CUET English Chapter For Comprehension-Deepwater

At the age of three or four, Douglas had gone with his father to the beach. A powerful wave had struck him and knocked him down as he was with his father in the surf. This experience had terrorized him and this fear stayed even as he grew older.

The misadventure tool place when Douglas went to swim in the Y.M.C.A pool. A big bruiser of a boy, about eighteen years old picked him up and tossed him into the deep end. He swallowed a lot of water, went at once to the bottom. He planned to hit the bottom and make a big jump and come to the surface. But his plan failed and he almost had a brush with death.

Douglas had just about to overcome his fear of water when he started learning swimming at the Y.M.C.A pool when he was tossed into the deep end of the pool by a big boy of eighteen. Douglas almost drowned in the incident and his fear of water became more intense and hard to overcome.

Douglas was frightened when he was thrown into the water but he did not lose his wits. He made a plan to make a big jump, to come to the surface, lie flat on it and paddle to the edge of the pool. He summoned all his strength and made a great spring upwards but instead he came up slowly. He opened his eyes and saw nothing. He tried again but was ceased by terror that knows no control. He was shrieking under water and was paralyzed- stiff and rigid with fear. He only knew one thing-that he was alive.

This experience revived the fear of water. He felt weak and trembled as he walked home. He shook and cried when he lay on his bed and could not eat anything that night. He was haunted by the frightening experience. The slightest exertion upset him, making him wobbly in the knees and sick in the stomach.

Douglas thought that as he would hit the bottom of the tiled pool, he would spring up like a cork to the surface, then like flat on the water, strike out with his arms and thrash with his legs and reach the edge of the pool. However, this plan failed.

The author had made three futile attempts to spring up to the surface but as his strength failed and energy exhausted, he gave up and stopped all his efforts. He relaxed and passed into a state of unconsciousness and then there was no fear after that.

Douglas after his misadventure and a near brush with death, became so scaled of water that he could not go fishing, canoeing, boating and swimming. He tried hard to overcome his fear but it held him firmly in his grip. Finally, one October he decided to get an instructor and learn to swim. He started going to the pool 5 days a week, an hour each day.

The author’s fear of water deprived him of the joy of having fun with his friends during their fishing trips and also the thrill of canoeing, boating or swimming. The moment he would go near water, his fear of water would start haunting him.

The instructor put a belt around Douglas and attached a rope to the belt which went through a pulley that ran on an overhead cable. He held on to the rope and went back and forth across the pool for three months, after which his terror of water slackened a bit. He could put his face underwater and exhale and inhale with the nose out of water. The he learnt to kick with his legs for many weeks till he could relax. After seven months he could swim the entire length of the pool.

Douglas would still feel the old terror even after the instructor built a swimmer. To overcome that, he started talking to terror and challenged it. He would go for another length of the pool after talking to terror. Still to ensure that he conquered it completely he went to Lake Wentworth, dived at Triggs Island and swam two miles to Stampat island. He tried all strokes put his face underwater and mocked at his terror which fled and he swam on.

The author’s remark meant that he was not sure whether his old terror had left him. He still felt scared and frightened while swimming the length of the pool up and down.

Douglas was a brave and b-willed person. Despite his horrifying experiences in water when he almost drowned, he didn’t give up. He resolved to overcome his fear by learning to swim. He hired an instructor and with complete focus and determination, he could succeed in learning to swim.

The movement towards the bottom of the pool after being tossed in it by a big boy was gradual as he was in the deep side. He felt these nine feet to be like ninety. His lungs were ready to burst before he touched the bottom. He did not lose his presence of mind and tried to make a great jump upwards.

Douglas was very thin and hated to show his skinny legs. He also scared of going into the pool alone. So he sat by the poolside and waited for others to come.

After being tossed into the deep side of the pool, Douglas planned to save himself from being drowned. He decided to spring back to the surface like a cork after touching the bottom. Then he would lie flat on it, paddle to the edge and save himself. His plan did not succeed as three times he tried to put his plan to action but swallowed a lot of water.

Douglas talks about the boy who tossed him into the deep end of the Y.M.C.A pool. This boy was about eighteen, had a good physique and ‘was a big bruiser’ according to Douglas. This boy, after Douglas almost drowned, had the audacity to exclaim that he was only fooling.

As Douglas started going to the Y.M.C.A pool to learn how to swim, his childhood fears and memories of the unpleasant experience was revived. He gradually regained some confidence and started paddling with the help of water wings. He watched other boys and copied their style. Slowly he started feeling more comfortable.

Douglas had a b-will and steadfastness of purpose. It is with the help of these two traits, i.e. his determination and fixity of purpose that he was able to conquer terror and learn swimming.

The third time, Douglas’s effort ceased. He relaxed and his legs felt limp. He felt there was nothing to be afraid of. It was nice and he felt drowsy ready to sleep, too tired to jump. He felt he was floating and the tender arms of his mother carrying him gently to put him to sleep.

William Douglas had a most frightening and nightmarish experience at the Y.M.C.A pool when a boy of eighteen had tossed him into the pool and he had had a near brush with death. The terror that he experienced and the resulting fear of water prevented him from enjoying fishing, canoeing, swimming etc. with his friends. The fear became so deep rooted that Douglas then, decided to overcome it.

The first step he took was to get an instructor. The instructor made him swim five days a week and very patiently taught him how to exhale underwater and inhale above water. He made him practise very hard five days a week, an hour each day. His safety was ensured when the instructor put a belt around him, had a hook and a rope attached to it. An overhead cable had a pulley in it and the rope going over it. The instructor would hold the rope while Douglas swam from one end of the pool to the other. In about six months, and with a lot of hard-work and determination, Douglas was able to perfect the art of swimming. His instructor had built a swimmer out of him, bit by bit.

William Douglas had decided to overcome his childhood fear of water when he joined the Y.M.C.A swimming pool. He had gradually gathered confidence and was trying to learn swimming by using water wings and aping other boys. Just when he was beginning to feel at ease the misadventure happened.

A big boy about eighteen years of age saw Douglas sitting above by the pool side and tossed him into the deep side of the pool. Douglas was too frightened but did not lose his wits. He planned the strategy of giving himself a thrust just as he would touch the bottom and then move up to the surface of the water and float towards the edge. His plans failed and thrice he went up and down the pool, being unable to reach the surface and breathe. He had almost given up, when he was rescued by the boy who had pushed him. The boy admitted that he was only joking.

Douglas had to pay a heavy price for this ‘joke’. He was shocked and trembling when he recovered from this incident. But worse was the fact that his fear turned into terror and a sort of phobia. Much as he wanted to, he could not enjoy himself. He could not get into the Cascades or bathe in the Warm Lake. He could not even go for fishing, canoeing, boating or swimming. His fear of water deprived him of all the joys that he wanted to experience in water. He tried hard to overcome his fear but psychologically, the fear had a b hold on him.

c) President Roosevelt

d) Water

a) Ten or eleven years old

c) Y.M.C.A

c) Many people had drowned there

c) Two or three feet deep

b) Nine feet

c) Skinny legs

d) California

a) Childhood fear of water

c) He was alone

c) A beautiful physical specimen

d) Deep end

c) Out of his wits

a) Make a big jump

b) Ninety feet

a) Bob to the surface like a cork

b) No sound came out

b) Dead weights

a) Dirty yellow tinge

b) Stark, terror

c) Thrice

a) Was floating in space

c) Shook and cried and didn’t eat anything

c) Help him keep afloat

d) An instructor

c) Douglas’ belt

b) Five days a week

b) Three moths

a) Hundred times

d) Instructor

d) Talking to terror

c) Two miles

d) To terror

a) Gilbert peak

d) President Roosevelt

a) Conquered his fear of water

b) Released

a) Ruined his trips