12th Standard Supplementary Reader Textbook - Vistas. Lesson No 3: Journey to the end of the Earth - Tishani Doshi. Glossary, Summary, Qu...
12th Standard Supplementary Reader Textbook - Vistas.
Lesson No 3: Journey to the end of the Earth - Tishani Doshi.
Glossary, Summary, Questions and Answers.
Glossary -
If you want to know more about the planet's past, present,
and future, Antarctica is the place to go. Bon Voyage!
1. Ecospheres -An ecosphere is a planetary contained ecological system.
2. Horizon -the line where the earth and the sky appear to meet.
3. Amalgamated - a mixture, to join together to form a single organization or group.
4. Flora and Fauna - flowers and animals.
5. Mammals - an animal that births live babies, not eggs. ( Whales, dogs, and humans are mammals)
6. Cordilleran folds - a group of parallel mountain ranges.
7. Pre-Cambrian granite shields -an ancient geological formation composed of granite rocks.
8. Drake Passage a strait that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
9. Frigid - dull.
10. Desolate - lonely.
11. Devoid - without something.
12. Billboards - an advertising board.
13. Midges and mites - insects and spiders.
14. Austral - southern.
15. Ubiquitous - common.
16. Calving - to brake.
17. Consecrates -spiritual.
18. Prognosis - opinion, prediction.
19. Paltry - too small to be considered.
20. Ruckus - noisy.
21. Battling -to fight.
22. Unmitigated -absolute, unqualified.
23. Pristine - original.
24. Carting -to carry.
25. Blase - indifferent.
26. Repercussions -bad effect.
27. Phytoplankton - marine algae.
28. Wondrous - beautiful.
29. Parable - a short story.
30. Epiphanies -understanding experience.
31. Peninsula - an island.
32. Gangplank - a movable bridge for boarding or leaving a ship.
33. Gore-Tex - a waterproof polythene material.
34. Revelation - disclosure.
35. Mammoths - very big.
36. Wooly rhinos - coelodonta antiquitatis, an extinct species of rhinoceros.
Summary - The lesson," Journey to the end of the Earth" is a real experience of the writer and narrator, who got an opportunity to be a part of the journey to the most isolated continent of the Earth, Antarctica by the Russian vessel under the program, " The Akademik Shokalskiy' headed by Canadian Geoff Green along with 52 school students.
In her experience, she stated that it took 100 hours to reach in combination with a car, an airplane, and a ship, and narrated her feelings and emotions when they set foot on a huge white land mass. She further added that how today's world and Antarctica were the same continent but with time they got separated into different countries. Also, Antarctica is the only continent present on the earth in its pure form because of no human interference, but whatever is happening in the world, like global warming, climate change and its effects can be seen, observed, and studied in the carbon layers that trapped in the ice layers of the continent.
She also gave the reference of,' Phytoplankton', a seagrass that plays an important role in the food web of the marine ecosystems, but further depletion of the ozone layer will hamper its performance, and said that the reason behind carrying school students to Antarctica is that they are future policymakers.
So, the moral of her journey with school students to Antarctica is that if we want to study the past, present, and future of Earth, Antarctica is the place to visit.
Read and find out - ( Page. No. 19)
1. How do geological phenomena help us to know about the history of humankind?
Ans - Changes in the earth's geological pattern always guide us about the history of humankind. About 650 million years ago, the supercontinent Gondwana existed in the center of present-day Antarctica. Then the landmasses were forced to separate into countries. From this phenomenon we can understand the significance of ozone and carbon evolution and extinction, and where exactly we are heading.
Read and find out - ( Page. No. 20)
1. What are the indications for the future of humankind?
Ans - Human civilizations have always dominated nature, huge population requirements lead to cutting down forests, making cities, and megacities, and burning huge amounts of fossil fuel, thus generating a blanket of carbon dioxide around the world, rapidly melting ice glaciers, depletion of the ozone layer, increasing sea water level, unpredicted climate change pattern, global warming is the solid but dangerous indicators, that shows the dark future of humankind.
If we do not consider these indicators seriously, it will be a very dark future for humankind.
Reading with Insight -
1. " The world's geological history is trapped in Antarctica".How is the study of this region useful to us?
Ans -Antarctica holds half a million-year-old carbon track records in its layers of ice. It gives us an understanding of evolution and extinction, ozone and carbon, meaning if we visit Antarctica and study the resources available in Antarctica, we can understand, what exactly happened in the past, how the landmasses divided and formed different countries, and where exactly we are heading. So, the Continent Antarctica is like a mirror where we can see reflections of past, present, and future.
2. What are Geoff Green's reasons for including high school students in the Students on Ice expedition?
Ans - Initially, when Geoff Green started Shokaskiy, he used to carry celebrities, who were merely curiosity seekers who could only give back in a limited way, then he started carting school-going students to Antarctica because he believed that students are future policymakers, and if they get such life-changing experience they definitely they would absorb, learn, and most importantly, act for the sake of our planet.
3. " Take care of the small things and the big things will take care of themselves". What is the relevance of this statement in the context of the Antarctic Environment?
Ans - By the above statement, the writer gave an example of tall grass,' Phytoplankton' that lies at the bottom of the ocean, and with the help of sunlight and the procedure of photosynthesis makes food on which the whole marine ecosystem depends, that is it acts as an important part of the food chain. But further depletion of the ozone layer in the future would badly affect the working of these plants and the whole food web would be disturbed. Though Phytoplankton is a small kind of seagrass, it plays a vital role in maintaining the food-web, and ecosystem. So, the writer said, " Take care of the small things and the big things will take care of themselves".
4. Why is Antarctica the place to go to, to understand the earth's past, present, and future?
Ans - Antarctica is the only place in the world, that has never sustained either human interference or population, so even today, it remains in its pure form, at the same time it holds in its ice cores half-million-year-old carbon records trapped in its layers of ice. Also, by visiting and studying Antarctica, we can imagine what would have happened in the past, and how the landmasses are divided, therefore we can say that, if we want to study and examine the Earth's past, present, and future, Antarctica is the place to go.
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