1.4 Designing a poster  (Page 2/4)

10. The next morning Ellie was injected with anaesthetic. Five minutes later she sank to her knees, unconscious, her trunk still blaring when she exhaled.

11. Dr Taylor lubricated the endoscope with anaesthetic gel and pushed it gently into Ellie’s left nostril. He looked into the eyepiece at the end of the scope as the tube moved gently forward. Suddenly the way was blocked by a huge pink mass. Ellie had a polyp, a benign tumour.

12. The tumour was forty-five centimetres from the tip of her trunk. How on earth was he going to remove it? He could barely reach it with his outstretched arm. The only possibility seemed to cut open the trunk above the growth.

13. The trunk of an elephant is a remarkable structure, containing 40 000 muscles and a complex network of blood vessels and nerves. What if his incision damaged Ellie’s nerves? An elephant whose trunk is paralysed can no longer deliver food or water to its mouth.

14. Three days later Dr Taylor performed the operation. He calculated the position of the polyp by measuring 45 centimetres from the tip of Ellie’s trunk. He anaesthetized her and lifted his scalpel. All the strokes of the scalpel across the trunk would be lengthwise, to minimize the risk of severing any nerves.

15. A single slice of the scalpel made a ten-centimetre incision. Working with utmost caution, the doctor felt around and found the polyp. It was as fat as a small plum. Knotting a length of catgut round the neck of the tumour, he snipped it off. Dr Taylor closed the wound and stitched it up with steel wire. Then he gave the patient an antidote to the anaesthetic. Slowly Ellie’s trunk began to twitch. Then she flicked an ear, and with one mighty heave, got sleepily to her feet.

16. The next day Ellie visited the doctor’s surgery on her own. She had plodded 400 metres from the elephant house to find him and stood purring at the window. Several times in the past, Jack had walked Ellie past his surgery, and Dr Taylor had fed her biscuits on those walks. Ellie remembered the way to his surgery! What was she trying to say?

17. Ellie visited Dr Taylor every day on her own for ten days. On the morning of the tenth day, he removed the steel stitches. The wound had healed and Ellie was fine. Ellie must have known this for she did not come the next day, nor ever again.

19. A few days later Dr Taylor bought a bottle of champagne to celebrate with Ellie’s keeper. The patient did not go unrewarded. She got a large iced currant bun.

Adapted from The Reader Digest, April 1996

The following questions are based on the passage The Mystery Of The Rude Elephant .

Answer the questions carefully and be sure to carry out specific instructions.

1. In your own words, explain why Jack called the zoo vet (par. 1) (2)
2. What does a vet do for a living? (2)
3. How are Ellie and a giant cat similar? (Par.2) (2)
4. Ellie was fond of snacks. Write down THREE snacks which the vet gave her. (3)
5. What is the essential function of an elephant’s trunk? (1)
6. Why was the vet worried about cutting into Ellie’s trunk? (2)
7. Choose the correct definition for each of the words below. Write down the number, the word and the answer you have chosen.