Class 12 English Unit 13: History: After the World Trade Center by Amitav Ghosh
Unit 13: History: After the World Trade Center by Amitav Ghosh
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taWxrqjtQZ0
Reflection of the Essay
Frank and Nicole De Martini, a couple whose lives were closely twinned with the towers of the World Trade Center, are architects and engineers. Frank is forty-nine, sturdily-built, with wavy salt-and-pepper hair and deeply-etched laugh lines around his eyes. Nicole is forty-two, blonde and blue-eyed, and was born in Basel, Switzerland. They have two children, Sabrina, 10, and Dominic, 8, who are unusually well-matched with their parents in age, gender and temperament.
Nicole's relationship with the World Trade Center was sparked by the 1993 basement bomb explosion. On September 11, 2001, Frank was hired to do bomb damage assessment and fell in love with the towers, which were built to take the impact of a light airplane. Nicole and Frank assumed that the worst was over and the structure had absorbed the impact, and that it was now a question of coping with the damage. Frank herded Nicole and a group of other people into a room free of smoke, and then went off to scout escape routes and stairways.
As she informed her children that their father had not been in touch, Nicole's tone was solemn. Nicole and her kids rode their bikes and scooters through Fort Greene Park on the day of the 9/11 attacks. Frank, Nicole's husband, remained to assist with the evacuation. Nicole thinks Frank made his decision just after noticing her go.
Working with words
A. Match the words with their definitions/ meanings.(Answers only)
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Column A |
Column B |
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a. Passion |
any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, as love or hate |
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b. Surveillance |
continuous observation of a place, person, group, or ongoing activity in order to gather information |
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c. Integrity |
the state of being whole, entire, or undiminished |
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d. Avuncular |
like an uncle |
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e. Livelihood |
a means of supporting one’s existence |
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f. Fascination |
powerful attraction |
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g. Innovation |
an idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new |
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h. Panorama |
an unobstructed and wide view of an extensive area in all directions |
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i. Resilience |
the power or ability of a material to return to its original form, position, etc., after being bent, compressed, or stretched |
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j. Evacuation |
the removal of people or things from an endangered area |
B. Define the following professionals. One has been done for you.
architect, civil engineer , mechanical engineer,
aerospace engineer, automobile engineer, electronic engineer,
electrical engineer, computer engineer, food engineer,
chemical engineer, biomedical engineer.
Example: An architect is an engineer who designs buildings and advises in their construction.
a. Civil Engineer – A civil engineer is an engineer who designs, builds, supervises, operates, constructs and maintains infrastructure projects and systems in the public and private sector
b. Mechanical Engineer – A mechanical engineer is an engineer who designs power-producing machines such as electric generators, internal combustion engines, and steam and gas turbines, as well as power-using machines, such as refrigeration and air-conditioning systems.
c. Aerospace Engineer – An aerospace engineer is an engineer who designs or builds aircraft, missiles, systems for national defence, or spacecraft.
d. Automobile Engineer – An automobile engineer is an engineer who designs systems and machines for vehicles.
e. Electronic Engineer – An electronic engineer is an engineer who designs, develops, tests, and supervises the manufacture of electrical equipment, such as electric motors, radar and navigation systems, communications systems, or power generation equipment.
f. Electrical Engineer – An electrical engineer is an engineer who designs, develops, tests, and supervises the manufacture of electrical equipment.
(difference between Electrical engineering is primarily concerned with the large-scale production, transmission and distribution of electrical power, while electronic engineering focuses specifically on the design, optimisation and management of smaller electronic circuits and devices.)
g. Computer Engineer – A computer hardware engineer is an engineer who researches, designs, develops, and tests computer systems and components such as processors, circuit boards, memory devices, networks, and routers.
h. Food Engineer – A food engineer is an engineer who designs and develops systems for production, processing, distributing, and storing food and agricultural materials.
i. Chemical Engineer – A chemical engineer is an engineer who develops and designs chemical manufacturing processes.
j. Biomedical Engineer – A biomedical engineer is an engineer who focuses on advances in technology and medicine to develop new devices and equipment for improving human health.
C. With the help of your teacher or a dictionary, pronounce these words. What vowel sounds do they contain? Make a list of them.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69DwHUg2f7s
|
/bʌt/ |
/tɒp/ |
/əˈɡəʊ/ |
/nɔːt/ |
/bз:(r)d/ |
|
but, cut, sun, lust, fun, gun, run, jump, bulb, blood |
top, lot, job, sob, box, bomb, dog, hot |
the, ago, again, alike, father |
caught, bought, thought, taught, naught, sought, born, torn |
bird, first, fur, turn, girl, sir, firm, germ, learn, verb |
Comprehension
Answer the following questions.
a. Where were Frank and Nicole employed?
Frank and Nicole were employed as architects in the twin towers of the World Trade Centre situated in the USA.
b. How does the author describe Frank’s attachment to the Twin Towers?
The author describes Frank’s attachment to the Twin Towers as a source of livelihood and passion.
c. How did the two families become intimate with each other?
The two families became intimate with each other because of their children.
d. What, according to Nicole, did Frank think of the towers?
According to Nicole, Frank thought of the towers as an incredible human fest. The scale, magnitude, innovative design, and efficient use of materials of the towers were awesome to Frank. Sometimes he said that they were built to take the impact of a light airplane.
e. Why did Frank want to help the people in the tower after the attack?
Frank wanted to help the people in the tower after the attack because only a few people knew about the strength of the building.
f. Why did Frank not follow Nicole’s request even after knowing that the building was on fire?
Frank did not follow Nicole’s request even after knowing that the building was on fire because he had confidence that he could help the injured people on their way to a safe place without hurting himself.
g. Who did Frank call from the building after the attack?
Frank called his sister Nina, who lived on West 93rd street in Manhattan, from the building after the attack,
h. How did Nicole feel after the collapse of the first tower?
After the collapse of the first tower, Nicole felt that was like the beginning of a nuclear war. Everything went absolutely quiet and she felt in the middle of a fog that was as blindingly bright as a snowstorm on a sunny day.
i. Were Frank’s children serious as soon as they heard the news of their missing father? Why?
Frank’s children were not serious as soon as they heard the news of their missing father because they were busy playing games.
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