Read the paragraphs below and answer the questions.
This extract is from Carrie's War by Nina Bawden. During World War Two, children were evacuated from London to the countryside to escape the bombing. Nick and Carrie are brother and sister waiting to be chosen by local families who will take them home.
Nick clung to Carrie's sleeve as they went through the door into a long, dark room with pointed windows. It was crowded and noisy. Someone said to Carrie, "Would you like a cup of tea, now? And a bit of cake?" She was a cheerful, plump woman with a singsong Welsh voice. Carrie shook her head: she felt cake would choke her. "Stand by there, then," the woman said. "There by the wall with the others, and someone will choose you."
1. What does 'she felt cake would choke her' tell us about Carrie?
2. Why is 'someone will choose you' a disturbing phrase?
Carrie looked round, bewildered, and saw Albert. She whispered, "What's happening?" and he said, "A kind of cattle auction, it seems."
He sounded calmly disgusted. He gave Carrie her suitcase, then marched to the end of the hall, sat down on his own, and took a book out of his pocket.
Carrie wished she could do that. Sit down and read as if nothing else mattered. But she had already begun to feel ill with shame at the fear that no-one would choose her, the way she always felt when they picked teams at school. Suppose she was left to the last! She dragged Nick into the line of waiting children and stood, eyes on the ground, hardly daring to breathe. When someone called out, "A nice little girl for Mrs Davies, now," she felt she would suffocate. She looked up but unfocused her eyes so that passing faces blurred and swam in front of her.
3. Why does Albert call it 'a kind of cattle auction'?
4. Why does Albert sit down and read instead of standing in line?
5. Why does Carrie unfocus her eyes so faces 'blurred and swam'?
Nick's hand tightened in hers. She looked at his white face and the traces of sick round his mouth and wanted to shake him. No one would take home a boy who looked like that, so pale and delicate. They would think he was bound to get ill and be a trouble to them. She said in a low, fierce voice, "Why don't you smile and look nice," and he blinked with surprise, looking so small and so sweet that she softened. She said, "Oh, it's all right, I'm not cross, I won't leave you."
6. Why does Carrie want to shake Nick?
7. Why is 'I won't leave you' the moral heart of the passage?