We have Provided the NCERT/CBSE Solutions chapter-wise for Class 11 English Hornbill Prose Chapter 8 Silk Road with Answers by expert subject teacher for latest syllabus and examination. Students also can take a free NCERT Solutions of Silk Road. Each question has right answer Solved by Expert Teacher.
NCERT Solutions Class 11 English Hornbill Prose
Understanding the text
I. Give reasons for the following statements.
Q1. The article has been titled ‘Silk Road.’’
Answer: The article was titled Silk Road because the author was travelling through the mountains where the ancient Silk Road used to pass, connecting Tibet to China.
Q2. Tibetan mastiffs were popular in China’s imperial courts.
Answer: Tibetan mastiffs were popular as hunting dogs in imperial courts of China. In ancient times they were brought as a tribute from Tibet and they were brought along the Silk Road. They were used as watchdogs because they were huge and black. They are fast like bullets and explode very quickly. Their breed is fearless and furious.
Q3. The author’s experience at Hor was in stark contrast to earlier accounts of the place.
Answer: Earlier travellers were moved to tears when they encountered the Mansarovar Lake. The narrator was repelled by the starkness and the rubbish lying around in Hor.
Q4. The author was disappointed with Darchen.
Answer: When they arrived in Darchen, the author couldn’t sleep due to a cold, so he sought treatment from a Tibetan doctor. When he looked around the next day, he noticed there were no pilgrims, which was a major disadvantage for his future journey.
Q5. The author thought that his positive thinking strategy worked well after all.
Answer: The author had very limited consideration. After coming to Darchen, he felt lonely. Just then he met Norbu, though ill-equipped for the pilgrimage, still Norbu gave useful suggestions like, they should hire yaks to carry their luggage and he won’t like to prostrate to do ‘kora’. At this the author felt that his positive thinking strategy wras working well.
II. Briefly comment on
Q1. The purpose of the author’s journey to Mount Kailash.
Answer: Nick Middleton is a Professor at Oxford and an adventurer as well. He reaches Mount Kailash by following the most difficult terrain via the Silk Road. He visited the sacred place to complete the Kora.
Q2. The author’s physical condition in Darchen.
Answer: The author didn’t feel physically fit when he reached Darchen. He suffered from extreme due to the chilly winds. He was unable to breathe with ease, was restless at night, could not have a wink that he would die if he would sleep.
Q3. The author’s meeting with Norbu.
Answer: The author’s meeting with Norbu was accidental, which, for him was more than a welcome accident. He met Norbu at the cafe of Darchen where he sat pondering over his options of making it to Mount Kailash. Norbu approached the author and struck up a conversation with him. The author was happy to meet Norbu, primarily because he spoke English. Norbu was a Tibetan academic working at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, in Beijing. He was in Darchen for the Kailash kora on which he had written many academic papers but never did it himself. When he heard the author also hoped to do the kora, he suggested that they made a team. This was what the author wanted too to complete his expedition and hence it was a happy meeting for him.
Q4. Tsetan’s support to the author during the journey.
Answer: Tsetan drove the author from Ravu to Darchen in his four-wheel drive vehicle. He manoeuvred his way through the snowy terrain. When the author became ill, he also took him to the Darchen medical college. Throughout, Tsetan was a dependable and approachable companion.
Q5. “As a Buddhist, he told me, he knew that it didn’t really matter if I passed away, but he thought it would be bad for business.”
Answer: Tsetan was a Buddhist and so he used to believe that death was not the end of life. He believed that Kailash was a sacred place and it’s better for him as it would lead him to heaven. But if the author died there, his business would be affected badly as his credibility would be at risk for looking after the tourists and he might not get any customers later on.
Talking about the text
Discuss in groups of four
Q1. The sensitive behaviour of hill-folk.
Answer:
- Hill-folks are simple and unsophisticated.
- They are courteous to outsiders/tourists.
- They look after the tourists because they earn through them.
Q2. The reasons why people willingly undergo the travails of difficult journeys.
Answer: The author was an academician, hence, he undertook the journey for the purpose of education. For him it was a learning experience. Secondly, people undertake such journeys because of the spirit of adventure. The areas covered by the author are some of the most difficult terrains in the world. The third can be a religious reason. People visit places like Mount Kailash as part of their pilgrimage.
Q3. The accounts of exotic places in legends and the reality.
Answer: The narrator describes his experiences in the small Tibetan town Hor as very different from the accounts of earlier travellers that he has read. Accounts by a Japanese monk and a Swede visitor describe how they were both sentimentally overwhelmed by the sanctity of the lake. However the narrator describes Hor as a miserable place full of rocks and years of accumulated garbage. This indicates that portrayals in exotic accounts may starkly differ from personal experiences of places.
Thinking about language
Q1. Notice the kind of English Tsetan uses while talking to the author.
How do you think he picked it up?
Answer: Tsetan’s English must have been picked up through his travels and interactions with the pilgrims he met.
Q2. What do the following utterances indicate?
(i) “I told her, through Daniel …”
Answer: She was not able to understand English but Daniel translated what he said into the Tibetan language for her.
(ii) “It’s a cold,” he said finally through Tsetan.
Answer: Tsetan translated into English what the doctor said in Tibetan, for the author.
Q3. Guess the meaning of the following words.
kora drokba kyang
In which language are these words found?
Answer:
Kora – pilgrimage
Drokba — shepherd, shepherd’s coat
Kyang-wild asses. Probably Tibetan
(Probably Tibetan)
Working with words
Q1. The narrative has many phrases to describe the scenic beauty of the mountainside like:
A flawless half-moon floated in a perfect blue sky.
Scan the text to locate other such picturesque phrases.
Answer: Extended banks of cloud like long french loaves glowed sink as the sun emerged to splash the distant mountain tops with a rose-tinted blush.
Q2. Explain the use of the adjectives in the following phrases.
(i) shaggy monsters
(ii) brackish lakes
(iii) rickety table
(iv) hairpin bend
(v) rudimentary general stores
Answer:
(i) shaggy monsters – Tibetan mastiff dogs with lots of fur
(ii) brackish lakes – Water bodies with lots of salt
(iii) rickety table – Table that shook because its legs were not fastened well together
(iv) hairpin bend – A U-shaped bend along a road
(v) rudimentary general stores – Basic stores found everywhere that sell most necessary provisions
Noticing form
Q1. The account has only a few passive voice sentences. Locate them. In what way does the use of active voice contribute to the style of the narrative?
Answer: What was the likelihood of that I asked.
By late afternoon we had reached.
That night, after my first full day’s course, I slept very soundly.
Once he saw that I was going to live Tsetan left me…
The pilgrimage trail was well-trodden…
The cafe had a single window beside which I’d taken up position…
Active voice is used to indicate that the subject is the person, place or thing that is responsible for the action. The use of the active voice in this narrative puts the reader in the position of the narrator. It makes us identify with his journey as the “I” in the narrative, and also makes us feel like we are travelling along with them through Tibet.
Q2. Notice this construction: Tsetan was eager to have them fixed. Write five sentences with a similar structure.
Answer:
I was hoping to have the windows repaired.
The man was impatiently waiting to have his teeth fixed.
The driver was going to have his license cancelled.
The kids were waiting to get their ice-cream cones refilled.
The teacher was longing to have her tenure extended.
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