WBBSE | Blossoms | Midnight Express Question Answer Class 8 | Lesson 11 | Best Activity Question Answer | WBBSE Solutions for Class 8 English. It is essential for young learners to build a strong foundation in the subject, and Midnight express Class 8 Questions and Answers English Solutions WBBSE, Understanding the Chapter Thoroughly, helps students grasp key concepts, improve comprehension, and perform well in exams. Also, we (thinksphereedu.com) provide Midnight Express Class 8 Bengali Meaning and Midnight Express Summary Class 8.
Midnight Express by Alfred Noyes is a lesson of Textbook Blossoms approved by West Bengal Board of Secondary Education for the Students of Class 8. Here all the Activity Questions are done by English teachers.
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Midnight Express Question Answer Solutions | Class 8 English Lesson 11 Question Answer | WBBSE
Midnight Express Summary Class 8 in English
The tale entitled “Midnight Express” narrates the life of a boy called Mortimer, who by the age of twelve discovers an ancient, shabby book with red leather cover in his father’s library. Mortimer’s curiosity is piqued and he begins to read it night by night by the light of a candle. The tale of “Midnight Express” is encased in the book. A drawing of an unoccupied railway station bathed in dull yellow light, man in solitude facing the dark tunnel can be found on the fiftieth page. Mortimer feels fear from the picture for some reason and never continues further than that page.
Many years later, when Mortimer has reached the age of adult, he finds himself to be at a deserted railway station at midnight. The spot looks precisely like the one from the picture – the same feeble lamp and the same pitch-black tunnel. Mortimer is terrified to see a figure under the lamp – the same person as in the illustration. As he gets closer, he gets even more surprised than before when he finds that the man has his own face. In fear, Mortimer flees along the illuminated path, hearing steps that are following him.
He manages to run for a while until he comes to a little white house and he knocks on the door in a panic. A vague figure opens the door and without a word shows him upstairs to the room where a fire is lit. On the table next to the armchair is the same old red book, “Midnight Express.” Mortimer takes it and starts reading. The narration tells about a guy who after a lapse of time comes back to the book reading his childhood – precisely what happened with Mortimer.
Just then, the shadowy host comes back. The candlelight wavers, creating huge shadows. When the man comes closer, Mortimer gazes at his face – and recognizes it to be his own once again. The clock ticks below, the sea roars outside, and the story wraps up, leaving the reader with a feeling of mystery and fear.
It is an odd and ghostly tale of destiny, terror, and a frighteningly similar sequence of events.
Midnight Express Summary Class 8 in Bengali
“মিডনাইট এক্সপ্রেস” শিরোনামের গল্পটি মর্টিমার নামে এক বালকের জীবন বর্ণনা করে, যে বারো বছর বয়সে তার বাবার লাইব্রেরিতে লাল চামড়ার মোড়কযুক্ত একটি প্রাচীন, জীর্ণ বই আবিষ্কার করে। মর্টিমারের কৌতূহল জাগ্রত হয় এবং সে রাতের বেলা মোমবাতির আলোয় এটি পড়তে শুরু করে। “মিডনাইট এক্সপ্রেস” গল্পটি বইটিতে আবদ্ধ। পঞ্চাশতম পৃষ্ঠায় একটি খালি রেলস্টেশনের একটি অঙ্কন পাওয়া যায়, যেখানে অন্ধকার সুড়ঙ্গের দিকে মুখ করে একাকী বসে আছে। মর্টিমার কোনও কারণে ছবিটি দেখে ভয় পান এবং সেই পৃষ্ঠার বেশি আর এগোতে পারেন না।
অনেক বছর আগে, যখন মর্টিমার প্রাপ্তবয়স্ক হয়ে ওঠে, তখন তিনি নিজেকে মধ্যরাতে একটি নির্জন রেলস্টেশনে দেখতে পান। জায়গাটি অবিকল ছবির মতোই দেখাচ্ছে – একই দুর্বল বাতি এবং একই কালো সুড়ঙ্গ। মর্টিমার প্রদীপের নীচে একটি ব্যক্তিকে দেখে ভয় পান – চিত্রে যেমন ব্যক্তি ছিলেন। যত কাছে আসে, ততই সে আগের চেয়ে আরও অবাক হয়ে যায় যখন সে দেখতে পায় যে লোকটির নিজস্ব মুখ আছে। ভয়ে, মর্টিমার আলোকিত পথ ধরে পালিয়ে যায়, তার পিছু পিছু আসা পদক্ষেপগুলি শুনতে পায়।
সে কিছুক্ষণ দৌড়াতে সক্ষম হয় যতক্ষণ না সে একটি ছোট সাদা বাড়িতে পৌঁছায় এবং আতঙ্কে দরজায় কড়া নাড়ে। একটি অস্পষ্ট চিত্র দরজা খুলে দেয় এবং কোনও শব্দ না করে তাকে উপরের তলায় সেই ঘরে দেখায় যেখানে আগুন জ্বলছে। আর্মচেয়ারের পাশের টেবিলে সেই পুরানো লাল বই, “মিডনাইট এক্সপ্রেস”। মর্টিমার বইটি নিয়ে পড়তে শুরু করে। বর্ণনায় এমন একজন ব্যক্তির কথা বলা হয়েছে যে কিছুক্ষণ পরে তার শৈশব পড়ার বইটিতে ফিরে আসে – ঠিক মর্টিমারের সাথে যা ঘটেছিল।
ঠিক তখনই, ছায়াময় উপস্থাপক ফিরে আসে। মোমবাতির আলো দোলা দেয়, বিশাল ছায়া তৈরি করে। লোকটি যখন কাছে আসে, মর্টিমার তার মুখের দিকে তাকায় – এবং আবারও চিনতে পারে যে এটি তার নিজের। ঘড়ির কাঁটা নীচে টিকটিক করে, বাইরে সমুদ্র গর্জন করে, এবং গল্পটি শেষ হয়, পাঠকের মধ্যে রহস্য এবং ভয়ের অনুভূতি জাগিয়ে তোলে।
এটি নিয়তি, আতঙ্ক এবং একই রকমের ঘটনার এক অদ্ভুত এবং ভৌতিক গল্প।
Activity 1 (Midnight Express Question Answer Class 8)
Tick the correct alternative:
(i) Mortimer found the book (a) at a friend’s place (b)in a book fair (c) in his father’s library
Answer: Mortimer found the book (c) in his father’s library
(ii) The illustration on the page showed (a) a vast sea (b) an empty railway platform (c)a dark library room
Answer: The illustration on the page showed (b) an empty railway platform
(iii) Mortimer was able to read up to (a) page fifty of the book (b) the last page of the book (c) page fifty five of the book
Answer: Mortimer was able to read up to (a) page fifty of the book
(iv) Here Midnight Express is (a) an express train (b) a railway station (c) a book
Answer: Here Midnight Express is (c) a book
Activity 2 (Midnight Express Question Answer Class 8)
Rearrange the following sentences in the correct order and put the numbers in the given boxes:
- As a young man, Mortimer was waiting for a train in an empty junction.
- Mortimer found a battered old book.
- He started to read the story by candle light.
- Mortimer stopped at page fifty while reading the story.
- The illustration of the story frightened Mortimer every time.
- Mortimer was fascinated by the battered old book.
Answer:
- Mortimer found a battered old book. [ 1️⃣ ]
- Mortimer was fascinated by the battered old book. [ 2️⃣ ]
- He started to read the story by candle light. [ 3️⃣ ]
- Mortimer stopped at page fifty while reading the story. [ 4️⃣ ]
- The illustration of the story frightened Mortimer every time. [ 5️⃣ ]
- As a young man, Mortimer was waiting for a train in an empty junction. [ 6️⃣ ]
Activity 3 (Midnight Express Question Answer Class 8)
Answer the following question :
Why do you think Mortimer never read beyond page fifty of the book?
Answer: Mortimer never read beyond page fifty of the book because the illustration on that page deeply frightened him. It showed a lonely railway platform at night with a single man standing under a dim yellow lamp, facing the dark tunnel. Though he couldn’t explain why, the picture gave him a strange sense of fear and unease, so he stopped reading further.
Activity 4 (Midnight Express Question Answer Class 8)
Complete the following sentences with information from the text:
(a) Mortimer noticed in the lamp light ____________
Answer: Mortimer noticed in the lamp light a dark and solitary figure he knew.
(b) The solitary figure faced _______________
Answer: The solitary figure faced the black mouth of a tunnel.
c) Walking towards the figure Mortimer _____________
Answer: Walking towards the figure Mortimer looked into its face and was shocked to see his own face.
(d) The shadowy figure stood __________
Answer: The shadowy figure stood before Mortimer in the candlelight.
Activity 5 (Midnight Express Question Answer Class 8)
Answer the following questions:
(a) When had Mortimer seen the ‘dark and solitary figure’ in his childhood?
Answer: Mortimer had seen the dark and solitary figure in his childhood on page fifty of the battered old book, in the illustration that showed a man standing alone on a railway platform at night.
(b) “Mortimer was shocked”- When was Mortimer shocked and why?
Answer: Mortimer was shocked when he walked up to the dark figure at the railway station and looked into its face, realizing that he was staring into his own face.
(c) What was “steadily gaining” on Mortimer as he stumbled out of the platform?
Answer: The echo of his own footsteps was steadily gaining on Mortimer as he stumbled out of the platform and ran down the moonlit road.
Activity 6 (Midnight Express Question Answer Class 8)
Write ‘T’ for true and ‘F’ for false statements in the given boxes. Give supporting statements for each of your answers:
(a) Mortimer found the old battered book on the armchair. [ F ❌ ]
Supporting Statement: The battered old book was lying on a small oak table beside the armchair.
(b) Mortimer realized that the book was the same one which he had read in his childhood. [ T ✔️ ]
Supporting Statement: He realized with a shock that it was the same book from his childhood which contained the story of “Midnight Express.”
b [ F ❌ ]
Supporting Statement: Mortimer was greatly afraid and filled with acute dread.
(d) In the flickering candlelight, the host was seen standing by the table. [ T ✔️ ]
Supporting Statement: The candle on the table cast huge shadows on the walls, and the shadowy figure stood before Mortimer.
Activity 7 (Midnight Express Question Answer Class 8)
Answer the following questions:
(a) To where did Mortimer follow the shadowy figure?
Answer: Mortimer followed the shadowy figure up the creaking stairs to an upper room where a bright fire was burning.
(b) Why do you think Mortimer’s hands trembled when he turned the pages of the book?
Answer: Mortimer’s hands trembled because he was greatly afraid after realizing that the book was the same one he had read in his childhood and that the events from the story were happening to him in real life.
(c) “Mortimer tried to grasp the strange cycle of events he was going through”- what was the strange cycle of events?
Answer: The strange cycle of events was that Mortimer was now living the same story he had once read as a child the book described a man who had read a frightening story in his childhood, just like Mortimer himself.
(d) Do you think the strange incidents that happened to Mortimer would not have occurred if he had not read the book?
Answer: Yes, it seems the strange incidents would not have occurred if Mortimer had not read the book, because everything that happened to him was connected to the story of “Midnight Express” which began when he first opened the book in his childhood.
Activity 8(a) (Midnight Express Question Answer Class 8)
In the following sentences, underline the verb forms which show that the person denoted by the Subject is doing something. Circle the verb forms which show that something is being done to the person denoted by the Subject:
- I am writing a letter.
- A letter is being written by me.
- The gatekeeper was opening the gate.
- The gate was being opened by the gatekeeper.
Answer:
- I am writing a letter.
- A letter is being written by me.
- The gatekeeper was opening the gate.
- The gate was being opened by the gatekeeper.
Activity 8(b) (Midnight Express Question Answer Class 8)
Identify the voice of the following sentences and fill in the chart given below:
- The artist is painting a picture.
- A song is being sung by Shiela.
- The boy was flying a kite.
- Football was being played by the children.
Answer:
| Active Voice | Passive Voice |
|---|---|
| The artist is painting a picture. | A song is being sung by Shiela. |
| The boy was flying a kite. | Football was being played by the children. |
Activity 8(c) (Midnight Express Question Answer Class 8)
Match column A with column B:
Answer:
| A | B |
|---|---|
| (i) Mother is cooking food for us. | (c) Food is being cooked by mother for us. |
| (ii) Father is baking a cake. | (d) A cake is being baked by father. |
| (iii) The children were planting trees. | (a) Trees were being planted by the children. |
| (iv) The students were learning a lesson. | (b) A lesson was being learnt by the students. |
Activity 8(d) (Midnight Express Question Answer Class 8)
Change the voice of the following sentences:
(a) The girl is watching a film.
Answer: A film is being watched by the girl.
(b) Rahul is driving a car.
Answer: A car is being driven by Rahul.
(c) The author was writing a novel.
Answer: A novel was being written by the author.
(d) The man was buying vegetables.
Answer: Vegetables were being bought by the man.
Activity 9 (Midnight Express Question Answer Class 8)
Find words in the passage which mean the following:
(a) a passage built underground to allow a railway / bus to go through a hill.
Answer: Tunnel
(b) to be very afraid of something
Answer: Dread
(c) shaking of the body
Answer: Trembled
(d) the sound that a door sometimes makes when we open it
Answer: Creaking
Activity 10(a) (Midnight Express Question Answer Class 8)
Suppose you find yourself alone in a railway station at night. Write a paragraph in about eighty words describing your experience.
Answer:
Last night, I found myself alone at a deserted railway station. The air was cold, and the only sound was the distant whistle of a train. The dim yellow lamps flickered, casting long shadows on the empty platform. I could hear the rustle of leaves and the soft echo of my own footsteps. The waiting room was silent, and every creak or movement made my heart race. It was an eerie yet unforgettable experience of loneliness and fear.
Activity 10(b) (Midnight Express Question Answer Class 8)
Write an imaginary conversation between you and your friend discussing the advantages of visiting a library regularly.
Answer:
Riya: Hey Subhendu! I saw you coming out of the library yesterday. Do you go there often?
Subhendu: Yes, I try to visit the library at least twice a week. It’s a great habit!
Riya: Really? What’s so special about going to the library when we can find everything online?
Subhendu: Well, the library has a peaceful atmosphere. It helps me concentrate better. Also, reading books there improves my knowledge and vocabulary.
Riya: That’s true. And we can also borrow books without spending money.
Subhendu: Exactly! Plus, visiting the library regularly develops discipline and a love for reading.
Riya: You’re right, Subhendu. I think I’ll start visiting the library regularly too!
Midnight Express Class 8 Extra Question Answer Solutions | Class 8 English Lesson 11 Question Answer | WBBSE
Midnight Express Short Answer Type Questions
1. Who found the battered old book?
Answer: Mortimer found the battered old book in his father’s library.
2. What was the book bound in?
Answer: The book was bound in red leather.
3. At what age did Mortimer find the book?
Answer: Mortimer found the book when he was twelve years old.
4. What was the title of the story in the book?
Answer: The story was called “Midnight Express.”
5. What did the illustration on page fifty show?
Answer: It showed an empty railway platform at night lit by a dull yellow lamp, with a man facing a dark tunnel.
6. Why did Mortimer stop reading the book?
Answer: He stopped reading because the illustration on page fifty frightened him.
7. Where was Mortimer waiting one night as a young man?
Answer: He was waiting for a train at a dark, empty junction.
8. What did Mortimer notice in the lamp light at the junction?
Answer: He noticed a dark and solitary figure that looked familiar.
9. Whose face did Mortimer see when he went near the figure?
Answer: He saw his own face.
10. What sound did Mortimer hear as he ran away?
Answer: He heard the echo of his own footsteps following him.
Midnight Express Question Answer Class 8
11. Where did Mortimer seek shelter?
Answer: He sought shelter in a small white cottage.
12. Who opened the door of the cottage?
Answer: A shadowy figure holding a candle opened the door.
13. What did Mortimer see on the oak table in the upper room?
Answer: He saw the same battered old book bound in red leather.
14. What was the story in the book about?
Answer: It was about a man who had read a frightening book in his childhood.
15. Why did Mortimer’s hands tremble while turning the pages?
Answer: Because he was afraid and realized that the events of the story were happening to him.
16. Who was the shadowy figure in the end?
Answer: The shadowy figure was Mortimer himself.
17. What sounds were heard at the end of the story?
Answer: The clock ticking in the hall and the sea roaring outside.
18. What emotions did Mortimer feel throughout the story?
Answer: Fear, confusion, and dread.
19. What created the strange cycle of events?
Answer: Mortimer’s childhood reading of “Midnight Express” and his later experience repeating the same story.
20. What is the main theme of the story?
Answer: The story explores fear, mystery, and the strange connection between imagination and reality.
Midnight Express Long Answer Type Questions
1. Describe how Mortimer first discovered the book and what impression it made on him.
Answer: When Mortimer was twelve, he found a battered old book bound in red leather in his father’s library. He began reading it at night by candlelight. The book contained a story titled “Midnight Express.” On page fifty, he saw a frightening illustration of a lonely railway platform, which filled him with fear. Though he didn’t understand why, the image haunted him and he never read beyond that page.
2. Describe the events that happened to Mortimer at the railway station.
Answer: As a young man, Mortimer was waiting at a deserted station around midnight. Under a dim yellow lamp, he saw a dark figure facing a tunnel — the same scene from his childhood book. When he moved closer, he was horrified to see his own face. Terrified, he ran away, hearing footsteps chasing him through the night.
3. What happened when Mortimer entered the white cottage?
Answer: Mortimer ran to a small white cottage seeking shelter. A shadowy figure silently led him upstairs to a room with a bright fire. On a table lay the same red leather book. Mortimer picked it up and began to read, realizing that the story inside described his own life. Soon the shadowy figure returned, and when Mortimer looked up, he saw his own face again.
4. Explain the meaning of the “strange cycle of events” Mortimer experienced.
Answer:The “strange cycle of events” refers to how Mortimer’s real life repeated the events of the book he had read as a child. The book described a man who had read a story in his childhood that later came true — exactly what happened to Mortimer, trapping him in a mysterious, endless loop between fiction and reality.
5. Discuss the atmosphere and mood created in the story “Midnight Express.”
Answer: The story creates a dark, eerie, and suspenseful atmosphere. The descriptions of candlelight, ticking clocks, roaring sea, and empty railway platforms add to the feeling of loneliness and fear. The repetition of sounds and shadows heightens the tension. The mood remains mysterious and haunting, leaving readers with a sense of unease and wonder about the supernatural events surrounding Mortimer.