NIOS Class 12 English: Short Theme-Based Passage Chapter 3 Summary of- ‘READING with UNDERSTANDING’

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Short Theme-Based Passage Section 3.1 Summary of - ‘Story of Thimmakka and Bikkalu, an Indian Environmentalists’

  • Saalumarada Thimmakka and Bikkalu Chikkaiah was a couple who belongs to Hilukal village of Karnataka state.
  • The couple got idea of adopting children after getting tired of taunts from neighbors that they are childless, but instead of child they decide to adopt banyan trees and rear them as their children.
  • They planted 284 banyan trees during 1950, along 3 kilometer stretch between Hulikal and Kudur which is now national highway 48 in Karnataka,
  • Thimmakka was honored by Prime Minister of India with National Citizens Award for social forestry.
  • Thimmakka was working as laborer to meet their everyday food requirement as her husband Bikkalu Chikkaiah was disabled person, so she didn՚t get much time still they manage to dig the pits on road side.
  • Finally, they planted 300 banyan trees and also setup thorny bushes around them to protect them from cattle.
  • The couple used to brought pots of water for the plants and they had to struggle for it as source of water was four kilometers away, it was so tiring for her as she had to work for their everyday need but she never neglect her responsibility towards banyan trees, during the rainy day she used to poke at the root of trees so that they can go deep.
  • They used to plant sapling during monsoon so that they can get sufficient water to grow and by the next monsoon the saplings had invariably taken root.
  • She spent 10 years to nurse the plant and it was good time for her as it gave her fulfillment and pride.
  • The sapling was all grown up in the atmosphere of love and care and now they provide green canopy for 3 kilometers, nest for birds and prevent soil erosion.
  • The banyan trees are now worth estimated ₹ 85 crores.
  • Now management of trees is undertaken by government of Karnataka.

Short Theme-Based Passage Section 3.2 Summary of - ‘Why Do Astronomers Think There May be Life on Mars?’

  • Mars is forth planet form the sun and next beyond to earth.
  • Now A days scientists are trying their hands on every possible way to discover if life can be found anywhere else in the universe.
  • It becomes easier to explore our own solar system to find possibility of life because we have probe in outer space.
  • Probe is an unpiloted device which is used to explore space. Probe contains scientific instruments and tools and by using it, it can study and gather scientific information.
  • Mars is center of attraction for scientists as they believe that life might be found in Mars.
  • Because Mars has almost half diameter then earth and about 142 million miles away from sun and mars circumnavigation around sun under two years.
  • The length of the day on mars is almost equal to earth.
  • Some of facts about mars has forced astronomers to believe that life might be possible at mars, because mars also have seasons just like our earth.
  • As the season change the surface of mars also change like during summer and spring the dark areas get strong and the colour turns yellow from bluish green, so it might be vegetation.
  • Scientists believe that there is water on mars might be exists as ice and it also exists in vapour in the atmosphere which might be increase possibility of life on mars.
  • An Italian astronomer Giovanni had seen marking on the surface of Mars that resembled canals during 1887 and he get amazed and thinks that it might be built by Martians to carry water from polar regions to the desert areas.
  • Two American Viking space probes were successfully landed on the surface of Mars in 1976.
  • They searched the surrounding soil for signs of life and radioed their results back to earth and according to the results either there are germs in the soil or that the soil is very unusual and they are different from earth.
  • So even if life does exist on Mars, it would be a very simple form of life.

Grammar

Reading Comprehension

  • Reading comprehension is the ability read a text and understand its meaning, A reader must require basic skills for efficient reading comprehension just as:
    • Ability to understand meaning of a word
    • Good vocabulary
    • Ability to follow organization of passage and to identify background and references covered in it
    • Ability to draw inferences from a passage about its content
    • Ability to identify the main idea given in a passage
    • Ability to answer questions based on passage
    • Ability to recognize the propositional structures used in a passage
  • Key for successful comprehension reading, reader must analyze the passage and make it their own and visualize the passage, this will make easier to understand it and last but not the least more and more practice.