Comprehension (A)
The sun was now ascending the sky, blazing warmly on his ledge that faced the south. He felt the heat because he had not eaten since the previous nightfall. Then he had found a dried piece of mackerel's tail at the far end of his ledge. Now there was not a single scrap of food left. He had searched every inch, rooting among the rough, dirt-caked straw nest where he and his brothers and sister had been hatched. He even gnawed at the dried pieces of spotted eggshell. It was like eating part of himself. He had then trotted back and forth from one end of the ledge to the other, his grey body the colour of the cliff, his long grey legs stepping daintily, trying to find some means of reaching his parents without having to fly. But on each side of him the ledge ended in a sheer fall of precipice, with the sea beneath. And between him and his parents there was a deep, wide chasm ... And above him he could see nothing. The precipice was sheer, and the top of it was perhaps farther away than the sea beneath him.
He stepped slowly out to the brink of the ledge, and, standing on one leg with the other leg hidden under his wing, he closed one eye, then the other, and pretended to be falling asleep. Still they took no notice of him. He saw his two brothers and his sister lying on the plateau dozing, with their heads sunk into their necks. His father was preening the feathers on his white back. Only his mother was looking at him. She was standing on a little high hump on the plateau, her white breast thrust forward. Now and again she tore at a piece of fish that lay at her feet, and then scraped each side of her beak on the rock. The sight of the food maddened him. How he loved to tear food that way, scraping his beak now and again to whet it! He uttered a low cackle. His mother cackled too, and looked over at him.
Questions:
i. What is the main idea of each paragraph in the passage and suggest a suitable title.
ii. Explain the meaning of the expressions "blazing warmly" and "gnawed at the dried pieces of spotted eggshell" in the context of the passage.
iii. Analyze the character's reaction to the sight of food and how it reflects his current situation.
iv. How does the perspective of the main character differ from that of his parents and siblings?
v. What theme or message about survival and family dynamics can be inferred from the passage?
vi. How might the bird's behavior on the ledge be applicable to real-life situations where individuals face challenges and seek solutions?
