Reading Comprehension Exercise

The Legend of Lady Godiva

In the early eleventh century, Leofric, Earl of Mercia, became the governor of
the city of Coventry. When he first started governing the city it was a very
small town. Leofric wasn't happy being the governor of a small town; he
wanted to be the governor of a rich cultural city.

So he decided to build Coventry into a city he could be proud of. Because he

and his wife, Godiva, were religious people the first thing he built was an
Abbey.
The Abbey quickly became the center of the surrounding area's religious and
social activities. Encouraged, Leofric decided to expand his public works
program. To pay for all these new buildings Leofric increased the taxes on the
ordinary people.

Leofric's wife, Godiva, was a gentle, caring person. She felt that the lives of
the ordinary people were hard enough without the added hardship of heavy
taxes. She begged with Leofric to lower the taxes.

As Leofric was proud of all the things he was building he refused. This situation
went on for many years, Godiva pleading and Leofric refusing. Then one day
Leofric decided that he had had enough of this argument.

He was sick and tired of it. So he told Godiva that if she was really serious
about wanting him to lower the taxes she would have to prove it. If she would
ride her horse naked through the streets of Coventry he would lower the taxes
and stop all his building projects.

At first Godiva thought that this was a stupid idea, but after some time she
decided to do it because she realized that it was the only way that Leofric
would lower the taxes. So she agreed.
Over the next few days Godiva thought and thought and then she came up
with a plan of her own. She asked the townspeople to stay at home and lock
their window shutters. The townspeople agreed because she was doing them a
big favor.

So on the big day, the day Godiva was to ride her horse naked through
Coventry the streets were empty. Everybody had stayed home as they had
promised.

Legend tells us that nobody looked at Godiva as she rode through the streets
of Coventry except for Tom, the town's tailor. And he was struck blind for
doing this. That's how we got the expression "peeping Tom" for someone who
likes to spy on others.
Comprehension Questions

1. When did this story take place?

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2. What was Leofric's title?

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3. What was Leofric's job?

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4. What city does the story talk about?

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5. Was it a big city or a small city?

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6. Was Leofric happy being the governor of the city? Why or why not?
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7. What did he decide to do about it?

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8. What was the first thing Leofric built?

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9. Was it a successful project? Why or why not?
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10. Did Leofric want to build more things? Why or why not?
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11. How did Leofric pay for his new projects?

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12. Who was Leofric's wife?

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13. What sort of person was Godiva?

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14. Did she agree with Leofric's taxes? Why or why not?
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15. What did she ask Leofric to do with the taxes?

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16. Did Leofric agree? Why or why not?

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17. What did Leofric and Godiva argue about?

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18. How long did they argue about this for?

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19. What was Leofric’s "big idea"?

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20. Why did Leofric want Godiva to do this?

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21. How did Godiva feel about Leofric's idea at first?

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22. Why did Godiva finally agree to Leofric's idea?

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23. What did Godiva do over the next few days?

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24. What was Godiva's plan?

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25. Why did the townspeople agree to this plan?
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26. Did Godiva ride naked through the streets of Coventry?

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27. Did anybody look at Godiva while she was riding through the streets of
Coventry? If so, who?
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28. What happened to Tom?

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29. Why was Tom struck blind?

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