CBSE Class 12 English Deep Water MCQs Set 06

Type I. Reference to Context

Read the extracts given below and attempt the questions that follow:

1. My breath was gone. I was frightened. Father laughed, but there was terror in my heart at the overpowering force of the waves. My introduction to the Y.M.C.A. swimming pool revived unpleasant memories and stirred childish fears. But in a little while I gathered confidence. I paddled with my new water wings, watching the other boys and trying to learn by aping them. I did this two or three times on different days and was just beginning to feel at ease in the water when the misadventure happened. (CBSE)

Question. (i) Choose the correct option with reference to the two statements given below:
Statement 1: The author’s father laughed to mock his son’s inability to swim.
Statement 2: The author wanted to swim just to prove to his father that he can swim.
(a) Statement 1 is true but Statement 2 is false.
(b) Statement 1 is false but Statement 2 is true.
(c) Both Statement 1 and Statement 2 cannot be inferred.
(d) Both Statement 1 and Statement 2 can be inferred.
Answer: (c)

Question. (ii) “My introduction to the Y.M.C.A. swimming pool revived unpleasant memories and stirred childish fears.” It can be inferred that this was a clear case of ............ .
(a) suppression
(b) oppression
(c) depression
(d) repression
Answer: (d)

Question. (iii) The misadventure that took place right after the author felt comfortable was that .............
(a) the author slipped and fell into the swimming pool
(b) a bully tossed him into the pool for the sake of fun
(c) his coach forgot to teach him how to handle deep water
(d) his father couldn’t help him from drowning into the water
Answer: (b)

Question. (iv) Choose the option that describes the equipment used by the author while learning to swim
(a) Option 1
(b) Option 2
(c) Option 3
(d) Option 4
Answer: (d)

Question. (v) The author’s fear of water was ............ .
(a) very terrifying
(b) a sweet memory
(c) his regular companion
(d) vanishing slowly
Answer: (c)

Question. (vi) What does the word ‘aping’ mean?
Answer: It means ‘copying’.

2. “I went down, down, endlessly. I opened my eyes. Nothing but water with a yellow glow — dark water that one could not see through. And then sheer, stark terror seized me, terror that knows no understanding, terror that knows no control, terror that no one can understand who has not experienced it. I was shrieking under water. I was paralyzed under water — stiff, rigid with fear. Even the screams in my throat were frozen. Only my heart, and the pounding in my head, said that I was still alive.” (CBSE)

Question. (i) How did he feel under water?
(a) Calm
(b) Peaceful
(c) Stiff and rigid with fear
(d) Relaxed
Answer: (c)

Question. (ii) What seized him while going down to the bottom of the pool?
(a) Fear
(b) Stark terror
(c) Reason
(d) Wit
Answer: (b)

Question. (iii) Who can understand terror better?
Answer: The person who has experienced it in life.

Question. (iv) How could he know that he was still alive?
(a) Because his brain was working.
(b) Because of his screams.
(c) The pounding of the heart.
(d) None of these.
Answer: (a)

Question. (v) The incident described in the above extract took place in ............ .
(a) a beach in California
(b) the Y.M.C.A. pool
(c) the yellow river
(d) the village pond
Answer: (a)

Question. (vi) Pick out the literary device in the statement ‘sheer stark terror seized me’.
(a) hyperbole
(b) simile
(c) personification
(d) alliteration
Answer: (c)

3. “Thus, piece by piece, he built a swimmer. And when he had perfected each piece, he put them together into an integrated whole. In April he said, “Now you can swim. Dive off and swim the length of the pool, crawl stroke.”

Question. (i) How did the instructor make Douglas a good swimmer?
(a) By planning
(b) With the help of ropes
(c) By pushing him into the pool
(d) With the help of ropes and belts
Answer: (a)

Question. (ii) What lesson did Douglas learn from his experience of drowning?
Answer: From his experience of drowning Douglas learnt to overcome the terror of an unpleasant incident.

Question. (iii) “Thus, piece by piece, he built a swimmer.” What does the narrator mean by this statement?
(a) Step by step
(b) Slowly
(c) With patience
(d) One by one
Answer: (a)

Question. (iv) “...he put them together into an integrated whole.” What did he put together?
(a) All the styles and strokes of swimming learnt by Douglas.
(b) All his equipment.
(c) All the ideas.
(d) None of the above.
Answer: (a)

Question. (v) Of the four meanings of ‘perfected’, select the option that matches in meaning with its usage in the extract.
(a) An unjust act.
(b) Made completely free from faults or defects.
(c) Having or showing no skill.
(d) Lacking in a required quality.
Answer: (b)

Question. (vi) Was Douglas satisfied with the instructor’s comment? Why?
(a) Yes, because he overcame his fear.
(b) Yes, he could swim now.
(c) No, he swam in other water bodies to perfect his swimming.
(d) No, he could not swim alone.
Answer: (c)

4. “The experience had a deep meaning for me, as only those who have known stark terror and conquered it can appreciate. In death there is peace. There is terror only in the fear of death, as Roosevelt knew when he said, “All we have to fear is fear itself.”

Question. (i) In the essay, William Douglas talks about his fear of ............ .
(a) fire
(b) lizards
(c) snake
(d) water
Answer: (d)

Question. (ii) How did the author’s fear vanish?
(a) With courage, guidance and determination
(b) With care
(c) With mother’s words
(d) With guidance
Answer: (a)

Question. (iii) “All we have to fear is the fear itself.” Who said these words?
(a) William Douglas
(b) Trainer
(c) His Father
(d) Roosevelt
Answer: (d)

Question. (iv) “In death there is peace. There is terror only in the fear of death.” It means ............ .
(a) death brings an end to all our fears
(b) death is peaceful
(c) thought of death creates fear in us
(d) All of these.
Answer: (d)

Question. (v) What is the theme of the story from where this extract has been picked?
Answer: Victory in facing the fear.

Question. (vi) The quality that Douglas shows by conquering his fear is .....
(a) pride
(b) courage
(c) ego
(d) arrogance
Answer: (b)

5. In death there is peace. There is terror only in the fear of death, as Roosevelt knew when he said, “All we have to fear is fear itself.” Because I had experienced both the sensation of dying and the terror that fear of it can produce, the will to live somehow grew in intensity. At last I felt released — free to walk the trails and climb the peaks and to brush aside fear.

Question. (i) Why does the author say, “In death there is peace”?
Answer: He says so because the thought of death is frightening.

Question. (ii) According to the author and Roosevelt, where can terror be found?
(a) Only in fear itself
(b) Thinking about the unknown
(c) Thinking about an unpleasant result
(d) Hovering uncertainty
Answer: (d)

Question. (iii) Why did the author’s will to live grow in intensity?
(1) He experienced drowning.
(2) He experienced the sensation of death.
(3) He experienced the immediate and after effects of drowning.
(4) He experienced the terror of the fear of death.
(a) (1) and (2)
(b) (2) and (4)
(c) (2) and (3)
(d) (1) and (3)
Answer: (a)

Question. (iv) The drowning episode made the author
(a) aerophobic
(b) claustrophobic
(c) hydrophobic
(d) astraphobic
Answer: (c)

Question. (v) Pick out the idiom which best describes the statement, “I had experienced the sensation of dying and terror that fear of it can produce.”
(a) To jump out of one’s skin
(b) To have nerves of steel
(c) To tremble like a leaf
(d) To strike trepidation in the heart
Answer: (b)

Question. (vi) What does the term ‘deep water’ mean?
(a) in the ocean
(b) inside a well
(c) in serious trouble
(d) caught within a whirlpool
Answer: (c)

6. Then all effort ceased. I relaxed. Even my legs felt limp; and a blackness swept over my brain. It wiped out fear; it wiped out terror. There was no more panic. It was quiet and peaceful. Nothing to be afraid of. This is nice... to be drowsy... to go to sleep... no need to jump... too tired to jump... it’s nice to be carried gently... to float along in space... tender arms around me... tender arms like Mother’s... now I must go to sleep... I crossed to oblivion, and the curtain of life fell.

Question. (i) Choose the correct option with reference to the two statements given below:
Statement 1: The author tried his best to jump out of water.
Statement 2: After a while, the author was not anxious in water.
(a) If Statement 1 is the cause, Statement 2 is the effect.
(b) If Statement 1 is the effect, Statement 2 is the cause.
(c) Both the statements are the effects of a common cause.
(d) Both the statements are the effects of independent causes.
Answer: (a)

Question. (ii) The ‘curtain of life fell’ corresponds to an aspect of ............ .
(a) geometry
(b) history
(c) sports
(d) drama
Answer: (d)

Question. (iii) The purpose of using “…” in the above passage is to ............ .
(a) show omission
(b) indicate pauses
(c) shorten a dialogue
(d) replace an idea
Answer: (b)

Question. (iv) Which option indicates that the poet lost consciousness?
(a) ‘It was quiet and peaceful.’
(b) ‘I crossed into oblivion.’
(c) ‘Tender arms like Mother’s.’
(d) ‘It wiped out fear.’
Answer: (b)

Question. (v) What lesson does the author teach us in this lesson?
Answer: In this lesson, the author conveys a message of facing some panicking situation courageously.

Question. (vi) What could be the immediate result of the incident on the writer?
(a) he could not breathe
(b) he could not walk
(c) he kept on coughing
(d) he could not sleep or eat that night
Answer: (a)

7. “Yet I had residual doubts. At my first opportunity I hurried west, went up the Tieton to Conrad Meadows, up the Conrad Creek Trail to Meade Glacier, and camped in the high meadow by the side of Warm Lake. The next morning, I stripped, dived into the lake, and swam across to the other shore and back — just as Doug Corpron used to do. I shouted with joy, and Gilbert Peak returned the echo. I had conquered my fear of water.”

Question. (i) What residual doubts Douglas is talking about?
(a) Whether he has learnt swimming.
(b) Whether he has conquered his fear of water.
(c) Whether he can participate in competitions.
(d) Whether he can swim to the length of the pool.
Answer: (b)

Question. (ii) Where did he go to clear his doubt?
(a) California
(b) Warm Lake
(c) Conrad Meadows
(d) To the North
Answer: (b)

Question. (iii) What did he do there?
(a) Camped there
(b) Did fishing there
(c) Did boating there
(d) Swam across to the other shore and back
Answer: (d)

Question. (iv) Who was Doug Corpron?
(a) Trainer
(b) Life guard
(c) Swimmer
(d) Friend
Answer: (c)

Question. (v) What did the author do before jumping into Warm lake?
Answer: He stripped himself.

Question. (vi) The writer shouted with joy because ............
(a) he loved swimming
(b) he had caught a fish
(c) he could go canoeing
(d) he could swim without fear
Answer: (d)

8. Thus, piece by piece, he built a swimmer. And when he had perfected each piece, he put them together into an integrated whole. In April he said, “Now you can swim. Dive off and swim the length of the pool, crawl stroke.”
I did. The instructor was finished.
But I was not finished. I still wondered if I would be terror-stricken when I was alone in the pool. I tried it. I swam the length up and down. Tiny vestiges of the old terror would return. But now I could frown and say to that terror, “Trying to scare me, eh? Well, here’s to you! Look!” And off I’d go for another length of the pool.

Question. (i) What led the narrator to believe that he was ‘not finished’?
Answer: His insecurity over his ability to overcome fear led him to believe so.

Question. (ii) Which of these BEST describes the narrator’s relationship with his fear?
(a) hostile
(b) evasive
(c) indifferent
(d) repressive
Answer: (a)

Question. (iii) Which of these BEST describes the contrast in the focus of the swimming instructor and the narrator when it came to swimming?
(a) While the former focused on the mechanics, the latter focused on the creativity involved.
(b) While the former focused on the physical, the latter was more focused on the psychological.
(c) While the former focused on the practical, the latter was more focused on the theoretical aspects.
(d) While the former focused on casual learning, the latter focused on learning how to do it competitively.
Answer: (b)

Question. (iv) The narrator mentions his conversations with fear in this story to emphasize the __________.
(a) gaps in his skills as a swimmer
(b) grip that fear of water still has on his life
(c) improvement in his assurance as a swimmer
(d) ease with which he forgot about his fear of swimming
Answer: (b)

Question. (v) The swimming instructor helped the narrator to regain his __________.
(a) strength
(b) prosperity
(c) innocence
(d) confidence
Answer: (d)

Question. (vi) “Trying to scare me, eh? Well, here’s to you! Look!” Here, ‘you’ refers to
(a) the instructor
(b) the boxer boy
(c) terror
(d) the pool
Answer: (c)