Advertisements
Advertisements
Question
How was the family affected by the war?
Advertisements
Solution
Before the war, Nicola and Jacopo’s widowed father was a well-known singer. He was killed in the early part of the war leaving Lucia, his daughter behind to take care of the little boys. Shortly after a bomb destroyed their home. The three children were thrown into the streets. They had always known a comfortable and cultured life. Lucia was training to become a singer. Suddenly they were uprooted from their cozy life. They had suffered from near starvation and exposure to cold winter. The home they rebuilt from the rubbles was not weather-proof. The boys joined the secret services of resistance moment as they hated Germans. When they returned home after the war, they found their sister affected by tuberculosis of the spine. They persuaded a private hospital to take Lucia in. Every week they worked hard to pay for their sister’s medical expenses. To achieve it they had to sacrifice a lot.
APPEARS IN
RELATED QUESTIONS
Who did the narrator meet at the outskirts of Verona?
Why did the driver not approve of the narrator buying fruits from the boys?
The boys did not spend much on clothes and food. Why?
What was the driving force that made the boys do various jobs?
Do tea lovers generally like strong tea or weak tea?
What should be poured into the cup first–tea or milk?
Why does the author refer to himself as being in ‘a minority’?
Elucidate the author’s ideas about teapots.
There are several physically-challenged people who have lived successful and meaningful lives. Here are a few personalities who have fought great odds and lived a life of blazing achievements. Let’s share what we know about each of them and complete the table below.
| Name of the personality | Nature of challenge | Field of achievement |
| e.g. Beethoven | Hearing impairment | Music |
| Demosthenes | ||
| Helen Keller | ||
| Mariyappan Thangavelu | ||
| Mozart | ||
| John Milton | ||
| Sudha Chandran |
What thoughts troubled Dr. Christiaan Barnard as he neared the end of his career as a heart surgeon?
Why did the choice of roles prove to be easy for them?
What happened in the grand finale?
How does Dr. Barnard know the boy who played the trolley’s driver?
What happened when the doctor couple were crossing the street?
Why does Dr. Barnard find suffering of children heartbreaking?
Who visited the family?
What was Pedanna’s suggestion to their father?
What was offered to Maamanaar by their mother?
Why were the two chairs compared to Rama-Lakshmana?
When did the children shy away from the chair?
Why did the family find it difficult to make a chair?
Narrate the humorous incidents that happened in the author’s home before and after the arrival of the chair.
Define ‘liberty’ as perceived by the author.
According to the author, what are we more conscious of?
What does the traffic policeman symbolize?
Para 1
We started up our cooker and
drank large quantities of lemon juice and
sugar, and followed this with our last tin of
sardines on biscuits. I dragged our oxygen
sets into the tent, cleaned the ice off them,
and then rechecked and tested them.
Para 2
I had removed my boots, which
had become wet the day before, and they
were now frozen solid. So I cooked them
over the fierce flame of the Primus and
managed to soften them up. Over our
down clothing, we donned our windproof
and onto our hands, we pulled three pairs
of gloves – silk, woollen, and windproof.
Para 3
At 6.30 a.m. we crawled out of that
tent into the snow, hoisted our 30 lb. of
oxygen gear on to our backs, connected
up our masks and turned on the valves to
bring life-giving oxygen into our lungs. A
few good deep breaths and we were ready
to go. Still a little worried about my cold
feet, I asked Tenzing to move off.
How did Hillary and Tenzing prepare themselves before they set off to the summit? (Para 1, 2, and 3)
Para 4
Tenzing kicked steps in a long
traverse back towards the ridge, and we
reached its crest where it forms a great
snow bump at about 28000 feet. From
here the ridge narrowed to a knife-edge
and, as my feet were now warm, I took
over the lead.
Para 5
The soft snow made a route on top
of the ridge both difficult and dangerous,
which sometimes held my weight but often
gave way suddenly. After several hundred
feet, we came to a tiny hollow and found
there the two oxygen bottles left on the
an earlier attempt by Evans and Bourdillon.
I scraped the ice off the gauges and was
relieved to find that they still contained
several hundred liters of oxygen-enough
to get us down to the South Col if used sparingly
Para 6
I continued making the trail on up
the ridge, leading up for the last 400 feet
to the southern summit. The snow on this
the face was dangerous, but we persisted in
our efforts to beat a trail up it.
We made frequent changes of
lead. As I was stamping a trail in the deep
snow, a section around me gave way and
Para 7
I slipped back through three or four of
my steps. I discussed with Tenzing the
the advisability of going on, and he, although
admitting that he felt unhappy about the
snow conditions, and finished with his
the familiar phrase “Just as you wish”.
Para 8
I decided to go on, and we finally
reached firmer snow higher up, and then
chipped steps up the last steep slopes and
crampon onto the South Peak. It was now 9 a.m.
Give an account of the journey to the South Col from 28,000 feet. (Para 4 to 8)
