Flamingo Prose Chapter 3 Deep Water ENGLISH [FL] - Flamingo Prose Chapter 3 Deep Water

____________ said, "All we have to fear is fear itself.”

Douglas' introduction to the Y. M. C. A. swimming pool revived ___________.

Why did Douglas’ mother recommend that he should learn swimming at the Y. M.C.A swimming pool?

“I crossed to oblivion, and the curtain of life fell”. What does oblivion mean?

What was stopping Douglas to get into the waters of Cascade?

I used every way I knew to overcome this fear, but it held me firmly in its grip. Finally, one October, I decided to get an instructor and learn to swim. I went to a pool and practised five days a week, an hour each day. The instructor put a belt around me.

A rope attached to the belt went through a pulley that, ran on an overhead cable. He held on to the end of the rope, and we went back and forth, back and forth across the pool, hour after hour, day after day, week after week. On each trip across the pool, a bit of the panic seized me.

Each time the instructor relaxed his hold on the rope and I went under, some of the old terror returned and my legs froze. It was three months before the tension began to slack. Then he taught me to put my face underwater and exhale, and to raise my nose and inhale. I repeated the exercise hundreds of times. Bit by bit I shed part of the panic that seized me when my head went underwater.
Questions:
Q.1. What held the writer firmly in its grip?
A. Instructor B. Pool C. His own fear D. None of these three

Q.2. The rope was connected with …………………. .
A. a pulley on an overhead cable. B. the railing of the pool.
C. a hook studded in the pool wall. D. None of these three

Q.3. What happened to the writer on each trip across the pool?
A. He had great pain. B. Fear seized him.
C. He had to go back and forth. D. His legs froze.

I flailed at the surface of the water swallowed and choked. I tried to bring my legs up, but they hung as dead weights, paralysed and rigid. A great force was pulling me under. I screamed, but only the water heard me. I had! started on the long journey back to the bottom of the pool.

I struck at the water as I went down, I expending my strength as one in a nightmare fights an irresistible force. I had lost all my breath. My lungs ached, my head throbbed. I was getting dizzy. But I remembered the strategy-I would spring from the bottom of the pool and come like a cork to the surface.

I would lie flat on the water, strike out with my arms, and thrash with my legs. Then I would get to the edge of the pool and be safe. I went down, down, endlessly. I opened my eyes. Nothing but water with a yellow glow-dark water that one could not see through.
Questions:
Q.1. The meaning of the phrase ‘flailed at the surface’ is ……………………. .
A. ‘swim on the surface.
B. ‘lash out vigorously at the surface of the water in trying to come out.
C. ‘go under the surface of water.
D. None of these three.

Q.2. …………………… but only the water heard me’, means …………………….. .
A. ‘There was nobody around to hear my voice.
B. ‘The water had ears’.
C. ‘My voice could not go outside water’.
D. ‘Nobody was ready to listen to my cries for help’.

Q.3. The writer decided to go back to the bottom because …………………… .
A. he had lost all his courage to come to the surface.
B. he would spring from the bottom and come back to the surface again.
C. he had hoped that finding him at the bottom, somebody would help him come out.
D. All of these three.

From the beginning, however, I had an aversion to the water when I was in it. This started when I was three or four years old and father took me to the beach in California. He and I stood together in the surf. I hung on to him, yet the waves knocked me down and swept over me. I was buried in water. My breath was gone. I was frightened. Father laughed, but there was terror in my heart at the overpowering force of the waves.

My introduction to the Y.M.C.A. swimming pool revived unpleasant memories and stirred childish fears. But in a little while, I gathered confidence. paddled with my new water wings, watching the other boys and trying to learn by aping them. I did this two or three times on different days and was just beginning to feel at ease in the water when the misadventure happened.
Questions:
Q.1. The writer had an intense dislike for water …………………….. .
A. since he was three or four. B. when he was in water.
C. when he was at some beach. D. Both A’ and ‘B’

Q.2. ………………………….. caused terror to the writer.
A. The beach in California B. His father’s pressure on him
C. The overpowering force of the waves D. The swimming pool

Q.3. What were the unpleasant memories for the writer?
A. Those that he had been in the surf with his father in California.
B. Those that he had learnt about the dangers of being in water in his school.
C. Those stories that he had heard from his friends.
D. All of these three

M. Hamel went on to talk of the French language, Saying that it was the most beautiful language in the world - the clearest, the most logical; that we must guard it, because when a people are enslaved, as long as they hold fast to their language it is as if they had the key to their prison.
Questions
Q.1. Which of the following superlatives is not used for the French language?
A. most logical	B. most beautiful	C. clearest	D. most unforgettable
Q.2. What is the French language compared to in the Passage?
A. Key to logical thinking.		B. A guard for protection.
C. Key to their imprisonment		D. Clarity and beauty.
Q.3. When did M. Hamel speak the above words?
A. When the Prussians were attacking Lorraine.		B. During his last French lesson.
C. When Alsace was taken over by the French.		D. When he was going on a holiday.

On the way down I planned: When my feet hit the bottom, I would make a big jump, Come to the surface, lie flat on it, and paddle to the edge of the pool. It seemed a long way down. Those nine feet were more like ninety, and before I touched bottom my lungs were ready to burst. But when my feet hit bottom I summoned all my strength and made what I thought was a great spring upwards.
Questions
Q.1. How did the boy plan to save himself ? a. He would make a big jump. b. He would not feel that the pool is ninety feet. c. He would come to the surface and lie flat on it. d. He would paddle to the edge of the pool.
A. a, b, c	B. b, c, d	C. a, c, d	D. All the above
Q.2. Who was the little boy ?
A. Franz	B. William	C. Joe	D. Louis
Q.3. Which word from the Passage means ‘to call’ ?
A. summoned	B. planned	C. paddle	D. seemed

Why does Douglas as an adult recount a childhood experience of terror and his conquering of it? What larger meaning does he draw from this experience?

How did Douglas overcome his fear of water?

How does Douglas make clear to the reader the sense of panic that gripped him as he almost drowned? Describe the details that have made the description vivid.

How did Douglas make sure that he conquered the old terror?

How did the instructor ‘build a swimmer’ out of Douglas?