Rapid Reading : The Girl With An Apple

Extract : ‘My brothers and I were………………………………. a hunk of bread or, better yet, an apple.
A1 Complete the statements using words/expressions from the extract.
1. The writer and his brother were transported to …………….. Germany
2. The work given to Hermon at Buchenwald was …………..to load the dead into a hand cracked elevator.
3. Hermon was identified as ……….. 94983
4. Hermon and his brother were sent to …….. Schlieben
A1. Characters: Enlist the characters that appear and are referred to in the extract.
The characters that appear are Hermon, his brother and a little girl. The characters that are referred to in the extract are Hermon’s mother.
A1.Theme: Arrange the statements in order to get the central idea of the extract.
1. After a couple of days he spotted a girl on the other side of the camp’s fence.
2. The writer and his brother were taken to the concentration camp.
3. Once he dreamt that his mother would send him an angel.
4. They were issued uniforms and identification numbers.
Language: A1 Point out the words / expressions related with war and its effects exploitation
The words related with war , exploitation and its effects are ‘transported in cattle car’, ‘concentration camp’, ‘issued uniforms and identification numbers’, ‘camp’s crematorium’
A2. Add an imaginary paragraph before the extract. 2
It was the period of Second World War. The Nazi were seeking for the Jew. One day a troop of Nazi army reached our village. They started picking every single Jew from our village. I was playing with my brothers in the backyard of my house. I heard the footsteps and screaming of a group of people. We hid behind the lonely tree in the backyard. One of the soldier’s eyes fell on us and he rushed to lift us. We were put into a cattle car. I looked for my parent in the car in vein.

Extract : We were in Theresienstadt ………………. I was starting to settle in.
A1: Theme : Choose the correct option and rewrite the statements.
1. The girl with an apple/ Mother is called an angel.
2. The writer escaped from the camp at Buchenwald / Theresienstadt.
3. At 10 A. M. / 8 A. M. the writer heard shouts and saw people running in the camp.
4. The writer was trained in electronics in England/ America.
A1. Language: Point out the vivid description employed in the extract.
Ans : In the following lines we find vivid description- ‘ there was commotion’ ‘ I heard shouts, and saw people running every way through camp’ ‘The gates swung open’ .
A1. Plot: State the role of different countries in the escape and settlement.
Ans : (The writer was sent to Germany to keep in concentration camp. From there he was taken to Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia.) At Thereseinstadt the writer was scheduled to die in gas chamber. Somehow troops of Russia liberated him. In England he was kept in a hostel and given training in electronics. He served in the U. S Army during Korean War.
A2. Write the gist of the extract.
Ans: The writer, his brothers and other inhabitants of the camp were liberated by Russian troops. The writer owes his survival to the apple girl whose goodness saved his life. After getting liberated, he went to England. There he got training in electronics. Then he moved to America. His brother Sam also was there. In America he opened his electronics shop to settle in.


Extract 3 ' We piled back......... I have never let her go.'
A1. The extract tells us about human relationship. Explain.



A2 Write a piece of dialogue between Roma and the writer Herman.
(Scene: Sid in driver’s seat, Roma and Herman in back seats )
Roma: (in a soft tone) Where were you during the war?
The writer: (looking towards her) In the camps. And you?
Roma: My family was hiding on a farm in Germany, not far from Berlin?
The writer: ( surprisingly) Weren’t you caught ?
Roma: My father knew a priest who got us Aryan papers.
The writer : Thank god. You didn’t witness the sufferings of the people in the camp
Roma: I know it. I saw a boy in the camp. I would throw him apples every day.
The writer: Did he tell you one day not to come back?
Roma: (In an amazement)Yes
The writer : That was me. I’m not letting you go. Will you …..m…marry me?
Roma : (blushing) You’re crazy.







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