saw a play in Dublin not long ago in which the chief character was an elderly corn-merchant in a small Irish country town. He was a man of many anxieties-his h^art was dicky,

1.a saw a play in Dublin not long ago in which the chief character was an elderly corn-merchant in a small Irish country town. He was a man of many anxieties-his h^art was dicky, his nephew was cheating him, his wife had had the fantastic notion of spending £10 on a holiday. Altogether the pace of life was getting too much for him, and in a moment of despair, he uttered a great cry from the heart: “They tell me there’s an aeroplane now that goes at 1,000 miles an hour. How that’s too fast!”
b. For me that was the most enchanting line in l le play-the man’s com¬plaint was so gloriously irrelevant to his own situation. And besides oemg comic, it struck me as a perfect illustration of the way the Irish get at subtle truths by the most unlikely approaches. You saw what the old fool meant.

Questions:
(i) To whom does the word T stand for?
Answer: Here f stands for the author.

(ii) How were the merchant’s nephew and wife?
Answer: The merchant’s nephew was a cheater who was cheating the merchant. Merchant’s wife was a fantastic woman who was spending 10 pounds on a holiday.

(iii) What was the enchanting line in the play?
Answer: The most enchanting line in the play is “the man’s complaint was so.gloriously irrelevant to his own situation.”

(vi) Find the word from the passage which means: State of hopeless-ness.
Answers: The word is despair.