Click on the words to know the meanings
Read the passage given below and answer the following questions.
3) On the following forenoon, I again observed my fellow voyager watching me earnestly from his deck chair. Now a lady was with him, obviously his wife. The situation by this time had begun to intrigue me. I discovered from my steward that they were Mr and Mrs John S_ from a small suburb of London. When another day passed without event, I began to feel certain that Mr S_ would remain too shy to carry out his obvious desire to approach me. However, on our final evening at sea Mrs S_ decided the matter. With a firm pressure on his hand and a whispered word in his ear, she urged her husband towards me as I passed along the deck.
‘Excuse me, Doctor, I wonder if I might introduce myself.’ He spoke almost breathlessly, offering me the visiting card he held in his hand and studying my face to see if the name meant anything to me. Then, as it plainly did not, he went on with the same awkwardness. ‘If you could spare a few minutes... my wife and I would like to have a word with you.’
1)"The situation by this time had begun to intrigue me".Why did A J Cronin say so?
2)why was MR S_ not ready to approach A J Cronin at first?
3)Pick out the word from the passage that means"to make a person very interested to know about something".
5 A moment later I was occupying the vacant chair beside them. Haltingly he told me that this had been
their first visit to America. It was not entirely a holiday trip. They had been making a tour of the New England states, inspecting many of the summer recreational camps for young people there. Afterwards, they had visited settlement houses in New York and other cities to study the methods employed in dealing with cases of backward, maladjusted and delinquent youth.
There was in his voice and manner, indeed in his whole personality, a genuine enthusiasm that was disarming I found myself liking him instinctively.Questioning him further, I learnt that he and his wife had been active for the past 15 years in the field of youth welfare. He was by profession, a solicitor but in addition to his practice at the courts, found time to act as director of a charitable organisation devoted to the care of boys and girls, mostly from city slums, who had fallen under the ban of the law.As he spoke with real feeling, I got a vivid picture of the work these two people were doing. I learned how they took derelict adolescents from the juvenile courts and, placing them in a healthy environment, healed them in mind and body and sent them back into the world. They were given training in a useful handicraft which made them fit to take their place as worthy members of the community. It was a work of redemption that stirred the heart, and I asked what had directed his life into this channel.
1)What was the purpose of their visit to America?
2)“I found liking him instinctively.” Why?
3)How did the couple help derelict adolescents to lead normal lives?
Prepare a newspaper report about Mr and Mrs John and the work they are doing.
SELFLESS SERVICE
New York: The world of selfishness is bowing before Mr and Mrs John, a couple who have chosen to live for others. They have been offering selfless service for 15 years in the field of youth welfare.Mr John is devoted to the welfare of boys and girls from the slums. They not only rescue them but also give training in handicraft ,rehabilitate them and bring them back to life. They visit settlement houses to study the methods to deal with backward maladjusted youth. Hearing about this noble work many eminent persons have offered their support to the mission.
