Read the passage carefully and then answer the questions that follow:

I wonder why I do this each time I jump out the door. I leave the airplane with the ground 12,000 feet below me. I hover for a brief moment. Then the air rips at my clothes and hair as I fall 200 miles per hour towards the earth. I smile to myself. I do this because I enjoy it.

Only about 20 people in the U. S. do what I am doing. But I was the first. If you want to try this, you need a board three feet long and eleven inches wide, about the size and shape of a skateboard. It should have an aluminum honeycomb core, a graphite-fiber finish and rubber edges. My other equipment includes sports shoes, colourful tights and jacket, gloves, dark sun glasses and, of course, a parachute. I also have lots of training. This includes over 350 solo skydives and many hours of free fall time. With the specially designed board strapped to my feet I jump out of an airplane. The sport is called skysurfing.

During the sixty second free-fall before I open my parachute, I feel the sensation of skiing down a steep mountain or surfing the side of a huge ocean wave. The airplane is far above me as I turn and guide my board down through the clouds. Gravity pulls me through space closer and closer to the earth. I try to stay in control as the blasting wind hits my body. I fall through the sky upright and then maneuver my board across the sky just like a skier on a snow covered slope. This is only one of the tricks I have developed. Others include flips, spins and something I call the helicopter. When I do this, I fall head first with the board spinning above me.

I must not remain like this for long because only half of my free-fall time remains. I do one last flip and enjoy the view and the solitude while soaring through the clouds upside-down.

I look at the altimeter attached to my wrist. I am at the altitude where I must open my parachute. My sixty second ride down through the sky was so fast. As I complete my descent with my parachute open, I still enjoy the freedom that a bird must feel.

I release the board when I am five or six feet above the ground. This is so that I can glide down and land on my two feet.

1a Say whether the following statements are true or false:

• i After the writer leaves the aircraft he stands in the air for a long while.
• ii About twenty people in USA skysurf.
• iii A skysurfer free-falls for only about one minute before opening his parachute.
• iv Very high mountains are needed for skydiving.
• v The author has attempted only 350 skydives with others.

1b Why do you think that such few people in the U.S. have tried skysurfing?

1c What is the sensation of skysurfing like?

1d Pick the correct option:

i A skysurfer ……………

a. is pulled behind a speed boat                 b. jumps out of an airplane

c. is pulled behind an airplane                    d. causes his airplane to spin and flip

ii Skysurfing requires……………….

a. no training                                            b. a parachute

c. a little training                                       d. colourful clothing

iii A skysurfer…………….

a. can hover for six minutes                       b. opens his parachute six feet above the ground

c. can free fall for sixty second                  d. releases his board sixty feet above the ground

1e Make sentences with the following words/phrases:

hover, free fall, blasting, upside-down, descent

1f Fill in the blanks with appropriate word:

brief, equipment, sensation, maneuver, solitude

i The ………….of skysurfing is like skiing down a deep mountain.

ii A skysurfer’s most important piece of ……………is his parachute.

iii A skysurfer can ………….his board to make turns across the sky as he falls.

iv Skysurfers enjoy the excitement and ………….of skysurfing.

v The fall from the aircraft for over 12,000 feet is ………….and swift

What is the sensation of skysurfing like?

Teaching Career: taught philosophy at Madras, Mysore and Calcutta Universities; professor of Eastern Religions at Oxford in 1936

Later life: Indian ambassador to the USSR in 1949; Vice-President of India in 1952; President of India from 1962 to 1967

Works: written many books. The Hindu Way of Life, Indian Philosophy, Eastern

Religion and Thought among his famous books

Death: in 1975

a composition in about 300 words on any one of the following. 20 i The holiday I enjoyed the most

ii Newspapers spread as much disinformation as information.

iii My favourite sport and why I enjoy it.

Make sentences with the following words/phrases:

hover, free fall, blasting, upside-down, descent

wh questions corresponding to the italics parts in the following sentences (one example has been done for you).

I kept the money in the box. Answer: Where did you keep the money?

i She has two sisters.

ii I go to bed by 11 o’clock.

iii History is my favourite subject. iv She lives in Delhi.

v I got late because of the traffic jam.

vi He found his pen in his desk.

vii The Principal wants to see Mr. Sharma.

viii The Taj Mahal is two kilometers from the shoe factory. ix The man asked for a cup of tea.

x The enemy plane was shot down in the desert.

ii Skysurfing requires……………….

1. no training          b. a parachute
3. a little training    d. colourful clothing