NCERT Solutions for Class 9 English Beehive Chapter 8 Reach for the Top
NCERT Solutions for Class 9 English Beehive Chapter 8 Reach for the Top are given below. This chapter contains many questions that are essential for exams. Our expert teachers answered all the questions with a detailed explanation that help students to complete their assignments and homework. We have also provided NCERT Solutions for Class 9 English Chapter 8 Reach for the Top in PDF format so that you can download them for offline use.
Reach for the Top NCERT Questions and Answers
Thinking about the Text
I. Answer these questions in one or two sentences each. (The paragraph numbers within brackets provide clues to the answers.)
Question 1. Why was the ‘holy man’ who gave Santosh’s mother his blessings surprised? (1)
Answer: The ‘holy man’ was surprised because he had assumed that Santosh’s mother wanted a son. But grandmother told him that they did not want a son.
Question 2. Give an example to show that even as a young girl Santosh was not ready to accept anything unreasonable. (2)
Answer: Santosh always lived life on her own terms. Unlike the other girls in the village who wore traditional dresses, she liked to wear shorts. This shows her rebellious attitude.
Question 3. Why was Santosh sent to the local school? (3)
Answer: Even though Santosh’s parents could afford to send their children to the best schools, she was sent to the local village school due to the prevailing custom in the family.
Question 4. When did she leave home for Delhi, and why? (4)
Answer: She left home for Delhi when she was sixteen because she wanted to get a proper education.
Question 5. Why did Santosh’s parents agree to pay for her schooling in Delhi? What mental qualities of Santosh are brought into light by this incident? (4)
Answer: When Santosh’s parents refused to pay for her schooling in Delhi, she informed them of her plans to do a part-time job and pay her school fees. Then, her parents agreed to pay for her schooling in Delhi. This shows that Santosh was a mentally-strong girl. She was full of self-determination.
II. Answer each of these questions in a short paragraph (about 30 words).
Question 1. How did Santosh begin to climb mountains?
Answer: From her room in Kasturba Hostel, she watched people going up the Aravalli Hills and vanishing after a while. On investigating, she found nobody except a few mountaineers, and she asked if she could join them. They agreed and even motivated her to take to climbing and so she later accompanied them on their climbing expedition. This was how she began climbing mountains.
Question 2. What incidents during the Everest expedition show Santosh’s concern for her team-mates?
Answer: During her Everest expedition she showed immense concern for her team-mates. She shared her oxygen cylinder with her team-mates. Though she was unsuccessful in saving the life of one of them, another one could be saved because of her help.
Question 3. What shows her concern for the environment?
Answer: Santosh collected and brought down 500 kilograms of garbage from the Himalayas on her way back from the 1992 Everest expedition. This shows her concern for the environment.
Question 4. How does she describe her feelings at the summit of the Everest?
Answer: Santosh asserted that her feeling at the summit of the Everest was “indescribable”. Unfurling the Indian flag on the top of the world was a spiritual moment for her and she felt proud as an Indian.
Question 5. Santosh Yadav got into the record books both times she scaled Mt Everest. What were the reasons for this?
Answer: When Santosh Yadav first scaled Mt Everest, she became the youngest woman in the world to achieve the feat. When she scaled the Everest the second time, she became the only woman to have scaled it twice.
III. Complete the following statements.
1. From her room in Kasturba Hostel, Santosh used to _________________.
2. When she finished college, Santosh had to write a letter of apology to her father because _________________.
3. During the Everest expedition, her seniors in the team admired her _________________ while _________________ endeared her to fellow climbers.
Answer: 1. From her room in Kasturba Hostel, Santosh used to watch villagers going up the hill and suddenly vanish after a while.
2. When she finished college, Santosh had to write a letter of apology to her father because she had got herself enrolled at Uttarkashi’s Nehru Institute of Mountaineering without his permission.
3. During the Everest expedition, her seniors in the team admired her climbing skills, physical fitness and mental strength while her concern for others and desire to work together with them endeared her to fellow climbers.
IV. Pick out words from the text that mean the same as the following words or expressions. (Look in the paragraphs indicated.)
1. took to be true without proof (1):
2. based on reason; sensible; reasonable (2):
3. the usual way of doing things (3):
4. a strong desire arising from within (5):
5. the power to endure, without falling ill (7):
Answer: 1. took to be true without proof: assumed
2. based on reason; sensible; reasonable: rational
3. the usual way of doing things: custom
4. a strong desire arising from within: urge
5. the power to endure, without falling ill: resistance
Part II
Maria Sharapova
Thinking about the Text
Working in small groups of 4–5 students, go back over the two passages on Santosh Yadav and Maria Sharapova and complete the table given below with relevant phrases or sentences.
