Comprehension Practice 2 [0500/11, Nov 2021]

 

Text C: The long hot walk

 

This text is taken from a longer narrative. At this point, the writer is touring a foreign country. He decides to walk through countryside to a local city.

 

There had been a definite chill in the early morning air and the idea of walking to the
city and enjoying my surroundings had seemed a good one. However, as I walked east
along the road and towards the morning sun, which was already huge and bloated, I
began to realise that the temperature was changing rapidly. After a while it seemed
that there was little air to breathe. I remember stopping at a farm where unmoving and	5
silent labourers scooped up water from wells and handed it to me warm and green.
They stared at me with disbelief and pity in their eyes as I moved away again.
By mid-morning, the violence of the heat seemed to bruise the whole earth and turn its
crust into one huge scar. The sun struck upwards, sideways and down, while the wheat
went buckling across the fields like a solid sheet of copper. I kept walking because there	10
was no shade to hide in and because it seemed to be the only way to agitate the air
around me. Also, in my optimism, I really did hope I would soon see the evidence of
the city. I walked on, conscious only of the red-hot dust grinding like pepper between
my toes and the vast empty spaces on either side of me.
By mid-day, I was parched. Fantasies of water rose up and wrapped me in cool wet	15
leaves or pressed the thought of cucumber peel across my stinging eyes and filled my
mouth with dripping moss. I imagined drinking whole monsoons and winter mists and
reclining on the sponge of a deep, cooling sea.
Then I saw the spire of a church rising from the plain like the jet of a fountain. There
was a shower of eucalyptus trees brushing against a roadside café and I was standing	20
there calling out for a cold drink.
‘No! You mustn’t drink too much. You may pass out.’ The café owner threw up her
hands at the sight of me, then turned, alarmed, to shout at a couple of well-dressed
gentlemen eating at a table in the corner.
The older man bowed: ‘The lady is right – you are too hot for sudden drinking.’	25
Everybody tutted at me and shook their heads. I could only stand there croaking,
desperate with thirst. The owner gave me some ice to suck. Then she told me to rest
indoors, while everyone asked me questions: Where I had come from? How I had got
here? Where I was going?
At my replies, the owner threw up her hands again. ‘To the city? On foot? And you are	30
carrying no water? It is unthinkable!’ The gentlemen started rapid-fire expressions of
disbelief, spitting their food at each other like furious exclamations. ‘These idiots who
walk all over the place! Up and down mountainsides! Round and round the plains in
this heat! It is straightforward and cheap to hire a car!’
‘This is the third one in a month we have had to look after!’ exclaimed the owner.	35

I heard their voices fading and booming around me. Then the owner’s husband was leaning over me. ‘Give the young man a little drink. If he doesn’t pass out, and still wishes to go to the city, we can take him in the car. I’m sure he’s learned his lesson.’

 

The first mouthful of mineral water burst in my throat and cascaded like frosted stars.

 

Then I was given a plate of bread and cheese. A deep languor spread through my limbs. 40 I remember no more of my benefactors, or what they said, only the drowsy glories of

 

eating and drinking to my full. After that I was lifted to my feet and led outside. Then, stretched out across the back of the car, I was driven to the city by the café owner and her husband.

Questions

Question 2

 

(a)    Identify a word or phrase from the text which suggests the same idea as the words underlined:

 (i)      The farm workers were standing still and didn’t speak.

 ................................................................................................................................      [1]

 (ii)    The farm workers watched the speaker closely.

 ................................................................................................................................      [1]

 (iii)   The speaker hoped that his movements were a method of creating a little breeze.

 ................................................................................................................................      [1]

 (iv)   Surrounding the speaker were huge unoccupied areas of land.

 ................................................................................................................................      [1]

 

(b)    Using your own words, explain what the writer means by each of the words underlined:

By mid-day, I was parched. Fantasies of water rose up and wrapped me in cool wet leaves or pressed the thought of cucumber peel across my stinging eyes and filled my mouth with dripping moss. I imagined drinking whole monsoons and winter mists and reclining on the sponge of a deep, cooling sea.

 

(i)	parched ................................................................................................................	[1]
(ii)	Fantasies  .............................................................................................................	[1]
(iii)	reclining ................................................................................................................	[1]

Answers

Question 2

 

(a)    Identify a word or phrase from the text which suggests the same idea as the words underlined:

 (i)      The farm workers were standing still and didn’t speak.

unmoving and silent (labourers)

 (ii)    The farm workers watched the speaker closely.

stared (at me)

 (iii)   The speaker hoped that his movements were a method of creating a little breeze.

(seemed to be the only) way to agitate the air (around me)

 (iv)   Surrounding the speaker were huge unoccupied areas of land.

(the) vast empty spaces (on either side of me) / (the) plain(s)

 

 

(b)    Using your own words, explain what the writer means by each of the words underlined:

By mid-day, I was parched. Fantasies of water rose up and wrapped me in cool wet leaves or pressed the thought of cucumber peel across my stinging eyes and filled my mouth with dripping moss. I imagined drinking whole monsoons and winter mists and reclining on the sponge of a deep, cooling sea.

 

(i)	parched = very thirsty	[1]
(ii)	Fantasies = illusions	[1]
(iii)	reclining = leaning back	[1]