"Oh, I will, Mr. Herriot. I'm sure you are right, but it is so difficult, so very difficult." (a) Who speaks these words to Mr Herriot? (b) When does the speaker say these words to Mr Herriot? (c) In what way, according to the speaker, is Mr Herriot right? (d) What does the speaker find difficult? Why?
Answers
Answer:
I was really worried about Tricki this time. I had pulled up my car when I saw him in the street with his mistress and I was shocked at his appearance. He had become hugely fat, like a bloated sausage with a leg at each corner. His eyes, bloodshot and rheumy, stared straight ahead and his tongue lolled from his jaws.
Mrs Pumphrey hastened to explain, “He was so listless, Mr Herriot. He seemed to have no energy. I thought he must be suffering from malnutrition, so I have been giving him some little extras between meals to build him up, some malt and cod-liver oil and a bowl of Horlicks at night to make him sleep — nothing much really.”
“And did you cut down on the sweet things as I told you?”
“Oh, I did for a bit, but he seemed to be so weak I had to relent. He does love cream cakes and chocolates so. I can’t bear to refuse him.”
I looked down again at the little dog. That was the trouble. Tricki’s only fault was greed. He had never been known to refuse food; he would tackle a meal at any hour of the day or night. And I wondered about all the things Mrs Pumphrey hadn’t mentioned.
“Are you giving him plenty of exercise?”
“Well, he has his little walks with me as you can see, but Hodgkin, the gardener, has been down with lumbago, so there has been no ring-throwing lately.”
I tried to sound severe: “Now I really mean this. If you don’t cut his food right down and give him more exercise he is going to be really ill. You must harden your heart and keep him on a very strict diet.”
Mrs Pumphrey wrung her hands. “Oh I will, Mr Herriot. I’m sure you are right, but it is so difficult, so very difficult.” She set off, head down, along the road, as if determined to put the new regime into practice immediately.
Read the paragraph above and write answers of following questions:
Q.1) Why was the author shocked at the appearance of Tricki?
Q.2) "I have been giving him some extras". Who has been giving some extras and to Whom?
Q.3) Why he/she has been giving him some extras?
Q.4) What was Tricki's Fault?
Q.5) Why did Mrs Pumphrey using her hands?
Answer:
(a) These words are spoken by Mrs Pumphrey. (b) When Mr Herriot advises her to reduce her diet. (c) Yes, according to the speaker, Mr Herriot is right, but she finds it too difficult
Explanation: