KSEEB Class 9 · English (1st language) · KTBS Revised 2024-25
Ethics
Chapter summary, hard words and model exam answers for Karnataka Board Class 9 English.
Free online summary and notes (Karnataka Board Class 9 English). Read it here, no PDF download needed.
About the author
Linda Pastan (1932–2023) was an American poet whose work often examines domestic life and moral choice. "Ethics" recalls a classroom question about saving a Rembrandt painting or an old woman from a fire, then shifts to a real test - a fallen coin on the sidewalk. Pastan shows ethics is lived, not merely debated.
Summary
Teacher asks: if a museum burns, save an old woman or a Rembrandt masterpiece?
Teacher asks: if a museum burns, save an old woman or a Rembrandt masterpiece?
Pupils take turns giving clever responses - art versus life, value versus price.
Pupils take turns giving clever responses - art versus life, value versus price.
Even then the speaker feels answers were too easy, too theoretical.
Even then the speaker feels answers were too easy, too theoretical.
Memory of the question remains while real life presents smaller tests.
Memory of the question remains while real life presents smaller tests.
The poet sees money on the ground and picks it up to return it.
The poet sees money on the ground and picks it up to return it.
The closing act proves ethics is not what we say in class but what we do unnoticed.
The closing act proves ethics is not what we say in class but what we do unnoticed.
Hard words & meanings
| dilemma | a situation requiring choice between two difficult options |
| masterpiece | an outstanding creative work - here a Rembrandt painting |
| theoretical | concerned with ideas rather than practical action |
| rotate | to alternate in sequence |
| abstract | existing as idea rather than physical reality |
| integrity | honesty and strong principles in action |
| sidewalk | walkway beside a street |
| virtue | behaviour showing high ethical standards |
| performance | doing something to impress rather than from conviction |
Model exam answers, grammar & audio
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