In Celebration of Being Alive - Standard 12 (XII) - Unit-3(Prose) - - Easy and Simple answer - Minimum Levels of Learning -Samacheer Kalvi

 

Prose-3 “In Celebration of Being Alive”

I. Short Answers

1. What thoughts troubled Dr. Christiaan Barnard as he neared the end of his career as a heart surgeon?

Thoughts about suffering of the people in the world troubled him. He was worried about children who are with disability or die at early age.

2. What were Dr. Barnard’s feelings when he was hospitalized after an accident?

Dr. Barnard was in agony, fear and anger because they both had responsibilities to do.

3. When and where did the accident occur?

The accident occurred Dr. Barnard and his wife were crossing the road after a lovely meal.

4. How did the hospitalization of Dr. Barnard and his wife affect their routine?

Dr. Barnard had patients waiting for operation and his wife had to take care of their baby.

5. How was Dr. Barnard’s attitude to suffering different from that of his father’s?

Dr. Barnard’s father believed that sufferings are God’s test on people to ennoble them. But Dr. Barnard did not see anything noble in patient’s agony.

6. How was the unattended trolley put to use?

A blind one was the mechanic who galloped the trolley from behind. A one-handed boy was the driver who steered the trolley by scraping his foot on the floor.

7. What roles did the duo take up?

The blind one was the mechanic who galloped the trolley from behind. The one-handed boy was the driver who steered the trolley by scraping his foot on the floor.

8. Why did the choice of roles prove to be easy for them?

The mechanic boy was totally blind so he provided motor strength. The one-handed driver changed direction by steering the trolley.

9. Who encouraged them and how?

The rest of the patients encouraged them by their laughter and shouts.

10. What does Dr. Barnard compare this entertainment to?

Dr. Barnard compares this entertainment to Indianapolis 500 car race and Grand Prix.

11. What happened in the grand finale?

Plates and silverware on the trolley were scattered by the boys. Then he nurse and the ward sister scolded them and put them back to bed.

12. How does Dr. Barnard know the boy who played the trolley’s driver?

The trolley driver had a hole in his heart which was closed by Dr. Barnard a few years ago. Now he had malignant tumor of the bone for which his shoulder and arm were amputated.

13. What was the profound lesson that Dr. Barnard learnt from the boys?

Dr. Barnard learnt that the business of living is the celebration of being alive. What we have lost is not important but what we have left is important.

14. Detail the statistics Dr. Barnard has provided in his speech.

Of the 125 million children born that year, 12 million were unlikely to reach the age of one and 6 million would die before the age of five. The rest would end up as mental or physical cripples.

15. What happened when the doctor couple were crossing the street?

A car had hit them and his wife was thrown into other lane and struck by a car. They both were severely injured.

16. What injuries did they sustain in the accident?

Dr. Barnard had eleven broken ribs and a perforated lung. His wife had a fractured shoulder.

17. Dr. Barnard couldn’t find any nobility in suffering. Why?

As a doctor, Dr. Barnard couldn’t find any nobility in suffering in sweat soaked bed.

18. Why does Dr. Barnard find suffering of children heartbreaking?

The children put their total trust in doctors and believe that they are going to save them. If they can’t help the children, they accept their fate without complaining.

19. How did the boy who played the mechanic lose his eyesight?

At the age of seven, the boy’s drunken mother threw a lantern at his drunken father which broke over the boy’s head and shoulders. He suffered severe third-degree burns and lost his eyes.

20. Why does Dr. Barnard describe the blind boy as a ‘walking horror’?

The blind boy’s face was disfigured and a long flap of skin was hanging from the side of his neck. His lower jaw became gripped in a mass of fibrous tissue. The only way to open his mouth was to raise his head.

21. What were the problems the trolley driver suffered from?

The trolley driver had a hole in his heart which was closed by Dr. Barnard a few years ago. Now he had malignant tumor of the bone for which his shoulder and arm were amputated.

II. Paragraph

The accident occurred Dr. Barnard and his wife were crossing the road after a lovely meal.  Dr. Barnard had eleven broken ribs and a perforated lung. His wife had a fractured shoulder.  Dr. Barnard’s father believed that sufferings are God’s test on people to ennoble them. But Dr. Barnard did not see anything noble in patient’s agony. Once Dr. Barnard visited Red Cross Children’s Hospital. A blind one was the mechanic who galloped the trolley from behind. A one-handed boy was the driver who steered the trolley by scraping his foot on the floor.  The rest of the patients encouraged them by their laughter and shouts.  Plates and silverware on the trolley were scattered by the boys. Then he nurse and the ward sister scolded them and put them back to bed.  Dr. Barnard learnt that the business of living is the celebration of being alive. What we have lost is not important but what we have left is important.

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