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Question
Describe the ‘Grand Prix’ at Cape Town’s Red Cross Children’s Hospital.
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Solution
The author describes the event as “the Grand Prix of Cape Town’s Red Cross Childrens’ Hospital”. A nurse had left a breakfast trolley unattended. Very soon this trolley was commandeered by a daring crew of two, a driver and a mechanic. The mechanic provided motor power by galloping along behind the trolley head down. While the driver, seated on the lower deck held on with one hand and steered it by scrapping his foot on the floor. The choice of roles was easy because the mechanic was totally blind and the driver had only one arm. It was better than Indianapolis 500 car race. Patients shouted and cheered the boys. There was a grand finale of scattered plates and silverware before the nurse and ward sister took control of the situation.
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Para 18
My first feelings were of relief–
relief that there were no more steps to
cut, no more ridges to traverse, and no
more humps to tantalize us with hopes
of success. I looked at Tenzing. In spite of
the balaclava helmet, goggles, and oxygen
mask – all encrusted with long icicles–that
concealed his face, there was no disguising
his grin of delight as he looked all around
him. We shook hands, and then Tenzing
threw his arm around my shoulders and
we thumped each other on the back until
we were almost breathless. It was 11.30
a.m. The ridge had taken us two and a
half hours, but it seemed like a lifetime
To the east was our giant
Describe the feelings of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing as they reached the top of the Summit. (Para 18)
Para 15
For a few moments, I lay regaining
my breath, and for the first time really
felt the fierce determination that nothing
now could stop us from reaching the top. I took
a firm stance on the ledge and signaled
to Tenzing to come on up. As I heaved
hard on the rope, Tenzing wriggled his
way up the crack, and finally collapsed at
the top like a giant fish when it has just
been hauled from the sea after a terrible
struggle.
Para 16
The ridge continued as before:
giant cornices on the right; steep rock
sloped on the left. The ridge curved away
to the right and we have no idea where the
top was. As I cut around the back of one
hump, another higher one would swing
into view. Time was passing and the ridge
seemed never-ending.
Para 17
Our original zest had now quite
gone, and it was turning more into a grim
struggle. I then realized that the ridge
ahead, instead of rising, now dropped
sharply away. I looked upwards to see a
narrow snow ridge running up to a snowy
summit. A few more whacks of the ice-ax
in the firm snow and we stood on top.
The ridge had taken us two and half hours, but it seemed like lifetime. Why? (Para 15 to 17)
