English Language & Literature — CBSE Class 10 board question

Flying is natural for birds, but it still requires first-time effort and muscle use that the seagull had never experienced before. The young seagull had spent his entire life on the ledge, paralysed by fear. He believed his wings would never support him over the vast, terrifying expanse of the sea far below.

When he finally dived for the fish out of maddening hunger, his wings spread instinctively — but his body was completely unused to the physical strain. Having never flown before, his wing muscles were untrained. Combined with being weak and tired from hunger, the unfamiliar exertion of flapping and soaring left him completely exhausted by the time he landed on the sea.

Thus, fear delayed his flight, and the resulting inexperience made the exercise physically draining.

Source: His First Flight, Chapter 3

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• The examiner expects two linked ideas: (1) the seagull's fear kept him from flying, so he had no practice, and (2) the first actual flight used muscles he had never exercised, exhausting him further due to hunger.
• Quote or closely paraphrase the text: "he was tired and weak with hunger…exhausted by the strange exercise."
• Do not write about the story beyond what's needed — stick to fear + inexperience + physical exhaustion as the three threads.
• "Strange exercise" is the key phrase — examiners want you to explain why it was "strange" (because it was his first time using those muscles).