Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it.
Years after he had left home for the capital, first as a student and later as a struggling businessman, Oliha returned to his village, having been informed of his father's failing health. He was amazed that not much had changed since he left as a youth. Every experience shocked him: the coloured water with a strong taste: the eye-sore of a dung-hill on which everyone excreted; the absence of electricity and so on. As he went to bed late in the evening, after a meeting with his younger brothers,on how he would pay his own share of their father's medical expenses, he prayed for the early arrival of the morning. He decided to leave early and put the trying experience behind him.
But morning brought him the greatest shock of his life. Informed by his niece that there was a bucket of water for him in the bath, he hurried down there, half-dressed, holding a towel. The bathroom. located by the side of the building, was an improvised rectangular enclosure made of palm fronds. Hissing to himself. he went in and used his clothes and large towel to cover some openings in the enclosure. He started bathing. Then it happened. With every inch of his body thoroughly covered with soap lather, hardly able to open his eyes, he heard someone removing his clothes and towel. With the corner of his half-opened eyes, he saw a man making away with the clothes and towel. Hardly giving the matter thought, naked except for the covering of soap lather. he ran out and gave the thief a hot chase.
As he ran after the thief. he heard everyone shouting. The lunatic has broken loose again! But as soon as the people saw him,, everyone shouted. 'Ah. another mad man has broken loose!' Men. women children all ran away, seeking refuge in their homes. slamming their doors. By the time he realized what was happening daring men were after him. Just as Oliha was about to beat a retreat, he was held by strong muscular men who overpowered him and carried him to the quarters of the village's foremost occult healer who alone knew how to cure lunatics.
(a) Why did Oliha return to the village?
(b) Mention two basic facilities lacking in the village.
(c) What was the subject of the meeting which Oliha held with his younger brothers?
(d) Why was it possible for the thief to remove the clothes without Oliha stopping him?
(e)(i) Why was Oliha taken to the occult healer rather than to his father's home?
(ii) What is the irony of the entire event in the passage?
(f) ... who alone knew how to cure lunatics. (i) What is the grammatical name given to the above expression?
(ii) What is its function in the sentence?
(g) the early arrival of morning. (i) What figure of speech is the above expression? (ii) Why do you consider it so?
(h) For each of the following words, find another word or phrase that means the same and can replace it as used in the passage.
(i) shocked: (ii) trying; (iii) thoroughly; (iv) refuge; (v) foremost.
(a) Why Oliha returned to the village
He returned to take care of his father, who was ill and in failing health.
(b) Two basic facilities lacking in the village
- Electricity (there was no electric power supply).
- Pipe-borne water (the only water available was coloured and strong-tasting).
(c) Subject of the meeting with his younger brothers
The meeting was about how Oliha would pay his own share of their father's medical expenses.
(d) Why the thief was able to remove the clothes without being stopped
Oliha was bathing with every inch of his body covered in soap lather and his eyes shut against the soap, so he was momentarily blinded and could neither see clearly nor act quickly enough to seize the thief.
(e)(i) Why Oliha was taken to the occult healer
When the villagers saw him rushing out naked and covered in lather, chasing a man, they took him for a mad man, so he was carried to the healer who was believed to cure lunatics.
(e)(ii) The irony of the event
The irony is that a perfectly sane man, who had come home out of love to help his sick father, is himself mistaken for a lunatic and dragged off to be cured of madness, while the real thief escapes freely.
(f)(i) Grammatical name
It is a relative (adjectival) clause.
(f)(ii) Its function
It qualifies the noun healer, telling us which healer is meant.
(g)(i) Figure of speech
Personification.
(g)(ii) Why it is so
Morning, which is inanimate, is given the human quality of being able to arrive early, as though it were a person who could come to a place.
(h) Words and their replacements
- shocked - amazed / surprised / astonished
- trying - painful / unpleasant / distressing
- thoroughly - completely / totally / entirely
- refuge - safety / protection / shelter
- foremost - leading / best / chief
(a) Why Oliha returned to the village
He returned to take care of his father, who was ill and in failing health.
(b) Two basic facilities lacking in the village
- Electricity (there was no electric power supply).
- Pipe-borne water (the only water available was coloured and strong-tasting).
(c) Subject of the meeting with his younger brothers
The meeting was about how Oliha would pay his own share of their father's medical expenses.
(d) Why the thief was able to remove the clothes without being stopped
Oliha was bathing with every inch of his body covered in soap lather and his eyes shut against the soap, so he was momentarily blinded and could neither see clearly nor act quickly enough to seize the thief.
(e)(i) Why Oliha was taken to the occult healer
When the villagers saw him rushing out naked and covered in lather, chasing a man, they took him for a mad man, so he was carried to the healer who was believed to cure lunatics.
(e)(ii) The irony of the event
The irony is that a perfectly sane man, who had come home out of love to help his sick father, is himself mistaken for a lunatic and dragged off to be cured of madness, while the real thief escapes freely.
(f)(i) Grammatical name
It is a relative (adjectival) clause.
(f)(ii) Its function
It qualifies the noun healer, telling us which healer is meant.
(g)(i) Figure of speech
Personification.
(g)(ii) Why it is so
Morning, which is inanimate, is given the human quality of being able to arrive early, as though it were a person who could come to a place.
(h) Words and their replacements
- shocked - amazed / surprised / astonished
- trying - painful / unpleasant / distressing
- thoroughly - completely / totally / entirely
- refuge - safety / protection / shelter
- foremost - leading / best / chief