READING COMPREHENSION WITH ANSWERS

 Read the story given below and answer the questions that follow:-

 “Towards midnight the rain ceased and the clouds drifted away so that the sky was scattered once more with the incredible lamps of stars. Then the breeze died too and there was no noise save the drip and trickle of water that ran out of clefts and spilled down, leaf by leaf, to the brown earth of the island. The air was cool, moist, and clear; and presently even the sound of the water was still. The beast lay huddled on the pale beach and the stains spread, inch by inch.  

The edge of the lagoon became a streak of phosphorescence which advanced minutely, as the great wave of the tide flowed. The clear water mirrored the clear sky and the angular bright constellations. The line of phosphorescence bulged about the sand grains and little pebbles; it held them each in a dimple of tension, then suddenly accepted them with an inaudible syllable and moved on. 

 Along the shoreward edge of the shallows, the advancing clearness was full of strange, moonbeam-bodied creatures with fiery eyes. Here and there a larger pebble clung to its own air and was covered with a coat of pearls. The tide swelled in over the rain-pitted sand and smoothed everything with a layer of silver. Now it touched the first of the stains that seeped from the broken body and the creatures made a moving patch of light as they gathered at the edge. The water rose further and dressed Simon's coarse hair with brightness. The line of his cheek silvered and the turn of his shoulder became sculptured marble. The strange, attendant creatures, with their fiery eyes and trailing vapours busied themselves round his head. The body lifted a fraction of an inch from the sand and a bubble of air escaped from the mouth with a wet plop. Then it turned gently in the water. 

Somewhere over the darkened curve of the world the sun and moon were pulling; and the film of water on the earth planet was held, bulging slightly on one side while the solid core turned. The great wave of the tide moved further along the island and the water lifted. Softly, surrounded by a fringe of inquisitive bright creatures, itself a silver shape beneath the steadfast constellations, Simon's dead body moved out towards the open sea.”

 On the basis of your understanding of the passage answer the following:--

 a.Complete this sentence:---A larger pebble clung to its own -----------and was covered with a------------------------. 

b.What does the author mean when he says, “the sun and moon were pulling”.

 c.. What kind of weather is described at the beginning of the passage?

 d. What were the attendant creatures attending?

 e. The word that means,” that cannot be heard” is ------------------------. 

f. What is the theme of the story given here? 

ANSWERS

a) .air, coat of pearls 

b) The sun and moon were going in opposite directions. The sun was rising and the moon was setting. 

c) It was a dark night it had rained in the recent past.

 d) Eating Simon’s body 

e) Inaudible

 f) The uncertainty of life near lagoons where water is deadly and animals eat human flesh