21 multiple-choice (MCQ / objective) questions from this chapter, in the common exam-style shapes. Every question comes with an explanation along with the answer, so you remember why the option is correct, not just which one it is.
1 Direct Questions
Direct Questions
- 1 markIn the chapter, ‘treacherous’ (used for the Yakima River) means:
(A) extremely cold(B) dangerous in a hidden way(C) crystal clear(D) very shallow - 1 markThe word ‘misadventure’, the book’s own word for the pool accident, means:
(A) an unlucky accident(B) a great achievement(C) a punishment(D) a planned adventure - 1 markWhen Douglas says he ‘subdued my pride’ before entering the pool, he means he:
(A) pushed his embarrassment aside(B) refused to go into the water(C) became proud of his body(D) boasted to the other boys - 1 markWho threw Douglas into the deep end of the pool?
(A) the Y.M.C.A. instructor(B) his own father(C) a big boy, probably eighteen(D) one of his classmates his own age - 1 markIn which month did Douglas decide to get an instructor and learn to swim?
(A) October(B) July(C) April(D) December - 1 markWhose words does Douglas quote as “All we have to fear is fear itself”?
(A) his own father(B) his swimming instructor(C) Franklin D. Roosevelt(D) Abraham Lincoln
2 Assertion-Reason
Assertion-Reason
- 1 markAssertion (A): Douglas’s fear of water began only after the Y.M.C.A. accident.
Reason (R): As a small child, he was already frightened when waves knocked him down at a California beach.
(A) A true, R true, R explains A(B) A true, R true, R does not explain A(C) A true, R false(D) A false, R true - 1 markAssertion (A): The instructor first taught Douglas to kick his legs, and only afterwards used the belt and rope.
Reason (R): The text describes the belt-and-pulley phase first, then breathing under water, and leg-kicking last.
(A) A true, R true, R explains A(B) A true, R true, R does not explain A(C) A true, R false(D) A false, R true - 1 markAssertion (A): Douglas swam two miles across Lake Wentworth from Triggs Island to Stamp Act Island.
Reason (R): He set himself this swim as one of the tests to make sure his fear of water had truly gone.
(A) A true, R true, R explains A(B) A true, R true, R does not explain A(C) A true, R false(D) A false, R true
3 Match the Following
Match the Following
- 1 markMatch the place with what happens there in the story:
Column A
(i) Y.M.C.A. pool, Yakima
(ii) California beach
(iii) Lake Wentworth
(iv) Warm LakeColumn B
(1) Gilbert Peak echoes Douglas’s shout of joy
(2) Douglas swims two miles to test himself
(3) Waves knock down three- or four-year-old Douglas
(4) Douglas is thrown into the deep end
(A) (i)-4, (ii)-2, (iii)-1, (iv)-3(B) (i)-3, (ii)-4, (iii)-1, (iv)-2(C) (i)-1, (ii)-2, (iii)-3, (iv)-4(D) (i)-4, (ii)-3, (iii)-2, (iv)-1 - 1 markMatch the phrase with its meaning:
Column A
(i) treacherous
(ii) misadventure
(iii) flailed
(iv) subdued my prideColumn B
(1) pushed embarrassment aside
(2) struck out wildly and helplessly
(3) dangerous in a hidden way
(4) an unlucky accident
(A) (i)-3, (ii)-4, (iii)-1, (iv)-2(B) (i)-1, (ii)-4, (iii)-2, (iv)-3(C) (i)-3, (ii)-4, (iii)-2, (iv)-1(D) (i)-3, (ii)-2, (iii)-4, (iv)-1
4 Statement-Based Questions
Statement-Based Questions
- 1 markStatement I: Douglas trained with the instructor five days a week, an hour each day.
Statement II: The instructor declared “Now you can swim” in April.
(A) Neither Statement I nor II is correct(B) Only Statement I is correct(C) Both Statement I and II are correct(D) Only Statement II is correct - 1 markStatement I: William O. Douglas served as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice for thirty-six years.
Statement II: He retired in 1980 as the longest-serving Justice in the court’s history.
(A) Neither Statement I nor II is correct(B) Only Statement I is correct(C) Only Statement II is correct(D) Both Statement I and II are correct
5 Arrange in the Correct Order
Arrange in the Correct Order
- 1 markArrange these events in the order they happen in the story:
(i) Douglas is thrown into the deep end by the older boy
(ii) Douglas is frightened by waves at a California beach as a small child
(iii) Douglas swims two miles across Lake Wentworth
(iv) Douglas hires an instructor to teach him to swim
(A) (ii), (i), (iv), (iii)(B) (ii), (iv), (i), (iii)(C) (i), (iv), (ii), (iii)(D) (i), (ii), (iii), (iv) - 1 markArrange the instructor’s training steps in the order the text describes them:
(i) Kicking his legs at the side of the pool
(ii) Going back and forth across the pool on a belt and rope
(iii) Swimming the length of the pool, crawl stroke, alone
(iv) Learning to breathe with his face under water
(A) (iv), (ii), (i), (iii)(B) (i), (ii), (iv), (iii)(C) (ii), (i), (iv), (iii)(D) (ii), (iv), (i), (iii)
6 Fill in the Blanks
Fill in the Blanks
- 1 markThe Y.M.C.A. pool was two or three feet deep at the shallow end, but ______ feet deep at the other end.
(A) nine(B) twenty(C) twelve(D) six - 1 markThe big boy said, “Hi, Skinny! How’d you like to be ______?”
(A) punished(B) rescued(C) trained(D) ducked
7 Odd One Out
Odd One Out
- 1 markWhich one of these is NOT named among the places where Douglas’s fear ruined his fishing and boating in later years?
(A) the Yakima River(B) the Columbia river(C) Bumping Lake(D) the Deschutes river
8 Passage-Based Questions
Passage-Based Questions
Passage
“With that he picked me up and tossed me into the deep end. I landed in a sitting position, swallowed water, and went at once to the bottom. I was frightened, but not yet frightened out of my wits. On the way down I planned: When my feet hit the bottom, I would make a big jump, come to the surface, lie flat on it, and paddle to the edge of the pool. It seemed a long way down. Those nine feet were more like ninety, and before I touched bottom my lungs were ready to burst.”
- 1 markAccording to the passage, how did the nine feet of water feel to Douglas as he sank?
(A) like twenty feet(B) no different from usual(C) like three feet(D) like ninety feet - 1 markAccording to the passage, what plan did Douglas make as he sank?
(A) to climb out using the pool ladder(B) to shout for help at once(C) to jump from the bottom, surface, lie flat and paddle to the edge(D) to hold his breath and wait to be rescued
9 True / False
True / False
- 1 markState whether the following are true or false:
(i) Douglas’s mother warned him about the dangers of the Yakima River.
(ii) Douglas considered the Y.M.C.A. pool itself dangerous.
(A) (i) true, (ii) true(B) (i) true, (ii) false(C) (i) false, (ii) true(D) (i) false, (ii) false
Answer Key and Explanations
Direct Questions
- (B) The word means dangerous in a hidden way. The book shows this through the mother’s warnings and “the details of each drowning in the river”.
- (A) ‘Misadventure’ means an unlucky accident, which is exactly what being thrown into the deep end turned out to be.
- (A) He was embarrassed about his thin legs but pushed that embarrassment aside and went in anyway.
- (C) The text describes him as ‘a big bruiser of a boy, probably eighteen years old.’
- (A) The text says, ‘Finally, one October, I decided to get an instructor and learn to swim,’ and he then began practising at a pool; April is when the instructor said he could swim.
- (C) The text attributes this line to Roosevelt: ‘as Roosevelt knew when he said, “All we have to fear is fear itself.”‘
Assertion-Reason
- (D) A is false: the text says his aversion to water ‘started when I was three or four years old’ at the beach, well before the Y.M.C.A. accident. R is true, and it is exactly why A is wrong.
- (D) A is false: the order was belt and rope first. R is true and gives the correct order, which is exactly why A is wrong.
- (A) Both statements are true, and R is the reason the text gives for the swim: ‘I was not sure that all the terror had left. So I went to Lake Wentworth.’ (His ‘residual doubts’ come after this swim and send him on to Warm Lake.)
Match the Following
- (D) Column B lists (1) the Warm Lake echo, (2) the Lake Wentworth swim, (3) the beach waves, and (4) the pool throw. Matching each back to its place gives (i)-4 (thrown in at the Y.M.C.A. pool), (ii)-3 (waves at the beach), (iii)-2 (the two-mile test at Wentworth) and (iv)-1 (the echo at Warm Lake).
- (C) Treacherous is “dangerous in a hidden way” (3), misadventure is “an unlucky accident” (4), flailed is “struck out wildly and helplessly” (2), and subdued my pride is “pushed embarrassment aside” (1): (i)-3, (ii)-4, (iii)-2, (iv)-1.
Statement-Based Questions
- (C) Both statements are directly confirmed by the text.
- (B) Statement I is correct. Statement II gives the wrong year: the chapter says he retired in 1975, not 1980.
Arrange in the Correct Order
- (A) The beach fright comes first in his life, then the pool misadventure, then years later he hires an instructor, and finally he tests himself at Lake Wentworth.
- (D) The belt and rope came first, then breathing practice, then leg-kicking, and only then the full swim alone.
Fill in the Blanks
- (A) The text says the pool ‘was nine feet deep at the other’ end.
- (D) His exact words in the text are ‘How’d you like to be ducked?’
Odd One Out
- (A) The text’s list of ruined trips names the Columbia, the Deschutes and Metolius, and Bumping Lake in the Cascades. The Yakima River belongs to the earlier part of the story, before the misadventure, not this later list.
Passage-Based Questions
- (D) The passage says, ‘Those nine feet were more like ninety.’
- (C) The passage says he planned to ‘make a big jump, come to the surface, lie flat on it, and paddle to the edge of the pool.’
True / False
- (B) Statement (i) is true: “Mother continually warned against it.” Statement (ii) is false: the text says, “But the Y.M.C.A. pool was safe.”
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