Lesson 2 (Class IX): A Dog Named Duke
by William D Ellis
Brief Summary of the Lesson
Charles
Hooper, nicknamed as Chuck was a zonal manager in a company of chemicals. He is the owner of Duke, a Doberman dog. One
day, Chuck met with an accident. He was taken to a hospital where he stayed for
about two months. His left side was paralysed. After that, he was sent home and
put in a wheelchair. His dog, Duke remained sitting beside him for the whole
time. Duke was very sensible and came to know about the difficulty of his master. It
was difficult for Charles Hooper to resume his work in the company in that condition. So
he became depressed. His wife was much worried about him. She had to go to her
office. During the whole day, he was alone with his dog Duke. After some days,
Chuck started moving with the help of his dog. They continued this practice for
more time. At last, the day came when Chuck improved considerably with the dog’s
help. He started going to his company and resumed his work as usual. But, as
ill luck would have it, one day, the dog got wounded very badly in an accident.
He was taken to the hospital, but could not be saved.
Detailed Summary of the Lesson
1.Charles
Hooper, nicknamed as Chuck was a very popular zonal salesman in a chemical
company. His broad and real smile used to make his extremely competitive nature
more attractive. He was six feet in height and he used to play in the football
team of his university. At present, he was considered to be very strict
salesman of his company.
2.All was
going well until he had a severe accident when he was driving home one autumn
evening. He was immediately taken to the hospital. He suffered from subdural
haemmorrahage (heavy bleeding) in the motor section of his brain. It completely
paralysed his left side.
3.One of his
district managers took his wife Marcy to the hospital. She noticed that her
husband was unable to speak. He could breathe, see and his vision was double.
Marcy thought of Duke as he was alone at home. She requested her neighbour to
put Duke in the kennel.
4.Hooper had
to remain with the patients of critical condition in the hospital for a month.
After the fifth week, some employees of his company came there and suggested to
him that he should take one month’s leave. They also said that they would
create a job that could e done while sitting at a place in the office.
5.After six
weeks, the hospital put him in a wheelchair. There was an attendant, who used
to move his paralysed affected arm and leg move. That activity was followed by
bath, exercises and wheeled –walker. In spite of all these activities, Chuck
did not improve much.
6.After staying
for about two months in the hospital, Chuck was discharged in March. Sometime
passed in the excitement of the home-coming, but, after that, he went down in
the state of depression. At hospital, he was not alone; there were other
injured persons. But now, each morning Mary had to go out of the house and
after that, he had to face loneliness in the house.
7.Finally,
Duke was brought home from his kennel.
When Duke
was to be brought in the house, Chuck wanted to stand up. So he was made to
stand up. Duke’s nails had grown much in the four months’ of his confinement.
When he saw Chuck, he stood quivering vigorously and then he released a deep
cry, spun his long nailed paws and sprang up to three meters in height. He was
like a twenty-three kg powerful missile of joy just ready to hit his master. It
made Chuck stagger to maintain his balance.
8.Those who
were the eyewitnesses said that the dog had understood at once Chuck’s physical
condition and never jumped on him afterwards. From that time, he sat at a place
round the clock near his master’s bed.
9.Even
Duke’s presence near his bed did not improve Huck’s state of mind. The muscles
which used to be so strong started losing grip on the bones.
Marcy would secretly cry as she watched her
husband’s smile fade away. He would stare fixedly for hours together at the
ceiling, then out of the window and then at his dog, Duke.
While doing so, hard linings would emerge on
his face and stay there continuously.
10. The
whole day would pass in boringly as he and Duke would stare at each other in
silence. Finally, the dog could not bear it. He would spring to his feet,
quivering (shaking) in impatience.
11. “Ya-ruff”
12. “Lie-down.
Duke!”
13. Then
Duke would move in a proud manner to the bed, put his pointed nose under Chuck’s
elbow and lift it. After that, he would nudge (push gently), needle (tease) and
snort (release breath noisily).
14. “Go run
around the house. Duke.”
15. But Duke
was not ready to leave the place. He would keep on watching as if it wanted to
motivate Chuck to walk and talk with him. After one hour, he would come over to
the bed again and bark and push him. The dog didn’t leave the bedside of Chuck
and kept sitting there.
One evening,
Chuck hooked the leash on to duke’s collar to make him still. But he created a
lightning effect in Duke. He stood up at once and readied himself anticipating
(hoping) something good. What was to follow next was difficult to explain for
Chuck.
16. He asked
his wife, Marcy to help him stand up to his feet. Duke jumped forward while
Chuck struggled for balance. He took the leash in his left hand and tried to
grip it with his paralysed fingers. Then he bent forward and Marcy supported
him by the elbow. First he moved his right leg out in front.
17. He had
to drag his left foot forward along
with the right. But it could not be called a
step.
Duke felt
that the leash was suddenly loosened, so he pulled and made it tight. It made
Chuck somewhat swayed, but he saved himself from falling with the help of his
right leg. After that, he straightened himself and struggled to keep standing
three times, but fell exhausted into the wheelchair.
18. Next
day, the dog came running and stood near Chuck’s healthy side. He pushed his
nose under the elbow and raised his head up. Hooper’s healthy arm reached to
grab the leash. As Hooper stood up, the dog walked up to the end of the leash
and pulled it steadily. He took four steps on that day.
19. Hooper
learned to balance himself against the pull without Marcy by leaning against
the pull. On Wednesday, he took five steps and on Thursday six steps. On
Friday, he could not take more than two and felt exhaustion. But both of them
could reach the front porch in two weeks.
20. The
neighbours would daily see Chuck progressing with the help of the dog in front
of the house. They saw the dog pull the leash tight and then stand and wait.
Hooper would drag himself near the dog. After that, the dog would move forward
to the end of the leash and wait again. Both of them used to set their new
targets and touched them.
21. One day,
Marcy told Hooper’s doctor about what the dog was doing for her husband. Then,
the doctor prescribed a course of physiotherapy with weights, pulleys and
whirlpool baths (special bath in which water moves in a circular current) and
also walking with Duke every day on limited slow level.
22. It was a
routine scene for the neighbours to see them walk on the same pattern. On June
1, news spread that Duke and Hooper had reached the crossing. It was very far
away from there.
23.Very
soon, Duke started moving out with Hooper twice a day and they kept lengthening
the targets also. It was one road at one time.
24. On
January 4, Hooper succeeded in taking a big leap. He walked for 200 meters from
the clinic to the local branch office of his company. That office was also
under him and the staff was amazed by the visit. Hooper Chuck told Gordon Duke,
the manager, that he should tell him about the progress of the work till then
so that he could start working. The manager kept watching him quite amazed. He
continued saying that he would work for an hour every day. He would use an
empty desk lying in the warehouse and he needed a dictating machine for that
purpose.
25. When the company came to know about it, there arose
some problems. When an employee struggles so much to make his comeback in his
company, it would be difficult to say that he would not be able to handle his
job. It would be difficult also for Chuck because he was unable to move around
in the field as a salesman. Another difficulty for the company was that he
would work for only one hour daily.
26. After March 1, Hooper did not need any physiotherapy.
He depended on on Duke, who pulled him along the street faster and faster
making him more balanced in walking.
He also
started walking after dark. He would stumble and fall. After that time, Duke
would keep standing still like a rock and watch his master struggling to stand
up.
27. For thirteen months, Hooper worked full days and
then he was promoted to regional manager and more than four states came under
him.
28. In March
1956, Chuck, Marcy and Duke shifted the house. The area in which Hooper bought
a house did not know the story of Duke and his master. They knew only that
their new neighbor walked with the help of the dog.
29. On the
evening of October 12, 1957, Hooper had
some guests in the house. Over some low voices Chuck heard the
screech of brakes outside. He looked for Duke as if feeling some intuition.
30. The
people carried the big dog inside the house. Marcy understood at once the
critical condition of the dog.
“Phone the
Vet,” she said, “Tell him, I’m bringing Duke.”
The people
present there jumped to lift the dog. But she herself lifted the big dog, put
him into the car and at once drove to the hospital of the animals.
31. Duke was
kept under the effect of drugs until 11 o’clock the next morning. But he was
badly injured.
32.-33.
After some weeks, the chemical company’s headquarters sent some words that
seemed to be a tribute to Duke.
“…therefore,
to advance our objectives step by step, Charles Hooper is appointed Assistant
National Sales Manager.”
Word-meanings:
1. Grin: to give a wide smile or a wide
smile
2. Hard-charging: one who works or performs with too
much energy
3. Twilight: the dim light at the time of sunset
4. Subdural haemorrahage: very much
bleeding in the brain
5. Kennel: a small house for a dog
6. Hit a new low: to become depressed again
6. Hit a new low: to become depressed again
7. Confinement: imprisonment
8. Quivering: trembling/shaking
9. Bellow: a deep sounded cry
10. Launch: to start, to make public know about
a new product, to send something like an airship, weapon in the sky/space, etc.
11. Slacked: not very tight, became loose
12. Rangy: having long and thin arms or legs
13. Day in and day out: everyday for a long time
14. Stalked: here it meant to walk in angry and
proud manner
15. Nudge: to push somebody gently, especially
with your elbow
16. Snort: to breathe out air noisily
16. Reproachful: blaming, accusing
17. Yap: bark
18. Leash: Bridle restraint
19. Shimmy: to dance or move in a way that
shakes your back and shoulders
20. Prance: to move with long steps being
conscious of the fact that people are watching you.
21. Taut: tight
22. Jabbed: pushed
23. Abreast: near, side by side with
24. Surge out:
to move quickly and forcefully in a direction
25.Physiotherapy: under this treatment the patient is
given massage and told to do some physical exercises
26. Whirlpool bath: it is a bath in a tub or a big
container in which water turns speedily like a whirlpool
27. gradual: slow
28. pattern: design/style
29. intersection: crossing
30. Jurisdiction: authority, the area in
which a person is authorized to pass judgment
31. Gape: to open mouth in surprise
32. Stable: in balance
33. Suburb: an area where people live
outside of the centre of the city
34. Rampageous: one who is violent and ready
to cause much damage to life and property
35. Babble: the confused sound that comes
when many people talk together at a low pitch of sound
36. Stubbornness: the act of being
stubborn, obstinate: one who is not ready to change his/her behavior or attitude
Instinctively:
in a natural way
====================================
Short-answer
type Question & Answers
1.
Q1. Describe Charles Hooper’ s
personality.
Ans. Charles
Hooper, nicknamed as Chuck was a very popular zonal salesman in a chemical
company. His broad and real smile used to make his extremely competitive nature
more attractive. He was six feet in height and he used to play in the football
team of his university. At present, he was considered to be very strict
salesman of his company.
Q2. How did Charles Hooper meet with
an accident? What damage was caused to him?
Ans. He had a severe accident when he was
driving home one autumn evening. He was immediately taken to the hospital. He suffered
from subdural haemmorrhage (heavy bleeding) in the motor section of his brain.
It completely paralysed his left side.
Q3. Who informed Marcy about her
husband’s accident? What did she do at once? What did she notice about her
husband?
Ans. One of his district managers took
his wife Marcy to the hospital. She noticed that her husband was unable to
speak. He could breathe, see and his vision was double. Marcy thought of Duke
as he was alone at home.
Q4. What did the employees of
Hooper’s company suggest to him after the fifth week? What more did they say to
him?
Ans. After the fifth week, some employees
of his company came there and suggested to him that he should take one month’s
leave. They also said that they would create a job that could e done while
sitting at a place in the office.
Q5. How did Hooper’s attendant serve
him at the hospital, when he was put in a wheelchair? Did Chuck improve?
Ans. After six weeks, the hospital put
him in a wheelchair. There was an attendant, who used to move his paralysed
affected arm and leg move. That activity was followed by bath, exercises and
wheeled –walker. In spite of all these activities, Chuck did not improve much.
Q6. Why did Hooper go down in
depression after he was brought back home from hospital?
Ans. Sometime passed in the excitement of
the home-coming, but, after that, he went down in the state of depression. At
hospital, he was not alone; there were other injured persons. But now, each
morning Mary had to go out of the house and after that, he had to face
loneliness in the house.
Q7. Why did
Marcy cry secretly?
Ans. Marcy
would secretly cry as she watched her husband’s smile fade away. He would stare
fixedly for hours together at the ceiling, then out of the window and then at
his dog, Duke.
While doing so, hard linings would emerge on
his face and stay there continuously.
Q8. Where did
Charles get Duke from? How did his wife like it?
Q9. Who was
Marcy/ What was her attitude towards Duke?
Q10. How was
Hooper a favoured young man?
Q11. Why was
Duke put in a kennel?
Q12. When
Duke was brought from the kennel, how did he react to see his master?
Long-answer
type Questions
Q1.How can
you say that everything was going on well before Hooper’s accident?
Q2.
No comments:
Post a Comment