Unseen Passage for Class 4: The Night the Lights Went Out

  • 177 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 power went out at half past seven, right in the middle of Ananya's favourite programme. The fan slowed and stopped. The flat went completely dark and unusually quiet.

Ananya groaned. Her mother lit two candles and set them on the dining table, and her father carried the mattress up to the terrace because the rooms had already begun to feel like an oven.

They lay on their backs on the terrace. Without the street lights and the glow of screens, the sky was not black at all — it was crowded. Ananya had never seen so many stars over their own building.

Her father pointed out Saptarishi, the seven sages, and told her that sailors once crossed whole oceans with nothing but those seven stars to steer by. Her mother remembered power cuts from her own childhood, when the whole colony would come out and sit on the steps together.

The lights came back at half past nine. Nobody moved for a while. Then Ananya said, quietly, that she hoped it would happen again next week.

Questions

  1. At what time did the power go out?

    1. Half past six
    2. Half past seven
    3. Half past eight
    4. Half past nine

  2. Why did Ananya's father carry the mattress to the terrace?

    1. To sleep early
    2. Because the rooms had become very hot without the fan
    3. To clean the room
    4. Because the terrace was cooler in winter

  3. Why could Ananya see so many stars that night?

    1. It was a special night for stars
    2. The terrace was very high
    3. The street lights and screens were off, so the sky was darker
    4. She had never looked up before

  4. What did the sailors use Saptarishi for?

    1. To tell the time
    2. To find their way across the oceans
    3. To predict the weather
    4. To count the days

  5. How had Ananya's feelings changed by the end of the passage?

    1. She was still annoyed about her programme
    2. She was frightened of the dark
    3. She had begun to enjoy the power cut and wanted another one
    4. She was sleepy and wanted to go inside

Answers

Show the answer key
  1. Half past sevenThe passage opens by saying the power went out at half past seven.
  2. Because the rooms had become very hot without the fanWith the fan stopped, the rooms "had already begun to feel like an oven", so the terrace was cooler.
  3. The street lights and screens were off, so the sky was darkerThe passage says that without the street lights and the glow of screens, the sky was crowded with stars.
  4. To find their way across the oceansHer father said sailors crossed whole oceans with those seven stars to steer by.
  5. She had begun to enjoy the power cut and wanted another oneShe groaned at the start but said at the end that she hoped it would happen again next week.

Use your child's own textbook

Photograph any page from your child's school book — CBSE, ICSE or any state board — and BrainyLeo turns it into a passage Leo reads aloud, followed by questions written for Class 4.

📸 Try it with your book