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Question
What is the significance of the title?
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Solution
The title ‘The Accidental Tourist’ signifies the accidental nature of Bill Bryson who was a frequent flyer. He travelled a lot to all parts of the world. However, he always managed to cause some kind of an accident on the way in the aeroplane. Once he leaned over to tie his shoelace at the same moment when someone in the seat ahead of him threw his seat back into full recline. That was when he found himself pinned helplessly in the ‘crash position’. He had to claw at the leg of the man sitting next to him in order to get himself freed. On another occasion, he knocked a soft drink onto the lap of a lady sting beside him. The flight attendant cleaned her up and brought him a replacement drink. He knocked it onto the woman again, who of course was very angry and annoyed. On yet another occasion, his lips, gum, mouth, chin, tongue, and teeth were covered with navy blue ink as he had been chewing on the end of his pen that had leaked. He realized this quite late. Not only in the plane, but he was also prone to accidents otherwise. He always forgot his room number and went to the hotel desk again and again to enquire about it. He was so prone to accidents that when the food was delivered on planes, his wife asked their children to take the lids off the food for him. When travelling alone, he did not eat, drink or lean over to tie his shoelaces. Thus, he travelled a lot for his living and was accident-prone, hence justifying the title of the story.
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Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
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About the Poet
Robert Frost (1874-1963) was born in San Franscisco, Frost spent most of his adult
life in rural New England and his laconic language and emphasis on individualism in
his poetry reflect this region. He attended Dartmouth and Harvard but never earned a
degree. As a young man with a growing family he attempted to write poetry while
working on a farm and teaching in a school. American editors rejected his submitted
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country, which he gradually achieved. He became one of the country's best-loved
poets. Unlike his contemporaries, Frost chose not to experiment with the new verse
forms but to employ traditional patterns, or as he said, he chose "the old-fashioned
way to be new." Despite the surface cheerfulness and descriptive accuracy of his
poems, he often presents a dark, sober vision of life, and there is a defined thoughtful
quality to his work which makes it unique.
What does he plant who plants a tree?
He plants cool shade and tender rain,
And seed and bud of days to be,
And years that fade and flush again;
He plants the glory of the plain;
He plants the forest's heritage;
The harvest of a coming age;
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These things he plants who plants a tree.
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The boy looked up. He took his hands from his face and looked up at his teacher. The light from Mr. Oliver’s torch fell on the boy’s face, if you could call it a face. He had no eyes, ears, nose or mouth. It was just a round smooth head with a school cap on top of it.
And that’s where the story should end, as indeed it has for several people who have had similar experiences and dropped dead of inexplicable heart attacks. But for Mr. Oliver, it did not end there. The torch fell from his trembling hand. He turned and scrambled down the path, running blindly through the trees and calling for help. He was still running towards the school buildings when he saw a lantern swinging in the middle of the path. Mr. Oliver had never before been so pleased to see the night watchman. He stumbled up to the watchman, gasping for breath and speaking incoherently.
What is it, Sahib? Asked the watchman, has there been an accident? Why are you running?
I saw something, something horrible, a boy weeping in the forest and he had no face.
No face, Sahib?
No eyes, no nose, mouth, nothing.
Do you mean it was like this, Sahib? asked the watchman, and raised the lamp to his own face. The watchman had no eyes, no ears, no features at all, not even an eyebrow. The wind blew the lamp out and Mr. Oliver had his heart attack.
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(i) ancestor _________
(ii) wild t _ m _
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(i) The dingo is __________________________________________________.
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