Question 143
MediumOriginal questionThe radio said the weather would be fine. It said so in two languages, and then played a film song, as if to prove it.
Old Janaki, who had been mending nets on the beach since before the radio was invented, looked at the sky and did not agree. The sea was too flat. The gulls had gone . There was a in the air that she could feel in her knees.
"Tell the boys not to go far out," she said to her grandson.
"The radio says it's fine, Aaji."
"The radio lives in a box in Mumbai. I live here."
The boys went out anyway, but not far. Most of them stayed within sight of the shore, , and came back early with a poor catch and a good deal of bad temper.
At four o'clock the wind came. It came all at once, the way a slap comes, and turned the flat sea into a field of white. The boats that had stayed near the shore were pulled up on the sand in twenty minutes. The radio, a little later, announced that there might be strong winds along the coast.
That evening the boys brought Janaki the best fish from their poor catch, and did not grumble at all.
"It came all at once, the way a slap comes." The comparison suggests that the wind arrived
Show the answer and explanation
Correct answer: B
Explanation
A slap is sudden and stinging, with no warning.
The comparison shows that the wind struck all at once, turning the flat sea white.
Worth noting
The sea had been "too flat" before, which makes the sudden change more striking.
- Concept
- Interpreting a simile
- Typical timeTypical
- 40 s
- Your timeYours
- —
Ten questions from Narrative passages, at your own pace.