Question

Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. This passage is taken from a book written in the last 150 years or so.

The sun was still red and large: the sky above cloudless, a light blue glaze poured over baking clay: but close over the ground a dirty grey haze hovered. As they followed the lane towards the sea they came to a place where, yesterday, a fair-sized spring had bubbled up by the roadside. Now it was dry. But even as they passed some water splashed out, and then it was dry again, although gurgling inwardly to itself. But the group of children were hot, far too hot to speak to one another: they sat on their poniesas loosely as possible, longing for the sea.
The morning advanced. The heated air grew !uite easily hotter, as if from someenormous furnace from which it could draw at will. ullocks only shifted their stinging feetwhen they could bear the soil no longer: even the insects were too lethargic to pipe, thebasking lizards hid themselves and panted. "t was so still you could have heard the leastbuzz a mile off. Not a naked fish would willingly move his tail. The ponies advancedbecause they must. The children ceased even to think.
1. Choose three details that convey the extreme heat of the day. Give reasons for your choice.
2. How did the heat affect the children?
3. Explain, using your own words, how the animal life responded to the heat?
4. Later in the day, a hurricane hits the area. How do the descriptions in the passage suggestthat something serious is about to happen?

Answer 1

1. a) ¨The heated air...as if from some enormous furnace...¨, b) ¨...they came to a place where, yesterday, a fair-sized spring had bubbled up by the roadside Now it was dry.¨ c) ¨But the group of children were hot, far too hot to speak to one another...¨

2. It was so hot they had no energy left to talk to each other.

Step-by-step explanation:

1. As a reader, I can relate to this type of situation as this condition can be felt in different places around the world and it is something affecting the world nowadays. The sense that the air is so hot it feels like a furnace. Extreme heat that you see told over and over in the news. The fact that a spring could dry up in a matter of a day, is another example of extreme heat weather patterns that is affecting us all around. Lastly, the children were absorbing so much heat that it made them lethargic and energyless. They couldn't or wouldn't even interact with each other.

2. As stated previously, when exposed to extreme heat, such as the situation portrayed by the reading, it is human nature as well as animal, to act in a sluggish-like manner. People may react with headaches as a consequence of heat, feel faint, or even pass out.

3. A very clear example of how animals seek refuge from heat...¨the basking lizards hid themselves and panted.¨ This is common to see among animals that hide from heat, or that aren't as adapted to heat as others which normally thrive in a hotter environment such as deserts or sand dunes.

4. The passage relates a situation that is cause for concern. It depicts a moment where everything is suffering from heat exposure. It is a situation that has to change or everything will die. And if you analyze the fact that there is abundant wildlife that even though it is suffering now, it is a sign that conditions will change and this will reflect into more wildlife thriving from a change in weather conditions.