Unseen Passage for Class 4: The Fair Comes to Town

  • 183 words
  • 5 questions
  • Ages 9–10
  • With answers

Leo reads the passage out loud and highlights each word, then asks whether your child would like to try the questions. Free, no sign-up.

Read the passage

The fair arrived in the second week of November and set up on the empty ground behind the bus depot. For three days there were lights strung between poles, the smell of frying jalebis, and a giant wheel that could be seen from the main road.

Rohan had saved forty rupees over two months. He walked around the whole fair twice before spending any of it, because he knew that once it was gone it was gone.

At the far end, away from the noise, an old man sat behind a table of wooden toys he had carved himself — elephants, tops, and small birds whose wings moved when you pulled a string. There was no crowd at his table at all.

Rohan spent thirty rupees on a wooden bird. His friends, who had gone on the giant wheel twice, asked him why he had wasted his money on that.

He did not really have an answer for them. But a year later the bird still sat on his shelf, and the giant wheel had long since moved on to some other town.

Questions

  1. Where was the fair set up?

    1. In the school ground
    2. On the empty ground behind the bus depot
    3. On the main road
    4. Near the river

  2. Why did Rohan walk around the whole fair twice before buying anything?

    1. He was looking for his friends
    2. He was lost
    3. He had little money and wanted to spend it carefully
    4. He was waiting for the lights to come on

  3. What does it tell us that there was no crowd at the old man's table?

    1. His toys were badly made
    2. Most people were drawn to the noisier, brighter attractions
    3. He had arrived late
    4. His table was closed

  4. Why does the writer mention the bird a year later?

    1. To show that Rohan had forgotten about it
    2. To show that Rohan's choice lasted while his friends' rides did not
    3. To explain how wooden toys are made
    4. To show that the fair returned

  5. In the passage, "wasted" is used by Rohan's friends to mean he —

    1. lost his money
    2. spent his money on something they thought had no value
    3. gave his money away
    4. spent too little

Answers

Show the answer key
  1. On the empty ground behind the bus depotThe passage says it set up on the empty ground behind the bus depot.
  2. He had little money and wanted to spend it carefullyHe had saved forty rupees over two months and knew that once it was gone it was gone.
  3. Most people were drawn to the noisier, brighter attractionsHis table was "at the far end, away from the noise". The fair's lights and rides pulled the crowd elsewhere.
  4. To show that Rohan's choice lasted while his friends' rides did notThe last line contrasts the bird still on the shelf with the giant wheel that has moved on. That contrast is the writer's whole point.
  5. spent his money on something they thought had no valueHis friends valued the rides. To them, money spent on a wooden bird was money thrown away — though the writer suggests they were wrong.

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