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Section C

[25marks]

Questions 26 – 31are based on the following passage

On October 5, 1973, four-year-old Josh Miele was playing in the backyard of his faily!s

house in the neighbourhood of  "rooklyn, as his other, #sabella, cooked in the kitchen$

%hen the doorbell rang, Josh sprinted to answer it.

He opened the door and unlocked the gate. Then, Josh stepped out rom

behind the gate into the open. !nd then, he couldn"t see. He didn"t know wh#. He

elt around with his hands, grasping or the walls. He orced his e#es open and

glimpsed at the wood. $t was the last thing he e%er saw. The ne&t da# the incident

made the headline ' no clues pro%ided, (ust a brie article) *+o#, , $s Hurt b# !cid

 Thrower.-

n the da# o the attack, Josh"s ather was on a business trip/ b# the time he

returned Josh was at 0ethodist Hospital. The ather was shock at the sight of hisson. His face was a mask,” he recalled .

 Josh"s skin had turned brown and his eatures were altered. 1octors crowded

around the bo# tr#ing to sa%e his sight. The poor bo# then was transerred to

militar# hospital as the intern e&plained that onl# the militar# had the abilit# to deal

with the kind o burn in(ur#.

or such a de%astating in(ur#, we were %er# realistic about what to

e&pect,- said 1r. 3ruitt. 4pon e&amining Josh, he determined that the bo# was

burned o%er 67 o his bod#, with third degree burns co%ering most o his ace.

3ruittt"s goal was to sa%e the bo#"s sight but he knew right awa# this was hopeless.

 The globes had been irreparabl# in(ured. Josh underwent endless operations. Skin

was taken rom one o his legs and grated to his ace. 1ead tissue was cut awa#. !

hugel# painul process, again and again. !bout si& weeks ater the traged#, his

appearance was radicall# changed. 0an# o his eatures were gone, and what

remained was roughl# scarred.

 Josh learned to use a cane and spent time at the $ndustrial Home or the

+lind. His ather built a bunk bed that was part (ungle g#m so Josh could climb and

stretch his scarred underarms. His mother had her own approach to Josh"s

rehabilitation. *There were man# times when $ put him in less8than8acceptable

situations,- $sabella recalled. *$"d let him touch things in museums. $ would let himclimb on things that people don"t ordinaril# climb on.- Josh attended 3ublic School

where he learned to read braille. Still at that time Josh"s operation continued,

including a ailed cornea transplant. 9hen Josh was either or 2, he learned that

doctors were planning to stitch one o his arms to his burned nose. The

surgeons hoped that the li%e tissue in the arm would trigger regrowth o blood

%essels and tissue in the nose. Josh put a stop to it. He had had enough. He told his

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amil# he was alwa#s going to look di:erent ' wh# go through all this pain (ust to

look a little less di:erent.

 Toda#, Josh li%es in Caliornia with his wie and two children. Josh has a

degree in ph#sics and a 3h1 in ps#choacoustics ;the science o how hearing works<

rom the 4ni%ersit# o Caliornia. He pla#s bass in a band and works as an associate

scientist at the non8pro=t Smith8>ettlewell ?#e @esearch $nstitute. *$"d like to be asamous as the ne&t person would, but $ want to be amous or the right

reasons, or the work $"%e done and not or some stupid thing that happened to me

A #ears ago," Josh sa#s.

!dapted rom @eader"s 1igest

2AB