Question

(a) (i) Give below are four words. Find the words which have a similar meaning in the passage: [3]
(1) Device to raise or lower a vehicle. (2) Tight, narrow gap. (3) Expert long-distance shooter. (4) Without making it obvious. (ii) For each of the words given below write a sentence of at least ten words, using the same word unchanged in form, but with a different meaning from that which it carries in the passage. [3]
(1) Brace (line 5)
(2) Nut (line 9)
(3) Bonnet (line 15)
(4) Blades (line 22)
(b) Answer the following questions aas briefly as possible in your own words. (1) Why was the writer glad that the puncture had happened where it did? [2]
(2) What frightened the writer? [2]
(3) What made the writer so sure that the sniper was still hidden? [2]
(4) What reason do you think the sniper had for remaining hidden? [2]
(c) Summarize, in not more than 100 words, the thoughts that arose in the writer’s mind when and after he saw the damaged tyre.

Answer 1

brace is a device to lower a vehicle

Answer 2

The complete question is:

At eleven o'clock the worst happened – a tyre blew. It was a front tyre and I fought the  wheel as we jolted to a stop. 'Let's make this fast,' I said, and grabbed the wheel brace.  

If we had to have a puncture it wasn't a bad place to have it. The footing was level enough  to take the jack without slipping and there was no mud at that point. I jacked up the front of  the Land-Rover and got busy on the wheel with the brace. I took the wheel off, rolled it  away and replaced it with the spare. The whole operation took a little under ten minutes,  time we couldn't afford – not there and then.

Once we were farther south we could lose ourselves on a more-or-less complex road  network, but these wilderness tracks were too restricted for my liking.  

I tightened the last wheel nut and then looked to see what had caused a blowout and to put  the wheel back into its rack. What I saw made my blood run cold. I fingered the jagged hole  in the thick tyre and looked up at the high ridge which dominated the track.

There was only one thing that could make a hole like that – a bullet. And somewhere up on  the ridge, hidden in some crevice, was a sniper – and even then I was probably in his sights.

How did Kennikin get ahead of me? That was my first bitter thought. But idle thoughts  were no use and action was necessary.

I heaved up the wheel with its ruined tyre on to the bonnet and screwed it down securely.  While I rotated the wheel brace I glanced covertly at the ridge. There was a lot of open  ground before the ridge heaved itself into the air – at least two hundred yards – and the  closest a sniper could have been was possibly four hundred yards and probably more.

Any man who could put a bullet into a tyre at over four hundred yards – a quarter mile –  was surely a good shot. So good that he could put a bullet into me any time he liked – so  why hadn't he? I was in plain view, a perfect target, and yet no bullets had come my way. I  tightened down the last nut and turned my back to the ridge, and felt a prickling feeling  between my shoulder blades – that was where the bullet would hit me if it came.  

I jumped to the ground and put away the brace and jack, concentrating on doing the natural  thing. The palms of my hands were slippery with sweat. I went to the back of the LandRover and climbed in and sat down. Sitting in that confined space gave a comforting illusion  of protection, but that's all it was – an illusion. For the second time I wished the Land-Rover  had been an armored car. From where I was sitting I could inspect the slopes of the ridge  without being too obvious about it and I made the most of the opportunity.

Nothing moved among those red and grey rocks. Nobody stood up and waved or cheered.  If anyone was still up there he was keeping as quiet as a mouse which, of course, was the  correct thing to do. If you pump a bullet at someone you'd better scrunch yourself up small  in case he starts shooting back.

But – was anybody still up there? I rather thought there was. Who in his right mind would  shoot a hole in the tyre of a car and then just walk away? So he was still up there, waiting  and watching. But if he was still there why hadn't he nailed me? It didn't make much sense  – unless he was just supposed to immobilize me. If that was so, then Kennikin had men  coming in from both sides. It wouldn't be too hard to arrange if he knew where I was – radio  communication is a wonderful thing. That character up on the ridge would have been  instructed to stop me so that Kennikin could catch up; and that meant he wanted me alive.

I wondered what would happen if I got into the driving seat and took off again. The odds  were that another bullet would rip open another tyre. It would be easier this time on a sitting  target. I didn't take the trouble to find out – there was a limit to the number of spare tyres I  carried, and the limit had already been reached.

The answers are:

1. Jack
2. Crevice
3. Sniper
4. without being too obvious

1. Ram tried to brace the door but couldn't find anything.
2. This nut is very loose, we would need another one.
3. When I looked under the bonnet, huge clouds of smoke came out.
4. The blade of the razor was not in a good condition to trim my beard.

1. The writer was glad that the puncture happened at that place because he could avail the radio connection there.
2. The writer was frightened because he thought that if a man can put a hole in a tyre over four hundred yards then he can surely shoot him too.
3. The writer was sure that the sniper was still there because he thought that no one would shoot a hole in a tyre and just pass by.
4. The sniper was still hidden because he was waiting for his men to come in from both the sides.

When the writer saw the damaged tyre he thought that it was damaged with a bullet and there was a sniper. He was frightened because he thought that if a person can shoot a tyre over four hundred yard then he can surely shoot him too.