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Question
“These two children had given me a profound lesson …” Elucidate.
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Solution
The author had self-pity and was cursing the accident that had caused him and his wife great pain and inconveniences in the daily routine. But the two little boys, one almost scarred to death with both eyes gone and the other with an amputated arm and no hope of recovery were together celebrating the joy of being alive. They minded the business of living ignoring pain, surgery, and the sickly environment. Dr. Barnard learned the lesson from the children that the business of living is joy in the real sense of the word. It was not just something for pleasure, amusement, or recreation. The business of living in the celebration of being alive.
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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 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)
