Flamingo Prose Chapter 8 Going Places English - Flamingo Prose Chapter 8 Going Places

She climbed the crumbling steps to the street. Outside the pub she passed her father's bicycle propped against the wall, and was glad. He would not be there when she got home.
"Excuse me, but aren't you Danny Casey?" Coming through the arcade she pictured him again outside Royce's. He turns, reddening slightly. “Yes, that's right." "I watch you every week, with my dad and my brothers. We think you're great." "Oh, well now — that's very nice.” “I wonder would you mind signing an autograph?”
His eyes are on the same level as your own. His nose is freckled and turns upwards slightly, and when he smiles he does so shyly, exposing teeth with gaps between. His eyes are green, and when he looks straight at you they seem to shimmer. They seem gentle, almost afraid. Like a gazelle's. And you look away. You let his eyes run over you a little. And then you come back to find them, slightly breathless.
1.What did Sophie pass outside the pub?
a) A car
b) A bicycle
c) A motorcycle
d) A skateboard
2.Why was she glad?
a) Her father would be there
b) Her father would not be there
c) She found money
d) She met a friend
3.Whom did she picture again outside Royce's?
a) Geoff
b) Danny Casey
c) Her father
d) Jansie
4.Whom did his eyes resemble?
a) A cat's
b) A gazelle's
c) A dog's
d) A fish's
5.Find the word from the passage which means 'shine'.
a) Run
b) Shimmer
c) Climb
d) Smile
6.Find the word from the passage which is opposite to ‘unworried'.
a) Relieved
b) Anxious
c) Calm
d) Content

She waited, measuring in this way the changes taking place in her. Resignation was no sudden thing. Now I have become sad, she thought. And it is a hard burden to carry, this sadness. Sitting here waiting and knowing he will not come I can see the future and how I will have to live with this burden.
They of course will doubt me, as they always doubted me, but I will have to hold up my head remembering how it was. Already I envisage the slow walk home, and Geoff's disappointed face when I tell him, “He didn't come, that Danny.” And then he'll fly out and slam the door. “But we know how it was,” I shall tell myself, “Danny and me.” It is a hard thing, this sadness.
1.How did Sophie measure the changes taking place in her?
a) By waiting
b) By imagining
c) By remembering
d) By talking to Geoff
2.What is a hard burden?
a) Resignation
b) Sadness
c) Doubt
d) Waiting
3.What would they do?
a) Doubt Sophie
b) Believe Sophie
c) Comfort Sophie
d) Ignore Sophie
4.What would Geoff do when Sophie told him that Danny didn't come?
a) Fly out and slam the door
b) Console Sophie
c) Celebrate
d) Believe Sophie immediately
5.Find the word from the passage which means 'visualize'.
a) Waiting
b) Knowing
c) Envisage
d) Resignation
6.Find the word from the passage which is opposite to 'comfort'.
a) Doubt
b) Sadness
c) Waiting
d) Resignation

Here I sit, she said to herself, wishing Danny would come, wishing he would come and sensing the time passing. I feel the pangs of doubt stirring inside me. I watch for him but still there is no sign of him. I remember Geoff saying he would never come, and how none of them believed me when I told them.
I wonder what will I do, what can I tell them now if he doesn't come? But we know how it was, Danny and me - that's the main thing. How can you help what people choose to believe? But all the same, it makes me despondent, this knowing I'll never be able to show them they're wrong to doubt me.
1.What did Sophie wish?
a) Danny would leave
b) Danny would come
c) Geoff would apologize
d) The time would stop
2.What did she remember Geoff saying?
a) Danny would come
b) He would never come
c) He believed her
d) Time was passing
3.Who believed her when she told them?
a) Geoff
b) Danny
c) Everyone
d) No one
4.What would she never be able to show them?
a) They're wrong to doubt
b) Danny's absence
c) Her new dress
d) Geoff's words
5.Find the word from the passage which means 'dejected'.
a) Pangs
b) Despondent
c) Stirring
d) Watching
6.Find the word from the passage which is opposite to 'relieves'.
a) Doubts
b) Pangs
c) Knowing
d) Despondent

After dark she walked by the canal, along a sheltered path lighted only by the glare of the lamps from the wharf across the water, and the unceasing drone of the city was muffled and distant. It was a place she had often played in when she was a child.
There was a wooden bench beneath a solitary elm where lovers sometimes came. She sat down to wait. It was the perfect place, she had always thought so, for a meeting of this kind. For those who wished not to be observed. She knew he would approve.
For some while, waiting, she imagined his coming. She watched along the canal, seeing him come out of the shadows, imagining her own consequent excitement. Not until some time had elapsed did she begin balancing against this the idea of his not coming.
1.What was the sheltered path lighted by?
a) Sunlight
b) Streetlights
c) Lamps from the wharf
d) Moonlight
2.What was the unceasing drone of the city?
a) Music
b) Traffic noise
c) Birdsong
d) River sounds
3.Where did lovers sometimes come?
a) Canal
b) Wooden bench
c) Solitary elm
d) Wharf
4.Where did Sophie imagine him coming out of?
a) Shadows
b) Water
c) Wharf
d) Canal
5.Find the word from the passage which means 'lonely'.
a) Sheltered
b) Solitary
c) Unceasing
d) Imagined
6.Find the word from the passage which is opposite to ‘never'.
a) Always
b) Sometimes
c) Perfect
d) Imagined

She realised then that Jansie didn't know about the date bit - Geoff hadn't told about that. She breathed more easily. So Geoff hadn't let her down after all. He believed in her after all. After all some things might be sacred.
"It was just a little thing really. I asked him for an autograph, but we hadn't any paper or a pen so it was no good.” How much had Geoff said?
"Jesus, I wish I'd have been there.”
“Of course, my dad didn't want to believe it. You know what a misery he is. But the last thing I need is queues of people round our house asking him, “What's all this about Danny Casey?" He'd murder me. And you know how my mum gets when there's a row.”
Jansie said, hushed, “You can trust me, Soaf, you know that.”
1.What did Sophie realize?
a) Jansie knew about the date
b) Jansie didn't know about the date
c) Geoff had betrayed her
d) She forgot about the date
2.Who hadn't let her down and believed in her?
a) Jansie
b) Geoff
c) Danny Casey
d) Her father
3.Why couldn't she take his autograph?
a) She forgot
b) Geoff didn't allow her
c) They had no paper or pen
d) Danny Casey refused
4.Who didn't want to believe her story?
a) Geoff
b) Jansie
c) Her father
d) Danny Casey
5.Find the word from the passage which means 'solemn'.
a) Hushed
b) Autograph
c) Queues
d) Sacred
5.Find the word from the passage which is opposite to 'distrust'.
a) Believe
b) Betray
c) Murder
d) Autograph

Sophie was a dreamer. The lesson ‘Going Places’ reminds us that mere dreams will not help us to accomplish anything? What qualities, do you think, would help Sophie to realise her dream?

It is normal for adolescents to fantasise and indulge in hero-worship. How far is it true of Sophie?

Every teenager has a hero/heroine to admire. So many times they become role models for them. What is wrong if Sophie fantasises about Danny Casey and is ambitious in life?

Sophie lives in a world full of dreams which she does not know she cannot realise. Comment.

“There was the sound of applause as the world rose to greet them.” What is the world that Sophie is dreaming about? Why?

Why did Sophie not want Jansie to know anything about her meeting with Danny Casey?

Why was Sophie jealous of Geoff’s silence?

Did Sophie really meet Danny Casey? Why was she always talking about him?

Did Geoff keep up his promise? How do you know?

Why did Sophie long for her brother’s affection?