1. 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 seas 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 a heavy mooring rope in a loop across the stern. Then we double-lashed everything, went through our life-raft drill, attached lifelines waited.
(a) The statement "endless enormous seas rolling towards us" refers to
(i) an exaggerated description of the sea
(ii) great gusts of wind blowing across the sea (iii) gigantic sea waves with each wave looking like the sea itself (iv) a huge cyclone in the sea
(b) Identify the literary device in "the screaming of the wind... ears."
(c) The expression "donned oilskins" means __________.
2. The roar increased to a thunder as the stern moved up the face of the wave, and for a moment I thought we might ride over it. But then a tremendous explosion shook the deck. A torrent of green and white water broke over the ship, my head smashed into the wheel and I was aware of flying overboard and sinking below the waves. I accepted my approaching death, and as I was losing consciousness, I felt quite peaceful .
a) The expression "the roar increased to a thunder" refers to
(i) the noise was increasing gradually
(ii) the waves became wilder and noisier (iii) the sea storm subsided (iv) there was a cloud-burst somewhere
(b) The statement "a torrent of green and white water broke over the ship" means ____
(c) State briefly the meaning of "I was aware of... below the waves". 3. "Take the wheel", I shouted as I scrambled for the hatch. 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 sloshed about in deep water.
(a) "Take the wheel" means______
b) What is statement "Larry and Herb were pumping like madmen" an example of?
(c) The meaning of the expression 'sloshed about' here is
(i) thrown around
(ii) spilled around (iii) floated around (iv) strewn around
4. The night dragged on with an endless, bitterly cold routine of pumping, steering and working radio. We were getting no replies to our Mayday calls –which was not surprising in this remote corner of the world. Sue's head had swollen alarmingly she had two enormous black eyes and now she showed us a deep cut on her arm. When I asked her why she hadn’t made more of her injuries before this, she replied, "I didn't want to worry you when you were trying to save us all."
(a) The statement "The night dragged on with an endless, bitterly cold routine..." means that
(i) the crew were busy steering the ship to a safe spot by turns (ii) the crew were frantically sending messages and pumping out water in rotation (iii) it was a punishing schedule on a long, cold night (iv) all of the above
(b) What do the words "No replies to our Mayday calls" mean? State briefly.
(c) The statement "not surprising in this remote corner of the world" refers to__________
5. But Wave walker 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.
(a) The expression "rode out the storm" does NOT mean
(i) got through
(ii) weathered (iii) succumbed (iv) braved (b) What is a sextant?
(c) When the captain states -"we were somewhere... island," he is referring to__________
6. "It's out there in front of us," they chorused, "as big as a battleship." I rushed on deck and gazed with relief at the stark outline of Ile Amsterdam. It was only a bleak piece of volcanic rock, with little vegetation -the most beautiful island in the world!
(a) "It's out there in front of us, as big as a battleship," has a figure of speech. Identify it.
(b) The expression "gazed with relief at the stark outline of Ile Amsterdam" means___
(c) The captain calls it "the most beautiful island in the world" because
(i) it actually was the most beautiful island in the Indian ocean (ii) it was made of volcanic rocks (iii) it symbolized hope, safety and survival for the crew (iv) although its vegetation was sparse, it was beautiful
