Hi Everyone!! This article will share Downhill On A Bicycle Questions & Answers.
Written by Henry Charles Beeching, the poem is about a thrilling adventure and the delightful experience of a boy as he rides his bicycle down the hill.
In my previous posts, I have shared the questions and answers of A French Lesson, Day By Day I Float My Paper Boats and I Must Feed My Mother so, you can check these posts as well.
Downhill On A Bicycle Questions & Answers
Word Galaxy
- Dart – to move suddenly and quickly in a particular direction
- Delightful – very pleasant
- Still – not moving
- Poised – balanced
- Feathery – soft and delicate like feathers
- Heedful – aware of or attentive to something
- Swifter – faster
- With a mighty lift – full of excitement
- Feathery life – the life of a feathered bird
Question 1: Choose the correct option:
(a) Who is the bicycle rider?
i. a young man
ii. a teenager
iii. a pre-teen boy
iv. an adult
(b) In the poem, the bicycle rider is
i. trying to catch a bird
ii. riding his bicycle downhill
iii. watching a bird fly
iv. calling out to a bird
(c) How does the boy ride the bicycle?
i. rashly
ii. slowly
iii. fast
(d) The boy is________the speed?
i. afraid of
ii. not afraid of
iii. enjoying
(e) The boy’s wish to_______like a bird is fulfilled.
i. fly
ii. live
iii. swim
(f) As he rides downhill,………..
i. his mind is alert
ii. his heart is happy
iii. there is a cry in his throat
iv. All the above
(g) The rider and the bird share…………
i. the joy of flying
ii. speed
iii. golden moments in the air
iv. the bird’s feathery life
(h) In the poem, ‘a golden moment’ refers to
i. the moment when the boy feels the air go by in a wind.
ii. the moment when the boy calls out to a bird.
iii. the moment when the boy shares the bird’s ability to fly.
iv. the moment the boy’s bicycle starts to do downhill.
(i) The antonym of the word “toil” (line 23) is………….
i. Labor
ii. Inactivity
iii. arduous effort
iv. concentration
Question 2: Write True or False:
(a) The boy in the poem is shown bicycling up the hill – False
(b) The air goes by in a wind – True
(c) He feels he is competing with the birds – True
(d) His lungs feel tired – False
(e) The poet doesn’t like the feeling of flying – False
(f) He knows the feeling is for a fleeting moment – True
Question 3: What does the poet talk about, in the poem?
Answer: In this poem, the poet talks about a young rider who enjoys a ride on a bicycle, down the hill. The poet expresses the joy and excitement of riding a bicycle downhill.
Question 4: How does the boy feel when he rides the bicycle down the hill?
Answer: When the boy rides the bicycle down the hill, with lifted feet and still hands, he feels immensely happy and feels as if he is flying like a bird.
Question 5: What do the following lines mean?
(a) ‘I am posed, and down the hill’.
Answer: The line means that the boy has learnt that how to be in a completely still position while riding a bicycle down the hill. He has learnt to balance himself and is riding his bicycle carefully down the hill.
(b) ‘Makes the lungs laugh, the throat cry’
Answer: It means that the boy is enjoying the ride and is extremely happy and excited.
Downhill On A Bicycle Questions & Answers
Question 6: Read and answer the questions:
(a) How does the speaker feel?
Answer: The speaker feels so happy that he wants to cry out with joy.
(b) What does he tell the bird?
Answer: He tells the bird that he too can fly.
Question 7: Read and answer the questions:
(a) What does the poet describe as ‘a golden moment’?
Answer: While riding the bicycle, the joy felt by the boy is described as ‘a golden moment’ by the poet.
(b) Why does he do so?
Answer: While riding the bicycle down the hill, the boy feels as if he is flying high like a bird. That’s why he refers to it as‘a golden moment’.
Question 8: Write the words from the poem having similar meanings to the following words:
Answer:
(a) Rush – dart
(b) Careful – heedful
(c) Well balanced – poised
(d) Fast – swift
Question 9: Read and answer the questions:
(a) What does the speaker ask the bird?
Answer: The speaker asks the bird if the bird too feels the same joy while flying, that the speaker feels while riding the bicycle down the hill.
(b) When does he ask this?
Answer: He asks this while riding down the hill.
(c) What does he share with the bird?
Answer: He shares a moment of the bird’s life while it is flying. He also shares the joy that the bird must be enjoying when it flies in the air.
Question 10: Was the rider rash while riding downhill? Why does the boy take his feet off the pedals while cycling downhill?
Answer: No, I don’t think so. He had his leg off the pedal because he knew that free-wheeling will help him to relax as he glides down the slope smoothly.
Question 11: What lesson do we learn from the poem?
Answer: We learnt that in order to enjoy even the simple joys in life we must make an effort to do it. The boy had to take the effort to go uphill so that he could enjoy his ride downhill.
So, these were Downhill On A Bicycle Questions & Answers.