Practice passage 1

Read the passage and then answer the questions about it. Use your own words as far as possible.

In this story the author describes a journey deep into the Amazon Jungle where, to the surprise of the explorers, they came across creatures
which they believed no longer existed.

We passed very slowly through the woods, partly because Lord John acted as a scout before he would
let us advance, and party because at every second step either one or the other of the two professors
would stop, with a cry of wonder, before some flower or insect which presented him with a new type.
We may have travelled four or five kilometers keeping to the right of the line of a stream, when we
came upon a considerable opening in the trees. A strip of brushwood led to a tangle of rocks – in fact
the whole plateau was strewn with boulders. We were walking slowly towards these rocks, among
bushes which reached our waists, when we became aware of a low babbling and whistling sound, which
filled the air with a constant clamor and appeared to come from some spot immediately before us. Lord
John held up his hand as a signal for us to stop, and he made his way swiftly, stooping and running, to
the line of rocks. We saw him peep over them and give a gesture of amazement. Then he stood still as if
forgetting us, so utterly hypnotized was he by what he saw .Finally he waved to us to come on, holding
up his hand as a signal for caution. His whole manner made me feel that something wonderful but
dangerous lay before us.

Creeping to his side, we looked over the rocks. The place into which we gazed was a pit and may, in the
early days, have been one of the smaller volcanic blowholes of the plateau. It was bowl-shaped, and at
the bottom, some hundreds of meters from where we lay, were pools of green- scrummed stagnant
water fringed with reeds. It was a weird sight in itself but its occupants made it look like a scene from
hell. The pit was the habitat and nesting ground of pterodactyls. There were hundreds of them
congregated within our view. All the bottom area around the water’s edge was alive with young ones.
Their hideous mothers brooded upon leathery yellowish eggs which were still to hatch. The birds looking
more like reptiles than birds. The babbling and whistling that we had registered before had come from
this mass of obscene reptilian life. Now it was combined with a horrible odor which made us feel sick.
But above, perched sentinel-like, each upon its own stone, tall, grey and withered, sat the males. They
were absolutely motionless save for the vigilant movement of their eyes or an occasional snap of their
rat trap beaks as dragonflies went past them. Their huge membranous wings were closed by folding
their forearms, so that they sat like gigantic old women wrapped in crinkly grey shawls, their ferocious
heads protruding above them. Large and small, not less than a thousand of these filthy creatures lay in
the hollow below us. Like penguins, they lived in colonies.

Our professors would gladly have stayed there all day, so taken up were they by this rare chance to
study the life of a prehistoric age. They pointed out the bones of fish and birds pecked clean and lying
about among the rocks as proving the nature of the diet of these creatures. I heard them congratulating
each other on having cleared up the point why the fossilized remains of this flying dragon are, even
today, found in such great numbers in certain coastal areas.
Finally, however, Professor Challenger, intent on proving some point which his colleague Summer lee
had contested, thrust his head over the rock and nearly brought destruction upon us all. In an instant,
the nearest male gave a shrill whistling cry, and flapped its five- metre span of leathery wings as it
soared into the air. The females and young ones huddled together beside the water, while the whole
circle of sentinels rose one after the other and sailed off into the sky. It was a wonderful sight to see at
least a hundred creatures of such enormous size and ugly appearance swooping like swallows with such
swift, shearing wing strokes above us; but we soon realized that it was not a sight over which we could
afford to linger or daydream. At first the great brutes flew round in a large ring as if to make sure what
the extent of the danger might be, in just the same way as a great white shark would circle its would-be
victims before mauling them. Then the flight grew lower and more threatening, like modern jets zeroing
in on a target. The circle narrowed, until the birds were buzzing round and round us, the rustling flap of
their wings filling the air with a sound that made me think of an aerodrome back home on the day of an
air show. ‘Make for the woods and keep together!’ cried Lord John. We needed no further
encouragement. The moment we attempted to retreat, the circle closed in upon us, until the tips of the
wings of those nearest to us nearly touched our faces. We beat them with the stocks of our guns but
there was nothing solid or vulnerable to strike. Then suddenly, out of the whizzing slate-colored circle, a
long serpentine neck shot out, and a fierce beak made a thrust at us. Another and another followed.
Summer lee gave a cry and put his hand to his face, from which blood was streaming. I felt a prod at the
back of my neck, and turned dizzy with shock. Challenger fell and as I stooped to pick him up, I was
struck again from behind and I dropped on top of him. At the same instant I heard the thunderous crash
of Lord John’s elephant gun, and looking up, saw one of the creatures with a broken wing struggling
upon the ground, spitting and gurgling defiantly at us with wide open beak and bloodshot eyes. At such
close quarters the creature looked like some horrible winged devil whose picture I had seen in an old
book in the University Memorial Library. Its hideous comrades had flown higher at the sudden sound,
and were circling above our heads, ready for another aerial attack.

‘Now,’ Cried Lord John, ‘run for our lives!’ We staggered through the bushes, and just before we reached
the trees the birds broke their circle as if on cue and bore down on us. The boldest of them nose- dived
and knocked Summer lee down, but we wrenched him up and made a stumbling rush for the tree
trunks. Once there we were safe, for those huge wings had no room to sweep beneath the branches.

As we limped camp wards, sadly mauled and discomfited, we saw them for a long time flying above our
heads, soaring round and round, no bigger than wood pigeons, with their yes no doubt following our
progress. At last, saw them no more. Our zeal for scientific exploration disappeared with the flying birds.

Questions

1. State two reasons which prevented the team from moving faster than they were doing. (2)

2. Lord John made his way, ‘stooping and running ‘to the rocks. Explain why he moved like this. (2)

3. How does the writer present his experience about exploring deep into the Amazon Jungle?

Explain your answer with close reference to the text. (10)

Hint point for question no 03

Text Analysis (Pterodactyl)

• First person point of view to write about his personal experience/ /using ‘I', ‘we'// as the readers can
relate it to them

• Powerful phrases to describe the toughness of the place//’a tangle of rocks', ‘strewn with boulders'

• Onomatopoeia// ‘babbling’, ‘whistling’, ‘buzzing’// to make the description more lively

• Use of alliteration/ / ‘constant clamour’// to make the writing more interesting

• Sense of anticipation/ /’gesture of amazement’, ‘utterly hypnotized’, ‘stooping and running’

• Use of antithesis/ /’wonderful but dangerous’//to create suspense

• Sense of sight to describe the habitat/ /’bowl-shaped', ‘pools of green-scummed stagnant water’

• Use of adjectives to write about the author's negative impressions/ / ‘weird’, ‘hideous’

• Use of similes to describe the pterodactyl// ‘like gigantic old women wrapped in crinkly grey shawls’,
‘more like reptiles’

• List of three to describe the male pterodactyl//’tall, grey and withered’

• Words and phrases projecting happiness of the explorers// ‘gladly’, ‘congratulating each other'

• A dramatic change of the event when the pterodactyl attacked

• The use of active verb to create a sense of immediacy and how the creatures attacked/ /’rose', ‘sailed’,
‘stroke'

• Use of similes to describe the attack/ /’as a great white shark...’, ‘like a modern jet zeroing...’

• Use of dialogue to depict sudden horror// ’run for our lives!’//use of exclamatory sign to build up
tension

• Use of personification/ / ‘Our zeal for scientific exploration disappeared with the flying birds’// to
write about the ultimate experience