Chapter 1: The Pace for Living

VVI questions — the ones the board asked most (5)

1. Q1Short answer10 marksAsked: 2024

   Answer any five of the following questions : a) What does R. C. Hutchinson say about intelligence tests ? b) How did Gillu sustain wounds ? c) Where do the two little girls meet ? d) Why did some young people visit the old woman ? e) How does Martha look like ? f) What happens in the shades of mangoes ? g) Who is challenging the mountains ? h) What causes pain ? i) Why was the banker afraid of honouring the bet ? j) What are allergens ?

   

   Medha Ma’am

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   Model answer

   1. 1.(b) Gillu was a baby squirrel that had fallen from its nest. Two crows were pecking at it, and their beaks wounded it. The author picked it up and nursed it back to health.2 marks
   2. 2.(c) The two little girls, Malasha and Akoulya, met in a lane of the village on Easter Sunday, wearing their new frocks, near a big puddle of water.2 marks
   3. 3.(g) The porter in 'The Sleeping Porter' is challenging the mountains. With a heavy load on his bent back and a frail body, he climbs the steep, snowy mountain path.2 marks
   4. 4.(i) The banker had lost most of his money in speculation. If he paid the lawyer the two million, he would be ruined and become a beggar, so he was afraid of honouring the bet.2 marks
   5. 5.(j) Allergens are the substances that cause an allergy, such as pollen, dust, mites, certain foods, medicines and animal hair. They are harmless to most people but start a violent reaction in an allergic person.2 marks

   Marks split from a structure derived from past papers (checked twice); not Bihar Board’s official scheme

2. Q2Short answer10 marksAsked: 2022

   Answer any five of the following questions : a) What are the disadvantages of slow thinkers in the modern world ? b) What does Humayun Kabir say about toleration ? c) What is more precious than diamond or silver or gold ? d) Where should the truly Indian film look for its material ? e) Does a polythene bag get dissolved into the earth's crust ? f) What does the poet wish for after death ? g) What do Radha's friends believe in ? h) Who is the proud conqueror of nature ? i) What did the banker do to kill the lawyer ? j) Why did the narrator feel that he was mean ?

   

   Medha Ma’am

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   Model answer · slow thinkers, modern world

   1. 1.(d) The truly Indian film should look for its material in life itself, in the basic aspects of Indian life, where habit and speech, dress and manners, background and foreground blend into a harmonious whole. It should not imitate foreign films.2 marks
   2. 2.(e) No, a polythene bag does not dissolve into the earth's crust. It stays in the soil for years, blocks drains and harms animals that eat it.2 marks
   3. 3.(f) The poet wishes to live and die unseen and unknown. After death he wants no one to mourn for him, and not even a stone to tell where he lies.2 marks
   4. 4.(g) Radha's friends believe that joy may come to her again, that Krishna may return. But their hope is not steady; at times they give it up.2 marks
   5. 5.(i) The banker, ruined and unable to pay the two million, decided to kill the lawyer. At three in the night he took the key from his safe and went to the lodge, meaning to smother the sleeping lawyer so that his death would look natural.2 marks

   Marks split from a structure derived from past papers (checked twice); not Bihar Board’s official scheme

3. Q3Short answer2 marksAsked: 2022

   What are the disadvantages of slow thinkers in the modern world ?

   

   Medha Ma’am

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   Model answer · disadvantages of slow thinkers

   1. 1.Slow thinkers are unable to keep pace with the fast speed of the modern world. The modern world moves at a very fast pace in every field of life, but slow thinkers cannot keep pace with this speed and feel handicapped in their daily life.1 mark
   2. 2.They lag behind in the competition of life and are unable to take advantage of opportunities. In the keen competition of life, slow thinkers lag behind others and, being considered dullards, they miss the opportunities that come their way, which leads to failures in getting a living.1 mark

   • Write the phrase 'fast speed of the modern world' and 'keep pace' in the first paragraph.
   • Use the words 'lag behind', 'competition' and 'opportunities' in the second paragraph.
   • Do not add the cinema example or any other detail not asked by the question.

   Marks split from a structure derived from past papers (checked twice); not Bihar Board’s official scheme

4. Q4Short answer2 marksAsked: 2023

   What made the young people laugh ?

   How the model answer begins

   1. In 'Once Upon a Time', the young people asked the blind old woman, "Is the bird I am holding living or dead?" She did not answer, and her long silence made them laugh.

   The full answer from Medha Ma’am →
5. Q5Short answer2 marksAsked: 2026

   What does R. C. Hutchinson say about intelligence tests ?

   How the model answer begins

   1. R. C. Hutchinson says that intelligence tests claim to measure how quickly a person can think. According to him, those tests, or all the ones he has come across, seem to be designed to measure the speed of one's mind…

   The full answer from Medha Ma’am →

Objective questions with the board’s key (10)

1. 1. Bihar Board 2026

   Who makes a run for the car ?

   • (A) Jim
   • (B) Mr. Johnson ✓
   • (C) Ms. Greene
   • (D) Mr. Williams

   Answer: (B)

2. 2. Bihar Board 2026

   Whose wife was a spendthrift ?

   • (A) Hutchinson's nephew's
   • (B) Hutchinson's cousin's
   • (C) Hutchinson's brother's
   • (D) Hutchinson's ✓

   Answer: (D)

3. 3. Bihar Board 2026

   The author of "The Pace for Living" says one must develop the art of

   • (A) quick thinking ✓
   • (B) quick walking
   • (C) quick running
   • (D) quick jumping

   Answer: (A)

4. 4. Bihar Board 2026

   Where did the author see a play ?

   • (A) Paris
   • (B) London
   • (C) Dublin ✓
   • (D) New Delhi

   Answer: (C)

5. 5. Bihar Board 2025

   R. C. Hutchinson in 'The Pace for Living' describes the ................. of modern man.

   • (A) happy
   • (B) fast
   • (C) sad
   • (D) agony ✓

   Answer: (D)

6. 6. Bihar Board 2025

   The author enjoys travelling fast in a ............................ if it is not his own.

   • (A) bus
   • (B) motorcycle
   • (C) scooter
   • (D) car ✓

   Answer: (D)

7. 7. Bihar Board 2025

   The author does not like to go to watch

   • (A) television
   • (B) theatre
   • (C) cinema ✓
   • (D) rallies

   Answer: (C)

8. 8. Bihar Board 2025

   Rapid movement does not give the real .................... of travel.

   • (A) knowledge
   • (B) pleasure ✓
   • (C) pain
   • (D) dream

   Answer: (B)

9. 9. Bihar Board 2025

   R. C. Hutchinson did not ................. the rapid movement of life.

   • (A) like ✓
   • (B) hate
   • (C) dislike
   • (D) love

   Answer: (A)

10. 10. Bihar Board 2024

    Hutchinson was unable to differentiate amongst the ....................

    • (A) three male characters
    • (B) three villains ✓
    • (C) three female characters
    • (D) three comedians

    Answer: (B)

Questions parents and students ask

How many marks does "The Pace for Living" carry in Bihar Board Class 10 English?

In the Bihar Board papers of 2021–2026, this chapter carried about 3 marks and about 3 questions a year; by marks it ranks 7 in English.

Which are the most important (VVI) questions of "The Pace for Living"?

The 5 questions above are from the board’s real papers, each with the years it was asked; the most-asked come first with their full model answers. All 5 written questions of this chapter, with answers, are in the AskMedha app.

Do the answers follow the board’s marking scheme?

BSEB does not publish a marking scheme. Each answer is written point by point on a structure derived from past papers and checked by a second, independent model; it is never called the board’s official scheme.