds are afraid to make their first flight, or are some birds more timid than others? Do you think a human baby also finds it a challenge to take its first step?
Answer – The young seagull was afraid to fly because it was its first flight. It is a well known fact that doing something for the first time is challenging. Therefore, all young birds must be afraid to make their first flights. Similarly, a human baby would also find it a challenge to take its first step.
2. “The sight of the food maddened him.” What does this suggest? What compelled the young seagull to finally fly?
Answer – This suggests the sight of food made the seagull risk flying for the first time. The control over flying fear made him finally fly.
3. “They were beckoning to him, calling shrilly.” Why did the seagull’s father and mother threaten him and cajole him to fly?
Answer – Seagull’s parents had tried everything but he was reluctant to fly due to fear of falling down. He looked at his brothers and sister but wouldn’t make any efforts. Thats why the whole family had left him alone and threatened and cojoled him to come but every effort went in vain.
4. Have you ever had a similar experience, where your parents encouraged you to do something that you were too scared to try? Discuss this in pairs or groups.
Answer – Yes, I had had a similar experience when my parents made me ride the bicycle. They seated me on its saddle and slowly moved it. I feared that if they let me alone, I would fall down. I moved this way or that in fear at first. But courage and confidence came to me and I controlled the bicycle. (To be discussed in groups)
5. In the case of a bird flying, it seems a natural act, and a foregone conclusion that it should succeed. In the examples you have given in Answer to the previous question, was your success guaranteed, or was it important for you to try, regardless of a possibility of failure?
Answer – My success was not guaranteed. What was important was that I must try. Trying to do things matters, not the result—success or failure. If one is afraid of failure and takes no action, one surely fails. But one must not feel let down. It is trying that matters the most.
II. The Black Aeroplane
Thinking About The Text
1. “I’ll take the risk.” What is the risk? Why does the narrator take it?
Answer – The risk was to fly through the black storm clouds. The narrator took the risk because he wanted to reach Paris to celebrate Christmas with his family.
2. Describe the narrator’s experience as he flew the aeroplane into the storm.
Answer – As the pilot (Narrator) entered the storm, his plane started jumping and twisting. He could not see anything outside the plane as it was black. When he looked at the compass and other instruments they had stopped functioning due to the storm. It was a terrible and fearsome experience for him.
3. Why does the narrator say, “I landed and was not sorry to walk away from the old Dakota…”?
Answer – Seagull’s parents had tried everything but he was reluctant to fly due to fear of falling down. He looked at his brothers and sister but wouldn’t make any efforts. Thats why the whole family had left him alone and threatened and cojoled him to come but every effort went in vain.
4. What made the woman in the control centre look at the narrator strangely?
Answer – The women in the control room was surprised when the narrator asked about the other aeroplane and its pilot. She said that there was no areoplane seen on the radar.
5. Who do you think helped the narrator to reach safely? Discuss this among yourselves and give reasons for your answer.
Answer – It is very difficult to say about the unknown pilot who helped the narrator. But probably it was the narrator himself that helped him to overcome the fear in the storm as no other plane was seen in the radar except the narrator’s Dakota plane. In that fearsome situation, he might have been hallucinating. He himself was a good pilot and brave enough who helped himself land safely.
Thinking About Language
I. Study the sentences given below.
(a) They looked like black mountains.
(b) Inside the clouds, everything was suddenly black.
(c) In the black clouds near me, I saw another aeroplane.
(d) The strange black aeroplane was there.
The word ‘black’ in sentences (a) and (c) refers to the very darkest colour. But in (b) and (d) (here) it means without light/with no light.
‘Black’ has a variety of meanings in different contexts. For example:
(a) ‘I prefer black tea’ means ‘I prefer tea without milk’.
(b) ‘With increasing pollution the future of the world is black’ means With increasing pollution the future of the world is very depressing/without hope’.
Now, try to guess the meanings of the word ‘black’ in the sentences given below. Check the meanings in the dictionary and find out whether you have guessed right.
1. Go and have a bath, your hands and face are absolutely black ________.
2. The taxi-driver gave Ratan a black look as he crossed the road when the traffic light was green ________.
3. The bombardment of Hiroshima is one of the blackest crimes against humanity ________.
4. Very few people enjoy Harold Pinter’s black comedy ________.
5. Sometimes shopkeepers store essential goods ________.
6. Villagers had beaten the criminal black and blue ________.
Answer –
1. The meaning of ‘black’ in this sentence is that the face and hands are dark with dust and heat.
2. Here, ‘black’ refers to an angry look.
3. Here, ‘blackest’ refers to the darkest and cruellest crime against humanity.
4. Here, ‘black’ refers to dark and gloomy comedy. 5. The meaning of ‘black’ in this sentence is that the shopkeepers sell the described goods ‘at a higher price’.
6. Here, ‘black’ means that the criminal suffered excessive beating at the hands of the villagers.
II. Look at these sentences taken from the lesson you have just read:
(a) I was flying my old Dakota aeroplane.
(b) The young seagull had been afraid to fly with them.
In the first sentence the author was controlling an aircraft in the air. In the second sentence the seagull was afraid to move through the air, using its wings.
Match the phrases given under Column A with their meanings given under Column B:
| A | B |
|---|---|
| 1. Fly a flag | – Move quickly/suddenly |
| 2. Fly into rage | – Be successful |
| 3. Fly along | – Display a flag on a long pole |
| 4. Fly high | – Escape from a place |
| 5. Fly the coop | – Become suddenly very angry |
Answer –
| A | B |
|---|---|
| 1. Fly a flag | – Display a flag on a long pole |
| 2. Fly into rage | – Become suddenly very angry |
| 3. Fly along | – Move quickly/suddenly |
| 4. Fly high | – Be successful |
| 5. Fly the coop | – Escape from a place |
III. We know that the word ‘fly’ (of birds/insects) means to move through air using wings. Tick the words which have the same or nearly the same meaning.
| swoop | flit | paddle | flutter |
| ascend | float | ride | skim |
| sink | dart | hover | glide |
| descend | soar | shoot | spring |
| stay | fall | sail | flap |
Answer – The words which have the same or nearly the same meaning as ‘fly’ are as follows:
swoop, flit, float, dart, soar, hover, sail, skim, glide, flutter
