Q5) From chpater2.6 Chasing the Sea Monster, find all the words and phrases used to describe the monster. Use your imagination and sketch the
monster.
Ans:
Std 7
Answers
Answer:
Our frigate wanted to go back, but the unearthly animal came at
us with a speed double our own. We gasped. More stunned than
afraid, we stood mute and motionless.
The animal caught up with us, played with us. It made a full circle
around the frigate and wrapped us in sheets of electricity that
were like luminous dust. At any instant it could have dashed
against our ship.
Meanwhile I was surprised to see that our warship was fleeing, not fighting. I commented on this to
Commander Farragut. His face, ordinarily so emotionless, showed great astonishment.
“Professor Aronnax,” he answered me, “I don’t know what kind of fearsome creature I’m up against, and
I don’t want my frigate running foolish risks in all this darkness. Besides, how should we attack this
unknown creature, how should we defend ourselves against it? Let’s wait for daylight and then we’ll play
a different role.”
The whole crew stayed on their feet all night long. No one even thought of sleeping. Unable to compete
with the monster’s speed, our frigate, the Abraham Lincoln slowed down. For its part, the animal
mimicked the frigate, simply rode with the waves, but did not leave the field of battle.
However, near midnight it disappeared, or to use a more appropriate expression, ‘it went out,’ like a
huge
Jules Verne was a French writer. He is known as the
‘Father of Science Fiction’. He wrote about rockets, space
travel and submarines when such things were unknown.
In this passage, from his novel Twenty Thousand Leagues
under the Sea, he describes how people on a ship think of the
submarine as an animal and try to chase and hunt it.
glowworm. Had it fled from us? We didn’t know and were filled with fear and hope at the same time.
But at 12:53 a deafening hiss could be heard, resembling the sound made by a water spout expelled with
tremendous intensity.
By then Commander Farragut, Ned Land, and I were on the afterdeck, peering eagerly into the darkness.
“Tell me, Ned Land, isn’t that the noise cetaceans make when they spurt water from their blowholes?”
“The very noise, sir, but this one’s way louder. So there can be no mistake. There’s definitely a whale
lurking in our waters.”
Near two o’clock in the morning, the core of light reappeared, five miles away from the Abraham
Lincoln.
We stayed on the alert until daylight, getting ready for action. Whaling gear was set up along the railings.
Our chief officer loaded the blunderbusses, which can launch harpoons as far as a mile, and long duck
guns with exploding bullets that can wound and kill even the most powerful animals. Ned Land was
content to sharpen his harpoon, a dreadful weapon in his hands.
At six o’clock day began to break, and with the dawn’s early light, the animal’s electric glow disappeared.
At seven o’clock a very dense morning mist spread around us. Our best spyglasses were unable to pierce
it. The outcome: disappointment and anger.
At eight o’clock the mist rolled away, and the horizon grew wider and clearer. Suddenly, Ned Land’s
voice could be heard. “There’s the thing in question, astern to port!” the harpooner shouted. Every eye
looked toward the point indicated.
There, a mile and a half from the frigate, a long blackish body emerged a metre above the waves.
Quivering violently, its tail was creating a considerable current.
The crew were waiting impatiently for orders from their leader. The latter, after carefully observing the
animal, ordered the engineer to sail full steam towards the animal.
Three cheers greeted this order. The hour of battle had sounded.
Explanation:
Explanation:
The animal made a full circle of the frigate - _____