THE CHOICE IS
YOURS, JAN MARK
Word
Meaning
1. Quadrangle – four-sided enclosed
2. Doorknob – door handle
3. Stacked – covered or filled with a
large amount of things
4. Loathed – hated
5. Detention – custody, arrest
6. Collapse – destroyed
7. Scarcely – almost not
8. Briskly – quick, energetic way
9. Ominous – threatening, gloomy
10. Enduring – tolerating
11. Ridiculous – funny,
12. Leaned – bend forward
13. Jolt – bang, push
14. Trudged – dragging oneself while walking
15. Releasing – freeing
16. Shin – part of leg
17. Persuaded – convinced
A. Choose the correct option.
1. Miss Helen
Francis used to teach
a. music. (√)
b. sports and games.
c. history.
2. Brenda wished to
miss the choir practice because
a. she was in pain.
b. she did not like music.
c. she had to practise
for a hockey match. (√)
3. Miss Helen
Francis and Miss Marion Taylor
a. were the best of friends.
b. could not stand each
other. (√)
c. were casual colleagues.
4. Both Miss Helen
Francis and Miss Marion Taylor wanted Brenda to attend their class because
a. they loved Brenda and wanted her to
improve her skills.
b. they wanted to prove
their own importance. (√)
c. they did not want to flout the rules.
5. In the end,
Brenda chose not to attend either of the two classes because
a. she did not like both of them.
b. she liked to flout rules.
c. she was tired and
felt extremely humiliated by the way both teachers had used her to show each
other down. (√)
6. Which dramatic
technique has the playwright used to tell us about what is happening in the
background?
a. stage directions.
b. use of a narrator.
(√)
c. monologues.
B. Answer
the following questions.
1. Why did Brenda
mention to Miss Francis that the hockey match was against the High School?
Brenda
mentioned this to Miss Francis because she hated the music teacher of the High
School more than she hated Miss Taylor, the hockey coach.
2. Which hockey
team was Brenda a member of? What did she occupy in the team?
Brenda was
a member of the Lower School hockey team. She was the goalkeeper.
3. How do you think
she got this position?
She got
this position through a trial.
4. How did the Head
Girl add to Brenda’s woes?
The Head
Girl added to Brenda’s woes by ordering her to go back to changing room and
walk silently in the corridor; and eventually asked her to report in front of
the Sixth Form Room at four o’clock.
5. Brenda did a few
forbidden things that day. What was the last prohibited thing she did that day?
Brenda
missed the music class.
C. Think
and answer.
1. What do these
two sentences tell us about the state of affairs in the school?
a. The choir tittered…
to express its mass contempt for anyone who was fool enough to get caught in
the crossfire between Miss Francis and Miss Taylor?
The
hockey coach, Miss Taylor and the music teacher, Miss Francis, loathed each
other. The students knew that it was dangerous to get caught in the crossfire
between them. This tells us that the two teachers would go to any level to show
each other down.
b. ...Gill Rogers, who
was also the school hockey captain and had the sense not to try and sing well?
Gill
Rogers was smart enough to not to be a part of the choir while she was in the
hockey team. She was aware of the
distaste between the two respective teachers. This again shows that the egos of
the two teachers take precedence over other things.
2. The last
injustice gave Brenda a jolt that she might otherwise have missed. What was the
justice and injustice.
Gill
Rogers, the Head Girl caught Brenda for running in the corridor and ordered her
to report in the Sixth Form Room at four o’clock. She was already caught in
the crossfires between the Music teacher and the Sports teacher; and finally
this last injustice done to Brenda by Gill Rogers gave her a jolt.
3. Three
punishments were meted out to Brenda. What were they? Did she deserve?
The first punishment was that Brenda had to leave the hockey team; the second was that she had to leave the choir and the third punishment was that she had to report in front of the Sixth Form Room at four o’clock.
No, she did not deserve the
punishment. She was caught in the crossfire between two teachers who loathed
each other and she faced the consequences of being punished. Apart from this, the Head Girl also
punished Brenda for a petty reason, for which Brenda had a probable course.
4. Work in groups
of four. Think of a situation
[DO BY SELF].
D. Complete the blanks.
E. Discuss
in the Class
Rules are very important. But sometimes, it is in the interest of
everybody to bend a few rules. Comment.
Rules are very important, no doubt, but at times rules are not in favour of any party involved; can be made flexible. Rules have purposes, they are supposed to make common lives better. But think about at times when the individual’s intention is pure and for a good reason fails to abide by the rules, which does no harm to any individual. I think, we can forgive the rule breaker in that case and bend a few rules for common advantage.
---:THE END:---