Sec 3NA English Language Term 2023

Quote and Explain Questions – Practice 4 (Annotating the text)

The text below tells the story of an encounter with whales.

Instructions:
1. Highlight the information in the text that answers the guiding questions.
2. For each paragraph, write down the meaning of the word as it is used in the text.

Where did the events take place?

It was a windy day in Laguna San Ignacio, and the waves seemed
to come from all directions. Peaks rose up, slapped against one Who were the characters involved?
another, rolled us around, and receded. I scanned the ruffled What was taking place?
waters for a heart-shaped spray of water, hoping to spot the
receded:
signature blow of a gray whale. In the distance, a dark shape
emerged from the lagoon, then slipped below the surface. “Help
me splash!” our guide said, leaning over the edge of the boat. I
stuck my arm into the water. That, apparently, is how people invite
an animal the size of the living room to drop by.
Who were the characters
involved?
Two hulking shapes, a mother and her weeks-old calf, answered
What phrases tell you about the
our call. The parent remained aloof. But the ‘little’ one poked its interaction between the writer
snout out of the water next to our boat. The calf had a narrow face; and the whale?

its skin had pale scratches, and patches of barnacles. It surfaced Which phrases describe the
appearance of the calf?
again and submerged. Then it was right under us before I saw its
blowhole and felt the vapour of its breath on my face. The whale hulking:
lolled onto its side like a humongous puppy, its mouth opened in aloof:
a smile-shaped gap. With the temptation of stroking a dog’s belly,
lolled:
but with more hesitation, I reached out and gently stroked its body.
It felt electric.

Somehow, interacting with the whales did not strike me as

inappropriate until later, when I was stroking the thick, rubbery
skin of a humongous animal. With a pang of guilt, I remembered
that most important rule of responsible wildlife tourism: Don’t Which phrases suggest the writer was
apprehensive about touching the whale?
touch the animals. Did I stop? No. I had complicated feelings and
questions. I wondered why the calves think they could trust us. What did the calf do as it approached the
boat?
These animals might possess the ability to distinguish the
stroking:
harmless humans. Otherwise, they would have avoided us or
smashed our little boats. I nicknamed the calf ‘Roller’ because he craggy:
rotated slowly next to the boat. I saw him a few times, and he
seemed to like being petted and splashed. At one point, my lips
came very close to his craggy face. He gave me a hard stare that
reflected deep thought and then he exhaled hard. I took it as a
sign and did not try to make more advancements.

Our two species occupy entirely different worlds. Yet, how were What phrases suggest the writer
was reflective about their
we able to create such a Disney moment? A mutual inspection, interaction?
perhaps. We can’t share food or communicate with sound, but we
Disney moment:
can understand so much more about each other through touch
and eye contact. This special moment still lingers within me.

More than once, after nudging our boat, a young gray turned to What did the calf do repeatedly?
its flank so one dark, baseball-sized eye was looking up at us.
The more we lingered, the more I wanted to simply observe. flank:
Interacting with the wild started to feel like something more than
entertainment. It was also the wild discovering us.