Read carefully the passage given below and answer the questions (a),(b) and that follow: (20) Recently upon hearing that a neighbor had been burgled , my husband voiced a desire to beef up our home

security . I was largely unresponsive . It’s hard for me to be threatened by a verb that is one letter off from gurgle.

The previous owners of our house installed a burglar alarm system, but we never got it switched on, because

quoting Ed, i do nothing about our family heirlooms. I gave in, even though I question the likelihood of strangers

risking jail time for my father’s brass-plated lion's club paperweight or Ed's mom's cake recipe.

The alarm company sent over a sales representative, a well coiffed professional in suit and heels. She

recommended adding some infrared motion sensors. I was not wild about this. I like to keep things simple.

“ Can't the motion sensors be set off by a pet?" I said.

Ed leaned in close to the sales rep. “We don't have any pets," he whispered. The sales rep looked me over: the

sweat pants, the goofy slippers, the unbrushed hair. You could tell I was fitting right in with her mental image of

people with imaginary pets.

"We don't have a pet now," I conceded. "But we might someday." I knew this to be a lie. Ed is a dog person and

I'm a cat person. We cancel each other out.

I pointed out that every now and then, the neighbor's cat, Sprinkles, who likes to sleep on our desk, will sneak

into the house when the back door is open. The alarm woman started talking about "pet resistance".

This was a feature of the motion sensor whereby it was set to cover the room from the waist up only. "Though of

course “ she hesitated."The cat would have to stay on the ground at all times". She did not verbalize the logical follow-up. "So you'll want

to include a coma before heading out for the evening."

We got the sensors and we got the system switched on. We never got a pet, but we did get Natalia, after years of

cost-based bickering, a housecleaner. She came less often than most people's cleaners. I promised to leave the

alarm code off the days she came.

Naturally, I forgot one day. Later that morning, I got a call at work. Natalia was yelling in harmony with the

shrieking of the alarm. She couldn't find the code. My cell phone started ringing. This was the alarm company

responding to the alarm, calling me to get the secret password—different from the shutoff code—for them to shut

off the system to prevent the police from rushing over to arrest Natalia for breaking in. While i was thinking,

Natalia had gone through her bag, found the paper with the shutoff code I'd given her and quieted the screaming

alarm. How effective these alarms are against burglars, i don't know but Sprinkles hasn't been seen on our

property for weeks.

(a) Give the meaning of the following words and phrases as given in the Passage : (5x1=5)

(i) voiced a desire (iii) heirlooms (ii) beef up (iv) brass-plated (v) harmony

(b) Answer the following questions in your own words: (5x2=10)

(i) Why did the couple think of getting the burglar alarm?"

(ii) What did the wife feel they were protecting?

(iii) Why did they not have a pet?

(iv) Why did they take so much time to get a housecleaner?

(v)How did the sales representative say the alarm sensor would avoid the cat ?

(c) In not more than 60 words explain what happened when the alarm was not put off when Natalia came to work.(5)