Reading comprehension worksheet for class 10
Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow.
The Polish-born Marie Curie and her husband, Pierre, worked in a dilapidated wooden shed near their Paris lodgings for over four years. This shed would become unbearably hot in summer and cold and wet in winter. This was where they spent the most memorable years of their life. And on a September night in 1902, it was here that they discovered the radioactive element ‘radium’ in the form of radium chloride. Radium comes from the Latin word radius which means a ray.
The discovery of radium was a major breakthrough. Shortly after it was discovered, doctors started using it to treat some types of cancers. Cancerous cells would die when they were bombarded with the radioactive rays of radium.
The Curies had spent the historic day pouring measures of purified uraninite into evaporating bowls. Marie Curie believed that the black mineral ore contained a dynamic element whose rays could destroy cancer cells. They first removed uranium from the uraninite sample and found that the remaining substance was still radioactive. So they decided to investigate further. They constantly filtered and re-filtered the uraninite hoping that the elusive element would crystalize in the bowls.
That crystallization hadn’t occurred when they went home that night. Then, just as they were about to go to bed, Marie decided to examine the particles in the bowls again. So she and her husband hurried through the dimly-lit streets and reached the wooden shed.
They entered the darkened shed and Marie asked her husband not to light the lamps. They moved cautiously forward and found rays of light coming from inside the small glass-covered bowls. Marie turned to her husband and asked, ‘Do you remember the day you told me, ‘I should like radium to have a beautiful colour.’ Look…Look!’
A soft, bluish-purple glow was coming out of the bowls that lined the tables and the shelves on the walls.
Questions
Read the questions given below and answer the questions.
1. Why did Curies call the element they just discovered ‘radium’?
a) It was made from purified uraninite.
b) It gave out a beautiful ray of light.
c) It could destroy cancel cells.
d) It had become crystalized in bowls.
2. How many years did they take to complete the research on radium?
a) one year
b) two years
c) three years
d) four years
3. The discovery of radium was a major breakthrough because
a) it helped Curie to become famous
b) it helped Curie to win the Nobel Prize
c) it provided the first effective cure for some forms of cancer
d) it helped Curie to become rich
4. What is the color of Uraninite?
a) blue
b) bluish pink
c) black
d) white
5. Marie extracted the new element from
a) purified uraninite
b) radioactive particles
c) cancer tissue
d) evaporating bowls
6. Marie told her husband not to light the lamps because
a) she wanted to walk in the dark
b) she was hoping that light would come out of the evaporating bowls
c) she wanted to see if her husband could walk in the dark
d) she had a headache
7. The light came from
a) uraninite
b) the element crystalized in the bowls
c) the test tubes
d) the ceiling of the shed
8. The Curies discovered radium in the form of
a) radium oxide
b) radium chloride
c) radium phosphate
d) radium sulphate
Answers
1. Why did Curies call the element they just discovered ‘radium’? It gave out a beautiful ray of light.
2. How many years did they take to complete the research on radium? Four years
3. The discovery of radium was a major breakthrough because it provided the first effective cure for some forms of cancer.
4. What is the color of Uraninite? Black
5. Marie extracted the new element from purified uraninite.
6. Marie told her husband not to light the lamps because she was hoping that light would come out of the evaporating bowls.
7. The light came from the element crystalized in the bowls.
8. The Curies discovered radium in the form of radium chloride.
