Understanding the Text
1. How did Tao Ying’s son influence the way she led her life?
Answer:
2. Pick out instances from the story to show that official rules are
often arbitrary.
Answer:
3. Tao Ying was very careful about spending money. What were
her reasons for refusing the compensation offered by the temple
officials?
Answer:
4. Why was her final vindication important to Tao Ying?
Answer:
Talking about the Text
Discuss the following in pairs or in small groups
1. The way a child looks at the world is very different from that of
an adult.
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2. There is always a gap between what we really are and what we
wish to appear to be to others.
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Appreciation
1. Comment on the significance of the first sentence of the story
to its theme.
Answer:
2. Would you describe the author’s portrayal of Tao Ying’s
character in the story as sympathetic, critical or realistic?
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3. Identify the episodes that bring out the ambivalent attitude to
ethics commonly seen in human life?
Answer:
4. How effectively does the narrative technique adopted in this
story illustrate ‘unity of thought’?
Answer:
Language Work
A . Figures of Speech
a. Simile
Notice the underlined phrases in the following sentences
(i) As the doors shut her jacket is caught, ballooning up like
a tent behind her.
The comparison here is between the ballooning of the jacket
and a tent made explicit by the use of the conjunction,
‘like’.
(ii) The white of the wall looks like a virgin canvas and Xiao Ye
a painting filling up the space.