Question

Read the passage given below and answer the questions (i), (ii) and (iii) that follow.

(1) It was a mellow October morning in the countryside. Judson Webb entered the primitive living room of his mountain camp and opened a cupboard in which he kept his most prized possessions. Among them were bottles of exotic and expensive fruit juices gifted to him. Not even his wife was allowed to have a key for he felt a sense of deep outrage if the cupboard was touched by any hand but his own. (2) He had been packing his things and getting ready to leave. He looked at the shelf in the cupboard on which the fruit juices were kept. All the bottles were unopened except one which had only half of the grape juice left in it. A small glass stood by its side. (3) As he took it from the shelf, he smiled in a sinister manner. His wife, Maria spoke from the adjoining bedroom. “I’m all packed, Judson. Has not Alec come to get the keys?” Alec was the caretaker for the city folks when they were away. “He’s down at the lake and will be back in half an hour,” replied Judson. (4) Maria came into the room carrying her suitcase. But she paused in surprise as she saw the bottle in her husband’s hand. “Judson!” she exclaimed, “We’ll be late if you sit down to haye juice in the morning.” “You wrong me, my dear,” he chuckled, “I’m not drinking anything out of this bottle. I am merely putting a little ‘kick’ into it. Someone has had a drink from this bottle while we were away.” She dreaded that tone of his voice. Her eyes narrowed as she watched him. He put upon the table two tiny white tablets as he started to open the bottle. (5) “Whoever brake into my cupboand and stole the expensive drink will probably try it again once we are out of here,” he went on, “only this time he will wish he had not.” She caught her breath at the cruelty of his manner as one by one he dropped the tablets into the bottle and held it up to watch them dissolve. She asked. “What are they? Something to make the intruder sick?” “And how!” He seemed fascinated as he saw the harmless drink change into a dangerous dose. He closed his hottled vengeance and set it back on the shelf alongside the little glass. “Everything nice and handy,” he remarked approvingly, “Now, Mr. Thief, when you break in, drink hearty; I won’t stop you.” (6) Maria’s face grew pale. “Don’t do it, Judson,” she gasped, “It’s horrible, You have no right to take the law into your own hands.” “Of course, I have every right! When it comes to protecting my property, I make my own laws.” he thundered, “But all the thief did was to steal a little fruit juice. He did not do any real damage,” she pleaded. “That’s not the point,” he said. “If a man holds me up and robs me of five dollars, it makes me just as angry as if he took a hundred. A thief is a thief.” (7) It was useless to argue, she knew. He had always been ruthless in business. He was vindictive when offended by anyone. Things had to be done his way. (8) She turned toward the outèr door with a sigh of defeat. “I will walk down the road and say goodbye at the farmhouse,” she said while leaving. Judson started to close the cupboard, but paused because he remembered his boots were drying outside on the mahogany table. So, he went to fetch them. (9) Alec was coming up from the lake and waved to him from a distancc. A monkey sitting near the table heard Judson's heavy footstep, abandoned the banana it had stolen and fled. Judson stepped on the banana, his foot slid, and his head struck the massive table as he fell. (10) Several minutes later he began to regain his senses. Alec held Judson’s head in his strong arms and said in his kind voice, “It was not much of a fall, Mr. Webb. You are not seriously injured, just knocked out. Here, take this. It will pull you together.” A small glass of the grape juice was pressed to Judson’s lips. Dazed and half-conscious, he sipped. (Adapted from Ruthless by William Churchill DeMille)

(i)

1. Find a single word from the passage that will exactly replace the underlined word or words in the following sentences.     [3]
   1. Extremely old tools were found in the excavation site.
   2. There was something cold and dangerous about the look in his eyes.
   3. The video was stopped for a while when she went to answer the phone.
2. For each of the words given below, choose the correct sentence that uses the same word unchanged in spelling, but with a different meaning from that which it carries in the passage.     [3]
   1. glass
      1. I wear glasses while driving.
      2. He drank a big glass of water as he was very thirsty.
      3. Exotic flowers are grown in this glass-house.
      4. I cut myself on a piece of broken glass.
   2. right
      1. The Right to Information Act empowers the public.
      2. M.S. Dhoni is a fabulous right-handed batsman.
      3. Go ahead and turn right to reach the library.
      4. Our constitution defines our rights and duties.
   3. table
      1. There is a table of contents at the beginning of this book.
      2. I left the assignments on your table.
      3. They have tabled a motion for debate at the next conference.
      4. The tables have turned in his favour after he won the lottery.

(ii) Answer the following questions as briefly as possible in your own words.

1. Give two examples from the passage to show that Judson Webb was possessive of his cupboard.     [2]
2. Why did Maria think it was useless to argue with her husband?     [2]
3. In your opinion, is Judson Webb justified in saying “I make my own laws.”?     [2]

(iii) Summarise the actions that led to Judson Webb falling into his own trap. (paragraphs 8 to 10). You are required to write the summary in the form of a connected passage in about 100 words.     [8]

Answer 1

(i)

1. Single word replacement:
   1. Primitive
   2. Sinister
   3. Paused
2. Choose the sentence with a different meaning:
   1. Exotic flowers are grown in this glass-house.
   2. M.S. Dhoni is a fabulous right-handed batsman.
   3. There is a table of contents at the beginning of this book.

(ii)

1. Judson Webb’s possessiveness is evident from the fact that he kept his “most prized possessions” in the cupboard and refused to let anyone else, including his wife, have a key to it. Additionally, he felt a sense of “deep outrage” if the cupboard was touched by any hand but his own.
2. Maria believed it was useless to argue because she knew Judson was naturally ruthless and vindictive when offended. He had a rigid temperament where “things had to be done his way,” and he had already dismissed her moral objections by thundering that he made his own laws.
3. No, Judson Webb is not justified. Taking the law into one’s own hands by using lethal force (poison) for a petty crime like stealing juice is disproportionate and illegal. His arrogance in “making his own laws” ignores the judicial process and reflects a dangerous lack of empathy and moral balance.

(iii) While Maria left to say goodbye at a farmhouse, Judson went outside to fetch his boots from a mahogany table. A monkey, startled by his heavy footsteps, dropped a stolen banana and fled. Judson accidentally stepped on the banana peel, slipped, and struck his head against the massive table, knocking himself unconscious. When he began to regain his senses, the caretaker, Alec, tried to assist him. Unaware of the poison Judson had added to the bottle, Alec kindly pressed a small glass of the tainted grape juice to Judson’s lips. Dazed and half-conscious, Judson drank his own “bottled vengeance.”