Question

A windfall in march Among those who wrote for a few more details about us and the school was an Englishman, Mr. Raw. Shela sent a reply to this letter and all other such letters. After the day’s work in school, the correspondence on the overseas front sometimes kept Sheila busy until midnight. I kept myself busy with the home front correspondence, answering questions on the reasons for our coming into existence and filling up forms in quadruplicate. With Mr. Raw’s second letter came a cheque for 100euro. That windfall revolutionalized my thinking. Most men, I suppose, would like to do something for humanity but if they happen to choose a line of action in which only they themselves are interested, they might die of apoplexy. I was beginning to feel, if weekly, that we were probably fools, after all, otherwise some kindly people should help us out. We knew we were not to expect a penny from public funds in Nigeria. I knew that very few of my fellow Nigerians were of philanthropic outlook. If something did not happen, I was sure that the bank manager would be sending us a terse note soon. My frozen nerves thawed with the arrival of Mr. Raw’s donation. We had been building the first dormitory for six weeks. In other words, the boys had been sleeping in an open verandah for six weeks. It is already March and the tropical rain would be on us soon. We rushed the pillars to their full height and I ran off to Ibadan and bought the wood to do the roofing. We deposited about 30euro with the firm that sold roofing sheets to us and we collected enough to do the work. On Thursday morning, at the end of the seventh week, I strongly felt it was about time the dormitory was finished. The floor was ready. All the pillars were ready, and the carpenters had done a little bit of the skeleton of the roofing. After supper, I called the boys and spoke to them. Rain would be on us anytime now, I told them. It would be too much for us; it would sour the temperament of some of them if the hurricane caught them on the unsheltered verandah. I, therefore, suggested we had no school the following day and that we sank as much as possible of our work into the dormitory. I sent words to the carpenters-if they did not finish the roofing the following day, they would not get a kobo for the work after it was finished. Questions 1. A ‘windfall’ (line 6) is an unexpected lucky gift. (The term comes from the idea of an apple or some other type of fruit being blown from a tree by the wind). Why does the writer use this term here? 2. The writer mentions correspondence ‘on the overseas front’ (line 3) ‘and the home front’ (line 4) a) what figure of speech is used in this expression. b)Explain what it means in this context. c)what does it tell us about the attitude of the writer to the task before him. 3.where had the boys been sleeping before the dormitory was built? 4.what happened that enabled the writer to proceed with the building? 5. Explain the following words and phrases as they are used in the passage. Where possible, just give a synonym. a)correspondence(line 3) b)in quadruplicate(line 5) c)revolutionized(line 6) d)humanity (line 7) e)outlook (line 11)

Answer 1

Answer:

until" (and any subsequent words) was ignored because we limit queries to 32 words.

Answer 2

Answer:

the writer mentions correspondence 'on the overseas front' (lines 5-6) and the 'home front' :lines 7-8). a) what figure of speech is used in this expression

b) explain what it means in this context.

c) what does it tell us about the attitude of the writer to the task before him