PRESERVATION OF NATURE - "Once More to The Lake" by E.B, White - English (Compulsory) For Class XI - Text Book Exercise (Unit 2.1)

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Unit-2: PRESERVATION OF NATURE
Unit 2.1: Reading Comprehension
Once More to The Lake
by E.B, White
Text Book Exercise

By Practical center
Pre-Reading
1. Look at the pictures and compare and contrast them.
Ans: The pictures are of two lakes in Maine (State of The United States of America). In one picture, a lake exists in its natural form while in another picture, the lake is polluted through artificiality i.e. man-made buildings surround it. After replacing the lake into a residential area, it has lost its natural beauty and is not ready to survive more.

2. Guess the theme of the fext you are going to study.
Ans: I guess that the theme of the text we are going to read, is about the preservation of nature. One should not turn the natural beauty ino polluted areas by building the residential or commercial areas around it. It should be used just for the purpose of picnic.

While-Reading
EXERCISE 1:
Work in pairs and deduce the meaning of words given in column A and write their contextual meaning in column B.

S.NO.	Words	Meanings
1.	Marred	Spoiled / Ruined / Damaged / Deface
2.	Tarred	Covered with tar / Carpeted / To describe someone in a negative way
3.	Grooves	Channels / Furrows / Trench / A long and narrow space
4.	Sneak	Move secretly / Move or go in a furtive or stealthy way
5.	Illusion	Deceptive appearance / Unreal / Hallucination / False idea / Imagination
6.	Creepy	Scary / Terrifying / Frightening / Nervous
7.	Moss	A flowerless plant / Very small green or yellow plant
8.	Jollity	Cheerful / Lively / Enjoyment / Happiness
9.	Sedative	Inducing sleep / Causing sleep / A drug in calm a person / Promoting calm
10.	Petulant	Bad tempered / Easily annoyed / Ill-tempered

EXERCISE 2:
Read the statements and encircle the correct option.
1. The writer in the essay 'Once More to the Lake' is accompanied by his ______.
a) brother
b) son ✔
c) wife
d) pet

2. In the beginning of 'Once More to the Lake’, the writer characterizes himself as ______.
a) lake-water man
b) pond-water man
c) salt-water man
d) ordinary man ✔

3. The writer has referred the word ‘placidity’ in the context of ________.
a) peacefulness
b) calmness ✔
c) loneliness
d) idleness

4. The ________ were/was tapping on the roof of the camp of writer.
a) mosquitoes
b) swam
c) squirrel ✔
d) mouse

5. The writer felt in the end of the essay _______.
a) the fear of storm
b) the danger of life
c) happy
d) the loneliness ✔

6. ______ caught two fish before lunch.
a) son
b) father
c) both son & father ✔
d) spinner

7. The writer revisited the lake with his son in ______ season.
a) summer ✔
b) Winter
c) autumn
d) spring

8. The writer's son has been ______ while travelling by train.
a) weeds
b) lily pads ✔
c) sheltered bay
d) wet wood

9. The writer used to visit the lake _____.
a) in New York
b) in Maine
c) near his farm house
d) in his school

10. For _______ the writer used to go to the lake.
a) fishing ✔
b) seeing waves
c) enjoying cool water
d) enjoying swimming

EXERCISE 3:
The writer has described things of the past which he saw on the lake. He has also presented the scenario of that lake after few Years. Read the text individually. First, write the five things that writer observed and loved in the past. Then, write five changes that took place later on. After you have completed share your work with your partner.

Past scene of lake	Last scene
1. The sheltered bay and stream	1. The noisy sound of the motor.
2. The hills that the sunset behind.	2. The worms and dragonfly on the boat while fishing.
3. The camp and the path behind the camp.	Fishing scene
4. The cool and motionless lake early in the morning.	4. The tare or pitched road
5. The long shadows of the pines.	A school of fish and it's shadow in the water.

EXERCISE 4:
In this text, the writer has used similes and metaphors at many places. Now, work in groups. Analyse the text and write five examples of similes, and five examples of metaphors in respective columns. After you have completed, share your work with other groups.

S.NO.	Similes	S.NO.	Metaphors
1.	Motors whined about one's ears like mosquitoes.	1.	The boat would leap ahead, charging full fashion at the dock.
2.	It is strange how much you can remember about places like that once you Allow your mind to return into the grooves which lead back.	2.	My groin felt the chill of death.
3.	None of us ever thought there was any place in the world like that lake in Maine.	3.	I was with my father.
4.	It was the arrival of this fly that convinced me beyond any doubt that everything was as it always had been, that the years were mirage and there had been no mirage.	4.	The lake seemed enchanted sea.
5.	1 seemed to be living like a dead existence.	5.	The lake is constant and trustworthy body of water.

Post-Reading
EXERCISE 5:
Read the text answer the following questions.
1. Why do the writer take a vacation at this particular lake?
Ans: The write takes a vacation at this particular lake in order to forget the hard realities of life. The calmness of the natural lake provides him comfort. He loves it too much because it takes him to the distant past when he used to go there with his father. With the help of it, he tries to escape mortality.

2. Which key concerns the writer has expressed in the text?
Ans: The following key concerns the writer has expressed in the text.

1. Love to the past memories or nostalgia.
2. Power of memory.
3. Transistorized of life.
4. Inevitability of mortality / death.
5. Father and son relationship.
6. Past and present.
7. Greatness and power of nature.
8. Old technology vs. new technology.

3. How has the lake changed since he was a boy?
Ans: The lake has changed in following three ways since he was a boy.

1. The road where horses drew the wagon / vehicle has been tarred / pitched fully.
2. The motorboats produce irritable and awful sound now unlike before.
3. New boats have big and noisier engines. These are kept on the upper slides of boats.

4. What contrast does the writer make between the sea and the lake?
Ans: The writer makes the contrast between the sea and the lake is the stirred water. The sea water easily can be stirred while the lake water cannot be stirred. The lake is constant and trustworthy body of water.

5. Why does the writer repeatedly call the lake as wild lake?
Ans: The writer repeatedly calls the lake as wild lake in order to emphasize the cottages surrounded it. He says that it is not at a place where men cannot reside. Men not only enjoys the calmness nature of the lake but also settled in those cottages to live in the peaceful atmosphere of the lake which is not wild.

6. Why is the arriving at the lake less exciting now than in the past?
Ans: It was less exciting for the writer to revisit the lake accompanied with his son. This time, he was not as much enthusiastic as before to the age difference.
Next, the artificiality and noise pollution has also spoiled the natural beauty of the lake. It was no more as peaceful as it was before.

7. How are the boat motors different in the present situation?
Ans: In the present situation, the motorboats produce irritable and awful sound now unlike before. New boats have noisier engines. In the former days, being small motors were also indoors, but now they were outdoors by the campers. Motors boats are larger in size and powerful. The boat's movement......

8. The writer calls the lake as a 'holy spot'. How does he further develop this idea?
Ans: The essayist (writer) describes the lake as a holy spot because it provides him solace or peace. He further develops it by explaining it more that it makes him forget the worldly worries and takes him to his beautiful past. It reminds him of his beautiful childhood. It helps him to rget his mortality. Become fast but these do not rejoice their noise becomes displeasing and unbearable.

9. What kind of sensation persisted and grew in the mind of the writer?
Ans: While spending time at the lake, the essayist feels dual existence of himself. Memories of the past haunt him. He finds himself in his son and himself as his father. He is, at the same time, his father in imagination and his son's father in reality. Such creepy sensation persisted and grew in the mind of the writer.

10. What is the central idea of the text?
Ans: The central idea of the text "Once More to The Lake" which is written by E.B, White is that the writer wants to show the relationship between sight and insight, observation and speculation through reminisce of his boyhood summer. Especially in this essay, the writer displays the power of memory and the utmost fear of mortality.

EXERCISE 6:
Work individually and recollect your past impression of natural things of your city village. Enlist these all and also write the changes that have taken place now. Share all these with the class.
Ans: Recollected Past Natural Scenes:

1. The greenery of the field.
2. A beautiful lake surrounded by trees.
3. The most impressive scene was the play during rain in mud with little comrades.

Changes:

1. The greenery of the field into deserted area due to the insufficient water.
2. Trees are replaced into the buildings.
3. Little comrades are no more