TANJONG RHU- QUESTIONS

Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow.
PRACTICE 1

But this afternoon Mr Li looked older than he liked. Something worried him. It was not just
that he was saddened by his mother's burial. He had made sure that everything was done in the
right way. Even in death, lying in her coffin, his mother looked just as she always did, calm and
kind.
What was it, then? Why did he feel that he had left something undone?
(page 19)
1. How does Mr Li look normally?
2. What was troubling him that particular afternoon? Why was he sure it had nothing to do with
his mother's passing away?
PRACTICE 2
Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow.
'But mother, that was pulled down thirty years ago!'
'You said those see-far glasses could see far away, Ah Wah/she said.
'Oh Mother, he sighed. You don't understand.'
It was beginning to get dark. 'It's all right, I don't need those glasses of yours,' she said. 'I
can see Tanjong Rhu just fine. Behind my eyes, that's how I can still see it.' (page 23)

1. What was it that had been pulled down thirty years ago?
2. Do you think Mr Li's mother understood the use of binoculars? Why you say so?

PRACTICE 3

Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow.
'Do you even know how to speak to your grandfather in the right way? And afterwards,
what candles do you light, what wine do you offer? Do you know?'
Ying sighed deeply. 'It doesn't matter. My father's waiting for you. You'll make him late for
work.'
'Tell your father,' the old lady said, 'that his father is waiting for me.'
(page 26)
1. What was Ying's grandmother complaining about?
2. What was the actual reason Ying wanted to take over the praying from her grandmother?
PRACTICE

Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow.

'She's asleep/ he said.

'No, she isn't/ Ying said. 'She keeps her eyes closed all the time, that's all. I think she's too
tired to open them, but she can see, it I hold them open. Watch.'
She moved behind her grandmother and carefully pulled the eyelids up. The old woman's
eyes stared out at him, like colourless stones.
'Go on, Baba. Say something, hurry!' {page 31)
1. Where were Mr Li, Ying and grandmother? Why were they there?
2. Why did Ying hold open grandmother's eyes?
3. Why did Ying tell Mr Li to hurry and say something? Why did he find it so difficult to talk to
his mother?