Comprehension (B)
I finally took a deferred pass, as they called, it, and waited a year and tried again. (You had to pass one of the biological sciences or you couldn't graduate.) The professor had come back from vacation brown as a berry, bright-eyed, and eager to explain cell-structure again to his classes. "Well, he said to me, cheerily, when we met in the first laboratory hour that semester, "We're going to see cells this time, aren't we?" "Yes, sir." I said. Students to the right of me and left of me and in front of me were seeing cells; what's more, they were drawing pictures of them in their notebooks. Of course, I didn't see anything.
"We'll try it," the professor said to me, grimly, "with every adjustment of the microscope known to man. As God is my witness, I'll arrange this glass so that you see cells through it or I'll give up teaching. In twenty-two years of botany, I—" he cut off abruptly for he was beginning to quiver all over, like Lionel Barrymore, and he genuinely wished to hold onto his temper; his scenes with me had taken a great deal out of him.
So we tried it with every adjustment of the microscope known to man. With only one of them did I see anything but blackness or the familiar lacteal opacity, and that time I saw, to my pleasure and amusement, a variegated constellation of flecks, specks and dots. These I hastily drew. The instructor, noting my activity, came from an adjoining desk, a smile on his lips, eyebrows high in hope. He looked at my cell drawing. "What's that?" he demanded, with a hint of squeal in his voice. "That's what I saw." I said. "You didn't. You didn't. You didn't!" he screamed, losing control of his temper instantly, and he bent over and squinted into the microscope. His head snapped up. "That's your eye!" he shouted. "You've fixed the lens so that it reflects! You've drawn your own eye!"
Questions:
i. What titles could be given to each paragraph in the passage to summarize its content, also write a brief summary.
ii. Interpret the expressions "deferred pass" and "brown as a berry" in the context of the passage.
iii. Analyze the professor's perspective on the student's ability to see cells through the microscope and the student's actual experience.
iv. What idea is conveyed through the professor's determination to make the student see cells and the student's unconventional drawing of what was observed?
v. Explore the dynamics of the professor-student relationship as depicted in the passage, particularly in the context of the professor's reaction to the student's drawing.
vi. How can the challenges faced by the student in the passage be applied to a broader context, such as overcoming obstacles in learning or dealing with differing perspectives?
