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Question
Read the extract give below and answer the questions that follow:
All around the field spectators were gathered Cheeril!g on all the young women and men Then the final event of the day was approaching The last race about the beginning.
- Nine Gold Medals, David Roth
(i) Where had the 'young women and men' come from? What had brought them together? How had they prepared themselves for the event?
(ii) What was the last event of the day? How many athletes were participating in this event? What signal were they waiting for?
(iii) What happened to the youngest athlete halfway through the race? How did he respond?
(iv) What 'strange' tum did the story take at this point?
(v) Why does the poet say that the banner - 'Special Olympics' could not have been nearer the mark? What human quality does the poem celebrate?
Solution
(i) The ‘young women and men’ had come in front to different countries to participate in various sports events. They were fired with the longing to win a medal – gold, silver or bronze. As the international event is very prestigious, every participant had put in a lot of preparation and practice. No one wanted to spare any pains for winning a medal – gold, silver or bronze.
(ii) The last event of the day was the hundred-meter race. Nine young athletes were participating in this event. They were well-poised, waiting for the pistol shot as a starting signal.
(iii) The youngest athlete who was weaker could not run. His legs gave in and he fell on the track. He was distressed and gave out a cry in frustration because his hard work had come to nothing.
(iv) The remaining eight contestants stopped and looked back at their fallen companions. They were expected not to stop but to continue the race. But a ‘strange’ thing happened. They all turned around and come back to the fallen athlete. They lifted him to his feet.
(v) The banner ‘Special Olympics’ meant Olympics for the differently-abled persons turned to be significant. ‘The Special Olympics’ became really special when each participant was declared to be the winner and awarded a gold medal.
The poem celebrates the human quality of true sportsmanship and empathy for the fallen athlete. We should be able to understand the feelings of another person from his point of view and be ready to mitigate his pain and sorrow.
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Thinking about the Poem
Do you think that the old lady would have been so ungenerous if she had known who Saint Peter really was? What would she have done then?
The black man's face bespoke revenge
As the fire passed from his sight.
For all he saw in his stick of wood
Was a chance to spite the white.
The last man of this forlorn group
Did nought except for gain.
Giving only to those who gave
Was how he played the game.
Their logs held tight in death's still hands
Was proof of human sin.
They didn't die from the cold without
They died from the cold within.
Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow.
Analyse the title and whether it is appropriate.
Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An angel writing in a book of gold:-
Read the lines given above and answer the following question.
What was Abou dreaming about?
Then there it lay in her wet palm, perfect, even pierced ready for use, with the sunset shuffled about inside it like gold—?dust. All her heart went up in flames of joy. After a bit she twisted it into the top of her skirt against her tummy so she would know if it burst through the poor cloth and fell. Then she picked up her fork and sickle and the heavy grass and set off home. Ai! Ai! What a day! Her barefeet smudged out the wriggle— ?mark of snakes in the dust; there was the thin singing of malaria mosquitoes among the trees now; and this track was much used at night by a morose old makna elephant—the Tuskless One; but Sibia was not thinking of any of them. The stars came out: she did not notice. On the way back she met her mother, out of breath, come to look for her, and scolding. “I did not see till I was home, that you were not there. I thought something must have happened to you.” And Sibia, bursting with her story, cried “Something did). I found a blue bead for my necklace, look!”
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
Why did Sibia feel overjoyed?
I was in for a surprise. When the time came for the broad-jump trials, I was startled to see a tall boy hitting the pit at almost 26 feet on his practice leaps! He turned out to be a German named Luz Long. 1 was told that Hitler hoped to win the jump with him. I guessed that if Long won, it would add some new support to the Nazis’ “master race” (Aryan superiority) theory. After all, I am a Negro. Angr about Hitler’s ways, 1 determined to go out there and really show Der Fuhrer and his master race who was superior and who wasn’t. An angry athlete is an athlete who will make mistakes, as any coach will tell you. I was no exception. On the first of my three qualifying jumps, I leaped from several inches beyond the takeoff board for a foul. On the second jump, I fouled even worse. “Did I come 3,000 miles for this?” I thought bitterly. “To foul out of the trials and make a fool of myself ?” Walking a few yards from the pit, 1 kicked disgustedly at the dirt.
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
What shattered the confidence of Jesse Owens?
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
De Levis: Confront me with Dancy and give me fair play.
Winsor: [Aside to Canynge] Is it fair to Dancy not to let him know?
Canynge: Our duty is to the Club now, Winsor. We must have tills cleared up. [Colford comes in, followed by Barring and Dancy].
St. Erth: Captain Dancy, a serious accusation has been made against you by this gentleman in the presence of several members of the Club.
Dancy: What is it?
St. Erth: That you robbed him of that money at Winsor's.
Danny: [Hard and tense] Indeed! On what grounds is he good enough to say that?
(i) How does De Levis respond to Dancy's last question in the extract?
(ii) How did Dancy wish to settle the matter? What was St. Erth's suggestion?
(iii) Why did Dancy's friends wish him to take legal action against De Levis? What reasons did Dancy give for not wanting to do so?
(iv) When Mabel Dancy later requests De Levis to withdraw the charge, how does he respond? What declaration does Dancy wish De Levis to sign?
(v) What information does Gilman give to Twisden? Why did Twisden decide to withdraw from the case?
Write ‘True’ or ‘False’ against each of the following.
(i)Soapy stole a man’s umbrella. ______
(ii) The owner of the umbrella offered to give it to Soapy. _______
(iii) The man had stolen the umbrella that was now Soapy’s. ________
(iv) Soapy threw away the umbrella. ______
What distinction Mr Gessler’s shop had?
Fill in the blank in the sentence below with the words or phrases from the box. (You may not know the meaning of all the words. Look such words up in a dictionary, or ask your teacher.)
Some people find household —————— a bore, but I like to help at home.
Add im- or in- to each of the following words and use them in place of the italicised words in the sentences given below.
| patient, proper, possible, sensitive, competent |
He appears to be without sensitivity. In fact, he is very emotional.
