Class 9 English Solutions| Chapter 8: Reach for the Top (Additional Q&A)

 

Chapter 8: Reach for the Top (Additional Q&A)

Most Important Extra Questions and Answers for Exams

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Short Answer Type Questions (20–30 words)

Q1. What type of society was Santosh Yadav born into?

Ans. Santosh was born into a highly traditional and patriarchal society in Haryana. In her village, the birth of a son was regarded as a great blessing, while the birth of a daughter was generally not welcomed.

Q2. What does the name 'Santosh' mean? Was she content with her traditional surroundings?

Ans. The name 'Santosh' means contentment. However, she was not content with the traditional way of life. From an early age, she began living life on her own terms, rejecting unreasonable customs.

Q3. Why did Santosh write a letter of apology to her father?

Ans. Santosh had enrolled herself at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering in Uttarkashi without her father's permission. Since she didn't have time to visit home before the course started, she wrote a letter of apology.

Q4. How did Santosh's parents react when she threatened to work part-time for her fees?

Ans. When her parents refused to pay for her schooling in Delhi, she calmly told them she would work part-time to earn her own fees. Realizing her strong determination, they immediately backed down and agreed to fund her.

Q5. Why did Maria Sharapova have to leave her mother Yelena behind in Siberia?

Ans. Maria had to leave her mother behind due to visa restrictions. While her father accompanied her to the United States for tennis training, her mother was forced to stay back in Russia for two painful years.

Q6. How did senior tennis trainees treat little Maria in the United States?

Ans. The senior trainees used to bully Maria because she was very young and went to bed early. They would wake her up at 11 PM and order her to clean and tidy up the entire room.

Q7. What are Maria Sharapova's hobbies and interests besides tennis?

Ans. Apart from tennis, Maria loves fashion, singing, and dancing. She is fond of reading novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and enjoys eating sophisticated chocolate pancakes with fizzy orange drinks.

Long Answer Type Questions (100–120 words)

Q1. Draw a parallel between the struggles faced by Santosh Yadav and Maria Sharapova on their way to the top.

Ans. Both Santosh Yadav and Maria Sharapova achieved international success through immense personal struggles, determination, and mental toughness. Santosh had to fight an orthodox and patriarchal social system in rural India that preferred sons over daughters and favored early marriage over higher education. She had to rebel against her family to study in Delhi and pursue mountaineering.

Maria Sharapova, on the other hand, had to face severe emotional and physical challenges at the tender age of nine. She was separated from her mother due to visa issues and had to endure intense loneliness in a foreign country. Additionally, she faced bullying and humiliation from her senior trainees. Both women overcame these distinct challenges because they refused to quit and kept their eyes strictly on their goals.

Q2. What traits made Santosh Yadav an exceptional mountaineer and a lovable teammate?

Ans. Santosh Yadav possessed a rare combination of exceptional climbing skills and a deeply compassionate heart. Her physical fitness, mental strength, and resistance to cold and altitude amazed her seniors. Her iron will allowed her to scale Mount Everest twice, becoming an inspiration worldwide.

At the same time, her caring nature made her a favorite among her peers. During the 1992 Everest expedition, she risked her own safety to provide special care to a dying climber. Although she couldn't save him, she successfully saved another teammate, Mohan Singh, by sharing her precious oxygen supply. Her concern for the environment was also evident when she brought down 500 kg of garbage from the Himalayas, showing she cared for the planet as much as her team.

Q3. "Instead of letting depression take over, I became more quietly determined and tough." Discuss this statement in light of Maria Sharapova's journey.

Ans. This statement perfectly captures Maria Sharapova's immense mental fortitude. When she was sent to Florida for training, she was only nine years old. Her father was working day and night to pay for her expenses and could rarely see her, while her mother was stuck in Russia. To make things worse, her seniors bullied her and forced her to clean the room late at night.

A weaker child might have broken down or quit, but Maria chose to use this hostility as motivation. She realized that to achieve her dream of becoming number one, she had to endure hardships. She developed a thick skin and a fierce competitive spirit. This mental toughness eventually helped her conquer the world of women's tennis and reach the absolute summit in 2005.