At the Science Fair Q & A
Q.1. Say whether the following statements are true or false.
(a) The merchant ships brought spices and other treasures from India and other countries to Italy.
Ans:True
(b) Antonio had gone on a long voyage.
Ans:False
(c) Bassanio was very rich.
Ans:False
(d) Portia had many brothers and sisters.
Ans:False
(e) Portia’s suitors chose the gold and silver caskets.
Ans:True
(f) Bassanio borrowed money from Shylock in Antonio’s name.
Ans:True
(g) Shylock was not at all generous.
Ans:True
(h) Shy lock demanded a pound of Antonio’s flesh.
Ans:True
(i) Portia saved Antonia in the court of law.
Ans:True
(j) Antonio’s ships were lost at sea.
Ans:False
Q.2. Write a few lines about each character.
1) Antonio
Ans:Antonio was a merchant who lived in Venice, a prosperous city in Italy. He sent his ships to faraway countries to bring back spices and other treasures from India and other contries, thus making a lot of profit. His best friend was Bassanio, for whom he was even ready to stake his life.(Write about more characters like this by yourself)
Q.3. Write the following in short:
(1) The story of the three caskets
Ans:Portia’s father, a very wealthy man died leaving her a large estate. Her father had prepared a will in which he had written how her husband should be selected. He had to choose between three caskets – one of gold, one of silver and one of lead. Each casket had something written on it and a message inside the box. The one who took the right casket which was the lead casket won Portia’s hand in marriage.
(2) What the young lawyer pleaded?
Ans:Antonio was taken to the court by Shylock to demand and fulfill his strange and cruel condition. If the condition was fulfilled, Antonio would lose his life. A lawyer entered the court to fight Antonio’s case. The lawyer requested Shylock to show mercy though the law was on his side.The lawyer pleaded that mercy is a quality of God himself. He further said that when a person shows mercy to someone then both are blessed. He said that mercy was more valuable than a king’s crown. All the pleadings of the young lawyer did not have any effect on Shylock who stuck to his inhuman condition of wanting a pound of Antonio’s flesh.
(3) The events at the court
Ans:When Antonio was taken to court by Shylock to get his inhuman demand fulfilled, the Duke who liked Antonio felt sorry for him. Portia asked Bassanio to pay Shylock double amount which Shylock refused. Everyone in the court considered Shylock’s demand to be inhuman.The Duke asked Shylock to show mercy but Shylock refused. A young lawyer entered the court to fight Antonio’s case. This was the turning point. The lawyer fought for Antonio very cleverly and helped him to get out of the inhuman condition.
Q.4. Write the conditions that Portia put down to warn Shylock.
Ans. The lawyer allowed Shylock to take Antonio’s pound of flesh. The lawyer warned him that while doing so, he should not shed even one drop of Antonio’s blood. He also warned Shylock that he should cut exactly one pound of flesh – nothing less and nothing more, according to the law.
Q.5. Find four words ending with ‘-ous’ from the story. Can you add three more words ending with ‘-ous’ to this list?
Ans:prosperous,generous,monstrous,jealous
Q.6. Read the following words. Write the words that are combined to make these words. Add ten more to the list on your own.
- faraway – far, away
- nobleman – noble, man
- whoever – who, ever
- moneylender – money, lender
- sometimes – some, times
Q.7. Read the following chains of words:
Q.8. A letter or group of letters added to the front of a word to change its meaning and make a new word is called a prefix.
Examples: fortunately – unfortunately, agree – disagree, possible – impossible, human – inhuman, legal – illegal
Add proper prefixes to the following words to make new words:
1) kind – unkind
2) intelligent – unintelligent
3) advantage – disadvantage
4) happy – unhappy
5) allow – disallow
6) safe –unsafe
Q.9. Find at least three sentences in the story which have modal verbs.
Q.10. Visit a library. Read other tales by Shakespeare, for example, Julius Caesar, As You Like It, Macbeth and The Tempest.
Q.11. Hold a mock trial for any one of the following offences. There should be a complainant, a defendant, and lawyers to argue that case on behalf of them. The whole class can vote to pass the judgement. On what occasions will you plead for justice? What punishment will you suggest? When will you plead for mercy?
a. A very poor and honest servant has broken a vase while cleaning it. The vase was valuable and the employer liked it very much.
b. A poor man stole some ornaments from a rich girl.
c. A young man was injured in a road accident due to another man’s careless driving.