"The
Invention"
Passage from "The Time Machine"
"I
told some of you last Thursday of the principles of the Time Machine, and
showed you the actual thing itself, incomplete in the workshop. There it is
now, a little travel-worn, truly; and one of the ivory bars is cracked, and a
brass rail bent; but the rest of it's sound enough...
The thing was not complete until this morning. It was at ten o'clock to-day
that the first of all Time Machines began its career. I gave it a last tap,
tried all the screws again, put one more drop of oil on the quartz rod, and sat
myself in the saddle...
"I took the starting lever in one hand
and the stopping one in the other, pressed the first, and almost immediately
the second. I seemed to reel; I felt a nightmare sensation of falling; and,
looking round, I saw the laboratory exactly as before. Had anything happened?
For a moment I suspected that my intellect had tricked me. Then I noted the
clock. A moment before, as it seemed, it had stood at a minute or so past ten;
now it was nearly half-past three!
"I drew a breath, set my teeth, gripped the
starting lever with both hands, and went off with a thud. The laboratory got
hazy and went dark. Mrs. Watchett came in and walked,
apparently without seeing me, towards the garden door. I suppose it took her a
minute or so to traverse the place, but to me she seemed to shoot across the
room like a rocket. I pressed the lever over to its extreme position. The night
came like the turning out of a lamp, and in another moment came to-morrow. The
laboratory grew faint and hazy, then fainter and ever fainter. To-morrow night
came black, then day again, night again, day again, faster and faster still. An
eddying murmur filled my ears, and a strange, dumb confusedness descended on my
mind.
"I am afraid I cannot convey the peculiar
sensations of time travelling. They are excessively unpleasant. There is a
feeling exactly like that one has upon a switchback—of a helpless headlong
motion! I felt the same horrible anticipation, too, of an imminent smash. As I
put on pace, night followed day like the flapping of a black wing. The dim
suggestion of the laboratory seemed presently to fall away from me, and I saw
the sun hopping swiftly across the sky, leaping it every minute, and every minute
marking a day..."
Reading Comprehension Questions
1) The passage above is the start of a novel. Based on the context, the novel most likely
fits into which of the following genres?
a.
fairy tale
b.
biography
c.
science fiction
d.
detective story
2) In the above passage, the narrator describes the feeling of
travelling through time as which of the following?
a.
exciting
b.
dreary
c.
distasteful
d.
joyous
3) The following phrases are from the above passage. Which one of them is an example of personification?
a.
"I drew a breath, set my teeth, gripped the
starting lever with both hands"
b.
"I felt a nightmare sensation of falling"
c.
"I felt the same horrible anticipation, too, of
an imminent smash"
d.
"I saw the sun hopping swiftly across the
sky"
4) The following phrases are from the above passage. Which one of them is NOT a simile?
a.
"she seemed to shoot across the room like a
rocket"
b.
"The laboratory grew faint and hazy, then
fainter and ever fainter"
c.
"The night came like the turning out of a
lamp"
d.
"...night followed day like the flapping of a
black wing"
5) In the above passage, the narrator is doing which of the
following?
a.
describing the events as they happen
b.
telling his story to an audience
c.
writing down his actions in a journal
d.
predicting the results of his experiment
6) In the above passage, which of the following happens when a
person travels through time in the Time Machine?
a.
they watch the days go by very fast
b.
they lose consciousness
c.
they fall into a deep sleep
d.
they see their life flash before them
Answer Key
1)
The passage
above is the start of a novel. Based on
the context, the novel most likely fits into which of the following genres?
a.
fairy tale
b.
biography
c.
science fiction
d.
detective story
2)
In the above passage,
the narrator describes the feeling of travelling through time as which of the
following?
a.
exciting
b.
dreary
c.
distasteful
d.
joyous
3)
The following
phrases are from the above passage.
Which one of them is an example of personification?
a.
"I drew a breath, set my teeth,
gripped the starting lever with both hands"
b.
"I felt a nightmare sensation of
falling"
c.
"I felt the same horrible
anticipation, too, of an imminent smash"
d.
"I
saw the sun hopping swiftly across the sky"
4)
The following
phrases are from the above passage.
Which one of them is NOT a simile?
a.
"she seemed to shoot across the
room like a rocket"
b.
"The
laboratory grew faint and hazy, then fainter and ever fainter"
c.
"The night came like the turning
out of a lamp"
d.
"...night followed day like the
flapping of a black wing"
5)
In the above
passage, the narrator is doing which of the following?
a.
describing the events as they happen
b.
telling his story
to an audience
c.
writing down his actions in a journal
d.
predicting the results of his experiment
6)
In the above
passage, which of the following happens when a person travels through time in
the Time Machine?
a.
they watch the
days go by very fast
b.
they lose consciousness
c.
they
fall into a deep sleep
d.
they
see their life flash before them