Read the passage from 'Cider With Rosie' by Laurie Lee and answer the questions.
In this book 'Cider With Rosie', Laurie Lee described his early life in the years soon after the First World War. The memories he wrote about included his first day at school.
The villagers themselves had three ways of living: working for the Squire, or on the farms, or down in the cloth-mills at Stroud. All other needs were supplied by a church, a chapel, a vicarage, a wooden hut, a pub – and the village school.
The village school at that time provided all the instruction we were likely to ask for. It was a small stone barn divided by a wooden partition into two rooms – The Infants and The Big Ones. There was one dame teacher, and perhaps a young girl assistant. Every child in the valley crowding there, remained till he was fourteen years old, then was presented to the working field or factory with nothing in his head more burdensome than a few facts learned off by heart, a jumbled list of wars, and a dreamy image of the world's geography. It seemed enough to get by with, in any case; and was one up on our poor old grandparents.
This school, when I came to it, was at its peak. Universal education and unusual fertility had packed it to the walls with pupils. Wild boys and girls from miles around – from the outlying farms and half-hidden hovels way up at the ends of the valley – swept down each day to add to our numbers, bringing with them strange oaths and odours, quaint garments and curious pies. They were my first amazed vision of any world outside the womanly warmth of my family; I didn't expect to survive it for long, and I was confronted with it at the age of four.
1. The passage mentions 'All other needs were supplied by a church, a chapel, a vicarage, a wooden hut, a pub – and the village school.' What needs might be supplied by... The church?
2. The passage mentions 'All other needs were supplied by a church, a chapel, a vicarage, a wooden hut, a pub – and the village school.' What needs might be supplied by... The pub?
3. In the second paragraph, which two adjectives tell us that the children's knowledge of geography and history was unclear?
The morning came, without any warning, when my sisters surrounded me, wrapped me up in scarves, tied up my bootlaces, thrust a cap on my head, and stuffed a baked potato in my pocket.
'What's this?' I said.
'You're starting school today.'
'I ain't. I'm stopping 'ome.'
'Now, come on, Loll. You're a big boy now.'
'I ain't.'
'You are.'
'Boo-hoo.'
They picked me up bodily, kicking and bawling, and carried me up the road.
'Boys who don't go to school get put into boxes, and turn into rabbits, and get chopped up Sundays.'
I felt this was overdoing it rather, but I said no more after that. I arrived at the school just three feet tall and fatly wrapped in my scarves. The playground roared like a rodeo, and the potato burned through my thigh. Old boots, ragged stockings, torn trousers and skirts, went skating and skidding around me. The rabble closed in; I was encircled; grit flew in my face like shrapnel. Tall girls with frizzled hair, and huge boys with sharp elbows, began to prod me with hideous interest. They plucked at my scarves, spun me round like a top, screwed my nose, and stole my potato.
I was rescued at last by a gracious lady – the sixteen-year-old junior teacher – who boxed a few ears and dried my face and led me off to The Infants. I spent that first day picking holes in paper, then went home in a smouldering temper.
4. The passage begins: 'The morning came, without any warning, when my sisters surrounded me, wrapped me up in scarves, tied up my bootlaces, thrust a cap on my head, and stuffed a baked potato in my pocket.' How do we know that Laurie (the writer) did not expect to go to school on that first day? Give ONE reason.
5. Laurie's sisters tell him: 'Boys who don't go to school get put into boxes, and turn into rabbits, and get chopped up Sundays.' Laurie thinks: 'I felt this was overdoing it rather...' In a sentence, explain as clearly as you can what Laurie thought about his sisters' statement.
6. The passage describes the scene at school: 'Old boots, ragged stockings, torn trousers and skirts, went skating and skidding around me.' Laurie refers to boots, stockings, trousers and skirts instead of the children wearing them. In a sentence, explain why he refers to these items of clothing instead of the children wearing them.
But after a week I felt like a veteran and grew as ruthless as anyone else. Somebody had stolen my baked potato, so I swiped somebody else's apple. The Infant Room was packed with toys such as I'd never seen before – coloured shapes and rolls of clay, stuffed birds and men to paint.
The beautiful assistant left us at last and was replaced by a widow. She was tall, and smelt like a cart-load of lavender; and wore a hair net, which I thought was a wig. I remember going close up and having a good look – it was clearly too square to be hair.
'What are you staring at?' the widow inquired.
I was much too soft-hearted to answer.
'Go on. Do tell. You needn't be shy.'
'You're wearing a wig,' I said.
'I can assure you I'm not!' She went very red.
'You are. I seen it,' I said.
The new teacher grew flustered and curiously cross. She took me upon her knee.
'Now look very close. Is that really a wig?'
I looked hard, saw the net, and said 'Yes'.
7. (a) The passage describes Laurie's new teacher: 'She was tall, and smelt like a cart-load of lavender; and wore a hair net, which I thought was a wig. I remember going close up and having a good look – it was clearly too square to be hair.' Why did Laurie think that his teacher was wearing a wig?
7. (b) Was she, in fact, wearing one?
7. (c) When Laurie says 'I was much too soft-hearted to answer' (after the teacher asked what he was staring at), what ONE word could replace 'soft-hearted'?