Class 11 English 2024 Edition www.tntextbooks.in · Section 120

Reading Note‒taking It is very essential for everyone to know how to take notes while listening. This is a skill involving listening and writing. Notes are commonly taken during an oral discussion at a meeting, or a lecture (notes of a meeting are usually called minutes), in order to keep track of what was said, what happened or what decisions were taken. As and when your teacher teaches, take notes and jot them down for future reference. Given below are steps for effective note–taking. STEP : Take and keep notes in a large, loose-leaf notebook; use only one side of the paper. STEP : Sit close to the source, if you can. There are fewer distractions and it is easier to hear, see and attend to important details. STEP : Be selective; don’t try to write down everything you hear, for that is not possible always. STEP : Write legibly and use abbreviations. STEP : Identify general ideas and listen for cues. Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow: The Stationmaster’s Supreme Sacrifice by Sanchari Pal (Adapted) . Thirty-three years ago, on the night of December , , Bhopal was hit by a catastrophe that had no parallel in the world’s industrial history. An accident at the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal had released almost tons of a highly toxic gas called methyl isocyanate, turning the city into a vast gas chamber. The result was a nightmare; more than , people were exposed to the deadly gas cloud that left thousands dead and many more breathless, blind and in agonizing pain. Few people know that during the Bhopal gas tragedy a heroic stationmaster risked his own life to save others. . On the evening of December , , Ghulam Dastagir was settling down in his office to complete some pending paperwork. This work kept him in his office till 1am in the night, when he emerged to check the arrival of the Gorakhpur Mumbai Express. As he stepped on to the platform, the deputy stationmaster felt his eyes burn and a queer itching sensation in his throat. He did not know that poisonous fumes leaking from Union Carbide’s pesticide factory were stealthily enveloping the railway station. . Beginning to choke, Dastagir did not know then that twenty-three of his railway colleagues, including his boss, station superintendent Harish Dhurve, had already died. It was later reported that Dhurve had heard about the deadly gas and had immediately tried stopping -A-Prose-Tight - - :