69. Reading Skills Comprehension: Superman

SUPERMAN

Read the passage and answer the following questions:-

On Sunday, October 10, 2004, actor Christopher Reeve died. He was 52 years old. But this superhero will live on in the memory of children all over the world. Christopher Reeve, despite his handsome looks and great physique, was not the first choice for the role of Superman. Many famous actors passed over the role as they felt it would be `typecast’. Reeve took on the role and the movie hit the theatres in the late 1970s. The movie banner proclaimed, “See it and you will believe a man can fly!” The audience agreed.

As Superman’s popularity grew, toy merchants began selling Superman underpants and vests in department stores all across North America. Kids wore these, donned blue capes, ran around their houses and imagined they were flying! The influence was so strong that people living on the upper floors of apartment buildings, kept their doors and windows closed fearing that children might try to fly. Children needed no urging to believe that he was the last son of Krypton.

The Superman movie and its three sequels were so popular that children demanded Superman figures, lunch boxes, thermoses, costumes and capes. Never before had the movie industry witnessed such a phenomenon. If Christopher Reeve was a hero on the silver screen, he proved to be a bigger hero off-screen. He miraculously survived a riding accident in 1995. But he was paralysed from below the neck and was confined to the wheelchair.

But Christopher Reeve refused to be defeated. He vowed to walk again and, more importantly, set up the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, which has raised millions of dollars to help all those confined to wheelchairs. Christopher Reeve will always be celebrated for the life he lived. It is important that we keep his memory alive by supporting the causes he believed in.

(1) (a) Why did many famous actors not accept the role of Superman?

(b) What physical qualities did Christopher Reeve possess?

(d) What was the fear of the people living on the upper floors?

(2) (a) What is meant by the word `sequel’? (Para 3)

(i) a movie (ii) a serial (iii) a continuation of the same (iv) an episode

(b) What does the word ‘restricted’ mean? (Para 3)

(ii) disappointed (iii) confined 1 (i) defeated (iv) criticized

(i) survived (ii) witnessed (iii) proved (iv) paralysed

(d) Find the word in the passage opposite in meaning to ‘accepted’? (Para 4)

(i) defeated (ii) celebrated (iii) refused (iv) vowed

Answers :

(1) (a) Many famous actors did not accept the role of Superman fearing that they would be `typecast’ in the role.

(b) Christopher Reeve was handsome and had a great physique.

(c) Toy merchants started selling Superman underpants and vests all across North America. Also, Superman figures, lunch boxes, thermoses, costumes and capes sold like hot cakes.

(d) They were afraid that their children might try to fly and kept their doors and windows closed.

(2) (a) (iii) a continuation of the same (b) (iii) confined

Download the above Passage in PDF (Printable)