MERRYLAND INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH – GRADE 8

NAME:………………………………………..

I. Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow:

The Lost World - Malone Interviews Professor Challenger

A scientist returns from South America with amazing

stories of a world which has been lost in time.
In this extract from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's,
The Lost World, a young reporter, Edward Malone,
interviews Professor George Edward Challenger, a renowned zoologist who has claimed that
he has discovered dinosaurs in South America. Tired of being ridiculed for years, Challenger
invites Malone to document his story in the hope that someone will finally believe him. This
is his story…
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“In the first place, you are probably aware that two years ago I made a journey to South
America… I was returning, my work accomplished, when I had occasion to spend a night at a
small Indian village at a point where a certain tributary… opens into the main river. The
natives were Cucama Indians, an amiable but degraded race… I gathered from their signs that
someone had urgent need of my medical services, and I followed the chief to one of his huts.
When I entered I found… a white man… clad in rags, … emaciated, and bore every trace of
prolonged hardship…
“The man’s knapsack lay beside the couch, and I examined the contents… There were some
rather commonplace pictures of river scenery, a paint-box, a box of coloured chalks, some
brushes, that curved bone which lies upon my inkstand, a volume of Baxter’s 'Moths and
Butterflies’, a cheap revolver and a few cartridges… I was turning away from him when I
observed something projected from the front of his ragged jacket. It was this sketch-book,
which was as dilapidated then as you see it now…”
I turned it over, and gave an exclamation of surprise. There was a full-page picture of the
most extraordinary creature that I had ever seen… The head was like that of a fowl, the body
that of a bloated lizard, the trailing tail was furnished with upward-turned spikes, and the
curved back was edged with a high serrated fringe… In front of this creature was an absurd
manikin, or dwarf, in human form, who stood staring at it.
“But what made him draw such an animal?”
“Look here!” he cried, leaning forward and dabbing a great hairy sausage of a finger on to the
picture. “You see that plant behind the animal; I suppose you thought that was a dandelion…
Well, it is a vegetable ivory palm, and they run to about fifty or sixty feet. Don’t you see that
the man is put in for a purpose…? He sketched himself in to give a scale of heights…”
“But,” I cried, “surely the whole experience of the human race is not to be set aside on
account of a single sketch…”
For the answer the Professor took a book down from a shelf.
“There is an illustration here which would interest you… ?”
He handed me the open book. I stared, as I looked at the picture. In this reconstructed animal
of a dead world there was certainly a very great resemblance to the sketch of the unknown
artist…
“I will now ask you to look at this bone…” It was about six inches long, thicker than my
thumb, with some indications of dried cartilage at one end of it.
“To what known creature does that bone belong?” asked the Professor…
“I must confess that I don’t know what it is… I am at least deeply interested…”
“You can imagine that I could hardly come away from the Amazon without probing deeper
into the matter. There were indications as to the direction from which the dead traveller had
come… I found that rumours of a strange land were common among all the riverine tribes.
You have heard, no doubt of Curupuri?”
“Curupuri is the spirit of the woods, something terrible, something malevolent, something to
be avoided. Now all tribes agree as to the direction in which Curupuri lives. It was the same
direction from which the American had come. Something terrible lay that way. It was my
business to find out what it was…”
He handed me a photograph – half-plate size.
“I believe it is the same place as the painted picture,” said I…
From a drawer he produced what seemed to me to be the upper portion of the wing of a large
bat.
“Nothing of the sort,” said the Professor, severely.
“Here,” said he, pointing to the picture of an extraordinary flying monster, “is an excellent
reproduction of the dimorphodon, or pterodactyl, a flying reptile of the Jurassic period. On
the next page is a diagram of the mechanism of its wing. Kindly compare it with the
specimen in your hand.”
A wave of amazement passed over me as I looked. I was convinced…
The cumulative proof was overwhelming. The sketch, the photographs, the narrative, and
now the actual specimen – the evidence was complete… “It’s just the very biggest thing that I
have ever heard of!” said I… You are a Columbus of science who has discovered a lost
world...
Now ,choose the apt answer and write the option in the box given below. (10marks)
1.What is the main idea of the extract?
A. A scientist returns from South America with amazing stories of awards which has been
lost in time

B. A newspaper editor agrees to send a young reporter to the South American jungle to
investigate whether a lost world of dinosaurs exists.
C. A young reporter is assigned the task of interviewing a scientist who claims he has
discovered dinosaurs
 D. A young journalist is given the job of interviewing a colleague to verify rumours about
a Lost World

2. A person who studies the behavior,structure,physiology,classification and

distribution of animals :

A. zoologist B. botanist C. trainer D archaeologist

3. Select the correct sequence of events

1. A bone about six inches long is presented as evidence.

2. The reporter is convinced the zoologist is authentic.

3. A reporter interviews a well renowned zoologist.

4. The zoologist shows the reporter a hand drawn picture

A. 3,4,2,1 B. 3,2,1,4 C. 3,1,2,4 D.3,4,1,2

4. The purpose of drawing a man standing in front of the creature was to …

A. To support the claims of the lost world

B. Evaluate and document the journey

C. Provide evidence of its existence

D. Demonstrate the enormity of the animal

5. What did the professor compare the specimen to?

A. A pterodactyl B. a bloated lizard C. a large bat D. a sketch

6. Now that Malone is convinced there is a lost world, he will most likely
A. Keep his story a secret
B. Want to go on the next expedition and report on the findings
C. Become good friends with the Professor
D. Write a story about pterodactyls

7. Which of the following is an example of fact?

A. The cumulative proof was overwhelming
B. The natives were Cucama Indians, an amiable but degraded race
C. “There was a full page picture of the most extraordinary creature that I had ever seen”
 D. Professor handed over a photograph

8. “It was this sketch book that was dilapidated.” What does ‘dilapidated’ mean?
A. new and shining B. shabby and damaged C. thick and heavy

9. Choose the correct pair of antonyms.

A. emaciated x weak B. commonplace x rare C. severely x sternly
10. Using the information in the extract, what is the best summary for The Lost
World?
A. This story is centred in the Amazon jungle where prehistoric creatures still roam

B. This is an exciting adventure story, featuring eccentric characters that search for

answers to a great scientific mystery, deep in the Amazon jungle.

C. This is a story which tells of a scientist and a journalist, who work together to solve

the mystery of a world which has remained undiscovered for thousands of years

II. VOCABULARY:Choose the one that is similar in meaning to the given word and write
the option in the box given.

1.a raft
A. a vine B. a boat C. a leaf

2.devise
A. to impress B. to plan C. to reveal

3.insight
A. an understanding B. a journey C. a method

4.a feeling of sadness

A. glance B. frown C. grief

5.to show in a picture

A. gaze B. portray C. rotate

6.What has a ridge?

A. a mountain B. a swamp C. a pond
 Write the correct option in the box given below.
FOR READING PASSAGE
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

FOR II.GRAMMAR
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

FOR III. A VOCABULARY

1 2 3 4 5 6