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.
