NCERT Solutions For Class 11 English
Hornbill
Chapter 3 – Discovering
Tut: The Saga Continues (A.R. Williams)
Extract/Passage based
question Answers
Read the following
passage carefully and answer the questions that follow :
Passage 1.
He was just a teenager when he died.
The last heir of a powerful family that had ruled Egypt and its empire for
centuries, he was laid to rest laden with gold and eventually forgotten. Since
the discovery of his tomb in 1922, the modem world has speculated about what
happened to him, with murder being the most extreme possibility. Now, leaving
his tomb for the first time in almost 80 years, Tut has undergone a CT scan
that offers new clues about his life and death and provides precise data for an
accurate forensic reconstruc¬tion of the boyish pharaoh.
Questions :
(i) What led to Tut
being referred to as the final heir?
(ii)
When did Tut pass away, and how was his burial conducted?
(iii)
What speculations has the contemporary world made regarding King Tut?
(iv) For what reason did Tut's mummy undergo a
CT scan?
(v)
Form nouns from the following verbs. (a) ruled (b) speculated.
Answers :
(i) Tut has earned the title of the last heir due to his demise as a teenager
without leaving any offspring or descendants.
(ii) Tut passed away during his
teenage years and was interred adorned with gold.
(Hi) The contemporary world has
engaged in speculation regarding King Tut's fate. There are concerns that he
may have been a victim of possible murder.
(iv) The mummy of Tut underwent a CT
scan to explore fresh insights into his life and death, aiming to gather
accurate data for a precise forensic reconstruction.
(v) (a) ruler
(b) speculation
Passage 2
“The mummy is in very bad condition
because of what Carter did in the 1920,” said Zahi Hawass, Secretary-General of
Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, as he leaned over the body for a long
first lock. Carter-Howard Carter, that is was the British archae¬ologist who in
1922 discovered Tut’s tomb after years of futile searching. Its contents,
though hastily ransacked in antiquity, were surprisingly complete. They remain
the richest royal collection ever found and have become part of the pharaoh’s
legend.
Questions
(i) Identify Zahi Hawass and
elaborate on his comments.
(ii) Provide information about
Carter and his activities during the 1920s.
(iii) What was the significance of
the contents found in Tut's tomb?
(iv) Did Carter encounter challenges
in locating Tut's tomb?
(v) Define: (a) antiquities
(b) pharaoh
Answer :
(i) The Secretary-General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi
Hawass, remarked that the mummy's deteriorated state was a consequence of
Howard Carter's actions in the 1920s.
(ii) In 1922, British archaeologist
Howard Carter unearthed Tut’s tomb.
(iii) King Tut’s tomb contained
exceptionally valuable contents, considered one of the most opulent royal
collections ever unearthed.
(iv) After years of futile
searching, Howard Carter finally succeeded in discovering Tut’s tomb.
(v) (a) remains of ancient times.
(b) a title of the ancient Egyptian Kings.
Passage 3
Archaeology has changed
substantially in the intervening decades, focusing less an treasure and more on
the fascinating details of life and intriguing mysteries of death. It also uses
more sophisticated tools, including medical technology. In 1968, more that 40
years after Carter’s discovery, an anatomy professor X-rayed the mummy and
revealed a startling fact. Beneath the resin that cakes his chest, his
breast-bone and front ribs are missing. Today diagnostic imaging can be done with
computed tomography, or CT, by which hundreds of X-rays in cross section are
put together like slices of bread to create a three¬dimensional virtual body.
Questions
(i) How has archaeology undergone
changes in recent times?
(ii) What methods do archaeologists
employ in their contemporary research practices?
(iii) What was the surprising
revelation made in 1968?
(iv) What technology is utilized for
diagnostic imaging in the present day?
(v) Find synonyms in the passage for
(a) situated between.
(b) the scientific study of body
structure.
Answers:
(i) Archaeology is now concentrating
more on the intriguing aspects of life and the concealed enigmas of death.
(ii) Presently, archaeologists
conduct their research using advanced tools, including medical technology.
(iii) In 1968, an anatomy professor
X-rayed Tut’s mummy and unveiled the astonishing fact that his breastbone and
front ribs were missing.
(iv) Diagnostic imaging nowadays is
conducted using computed tomography or CT.
(v) (a) intervening,
(b) anatomy.
Passage 4
Amenhotep III—Tut’s father or
grandfather was a powerful pharaoh who ruled for almost four decades at the
height of the eighteenth dynasty’s golden age. His son Amenhotep IV succeeded
him and initiated one of the strangest periods in the history of ancient Egypt.
The new pharaoh promoted the worship of the Aten, the sun disk, changed his
name to Akhenaten, or “servant of the Aten”, and moved the religious capital
from the old city of Thebes tq the new city of Akhetaten, known now as Amama.
He further shocked the country by attacking Amun, a major God, smashing his
images and closing his temples.
Questions :
(i) What was the duration of
Amenhotep III's rule?
(ii) Following Amenhotep III, who
assumed the throne, and what initiatives did they set in motion?
(iii) What was the focus of
promotion by Amenhotep IV?
(iv) What caused a state of shock
throughout the country?
(v) Use the following words in your
own sentences :
(a) evidence
(b) ancient
Answers :
(i) For nearly four decades,
Amenhotep III held sway, marking the pinnacle of the 18th dynasty's golden age.
(ii) Amenhotep IV, also known as
Akhenaten, succeeded Amenhotep III, ushering in one of the most peculiar eras
in ancient Egypt's history.
(iii) Amenhotep IV, later adopting
the name Akhenaten, advocated for the veneration of the Aten, the sun disk.
(iv) The nation was in disbelief as
Akhenaten launched an assault on Amun, a prominent deity, destroying his images
and shuttering his temples.
(v)
(a) The evidence turned hostile and the real culprit could not be punished.
(b) India is an ancient country whose culture and civilization are very old.
Passage 5
Regardless of his fame and the
speculations about his fate, Tut is one mummy among many in Egypt. How many ?
No one knows. The Egyptian Mummy Project, which began an inventory in late
2003, has recorded almost 600 so far and is still counting. The next phase :
scanning the mummies with a portable CT machine donated by the National
Geographic Society and Siemens, its manufacturer. King Tut is one of the first
mummies to be scanned—in death, as in life, moving regally ahead of his
countrymen.
Questions :
(i) Which institution is responsible for maintaining records of the mummies?
(ii) What is the current count of
recorded mummies?
(iii) What comes after the current
phase?
(iv) Who has donated the CT machine?
(v) Give noun forms of
(a) donated
(b) recorded.
Answers :
(i) Since 2003, the Egyptian Mummy Project has been maintaining records of the
mummies.
(ii) The count currently stands at
600 recorded mummies, and the tally is ongoing.
(iii) The upcoming stage involves
using a portable CT machine to scan the mummies.
(iv) Both the National Geographic Society
and Siemens, the manufacturers, have contributed the portable CT machine.
(v) (a) donation.
(b) record.
Passage 6
ACT machine scanned the mummy head
to toe, creating 1700 digital X-ray images in cross section. Tut’s head,
scanned in 0.62 millimeter slices to register its intricate struc¬tures, taking
an eerie detail in the resulting image. With Tut’s entire body similarly
recorded, a team of specialists in radiology, forensics and anatomy began to
probe the secrets that the winged goddesses of a gilded burial shrine protected
for so long. The night of the scan,workmen carried Tut from the tomb in
his box. Like pallbearers they climbed a ramp and a flight of stairs into the
swirling sand outside, then rose on a hydraulic lift into the trailer that held
the scanner.
Questions :
(i) To whom does the term 'the
mummy' allude?
(ii) What resulted from the scanning
process?
(iii) In what manner was Tut’s head
subjected to scanning?
(iv) Who initiated the investigation
into the secrets?
(v) Find words in the passage which
mean
(a) examine
(b) a vehicle drawn by another.
Answers :
(i) The term 'the mummy' denotes the
well-preserved deceased body of King Tut.
(ii) Utilizing the CT machine, 1700
digital X-ray images were generated in cross-section.
(iii) Tut’s head underwent scanning
in 0.62-millimeter slices, capturing intricate structures and revealing a
peculiar and unsettling detail in the resulting image.
(iv) A team comprising specialists
in radiology, forensics, and anatomy commenced the investigation into the
mysteries surrounding Tut’s life and death.
(v) (a) probe
(b) trailer.
