An Uncomfortable Bed
Word Meanings
|
1.
Practical jokes – pranks 2.
Suspicious - confusing, mysteries 3.
Merth – amusements, a lot of fun and laughter 4.
Victim – Target, Suffer 5.
Watchful – alert, see keenly 6.
Restless – unsteady 7.
Suspect – a person to be doubted of 8.
Distrustfully – untrustworthy 9.
Accompany – to go along, to join 10.
Corridor – hallway, passage between rooms 11.
Justify – to prove |
12.
Cautiously – very carefully 13.
Advancing – growing, about to come 14.
Laughing their heads
off – laughing heartily 15.
Receive a cold
shower – to go under sudden attack 16.
Precaution – preventive measure, safety aid 17.
Anxiety – fear, tension 18.
Starting – about to begin, reckoning 19.
Trembling – shaking 20.
Howl – long cry made by dogs or wolf 21.
Dreadful – terrible |
Answer these:
1.
My friends are fond of
practical jokes. I do not care to know people who are not.
a.
From the second
sentence, what do you think the speaker valued in his friends?
From the second sentence we can understand
that the friend of the narrator had a great deal of humor since it is because
he had experienced a lot of pranks as a result of which he was fooled many
times.
b.
Can you find any
evidence in the text that supports the first sentence?
The evidence in the text that supports the
first sentence is that the writer was given a grand reception and at the same
time too much attention or importance which made him suspicious.
2.
… Which at once made
me rather suspicious.
a.
Which other words in
the text tell you how the speaker was feeling and acting?
The narrator says that during the dinner
there was a lot of amusement and everyone laughed in an unusual manner this
made him suspect that his friends had planned a prank on him & he did not
want to become its victim.
b.
Add one more word of
your own to describe his state of mind.
The other words which describe the state
of mind of the narrator are to be watchful and restless.
3.
‘Look out, old ferret!
They have something in store for you.’
a.
Another meaning of
Ferret is to find something by searching carefully why do you think the speaker
called himself a ferret?
According to me, the writer is calling
himself a ferret because he is carefully examining his friends and so he is
continuously looking around their faces to clear his doubts.
b.
What did he think his friends
had in store for him?
The narrator thinks that his friends had
practical jokes or a prank in store for him.
4.
Once inside his room
how did the speaker move and act? Why?
As the speaker entered his room, he stood
silently without moving a single step and soon he lighted all the candles and
looking carefully all over the things precisely in the room. he did so because
he was suspicious and wanted to find out whether he is being pranked.
5.
Why did the speaker
close the shutters and draw the curtains? what happened as a result of this?
what else did he do in para 14 that helped to bring about the outcome?
The speaker closed the shutters &
retrieved the curtains in order to avoid any harm that would happen from
outside.
As a result of this the room became so
dark that he was not aware when the day dawn.
He made himself A bit on the floor near to
the door and then he soon covered himself under the bedclothes.
6.
The armchair was
solid. Why was this discovery important to the speaker?
He meant that his friends had not laid a
trap for him in the chair.
7.
I did not dare to get
into the bed. Why did the speaker dare to get into the bed? Why did he finally
go to bed?
The speaker did not dare to go to bed as
he doubted either he is going to receive a cold shower from overhead or he
might fall down with the mattress onto the floor.
He finally went to the bed as he was
feeling sleepy at the same time, he could not find anything suspicious and so
he thought himself that he was being foolish.
8.
The speaker was
awakened by a body falling over him. what else did he feel and hear at the same
time? when and how did he realize what had really happened?
The speaker felt a heavy object over him
which made him suffocated and he felt a hot liquid on his face, neck &
chest.
At the same time, he heard a huge noise
made by falling off the tray laden with plates and dishes.
He realized when he went out of the room that it was a room boy who had brought him the breakfast and because of the darkness in the room he had fallen on him.
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