Extract Based Questions .
1. ‘‘That has a purpose,” said the Djinn, “all because you missed those three days.
You will be able to work now for three days without eating, because you can live
on your humph; and don’t you ever say I never did anything for you. Come out of
the Desert and go to the Three, and behave.”
(a) Who is ‘’you’’ referred to here and what did ‘he’ miss?
(b) According to Djinn, how can ‘he’ work without eating?
(c) Who are the other three as mentioned by Djinn?
(d) ‘‘That has a purpose,” what is ‘’that’’ referred to here?
(e) Pick out one phrasal verb from the extract?
2. The old lady was sitting in a wheelchair, her hands folded in her lap. She had silver white hair pinned into a wispy bun. She was gazing out at the garden. “Hello,” Michael Morpurgo said.
(a) Who is the old lady?
(b) Why did Michael go to meet the old lady?
(c) Where did Michael go to meet the old lady?
(d) What was the health condition of the old lady?
(e) Pick out one phrasal verb from the extract?
Answers
Part (1):
(a) Here, "you" refers to the camel to whom the Djinn is talking to. The camel was a very idle creature and hence missed the three days of work at the start of the beginning of the world.
(b) According to the Djinn, the camel can survive and work without three days of work due to his new "humph". The humph was the result of his constantly irritating phrase "Humph", his idleness and the narcissism he possessed. The new humph can store fat that helps the camel to work for three days without the need of any food.
(c) The other "Three" refers to the Dog, the Horse and the Ox who complained to the Djinn about their hard circumstances due to the idleness of the Camel.
(d) Here, "that" refers to the "humph" the camel got due to to his idleness in work.
(e) Come out - It refers to the emerging of an object/person from a hidden location or the get over a situation.
Part (2):
(a) The old lady is Connie Macpherson, the wife of Jim Macpherson who died in the war that occurred between the British and the Germans in 1914. She was a hundred and one years old due to which she suffered from memory loss and stayed in an old age home.
(b) Michael Morpurgo, the author, possessed the last letter Connie's husband had sent her amidst the war. After reading the letter and the note on its cover - "to be buried with me when the time comes" made him determined the letter along with the case to its rightful owner.
(c) The author went to Burlington House Nursing Home on Dorchester road to meet the old lady.
(d) The old lady's health condition was in a deteriorated manner as she suffered from severe memory loss. She was in a confused state on Christmas day and was gazing out of the window in a placid manner when the author went to meet her.
(e) Gazing out: Stare out at something or someone.