Read the given extract carefully to answer the following questions: 1m each
Consider a typical climb, towards the summit on the last heights. You are
sharing a rope with another climber. You firm in. He cuts the steps in the hard
ice. Then he belays and you inch your way up. The climb is grim. You strain
every nerve as you take every step. Famous climbers have left records of the
help given by others. They have also recorded how they needed just that help.
Else they might have given up.
Breathing is difficult. You curse yourself for having let yourself in for this. You
wonder why you ever undertook the ascent. There are moments when you feel
like going back. It would be sheer relief to go down, instead of up. But almost at
once you snap out of that mood. There is something in you that does not let you
give up the mystical: spiritual ascent: climb firm in: make yourself firm belays:
fixes a rope.
The Summit Within 79 struggle. And you go on. Your companion keeps up
with you. Just another fifty feet. Or a hundred, maybe. You ask yourself: Is
there no end? You look at your companion and he looks at you. You draw
inspiration from each other. And then, without first being aware of it, you are at
the summit.
Q1.Explain ‘the climb is grim’.
Q2.How are the records of famous climbers helpful?
Q3.It also boosts the morale of the climbers. Do you think Major also wanted to
‘give up’?
Q4.How does the mood give a boost?
Q5.Change the word ‘grim’ an adjective into a noun.
Answers
a rope with another climber. You firm in. He cuts the steps in the hard
ice. Then he belays and you inch your way up. The climb is grim. You strain
every nerve as you take every step. Famous climbers have left records of the
help given by others. They have also recorded how they needed just that help.
Else they might have given up.
Breathing is difficult. You curse yourself for having let yourself in for this. You
wonder why you ever undertook the ascent. There are moments when you feel
like going back. It would be sheer relief to go down, instead of up. But almost at
once you snap out of that mood. There is something in you that does not let you
give up the mystical: spiritual ascent: climb firm in: make yourself firm belays:
fixes a rope.
The Summit Within 79 struggle. And you go on. Your companion keeps up
with you. Just another fifty feet. Or a hundred, maybe. You ask yourself: Is
there no end? You look at your companion and he looks at you. You draw
inspiration from each other. And then, without first being aware of it, you are at
the summit.