1st Year English: Book 1 : Ch 2 Clearing in the Sky

 Lesson-2

Clearing in the Sky

Exercise Questions
Q.1. Why didn’t old man follow the advice of the doctors? (imp)
Ans: The old man wanted to farm the land. He wanted to raise crops and grow vegetables. Therefore, he did not follow the advice of doctors.

Q.2. What had the doctors told the old man? (imp)
Ans: The doctors had asked him not to do any work. They asked him to take a rest and enjoy the few remaining days of his life with his family.

Q.3. Where did the old man take his son? (imp)
Ans: The old man had planted potatoes, yams and tomatoes on mountain top. Therefore, he took his son there to show him the farm.

Q.4. Had the son ever been there before?
Ans: Yes, the son had lived his whole childhood with his parents at that place. But he had not visited it for the last three years.
Q.5. What were the names of the vegetables the old man grew on his farm?
Ans:  He grew yams, tomatoes, and potatoes on his farm. It was a wonderfully clean patch of land.
Q.6. Why did the old man take the steep path? (imp)
Ans: The doctors told the old man not to do any work. But he wanted to show his son that he was still energetic and healthy.

Q.7. Why did the son at the age of six cries?
Ans: When Jess was six years old, his father made him a little wooden plough. While playing with it, the son lost it in a furrow. Therefore, he cried at the loss.

Q.8. What were the feelings of the old man at the age of seventy?
Ans: The old man in the story is really an optimistic person. He loved the land and the things he grew in it. He wanted to taste yams, tomatoes, and potatoes grown in fresh land.
Q.9. Why did the old man plant his secret garden?
Ans: In fact, he wanted to return to the places he had loved. The old man planted his secret garden because he believed that the things planted in a new land had a sweet taste and unique flavor.
Additional questions
Q.10.  What moral lesson does the story teach?
Ans: It teaches us that work and physical exercise makes us healthy and active. It tells us that we should never be disappointed in life. It also urges us to love nature and land.

Q.11. Why did the old man make so many paths going up the mountain?
Ans: He wanted to know whether he was regaining his health gradually. So, he kept on making steeper paths as he got healthier. In this way, he kept himself in physical exercise.

Punctuated lines 01: 

This is the way jess said my father pointing with his cane across the deep valet below us I want to show you something you ve not seen for many years

" This is the way, Jess," said my father, pointing with his cane across the deep valley below us."I want to show you something you've not seen for many years!"

Punctuated lines 02: 

now youre coming to something son he said as he pushed down the top wire so he could cross the fence this is something i want you to see.

"Now, you're comin' to something, son," he said as he pushed down the top wire so he could cross the fence. "This is something I want you to see!"

Punctuated lines 03: 

fertile he laughed as he reached down and picked up a double handful of leaf rot loam this is the land son this is it ive tried all kinds of land.

"Fertile," he laughed as he reached down and picked up a double handful of leaf-rot loam. "This is the land, son! This is it. I've tried all kinds of land!"