Class 11 English Hornbill Chapter 2 – We’re Not Afraid to Die… If We Can All Be Together (Gorden Cook and Alan East) Extract/passage based question answers

 

NCERT Solutions For Class 11 English

Hornbill

Chapter 2 – We’re Not Afraid to Die… If We Can All Be Together (Gorden Cook and Alan East)

Extract/passage based question answers

Passage 1

In July 1976, my wife Mary, son Jonathan, 6, daughter Suzanne, 7, and I set sail from Plymouth, England, to duplicate the round-the-world voyage made 200 years earlier by Captain James Cook. For the longest time, Mary and I—a 37-year-old businessman—had dreamt of sailing in the wake of the famous explorer, and for the past 16 years we had spent all our leisure time honing our seafaring skills in British waters. Our boat Wavewalker, a 23 metre, 30 ton wooden-hulled beauty, had been professionally built, and we had spent months fitting it out and testing it in the roughest weather we could find.

Questions :

(i) From which location did the narrator, along with his wife Mary, six-year-old son Jonathan, and seven-year-old daughter Suzanne, begin their sea journey?

(ii) What feat did Captain James Cook achieve around two centuries ago?

(iii) How has the narrator spent his leisure time over the past 16 years?

(iv) What is the author's depiction of 'Wavewalker'?

(v) Use these words in your own sentences :
(a) explorer.
(b) duplicate.

Answers:
(i) Setting sail from Plymouth, England, the narrator, along with his wife Mary, six-year-old son Jonathan, and seven-year-old daughter Suzanne, embarked on their journey.

(ii) Around 200 years ago, Captain James Cook completed a global sea voyage.

(iii) Over the last 16 years, the narrator has been refining his seafaring abilities during his leisure hours.

(iv) The author depicts 'Wavewalker' as a professionally crafted, 23-meter-long, 30-ton wooden-hulled beauty.

(v)(a) Columbus is known to be a famous explorer, who discovered America.
(b) The shopkeeper gave me the original bill and retained a duplicate copy with him.

Passage 2

At dawn on January 2, the waves were gigantic. We were sailing with only a small storm jib and were still making eight knots. As the ship rose to the top of each wave we could see endless enormous sea rolling towards us, and the screaming of the wind and spray was painful to the ears. To slow the boat down, we dropped the storm jib and lashed heavy mooring rope in a loop across the stem. Then we double-lashed everything, went through our life-raft drill, attached lifelines, donned oilskins and life jackets—and waited.

Questions :

(i) What transpired on the 2nd of January?

(ii) What was their mode of transportation on the sea?

(iii) How did they perceive the howling of the wind?

(iv) How did they take measures to reduce the speed of the boat?

(v) Give the opposites of:
(a) gigantic
(b) dropped.

Answers :
(i) Enormous waves greeted the morning of January 2nd.

(ii) They navigated the sea using just a compact storm jib.

(iii) The howling wind was perceived as an ear-piercing discomfort.

(iv) Lowering the storm jib, they secured a heavy mooring rope in a loop around the stem.

(v) (a) small
(b) raised.

Passage 3

Larry and Herb were pumping like madmen. Broken timbers hung at crazy angles, the whole starboard side bulged inwards; clothes, crockery, charts, tins and toys slashed about in deep water. I half-swam, half-crawled into the children’s cabin. ‘Are you all right ?’ I asked. “Yes,’ they answered from an upper bunk.’ ‘But my head hurts a bit,’ said Sue, pointing to a big bump above her eyes. I had no time to worry about bumped heads.

Questions :
(i) What occurred on the starboard side?

(ii) What tasks were Larry and Herb engaged in?

(iii) By what means did the narrator access the children's cabin?

(iv) What had befallen Sue?

(v) Find words in the passage which mean :
(a) the right-hand side of a ship
(b) thump swelling

Answers :
(i) The entire starboard side had inward bulging, causing clothes, crockery, charts, tins, toys, and more to plunge into the deep sea waters.

(ii) Larry and Herb were pumping rapidly and continuously in an erratic fashion.

(iii) Employing a combination of swimming and crawling, the narrator reached the children's room.

(iv) Sue sustained injuries, displaying a prominent swelling above her eyes.

(v)(a) starboard
(b) bump

Passage 4

On January 4, after 36 hours of continuous pumping, they reached the last few cen-timetres of water. Now, we had only to keep pace with the water still coming in. We could not set any sail on the main mast. Pressure on the rigging would simply pull the damaged section of the hull apart, so we hoisted the storm jib and headed for where I thought the two islands were. Mary found some corned beef and cracker biscuits, and we ate our first meal in almost two days. But our respite was short-lived. At 4 p.m. black clouds began building up behind us; within the hour the wind was back to 40 knots and the seas were getting higher.

Questions :
(i) After pumping continuously for 36 hours, where did they eventually arrive?

(ii) What measures did they have to take concerning the persistently incoming water?

(iii) What prevented them from deploying any sail on the main mast?

(iv) Why was their relief only temporary?

(v) Use the following words in your own sentences :
(a) hoisted
(b) rigging.

Answers :
(i) After 36 hours of unbroken pumping, they reached the final few centimeters of water within the ship.

(ii) They had to match the pace of the persistently incoming water.

(iii) This was unattainable because the pressure on the rigging might have caused the damaged section of the hull to separate.

(iv) Their momentary relief was cut short as ominous black clouds started forming behind them.

(v)(a) The Prime Minister hoisted the tricolour on 15th August.
(b) Rigging in search for petrol and gases is going on in Gujarat

Passage 5

That evening, Mary and I sat together holding hands, as the motion of the ship brought more and more water in through the broken planks. We both felt the end was very near. But Wavewalker rode out the storm and by the morning of January 6, with the wind easing, I tried to get a reading on the sextant. Back in the chartroom, I worked on wind speeds, changes of course, drift and current in an effort to calculate our position. The best I could determine was that we were somewhere in 150,000 kilometres of ocean looking for a 65 kilometre-wide island.

Questions :
(i) What transpired as a consequence of the ship's movement?

(ii) How did the narrator and his wife experience the situation?

(iii) What did they attempt to measure on the morning of January 6?

(iv) What information did the narrator gain regarding the location of the ship?

(v) Find the words from the passage, which mean :
(a) long flat pieces of sawn timber.
(b) an instrument for measuring angular distances.

Answers :
(i) Due to the ship's movement, an increasing amount of water flowed into the ship through the damaged planks.

(ii) The narrator and his wife sensed that their conclusion was drawing near.

(iii) He attempted to take a reading with the sextant.

(iv) The narrator discovered that his ship was situated somewhere in a vast expanse of 150,000 kilometers of ocean, in search of a 65-kilometer-wide island.

(v)(a) planks
(b) sextant.

Passage 6

About 2 p.m., I went on deck and asked Larry to steer a course of 185 degrees. If we were lucky, I told him with a conviction I did not feel, he could expect to see the island at about 5 p.m. Then with a heavy heart, I went below, climbed on my bunk and amazingly, dozed off. When I woke it was 6 p.m. and growing dark. I knew we must have missed the island, and with the sail we had left, we couldn’t hope to beat back into the westerly winds. At that moment, a tousled head appeared by may bunk. ‘Can I have a hug ?’ Jonathan asked. Sue was right behind him.
‘Why am I getting a hug now?’ I asked.
‘Because you are the best daddy in the whole world and the best captain,’ my son replied.
‘Not today, Jon, I’m afraid.’
‘Why, you must be’ said Sue in a matter-of-fact voice ‘You found the island.’

Questions :
(i) What inquiries did the narrator make and what instructions did he give to Larry?

(ii) Following his descent below, what actions did the narrator undertake?

(iii) What inquiry did Jonathan pose to his father, and for what reason?

(iv) What information did Sue impart to her father?

(v) Make noun forms of the following :
(a) expect
(b) appeared

Answers :
(i) The narrator instructed Larry to navigate a course of 185 degrees, informing him that the island would likely come into view around 5 p.m.

(ii) After descending below, the narrator drifted off to sleep.

(iii) Jonathan requested a hug from his father, expressing his belief that he was the best Daddy and Captain.

(iv) Sue informed her father that they had located the island.

 (v)(a) expectation
(b) appearance.