Solutions

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 7 Animal

Thinking About the Poem

Question 1.
Notice the use of the word turn in the first line, "I think I could turn and live with animals.". What is the poet turning from?

Answer:
In this line here, the poet wants to turn from human into an animal. This turning is symbolic of the poet detachment from human beings and their nature and his appreciation of the animal kind

Question 2.
Mention three things that humans do and animals dont?

Answer:
Animals do not cry and complain over their conditions. They do not. commit sins and therefore do not weep for them. They are also very satisfied creatures and have no desire to possess material things. Humans, on the contrary, complain all the time, commit all sorts of sins and are affected with the madness of owning things

Question 3.
Do humans kneel to other humans who lived thousands of years ago? Discuss this in groups?

Answer:
Yes, humans kneel to other humans who lived thousands of years ago as it is a cultural tradition to do so. (Students can discuss their own culture with their classmates and share the rituals and traditions of their culture and also get to know about other cultural practices.)

Question 4.
What are the tokens that the poet says he may have dropped long ago, and which the animals have kept for him? Discuss this in class . (Hint Whitman belongs to the Romantic tradition that includes Rousseau and Wordsworth,which holds that civilisation has made humans false to their own true nature. What could be the basic aspects of our nature as living beings that humans choose to ignore or deny?)

Answer:
The tokens mentioned in the poem mean the symbols of the true nature of human beings. These tokens are actually tokens of virtue such as containment, honesty, innocence and the likes of it

Important Question

NCERT CBSE for Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 7 Animal Important Questions

Very Short Answer Questions

Question 1:
Why does the poet show a preference for living with the animals?
Year of Question:(2010)

Answer:
The poet says that it is better to live with animals as they show tokens of goodness. They are peaceful, self-contained and happy. Animals show innate goodness which is lacked in human beings. Animals do not grumble about their lives or cry over their sins.

Question 2:
What is the relevance of ‘tokens’ in the poem, ‘Animals’? Who brings them to the poet?
Year of Question:(2012)
Answer:
Animals show tokens of goodness. They are self-contained, peaceful, thankful and happy creatures. Animals are not unhappy and indeed, bring out tokens of man’s good nature, lost long ago. Animals do not grumble about their lives.
Question 3:
What is the central idea of the poem, ‘Animals’?
Year of Question:(2014)
Answer:
The central idea of the poem is the difference between human beings and animals. While they both were initially similar in their innate goodness, the man had lost it over the years, while animals remain the same. They show these tokens of goodness - peaceful, self-containment and happiness, and compel the poet to contemplate on man’s lost goodness.
Question 4:
How are animals better than humans, according to the poet?
Year of Question:(2016)
Answer:
According to the poet, the animals are more humane than humans. They have no such bad qualities as humans have. In their world, all are happy, equal and content. They show their relations to the poet and he accepts them.
Question 5:
What is the theme of the poem, ‘Animals’?
Year of Question:(2018)
Answer:
The theme of the poem is the superiority of animals’ life over to human beings. The poet, Whitman, compares animals with human beings. He finds animals far better than human beings. The poet finds the reasons for human suffering. Human beings are always dissatisfied. All their actions are with a selfish motive. But animals are far-far away from these bad qualities. So the poet wishes to turn and live with the animals.
Question 6:
Why does the poet want to live with animals?
Year of Question:(2001)
Answer:
The poet thinks that animals are very peaceful and self-confident. They do not complain about their condition. They don’t weep for their sins. That is why, he wants to live with the animals.
Question 7:
What is the difference between animals and humans regarding their attitude to their condition, sins and God?
Year of Question:(2003)
Answer:
Human beings cry about their condition. They lie awake at night in the dark and weep for their sins. They make the poet sick by discussing their duty about God. But animals do not do any of these things. That is why, the poet likes them.
Question 8:
How are animals different from humans about owning things or kneeling to one another?
Year of Question:(2005)
Answer:
Human beings are mad about possessing things. But animals do not care for possession. It is madness only for humans. Animals do not kneel to others as humans do. For them, all are equal.

Long Answers Type Questions

Question 1:
"Human beings are called the most civilised species in the entire world. But sometimes they lack the values which are better exhibited by the animals". Elucidate the statement with reference to the poem, ‘Animals’.
Year of Question:(2007)
Answer:
Human beings are called the most civilised species in the entire world. But sometimes, they lack the values which are better exhibited by the animals. Human beings lack the qualities of being respectable, happy, contented and peace-loving which is still reflected in animals. Animals do not grumble about their lives, lie awake at night, cry over their sins or discuss their duty towards God as humans do. Animals do not have a mania for "owning things", nor do they kneel before others like humans. Moreover, the tokens of goodness, love, respect and happiness have been dropped by human beings.
Question 2:
The poem, ‘Animals’ tells us that civilisation has made humans false to their own true nature. Which values will help you revive your basic nature?
Year of Question:(2009)
Answer:
In the race of human civilisation, humans have lost their own nature. The men have dropped their innate goodness over the years. They have become selfish, jealous, restless, unhappy, cribbing and grumbling creatures. They grumble about their lives, lie awake at night, cry over their sins and discuss their duty towards God.
In a race to earn more luxuries and comfort, they have lost their sound sleep. They have become unhappy and most of the time unable to enjoy even small joys and happiness in life. On the contrary, animals are peaceful, self-contained, thankful and happy creatures. They are not unhappy and indeed bring out tokens of man’s good nature lost long ago, when he possessed qualities like love, respect, contentment and happiness.
Question 3:
How is the poem ‘Animals’, a contrast between humans and animals?
Year of Question:(2011)
Answer:
Humans can be described as selfish, jealous, restless, unhappy, cribbing, and grumbling creatures. In contrast, animals are peaceful, self-contained, thankful and happy creatures. They do not grumble about their lives, lie awake at night, cry over their sins or discuss their duty towards God as humans do. Also, they don’t have a mania for "owning things; nor do they kneel before others. Animals, on the whole, are not unhappy and indeed bring out tokens of man’s good nature lost long ago, when he possessed qualities like love, respect, contentment and happiness.
Question 4:
"The more I know of humans, the more I love my pet". With reference to the poem, ‘Animals’, elaborate the statement.
Year of Question:(2013)
Answer:
Whenever the poet thinks about animals, he has a feeling of being one among them. The lost human qualities of being respectable, happy, contented, and peace-loving could be still found reflected in animals. They don’t whine about their condition; nor do they cry for their sins. They don’t make others sick by discussing their duty to God, are not dissatisfied nor have the craze to own things. They may not be respectable, but they definitely do not kneel before others or be unhappy as a whole.
For the poet, they bring the tokens of human qualities like love, respect, contentment and happiness, which they themselves exhibit plainly. He thinks that perhaps the animals possessed these qualities naturally. The poet also wonders whether these tokens could have been negligently dropped by humans long ago. Whatever the case may be, while thinking about the overwhelming negativity of human beings, anyone may start loving his pet the more.

Extract Based Questions
Read the following extracts carefully and answer the questions that follow:

Question 1: I think I could turn and live with animals, they are
so placid and self-contained,
I stand and look at them long and long.
Year of Question:(2017)

a. What is the poet’s wish?
b. How do the animals appear to the poet?
c. What does he do thereafter?
d. Who does ‘I’ refer to in the first line?
Answer:
a. The poet wishes that he could live with animals.
b. The animals appear to be calm, peaceful and self-confident.
c. He stands and looks at them for long.
d. ‘I’ refers to the poet.

Question 2: They do not sweat and whine about their condition,
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
Year of Question:(2019)

a. What is the attitude of the animals about their condition?
b. Who lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins?
c. Who makes the poet sick and why?
d. What is the attitude of the animals for their sins?
Answer:
a. The animals do not perspire or complain about their condition.
b. Humans lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins.
c. Men make the poet sick by discussing their duty to God.
d. Animals do not weep for their sins.

Question 3: Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with
the mania of owning things,
Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that
lived thousands of years ago,
Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.
Year of Question:(2011)

a. What mania do human beings suffer from?
b. What is the attitude of human beings about those who lived thousands of years ago?
c. Who is unhappy over the whole earth?
d. Who is the poet talking about?
Answer:
a. Human beings suffer from the mania of owning things.
b. They kneel to the images of those who lived thousands of years ago.
c. Human beings are unhappy over the whole earth.
d. The poet is talking about animals.

Question 4: So they show their relations to me and I accept them,
They bring me tokens of myself, they evince
them plainly in their possession
I wonder where they get those tokens,
Did I pass that way huge times ago and negligently drop them?
Year of Question:(2001)

a. Who are ‘they’ here in the first line?
b. What are these ‘tokens of myself’?
c. What is the main point here?
d. What does the poet wonder about?
Answer:
a. Here, ‘they’ are the animals.
b. These ‘tokens of myself’ are the love and affection of the animals towards the poet.
c. The main point here is the difference between humans and animals.
d. The poet wonders how the animals got these tokens of love and affection.

Important Questions and Answers from Chapter 7 Animal

Question1.
what are the difficulties in classifying animals if common fundamental features are not considered?
Answer:
  • Lack of consistency: Classification without common features leads to confusion and inconsistencies
  • Difficulty in identifying species: Identifying and differentiating between species becomes more complicated
  • No clear hierarchy: without a structured classification, it would be challenging to categorize animals into groups
  • Loss of evolutionary understanding: The relationships between species and their evolutionary history would be unclear
Question2.
How would you classify an unknown specimen?
Answer:
  • Step 1: Observe body structure: Look for symmetry (bilateral or radial), body layers, and segmentation
  • Step 2: Identify the presence of coelom: Check if the specimen has a body cavity (coelom), which helps in classification
  • Step 3: Examine level of organization: Determine if the specimen shows cellular, tissue, or organ-level organization
  • Step 4: Check for specialized features: Look for specific features like notochord, segmentation, or appendages
  • Step 5: Place it in a phylum: Based on observations, classify the specimen into a specific phylum such as Porifera or Arthropoda
Question3.
How is the study of body cavity (coelom) useful in classification?
Answer:
  • Coelomates: Animals with a true coelom (e.g., Annelids, Chordates) are placed in higher phyla
  • Pseudocoelomates: Animals with a false coelom (e.g., Aschelminthes) are classified separately
  • Acoelomates: Animals without a coelom (e.g., Platyhelminthes) have simpler body structures and are placed in different phyla
Question4.
what are the differences between intracellular and extracellular digestion?
Answer:
  • Intracellular digestion:
  • Occurs inside cells
  • Food is broken down within vacuoles (e.g., Porifera, Coelenterates)
  • Extracellular digestion:
  • Occurs outside cells, in a digestive cavity
  • Enzymes break down food, and nutrients are absorbed by the body (e.g., Humans, Annelids)
Question5.
what is the difference between direct and indirect development?
Answer:
  • Direct development:
  • No larval stage
  • Young ones resemble adults (e.g., Mammals, Reptiles)
  • Indirect development
  • Involves a larval stage
  • Larvae undergo metamorphosis to become adults (e.g., Amphibians, Insects)
Question6.
what are peculiar features of parasitic Platyhelminthes?
Answer:
  • Flattened body: Their bodies are dorsoventrally flattened
  • Hooks and suckers: These help in attachment to the host (e.g., Tapeworm, Liver fluke)
  • Absorption of nutrients: They absorb nutrients directly from the hosts body
  • Regeneration: Some, like Planaria, have high regeneration capacity
Question7.
why do Arthropods constitute the largest group of the animal kingdom?
Answer:
  • Diverse habitats: Found in terrestrial, aquatic, and aerial environments
  • Exoskeleton: Their chitinous exoskeleton provides protection
  • Jointed appendages: These help in mobility and performing various functions
  • Highly adaptable: Arthropods can survive in a wide range of conditions
Question8.
which group possesses a water vascular system?
Answer:
  • Echinodermata: This group is characterized by the presence of a water vascular system, which aids in locomotion and food capture (e.g., Starfish, Sea urchin)
Question9.
Justify the statement: All vertebrates are chordates, but not all chordates are vertebrates.?
Answer:
  • Chordates: All chordates possess a notochord, dorsal nerve cord, and pharyngeal slits
  • Vertebrates: Vertebrates have a notochord in the embryonic stage, which later develops into a vertebral column (spine)
  • Example: Non-vertebrate chordates like Amphioxus lack a spine but possess a notochord, making them chordates but not vertebrates
Question10.
what is the importance of an air bladder in Pisces (fishes)?
Answer:
  • Buoyancy regulation: The air bladder helps the fish maintain buoyancy, allowing them to float in water without sinking
  • Adaptation: Fishes without an air bladder (e.g., Cartilaginous fishes) must constantly swim to avoid sinking
Question11.
what are the adaptations in birds that help them fly?
Answer:
  • Feathers: Provide insulation and aid in flight
  • Hollow bones: Birds have pneumatic bones (hollow bones) that reduce body weight. wings: Forelimbs are modified into wings for flying
  • Efficient respiration: Air sacs provide continuous airflow, supporting high metabolism during flight
Question12.
Could the number of eggs or young ones be the same for oviparous and viviparous animals? why?
  • Oviparous animals: They lay eggs in large numbers to increase the survival rate (e.g., Frogs, Birds)
  • Viviparous animals: They produce fewer young ones but provide parental care, improving survival rates (e.g., Mammals)
  • Conclusion: Oviparous animals tend to produce more offspring than viviparous animals
Question13.
In which phylum is body segmentation first observed?
  • Annelida: The body of annelids is divided into segments (metameres), making them the first group to show true segmentation (e.g., Earthworms, Leeches)

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