Hi Everyone!! This article will share The Ant-Lion Questions & Answers.
In my previous posts, I have also shared the questions and answers of Dreaming of the Dawn Wall, Extreme Weather and The World Renowned Nose so, you can check these posts as well.
The Ant-Lion Questions & Answers
Question 1: In the first paragraph of the story what are the two children trying to do?
Answer: In the first paragraph of the story, we can see that Morvenna is trying save a little ant from becoming a prey to the ant-lion by helping the ant climb the pit slope. However, her brother Max worked opposite and wanted the little ant to be killed and eaten by the ant-lion.
Question 2: How do we know that Morvenna is not too keen on continuing the activity that she and her brother are engaged in?
Answer: Morvenna seems tired of this activity and warns her brother that if he continues to feed the little ants to ant-lion, she will kill the ant-lion herself.
Question 3: How do we know that the children are completely absorbed in watching the meat-ant being attacked by the ant-lion? Choose two sentences (from different paragraphs), which tell us that their concentration was directed towards the battle alone.
Answer: The two sentences are –
i. In their minds the ants and its arena of battle enlarged, filled the whole world.
ii. The two children stared down, lying on their stomachs, head almost together.
Question 4: What difficulties did the meat-ant have to contend with in trying to get out of reach of the ant-lion?
Answer: The meat ant was puzzled at the sand that slipped so treacherously and persistently away as it climbed. It stopped, slid, went down almost to the bottom and this happened again and again which made the meat ant tired. At last, the meat ant gave up to ant-lion’s quick move when the thrust of its stumpy forelegs began to jerk meat ant’s head. The meat ant caught at last, was putting out a desperate effort, its free legs thrashed wildly, it made a little headway, but the weight of the ant-lion braced against it was too much and it could find nothing to grip and ultimately surrendered.
Question 5: Which words and expressions are used to describe the movements of the ant-lion?
Answer: Following words or phrases describe the movements of the ant-lion –
i. quick and dexterous
ii. it thrusts its stumpy forelegs
iii. seized the meat ant by one leg
iv. a dingo harassing a sheep
v. relentless tool jaws hung on.
The Ant-Lion Questions & Answers
Question 6: Read and answer the questions:
The two children sat up slowly, breathing again.
(a) What had made the children hold their breath in the first place?
Answer: In the first paragraph when the ant fell back to pit-bottom, and within a moment the jaws of the ant-lion killed it and ate it. This moment made the children hold their breath.
(b) Why was it possible now for them to breathe again?
Answer: When the ant-lion killed the little ant and that moment had passed, the children were able to breathe again.
(c) What were their feelings after this?
Answer: They felt guilty for the act they had done. Max’s red face perhaps suggested embarrassment or excitement whereas Morvenna’s open mouth suggested shock.
Question 7: Read and answer the questions:
Morvenna gave a scream. ‘If you do Maxie, I’ll kill the lion.’
(a) What made Morvenna scream?
Answer: Morvenna screamed because Max went across the ant-hill to get the meat-ant.
(b) What is the ‘lion’ she refers to?
Answer: The ‘lion’ she refers to is the ant-lion.
(c) Why does she threaten to kill the lion?
Answer: Morvenna was tired of this activity and warned her brother that if he continues to feed the little ants to ant-lion, she will kill the ant-lion herself.
(d) Does she carry out her threat? And if not, how does she react to what Maxie does subsequently?
Answer: No, she did not carry out her threat. Though she said that it was and she won’t look at it, however, she was a little curious as well. She covered her eyes with her hands and tried to peer through the crack between her fingers and saw it.
Question 8: Read and answer the questions:
The golden air should have been full of their shrieks and groanings.
(a) What time of day was it?
Answer: It was afternoon.
(b) What sounds were in the air, if any?
Answer: The creek below made the noise of water flowing over the rocks.
(c) Whose shrieks and groanings would these have been?
Answer: The shrieks and groanings were those of the meat-ant and ant-lion.
(d) Why should there have been any shrieking?
Answer: The shrieking would have been due to the struggling engagement between the meat-ant and the ant-lion.
(e) What happened immediately after this?
Answer: Immediately after this, the meat-lion gave up all its struggle to escape from the ant-lion as it was completely in the grip of ant-lion and was killed.
So, these were The Ant-Lion Questions & Answers.