Lesson:4 Deep Water

 Class:XII

Sub:English

Book:Flamingo

Lesson:3 Deep Water

Writer:Williom Douglas

Questions & Answers

Question 1.

When did the author decide to learn swimming? Why did he join YMCA pool?

Answer:

The author decided to learn swimming at the age of ten or eleven years. There was a pool at the YMCA that offered that opportunity. The YMCA pool was quite safe. It was only two or three feet deep at the shallow end; and while it was nine feet deep at the other, the drop was gradual.

 Question 2.

Describe the author’s childhood experience when he was three or four years old?

Answer:

The author had an aversion to the water when he was three or four years old. His father took him to a beach in California. His father and he was standing together in the surf. Suddenly the waves knocked him down and swept over him. He was buried in the water. His breath was gone. This caused a terror in his mind of water.

Question 3.

What did Douglas feel and do when he was pushed into the swimming water?

Answer:

When Douglas was tossed into the water he was frightened but not much. He thought that when he reached the bottom he would make a big jump. Then he would, come to the surface like a cork. It seemed a long way down. He reached the bottom very slow. It appeared to him that those nine feet were like ninety feet, He felt that his lungs would burst.. He came up very slowly. He grew panicky. He thought he would not survive. This thought gave him peace.

 Question 4.

Why did the author go to Lake Went worth in New Hampshire?

Answer:

The author had learnt swimming from a very capable instructor. But the author wanted to conquer ‘ his fear of water completely. Therefore, he went to Lake Went worth in New Hampshire. He swam across the lake. Only once did his old fear of water return. However he brushed this thought of fear aside and swam across the lake.

 

Question 5.

Why did Douglas decide to overcome his fear of water?

Answer:

Due to his fear of water, Douglas couldn’t enjoy any of the water-related activities. It ruined his fishing plans and his joy of boating or canoeing. Therefore he decided to overcome his fear of water.

Question 6.

Why was Douglas determined to get over his fear of water?

Answer:

The fear of water ruined Douglas’ all4 fishing trips and also deprived him of the joy of canoeing, boating and swimming. Therefore, Douglas decided to get over his fear of water.

 Question 7.

How did the instructor make Douglas a good swimmer?

Answer:

Douglas wanted to overcome his fear of water. He got an instructor to teach him swimming. He went  to the pool for five days a week, an hours each day. The instructor put a belt around him. A rope attached to the belt went through a pulley that ran on an overhead cable. He held on to the end of the rope, and went back and forth, across the pool. On each trip across the pool a bit of his panic seized him.

Each time the instructor relaxed his hold on the rope and the author went under water, some of the old terror returned and his legs froze. After three months, the instructor taught him to put his face under water and exhale, and to raise his nose and inhale. He repeated this exercise hundreds of times. Bit by bit, the author shed the part of the panic that seized him when his head went under water.

Next, the instructor held the author at the side of the pool and had him kick with his legs. At first, it was quite difficult for the author but gradually he was able to command his legs. Thus, piece by piece the instructor made Douglas a good swimmer.

 Question 8.

How did Douglas make sure that he had conquered the old terror?

Answer:

The author learnt swimming from an expert instructor. Finally, the instructor told him that he had learnt swimming. The instructor was finished but not the author. When he swam the length and breadth of the pool, the old memories of terror would return. One day, the author went to Lake Went worth in New Hampshire.

He swam two miles across the lake. Only once did the old terror returned to him. Once the author went across the Warm Lake. He dived into the lake next morning. He swam across to the other shore. The author shouted with joy. He had conquered his old fear of water.

 Question 9.

The author says, “The instructor was finished. But I was not finished.” Why?

Answer:

The instructor was a very experienced trainer. He trained the author step by step. After about two months of training, he told the author that he now knew everything about swimming. However the author was yet not satisfied. He himself wanted to become assure that he had overcome his fear of water. Therefore the author said that the instructor was finished but not was he. 

Question 10.

How did Douglas’s experience at the YMCA pool affect him?

Answer:

Douglas was saved from drowning. When he came to his senses, he found that he was lying on his stomach beside the pool and he was vomiting . After hours later the author walked to his home. He was feeling very weak. He could neither eat nor sleep that night. He never went to the pool again. He avoided it whenever he could.

Good Evening,

All students. 

The End

BY:GR Dhaka Fatehpura.