Reading Comprehension solutions

Lucknow May 26: At least 22 passengers were killed when a speeding express crashed into a waiting goods train from behind near Gorakhpur today, with preliminary accounts suggesting signalling error as the cause. The Hisar-Gorakhpur Express were running at 80kmph when it rammed into the goods train barely 45km from its destination, causing the engine and six coaches next to it to derail.

The two drivers of the superfast train were  amoung the death in the accident that occurred around 10.35 am when the train was passing Chaurib station in Uttar Pradesh. The station master of Chaurib, responsible for the signalling lapse, is absconding as is the driver of the stationary goods train.

“My condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the Gorakhdham Express tragedy. Prayers with the injured,” the Prime Minister tweeted.  At the accident site, officials said the casualities could go up as many of the 100 injured passengers are in critical condition. Most of those who died were in three unreserved coaches – including one reduced to a mass of mangled metal, the official said.

Bharat Lal, the sant Kabirnagar District Magistrate who was at the spot and oversaw rescue operations, said at least 20 passangers had died. Most of the injured have been admitted to hospitals in Gorakhpur and Basti, over 30 km away.

Some of the passangers alleged delay in rescue and relief. Railway Board Chairman Arunendra Kumar denied the alligations. The Railways announced a compensation of Rs 1 lakh for the families of the dead.

(adapted from The Telegraph, 27 May 2014)

Mr. And Mrs. Johnson were very happy. They lived in a little house near the town. They did not have much money, but they were not poor. They loved each other very much. There was only one thing about which they did not agree. Mr. Johnson liked to buy old books. Whenever he passed a shop which sold old books, he went in and bought some. He came home with one or two more books nearly every day. There were bookshelves on the walls of all the rooms in their little house. Now the shelves were full. There were books on the floor and on the tables and on the chairs. For a long time Mrs. Johnson said nothing. She loved her husband, and she knew he liked to buy these old books. But one day she was tired of dusting them, so she said, Why don’t you sell some of these books? You will never read them all.’ ‘No, I don’t want to sell them, ‘ her husband said. ‘I will like to see them on the shelves. The books look beautiful when the firelight shines on the old leather.’ Mrs. Johnson did not say any more. But everyday there were more and more books, until one day she became very angry. ‘Don’t bring another book into this house, ‘she cried, ‘or I shall go away and leave you.’

Mr. Johnson was very sorry about this, so for three or four days he walked quickly past every shop selling old books  and did not look inside. Then one day he was walking down High Street, past the best bookshop in town, when it started to rain. He hadn’t an umbrella, so he went into the shop to get out of the rain and there on the counter was a small, brown, leather book with gold letters on the cover. It was just the kind of books he liked best. He picked it up and read the name, ‘The River Amazon.’

‘How much?’ he asked the shopkeeper.

‘Five shillings.’

So, Mrs. Johnson bought it, and as soon the rain stopped he returned home, forgetting  about his wife’s threat. When Mrs. Johnson saw another book coming into the house she was very angry.

‘I told you I won’t have another book in the house,’ she said. She took the leather book from his hand and threw it out of the window. Mr. Johnson looked out into the garden and saw the beautiful book lying on the wet grass.

Swami Vivekananda, the great soul loved and revered in East and West was born on Monday, January 12, 1863. It was the day when special worship is offered to the Ganga by millions of devotees. His mother Bhuvaneswari Devi, named him Vireswara. The family gave him the name of Narendranath Datta, calling him for short, Narendra, or more endearingly, Naren. The  Datta family of Calcutta, into which Narendranath had been born, was well known for its affluence, philanthropy, scholarchip, and independent spirit. The grandfather, Durgacharan, after the birth of his first son, had renounced the world in search of God. The father, Viswanath, an attorney-at-law of the High Court of Calcutta, was versed in English and Persian literature and often entertained himself and his friends by reciting from the Bible and the poetry of Hafiz, both of which, he believed, contained truths unmatched by human thinking elsewhere. He drived a large income from his law practice and, unlike his father, throughly enjoyed the wordly life. An expert in cookery, he prepared rare dishes and liked to share them with his friends. Travel was another of his hobbies.

Narendra grew up to be a sweet, sunny-tempered, but very restless boy. Two nuses were necessary to keep his exuberant energy under control, and he was a great tease of his sisters. Naren felt a child’s love for birds and animals, and this characteristic reappeared during the last days of his life. Among his boyhood pets were a family cow, a monkey, a goat, a peacock, and several pigeons and guinea-pigs. The coachman of the family, with his turban, whip, and bright-coloured livery, was his boyhood ideal of a magnificent person, and he often expressed the ambition to be like him when he grew up.

(adapted from Swami Vivekananda-A Biography by Swami Nikhilananda)