Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it.
Bitrus, a middle-aged man, was speeding along the hot tarmac one afternoon, oblivious to the countryside. By his side, reading a magazine was his first son, a twenty-year-old university computer science student. On the man’s mind was the contract he was pursuing in the capital city. It was worth several million dollars. Although he had handled bigger contracts before, Bitrus was preoccupied with this new challenge, his mind far away from the road before him. His son was also buried in the magazine he was reading. So neither saw the goat crossing the road early enough. Like an automaton, Bitrus jammed on the brakes. In a flash, there was a skid and a somersault. The villagers worked for almost an hour on the huge Mercedes before rescuing the two.
There, in the casualty ward, the duo lay on the stretchers. Bitrus was soon in a fairly stable, but anybody would know that the son needed prompt specialist medical attention. The doctor was sent for, a surgeon who regularly handled such cases. Soon enough, the doctor came. The nurses heaved a sigh of relief. But then… “Oh no, I can’t handle this case. He’s my son!” Everyone was shocked. One of the nurses pleaded. “But doctor, you must do something otherwise,… “No, he’s my son. I’ll have to transfer this case.” And so tearfully, more agitated than anybody around, the doctor hurried away to call a colleague.
Here was Bitrus, with multiple injuries, but not in danger. In the adjoining room was his son, still comatose. How then could a doctor come in and say, “This is my son”? Wasn’t Bitrus the father after all? Most people would reason that the doctor was truly the secret biological father. Others, reasoning hard, would conclude that the doctor was Bitrus’s father and thus was right in describing him as his son. But for how long would people continue to think that all doctors must be male? Couldn’t the doctor have simply been Mrs. Bitrus?
(a) (i) What was the remote cause of the accident? (ii) What was the immediate cause?
(b) What does the passage suggest about doctors’ attitude to the cases they handle?
(c) Describe the conditions of Mr. Bitrus and his son at the hospital.
(d) What assumption about doctors does the passage illustrate?
(e) His son was also buried in the magazine he was reading.
(i) What type of figurative expression is this? (ii) What is its function as it is used in the sentence?
(f) …that the doctor was truly the secret biological father.
(i) What grammatical name is given to this expression? (ii) What is its function as it is used in the sentence?
(g) For each of the following, find a word or phrase that means the same and can replace it as it is used in the passage: (i) oblivious (ii) prompt (iii) regularly (iv) pleaded (v) agitated (vi) adjoining
Explanation
6(a)(i) The remote cause was that Bitrus was not concentrating on the driving or Bitrus was absentminded.
(ii) The immediate cause was the goat crossing the road / the sudden braking / the skidding.
(b) The passage suggests that doctors' attitude to the cases they handle depends on their relationship with the patients. or It depends on their emotional involvement in the cases.
(c). Mr. Bitrus had multiple (some) injuries and his son was unconscious/comatose.
(d) People think/assume that all doctors are male or People think that doctors attend to all cases (patients).
(e) (i) Metaphor (ii) It means that the boy was engrossed in what he was reading
(f)(i) Noun clause (ii) object of the verb 'Would reason'
(g)(i) oblivious — unmindful, forgetful, unaware (ii) prompt — immediate, urgent, quick(iii) regularly — normally, consistently, usually, again and again
(iv) pleaded — begged, appealed, implored, entreated, urged
(v) agitated — shaken, disturbed, upset, moved, worried(vi) adjoining — next, adjacent