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Question
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
Richard Parker was so named because of a clerical error.
A panther was terrorizing the Khulna district of Bangladesh, just outside the Sundarbans. It had recently carried off a little girl. She was the seventh person killed in two months by the animal. And it was growing bolder. The previous victim was a man who had been attacked in broad daylight in his field. The beast dragged him off into the forest, and his corpse was later found hanging from a tree. The villagers kept a watch nearby that night, hoping to surprise the panther and kill it, but it never appeared.
The Forest Department hired a professional hunter. He set up a small, hidden platform in a free near a river where two of the attacks had taken place. A goat was tied to a stake on the river’s bank. The hunter waited several nights. He assumed the panther would be an old, wasted male with worn teeth, incapable of catching anything more difficult than a human. But it was a sleek tiger that stepped into the open one night: a female with a single cub. The goat bleated. Oddly, the cub, who looked to be about three months old, paid little attention to the goat. It raced to the water’s edge, where it drank eagerly. Its mother followed it. Of hunger and thirst, thirst is the greater urge. Only once the tiger had quenched her thirst did she turn to the goat to satisfy her hunger.
The hunter had two rifles with him: one with real bullets, the other with immobilizing darts. This animal was not the man-eater, but so close to human habitation she might pose a threat to the villagers, especially as she was with cub. He picked up the gun with the darts. He fired as the tiger was about to attack the goat. The tiger reared up and snarled and raced away. But immobilizing darts don’t bring on sleep gently—they knock the creature out without warning. A burst of activity on the animal’s part makes it act all the faster. The hunter called his assistants on the radio. They found the tiger about two hundred yards from the river. She was still conscious. Her back legs had given way and her balance on her front legs was shaky. When the men got close, she tried to get away but could not manage it. She turned on them, lifting a paw that was meant to kill. It only made her lose her balance. She collapsed and the Pondicherry Zoo had two new tigers. The cub was found in a bush close by, meowing with fear.
The hunter, whose name was Richard Parker, picked it up with his bare hands and, remembering how it had rushed to drink in the river, named it Thirsty. But the shipping clerk at the Howrah train station was evidently a man both confused and diligent. All the papers received with the cub clearly stated that its name was Richard Parker, that the hunter’s first name was Thirsty add that his family name was None Given. Richard Parker’s name stuck. I don’t know if the hunter was ever called Thirsty None Given!
(a) Give the meaning of each of the following words as used in the passage.
One word answers ob short phrases will be accepted.
- corpse (line 6)
- quenched (line 16)
- reared (line 20)
(b) Answer the following questions briefly in your own words.
- Why does the author say that the panther ‘was getting bolder’?
- Why did the Forest Department hire a professional hunter?
- What did the hunter expect to encounter? What did he actually encounter?
- What did the tiger do before turning to attack the goat? Why did it do that?
- Why did the hunter decide to shoot the tiger though he knew it was not the man-eater?
- What name did the hunter give to the cub? Why?
(c)
(i) In not more than 60 words narrrate how the hunter and his assistants captured the tiger and her cub.
(ii) Give a suitable title to your summary in 3(c). Give a reason to justify your choice.
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Solution 1
(a)
- corpse - dead body
- quenched - satisfied
- reared - got up
(b)
- The panther was getting bolder as it had killed seven persons in two months. Very recently, it carried off a little girl and the previous victim had been a man who was attacked in broad daylight in his field.
- The forest department hired a professional hunter because a panther was terrorizing the villagers of the Kulna district of Bangladesh. The panther had killed seven persons in two months. The villager’s efforts to kill the panther had failed.
- The hunter expected that the panther world is an old, wasted male with worn teeth, incapable of catching anything more difficult than a human. He found that it was a sleek tiger, a female with a single cub.
- The tiger followed the cub to the water’s edge to drink water before she turned to the goat to satisfy her hunger. Thirst is a greater urge than hunger.
- The hunter decided to shoot the tiger though he knew it was not the man-eater because it was very close to. human habitation and might pose a threat to the villagers, especially since she was with cub.
- The hunter named the cub ‘Thirsty’ as he remembered how the cub had rushed to drink water in the river.
(c)
(i) Summary
| The | hunter | fired | at | the | tiger |
| with | the | gun | with | darts. | It |
| snarled | and | raced | aways. | Immobilizing | darts |
| knock | creatures | out | without | warning. | Increased |
| activity | on | animal's | part | makes | it |
| act | faster | As | the | assistants | came |
| closer | she | tried | to | get | away |
| them | couldn't | manage. | she | turned | on |
| her | balance | and | collapsed. | The | cub |
| was | caught | from | close-by | bush. |
(ii) “Richard Parker and Thirsty” is a suitable title for the summary. The title is suitable as the summary tells how the hunter Richard Parker successfully captures thirsty the tiger is given in detail.
Solution 2
(a)
- corpse - dead body
- quenched - satisfied
- reared - got up
(b)
- The panther was getting bolder as it had killed seven persons in two months. Very recently, it carried off a little girl and the previous victim had been a man who was attacked in broad daylight in his field.
- The forest department hired a professional hunter because a panther was terrorizing the villagers of the Kulna district of Bangladesh. The panther had killed seven persons in two months. The villager’s efforts to kill the panther had failed.
- The hunter expected that the panther world is an old, wasted male with worn teeth, incapable of catching anything more difficult than a human. He found that it was a sleek tiger, a female with a single cub.
- The tiger followed the cub to the water’s edge to drink water before she turned to the goat to satisfy her hunger. Thirst is a greater urge than hunger.
- The hunter decided to shoot the tiger though he knew it was not the man-eater because it was very close to. human habitation and might pose a threat to the villagers, especially since she was with cub.
- The hunter named the cub ‘Thirsty’ as he remembered how the cub had rushed to drink water in the river.
(c)
(i) Summary
| The | hunter | fired | at | the | tiger |
| with | the | gun | with | darts. | It |
| snarled | and | raced | aways. | Immobilizing | darts |
| knock | creatures | out | without | warning. | Increased |
| activity | on | animal's | part | makes | it |
| act | faster | As | the | assistants | came |
| closer | she | tried | to | get | away |
| them | couldn't | manage. | she | turned | on |
| her | balance | and | collapsed. | The | cub |
| was | caught | from | close-by | bush. |
(ii) “Richard Parker and Thirsty” is a suitable title for the summary. The title is suitable as the summary tells how the hunter Richard Parker successfully captures thirsty the tiger is given in detail.
Solution 3
(a)
- corpse - dead body
- quenched - satisfied
- reared - got up
(b)
- The panther was getting bolder as it had killed seven persons in two months. Very recently, it carried off a little girl and the previous victim had been a man who was attacked in broad daylight in his field.
- The forest department hired a professional hunter because a panther was terrorizing the villagers of the Kulna district of Bangladesh. The panther had killed seven persons in two months. The villager’s efforts to kill the panther had failed.
- The hunter expected that the panther world is an old, wasted male with worn teeth, incapable of catching anything more difficult than a human. He found that it was a sleek tiger, a female with a single cub.
- The tiger followed the cub to the water’s edge to drink water before she turned to the goat to satisfy her hunger. Thirst is a greater urge than hunger.
- The hunter decided to shoot the tiger though he knew it was not the man-eater because it was very close to. human habitation and might pose a threat to the villagers, especially since she was with cub.
- The hunter named the cub ‘Thirsty’ as he remembered how the cub had rushed to drink water in the river.
(c)
(i) Summary
| The | hunter | fired | at | the | tiger |
| with | the | gun | with | darts. | It |
| snarled | and | raced | aways. | Immobilizing | darts |
| knock | creatures | out | without | warning. | Increased |
| activity | on | animal's | part | makes | it |
| act | faster | As | the | assistants | came |
| closer | she | tried | to | get | away |
| them | couldn't | manage. | she | turned | on |
| her | balance | and | collapsed. | The | cub |
| was | caught | from | close-by | bush. |
(ii) “Richard Parker and Thirsty” is a suitable title for the summary. The title is suitable as the summary tells how the hunter Richard Parker successfully captures thirsty the tiger is given in detail.
Solution 4
(a)
- corpse - dead body
- quenched - satisfied
- reared - got up
(b)
- The panther was getting bolder as it had killed seven persons in two months. Very recently, it carried off a little girl and the previous victim had been a man who was attacked in broad daylight in his field.
- The forest department hired a professional hunter because a panther was terrorizing the villagers of the Kulna district of Bangladesh. The panther had killed seven persons in two months. The villager’s efforts to kill the panther had failed.
- The hunter expected that the panther world is an old, wasted male with worn teeth, incapable of catching anything more difficult than a human. He found that it was a sleek tiger, a female with a single cub.
- The tiger followed the cub to the water’s edge to drink water before she turned to the goat to satisfy her hunger. Thirst is a greater urge than hunger.
- The hunter decided to shoot the tiger though he knew it was not the man-eater because it was very close to. human habitation and might pose a threat to the villagers, especially since she was with cub.
- The hunter named the cub ‘Thirsty’ as he remembered how the cub had rushed to drink water in the river.
(c)
(i) Summary
| The | hunter | fired | at | the | tiger |
| with | the | gun | with | darts. | It |
| snarled | and | raced | aways. | Immobilizing | darts |
| knock | creatures | out | without | warning. | Increased |
| activity | on | animal's | part | makes | it |
| act | faster | As | the | assistants | came |
| closer | she | tried | to | get | away |
| them | couldn't | manage. | she | turned | on |
| her | balance | and | collapsed. | The | cub |
| was | caught | from | close-by | bush. |
(ii) “Richard Parker and Thirsty” is a suitable title for the summary. The title is suitable as the summary tells how the hunter Richard Parker successfully captures thirsty the tiger is given in detail.
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1. I first met Private Quelch at the training depot. A man is liable to acquire in his firs week of Army life - together with his uniform, rifle and equipment- a nickname. Anyone who saw Private Quelch, lanky, stooping, frowning through horn-rimmed spectacles, understood why he was known as the Professor. Those who had any doubts on the subject lost them after five minutes' conversation with him.
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About the Author
Alexander Baron (1917-1999) has written many novels, including 'There's no Home',
' The Human Kind', 'Queen of the East', 'Seeing Life' and The How Life', along with
film scripts and television plays. He started life as an Asstt. Editor of The Tribune and
later edited the 'New Theater.' He served in the army during the Second World War.
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