CBSE Class 9 English Fiction A Dog Named Duke

Fiction

UNIT-2

1. Duke is a Doberman. What are the other known breeds of dogs?

2. Match the words in the boxes with their explanations given below:

   rampageous subdural haemorrhage bellow

   blonde taut rambunctiousness

   grin critical confinement

   quivering shimmied

a. This is the other word for trembling.________________________________________

b. This is used for smile.__________________________________________________

c. You call a person this if he/she has pale gold coloured hair.______________________

d. This is a quality which relates to high energy and noise. ________________________

e. This is related to dancing or moving in a way that involves shaking your hips and  shoulders.__________________________________________________________

f. This  is  to  express  a  tendency  to  show  violent  and  wild  behaviour  often  causing damage.___________________________________________ 

g. We use it for a condition which is serious, uncertain and dangerous._______________

h. This is a state in which one is forced to stay in a closed space.____________________

i. This is a medical condition involving bleeding in the brain._______________________

j. It is a loud, deep shout to show anger.______________________________________

k. This is a condition when the rope or leash is stretched tightly.____________________

3. Now read the following account

1. In 1953, Hooper was a favoured young man. A big genuine grin civilized his highly  competitive nature. Standing six-foot-one, he'd played on the university football  team.  He  was  already  a  hard-charging  zone  sales  manager  for  a  chemical  company. Everything was going for him.

2. Then, when he was driving home one autumn twilight, a car pulled out in front of  him  without  warning.  Hooper  was  taken  to  the  hospital  with  a  subdural  haemorrhagein the motor section of the brain, completely paralysing his left side.

3. One  of  Chuck's  district  managers  drove  Marcy  to  the  hospital.  Her  husband  couldn't talk; he could only breathe and see, and his vision was double. Marcy  phoned a neighbour, asking him to put Duke in a kennel.

4. Hooper remained on the critical list for a month. After the fifth week some men from  his company came to the hospital and told Hooper to take a year off. They would  create a desk job for him at headquarters.

5. About six weeks after the accident, the hospital put him in a wheelchair. Every day  there  was  someone  working  his  paralysed  arm  and  leg  followed  by  baths,  exercise, a wheeled walker. But Chuck didn't make much headway.

6. In March, they let him out of the hospital. After the excitement of the homecoming  wore off, Chuck hit a new low. At the hospital there had been other injured people,  but now, each morning when Marcy quietly went to work, it was a gate slamming 

7. Finally they decided to bring Duke home. Chuck said he wanted to be standing  when Duke came in, so they stood him up. Duke's nails were long from four  months' confinement, and when he spied Chuck he stood quivering like 5000  volts; then he let out a bellow, spun his long-nailed wheels, and launched himself  across three metres of air. He was a 23-kilo missile of joy. He hit Chuck above the  belt, causing him to fight to keep his balance.

8. Those who saw it said the dog knew instantly. He never jumped on Chuck again.  From that moment, he took up a post beside his master's bed around the clock.

9. But even Duke's presence didn't reach Chuck. The once-iron muscles slacked on  the rangy frame. Secretly, Marcy cried as she watched the big man's grin fade  away. Severe face lines set in like cement as Chuck stared at the ceiling for hours,  then out of the window, then at Duke.

10. When two fellows stare at each other day in, day out, and one can't move and the  other can't talk, boredom sets in. Duke finally couldn't take it. From a motionless  coil on the floor he'd spring to his feet, quivering with impatience.

11. "Ya-ruff"

12. "Lie down. Duke!"

13. Duke stalked to the bed, poked his pointed nose under Chuck's elbow and lifted.  He nudged and needled and snorted.

14. "Go run around the house, Duke."

15. But Duke wouldn't. He'd lie down with a  reproachfuleye on Hooper. An hour later  he would come over to the bed again and yap and poke. He wouldn't leave but just  sit there.

16. One evening Chuck's good hand idly hooked the leash onto Duke's collar to hold  him  still.  It  was  like  lighting  a  fuse:  Duke  shimmied  himself  U-shaped  in  anticipation. Even Hooper can't explain his next move. He asked Marcy to help  him to his feet. Duke pranced, Chuck fought for balance. With his good hand, he  placed the leash in his left and folded the paralysed fingers over it, holding them  there. Then  he  leaned  forward.  With  Marcy  supporting  him  by  the  elbow,  he  moved his right leg out in front. Straightening his right leg caused the left foot to  drag forward, alongside the right. It could be called a step.

17. Duke felt the sudden slack in the leash and pulled it taut. Chuck swayed forward  again, broke the fall with his good right leg, then straightened. Thrice he did that,  then collapsed into the wheelchair, exhausted. 

Please refer to the link below - CBSE Class 9 English Fiction A Dog Named Duke