Question

Read the extract given below and answer the following questions.

She nodded, and stepped in. The door slammed. He watched her pudgy hand move towards the buttons. She pressed not fourteen, but eighteen, the top floor.

1. To which question of the boy did the lady nod? (Understanding)
2. What did the woman look like? (Understanding)
3. Why is Martin surprised at the lady’s pressing the button eighteen? (Analysis)
4. Which floor do you think did the lady live on? (Analysis)
5. What makes the boy feel nervous in the elevator? What does it indicate about the boy? (Understanding and Analysis)

Answer 1

1. The lady nodded in response to Martin’s question about whether she was going to the fourteenth floor. Martin expected her to get off there, but she pressed a different button.
2. The woman was a very large, fat lady with a pudgy hand. She wore an old green coat that ballooned around her body. Her unusual appearance made Martin feel uncomfortable and frightened.
3. Martin was surprised because he believed that the lady lived on the fourteenth floor, where she had first entered the elevator. Instead, she pressed eighteen, the top floor, making him wonder why she was going there.
4. The lady actually lived on the eighteenth floor. She pressed the button for the top floor and later got off there.
5. Martin feels nervous because he is already afraid of elevators and becomes even more uncomfortable when he is alone with the strange, large lady. Her unusual behaviour and the confined space increase his anxiety. This indicates that Martin is timid and has an overactive imagination.