Answer Key

The Botanical Gardens of Ooty, Tamil Nadu, are one of the oldest, biggest and
best-maintained gardens in South Asia. Their history dates back to 1845, when
the then European residents in this part of the Nilgiris decided to create a garden
to produce vegetables at a lower cost. The subscribers paid `3 every month and
in return got fresh vegetables free of cost. This arrangement, however, turned
out to be a bad business decision and did not last.

What emerged instead was the need to have a full-fledged public garden. In
1847, residents raised funds for this purpose, which was topped by a generous
donation of `1000 by the Marquess of Tweeddale, the then Governor of Madras.
The task of designing the new garden was given to William Graham McIvor of
the world-famous Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, United Kingdom.

When proposed in the late 1840s, the upper area reserved for the garden was a
thick forest and the lower part was a swamp crossed by ravines. Thus, to
develop the garden, the trees were felled and the swamp was drained. Gorgeous
flowering plants, shrubs and conifers were brought from Europe and planted in
the garden.

The Botanical Gardens of Ooty are located at around 2277 metres above sea
level and occupies a little over 55 acres of area. Some of the the most visited
sites within the garden are the Rock Garden, the Sunken Garden, the Bog
Garden, the Fountain Terrace, the Top Garden and the Picnic Grounds. The
Conservatory is an important building on the garden grounds, where rare plants
are grown under diffused light, in a controlled environment. These plants are
also displayed to the public. Another historic building is McIvor’s Fern House,
known for its interesting network of metal pipes, which was used to water the
ferns, in the past. The Fern House was restored by Indian National Trust for Art
and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) in the mid-1990s.

The grandest building in the Ooty Botanical Gardens is the Government House
or Raj Bhavan. Located in the uppermost part of the Gardens, this originally
served as the Summer Residence for the British Governor of Madras and is now
the Summer Residence for the Governor of Tamil Nadu. Built in the 1870s, the
Raj Bhavan exhibits colonial style architecture and is famous for its large
banquet hall, ballroom and ornamental gardens.

On the basis of your reading of the passage given above, answer the following
questions.

1. When were the Botanical Gardens of Ooty first established? .

a. 1840

b. 1845

c. 1847

d. 1870 77

2. ...................... provided a generous amount of money to establish the gardens.

a. The Governor of Tamil Nadu

b. The Governor of Madras

c. The Governor of Ooty

d. The Governor of United Kingdom

3. How much area do the Botanical Gardens cover?

a. 45 acres

b. 50 acres

c. 55 acres

d. 60 acres

4. What is the correct order of the information given below?

i. Raj Bhavan was built.

ii. Funds were raised to build a public garden.

iii. INTACH restored McIvor’s Fern House.

iv. The European residents of the Nilgiris created a vegetable garden.

a. ii, iv, i and iii

b. i, ii, iii and iv

c. iv, ii, i and iii

d. iii, iv, i and ii

5. Where can you find an interesting network of metal pipes?

a. The Sunken Garden

b. The Fountain Terrace

c. The Top Garden

d. The Fern House

6. The Conservatory building contains rare plants grown under a controlled

environment. (true/false) - True

7. Presently, the Governor of Madras stays at the Raj Bhavan. (true/false) -

False

8. The Raj Bhavan was built in ...................... style architecture. Colonial

9. Choose from the passage, words of opposite meaning for the following:
a. unknown – famous
b. open – reserved

10. Make sentences with:

a. visited:
b. generous:

ANSWERS
1. At th e a g e o f n in e te e n Ja m e s w a s a c a st in a re viva l o f We st Sid e Sto ry.
2. Syn o n ym o f e xc e p tio n a l fro m th e p a ssa g e – tre m e n d o u s
3. Pic k o u t a p h ra se th a t m e a n s th e h ig h e st – th e ve ry to p
4. An to n ym o f u n e n th u sia stic fro m th e p a ssa g e – a m b itio u s
5. Th e h e a d m a ste r re c e ive d a le tte r fro m th e a g e n t a b o u t J a m e s a tte n d in g
th e c o n c e rt.
6. Th a t ye a r, th e c h ild re n w e re p re fo rm in g G o d sp e ll fo r th e c o n c e rt.
7. Ja m e s n e ve r h a d th e c o u ra g e to d a n c e w ith Miss Sm ith b e fo re b e c a u se h e
fe lt h e w a s n e ve r g o o d e n o u g h u n til n o w .
8. Pic k o u t tw o a d ve rb s fro m th e p a ssa g e – h o a rse ly / g e n tly / u rg e n tly
9. G ive tw o a d je c tive s w h ic h Miss Sm ith u se s to d e fin e h e r in c a p a b ility to
d a n c e – c lu m sy a n d u n c o o rd in a te d
10. Un sc ra m b le C ADELITE - d e lic a te