An inference about Harborough is that he possesses a spirit of adventure and curiosity that contrasts sharply with the more cautious and lethargic nature of the Captain. This is supported by the evidence that Harborough expresses a strong desire to bathe in the mid-Atlantic, declaring it a "gorgeous" notion, while the Captain dismisses the idea as dangerous, highlighting his lack of enthusiasm for the adventure.
The Reward of Enterprise
by Ward Muir
A project was forming in my mind. I looked at the water. It was a peculiar, vitreous green, closer under the steamer, was transparent to the depth of many feet. Beneath my shoe-soles the poop was hot; over side, the sea looked inexpressibly inviting. And on a sudden I turned to the drowsing Captain and exclaimed: “I want to bathe.”
“To bathe?” The Captain gazed at me.
“Why not?”
The Captain yawned out some lethargic suggestion to the effect that to bathe would be dangerous because of the depth—as though I’d be more apt to drown in three miles of water than in three fathoms.
Seafaring people are odd in that way—I don’t mean in their ignorance of swimming, though, to be sure, the average sailor is seldom a swimmer. They’re so—how shall I express it?—so unenterprising. In the midst of adventure and romance they are stirred by no recognition either of the adventures or the romantic.
I was a city-bred youngster, who had never been out of hail of the homeland before, and I possessed more enterprise in my little finger than that far-travelled Captain had in the whole of his weather-worn, hulking lump of a carcass. I wanted to bathe. I wanted to bathe in the mid-Atlantic. I had learnt to bathe in the public swimming-bath near my old school, and now I wanted to try a swimming-bath three miles deep and tilting continuously at an angle of I don’t know how many degrees. The notion was gorgeous.
"The Reward of Enterprise" by Ward Muir
Question
Use the passage below to answer the question.
In 1–2 sentences, explain an inference about Harborough based on the details in the passage, and provide at least one piece of strong evidence to support your inference.
(2 points)
1 answer