Lesson -11
Save Water Save Life
1.
Why is there a scarcity of water everywhere ?
2.
What should we do to save water ?
Mayank lives in a small village. There
is scarcity of water in the village. The villagers decide to save each and
every drop of water during this rainy season. They resolve to execute this idea
as soon as it starts raining. This news gets published in the newspapers.
Mayank receives a letter from his cousin Priya in this regard. He gives a quick
reply.
Village and Post Kevadeshwar,
Tehsil and District Indore,
Date: 5.7.06
Dear Priya,
I am really very happy to receive your
letter. Actually I was expecting it from you. I am happy that you read the
newspapers daily and you are aware of the things going around. I very much
appreciate your curiosity and thirst for information. Keep it up, these
qualities will definitely help you grow into an alert citizen. You have rightly
guessed that I attended the inaugural function of water conservation programme
in my village.
The word conservation literally means
to save something. It may be water, energy, soil or some species of animals and
plants. In terms of conservation of water it means that we all should save rain
water in the rivers, ponds, wells and in the fields to raise the ground water
level of the earth. At the same time we should use water with economy. When the
rain water percolates down into the earth, it no longer remains thirsty.
We are living in a very challenging
era. Ruthless cutting of trees and destruction of forests have resulted in
scanty rainfall. We see scarcity of water growing almost everywhere which is
adversely affecting the cultivation of crops. How can we be happy with thirsty
soil? If the fields do not have plenty of water it affects the production of
food grain and the country faces shortage of food. Our brothers and sisters who
live in villages start
migrating to the cities and towns in
search of work. The cities fail to accommodate them and there arise many social
and economic problems.
You can realise that ours is the new
generation which has to play a very important role in the future. It is our
duty to remain awake and share the responsibility to find solution to the
problem of scarcity of water. The Government has motivated all the sections of
the society to come forward to save each and every drop of water. We receive
water through rainfall. This is very unfortunate that most of the water flows
down the rivers and reaches the sea, thus it remains unused. We are a witness
to the emptied and dried up rivers, ponds, wells and tubewells. We should not
sit silent. Under water conservation programme we are trying to harvest rain
water at different levels. The farmers will store water in their fields by
building Medha Bandh around their fields. They will also dig small ponds in
their fields to accumulate rainwater. Similarly old structures like wells and
ponds will be deepened and cleaned. The stop dams on the rivulets and the
rivers will be repaired and made functional to hold back sufficient water. What
a wonderful scene it will be for us to have the river of the village full of
water throughout the year! We will again have the enjoyable time of swimming in
the rivers of our own which we had a few years ago. You can easily understand
that if the rivers and the ponds of a place are full of water, the tubewells
will automatically be recharged and will continue to give us water throughout the
year.
I would like to mention that the
Government alone cannot do everything. Similarly only shouting slogans will not
be of any help. Water is everybody's essential need so everybody including we
children should participate in the water conservation programme. I have seen
all the people voluntarily coming forward and working hand in hand and shoulder
to shoulder for this noble cause.
Hope you will be benefitted with what I
have written in this letter. Do share it with your friends. Keep writing
similar letters on other burning topics also.
Please convey my regards to everybody
in the family.
Your cousin,
Mayank
EXERCISES
Read and Learn
determined
curious
migrate
execute
regards
hand in hand
inaugural
percolate
scarcity
conservation
aware of
conserve
functional
appreciate literally
burning issues
accommodate
sufficient
ruthless
shoulder to
shoulder
Word Power
A) Look at the pictures and the sentences given
below them and fill in the blanks, choosing the correct words given in the box:
accumulate, migrate, ruthless,
sufficient, conserve, accommodate
 |
| We should accommodate other passengers also. |
 |
| Birds migrate from one place to the other. |
 |
We must conserve water.
|
 |
We must conserve water.
|
 |
Ruthless cutting of the trees has
resulted in scanty rainfall.
|
 |
| To accumulate money and wealth sometimes creates problems. |
B) Complete the following paragraph using the
words given below:
information villagers appreciate burning issues motivate
The
villagers don’t
have enough information about many burning issues. It is our duty to motivate them to know about these. We should draw the best out of
them and appreciate their efforts.
Comprehension
Answer the following
questions:
Q.1
Where does Mayank live?
Ans. - Mayank
lives in a small village.
Q.2
Who wrote a letter to Priya and why?
Ans. - Mayank
wrote a letter to Priya for providing more information about the conservation
of water.
Q.3
What programme was launched in the village?
Ans. – The
programme was conservation of water was launched in the village.
Q.4
What is meant by the word conservation?
Ans. - The
word conservation means to save something.
Q.5
Why do the villagers migrate to cities and towns?
Ans. - The villagers migrate to cities and towns in
search job.
Q.6
What are we trying to do under water conservation programme?
Ans. – We
are coming forward and working hand in hand and shoulder to save water under “water
conservation programme”.
Q.7
Choose the correct answers:
(i)
A dam is :
a)
a river
b) a big wall across a river
c) a pond
d) a well
Ans. - b)
a big wall across a river
(ii) A burning issue means:
a) a painful topic
b) an unwanted topic
c) an important topic
d) a useless topic
Ans. - c)
an important topic
(iii) A ‘slogan’ means:
a) words or phrases giving message
attractively and quickly
b) sentences used in advertisements
c) dialogues in a film or television
serial
d) a show gun
Ans. - a)
words or phrases giving message attractively and quickly
(iv) We receive water for irrigation
a)
through rainfall
b)
by melting snow
c)
from the sea
d)
by dismantling dams
Ans. - a) through rainfall
Let's Learn
Read the following
sentences noting the time of their action:
In the examples, given above you find that simple past tense is used to express actions completed in the past (time spent) and have no relation with the present.
* Mayank lived in a small village. (Now, he does not live in a small village)
* Priya wrote letters to Mayank regularly
two years back. (An earlier event not a present one.)
* The residents attended all the functions
in the village last month. (An earlier event not a present one)
Also
see how verbs have been changed in Simple Past Tense:
Now change the following
sentences into simple past tense:
(i) A small river flows near the village.
Ans. - A
small river flowed near the village.
(ii)
Priya lives in Itarsi.
Ans. - Priya
lived in Itarsi.
(iii)
Mayank receives a letter from Priya.
Ans. - Mayank
received a letter from Priya.
(iv)
He appreciates her efforts.
Ans. - He
appreciated her efforts.
(v)
She wants to write an article.
Ans. - She
wanted to write an article.
(vi)
People speak a lot about water conservation.
Ans. - People
spoke a lot about water conservation.
(vii)
I always think ahead.
Ans. - I
always thought ahead.
(ix)
They run fast.
Ans. - They
ran fast.
Let's Talk
Make groups of five in your class and
talk to one another using the table given on the next page. Fill in the table
as you carry on your talk.
Let's Read
Read the following
passage carefully:
A Letter from a Parent to a Teacher
He will have to learn, I know, that all
men are not just, all men are not true. But teach him also that for every
scoundrel there is a hero, that for every selfish politician, there is a
dedicated leader.
Teach him that for every enemy there is
a friend.
Teach him that a dollar earned is of
far more value than five found.
Teach him to learn to lose and also
enjoy winning.
Steer him away from envy, if you can.
Teach him the secret of quiet laughter.
Teach him the wonder of books, but also
give him quiet time to ponder over the eternal mystery of birds in the sky,
bees in the sun and flowers on a green hillside. In school, teach him it is far
more honourable to fail than to cheat.
Teach him to have faith in his own
ideas,
even if everyone tells him they are
wrong.
Teach him to be gentle with gentle
people and tough with the tough.
Try to give him the strength not to follow
the crowd when everyone is getting on to the bandwagon.
Teach him to listen to all men, but
teach him also to filter all he hears on a screen of truth and take only the
good that comes through.
Teach him to close his ears to a
howling mob; and to stand and fight if he thinks he's right.
Treat him gently but do not cuddle him,
because only the test of fire makes fine steel.
Let him have courage to be impatient,
let him have the patience to be brave.
Teach him always to have sublime faith
in his creator and faith in himself too, because then he will always have faith
in mankind.
This is a tall order but please see
what you can do.
He is such a fine little fellow, my
son!
- Abraham Lincoln
(A)
Now answer the following questions:
a)
Who is the writer of this letter?
Ans. - Abraham Lincoln is the writer of
this letter.
b)
Why did he write the letter?
Ans. – He
wrote the letter to guide his son in a right way.
c)
Who did he write the letter to?
Ans. – He wrote the letter to his son’s teacher.
d)
What did he ask the teacher to teach his son? (any one)
Ans. – He
asked the teacher to teach him the secret of quiet laughter.
e)
In whom one should have sublime faith and why?
Ans. –
The man always to have sublime faith in his creator and faith in himself too,
because then he will always have faith in mankind.
B) Given below is a circle having words which
are nouns and verbs. Join the words as given in the example and write them in
blank spaces:
Ans. -
Verb - noun
laugh -
laughter
create -
cretor
think -
thought
know -
knowledge
dedicate - dedication
filter -
filtration
fail -
failure
earn -
earning
C) Match
the columns:
Ans. -
Let's Write
Power Saving
We know that electricity
is generated in power plants:
* Hydroelectric
Power Stations - They are at dams where water is used to generate electricity.
* Thermal
Power Stations - They use coal to generate electricity.
* Nuclear
Power Stations - They use radio-active metals to generate electricity.
Saving water is in some or the other
way related to producing and saving electricity. We should know the worth of
it.
Write a paragraph on “Saving
Electricity.” Here are some clues for you:
* Switch
off lights
* Power
saving lamps and devices
* Work
during day time
* Unnecessary
electric decoration
* Well
ventilated and lighted houses
* Unnecessary
use of electrical appliances
* Automatic
electric iron
* Television
and radio is on though nobody is watching or listening to it.
Ans. -
Electricity is important for us. We should save it. We should make well
ventilated and lighted houses. We should work during day time. If not required
we should switch off lights. We should switch off television and radio when
nobody is watching or listening to it. We should use automatic electric iron.
We should use power saving lamps and devices. We should not do unnecessary
electric decoration during functions. If we want to save life. We should save
electricity.
Let's do it
a) Write what you and people around you
are doing to save water. Write about the results of the efforts. Collect
photographs and news cuttings. Display them on the notice board of your school.
b)Give way to the waste water of your
house to your kitchen garden.
c)See that the taps are not left open
and they do not leak.
Students
do themselves