TextBook Solutions for Punjab School Education Board Class 12 English Flamingo Chapter 13 A Roadside Stand

Read the stanza given below and answer the questions that follow each:
The little old house was out with a little new shed
In front at the edge of the road where the traffic sped
A roadside stand that too pathetically pled
It would not be fair to say for a dole of bread
But for some of the money, the cash, whose flow supports
The flower of cities from sinking and withering faint

1. Where was the little new shed put up? What was its purpose?
2. What did it plead for? Why do you think it pled pathetically?

What was put up in front of an old house at the edge of the road?

• A saloon

• A shanty

• A little newshed

• A mall

The purpose of the putting up of the shed was to:

• earn some money from city people who passed from there

• sell liquor

• sell cheap items

• Both (a) and (c)

The shed pled pathetically because:

• people of high strata of life passed from the road indifferently

• the police was troubling its owner

• the terrorists threatened its owner

• there was shortage of customers

Read the stanza given below and answer the questions that follow each:
But for some of the money, the cash, whose flow supports The flower of cities from sinking and withering faint
The polished traffic passed with a mind ahead
Or if ever aside a moment, then out of sorts
At having the landscape marred with the artless paint
Of signs that with N turned wrong and S turned wrong

1. What is that supports the flow of cities?
2. What is the significance of the cash flow for city folk?
3. What do you understand by the polished traffic?
4. How did a stopping car react for the landscape?
5. Which word in the stanza means - fading?

The flow of cities is supported by:

• visitors from the city

• rubbish of the cities

• the flow of money

• products of the factories

Polished traffic refers to:

• those who polish

• refined traffic of cars

• rickshaw pullers

• people of high status

The reaction of a stopping car for the landscape was:

• pointing out that the landscape was marred by wrong direction signs

• pointing out that the landscape was dirty

• pointing out that the people of the place were illiterate

• pointing out that the people of the place lived in poverty

Read the stanza given below and answer the questions that follow each:
Offered for sale wild berries in wooden quarts
Or crook-necked golden squash with silver warts
Or beauty rest in a beautiful mountain scene
You have the money, but if you want to be mean
Why keep money (this crossly) and go along.
The hurt to the scenery wouldn’t be my complaint
So much as the trusting sorrow of what is unsaid

1. What was offered for sale and where?
2. According to the poet where does the beauty rest?
3. Explain: If you want to be mean.

The items which were sold on the roadside stand were:

• pears

• berries

• golden squash

• both (b) and (c)