ANNE BAKES A CAKE
determined to make her cake despite having
Understanding the Text
A. 1. “Avonlea opened its heart to them from
the start—everyone liked the cheerful young
man and the bright, gentle lady who was his
wife.” 2. Yes. Marilla must have been
bored by them because when Anne tells
her she asked her teacher a lot of questions,
Marilla says ‘I believe you’. 3. Marilla
wants to invite Mr and Mrs Allan home
because she has heard that they had been
everywhere else in the neighbourhood but
hadn’t visited the Cuthberts’ home yet.
Marilla took a lot of trouble to make great
preparations because hosting the minister
and his wife to tea was an important
matter and Marilla did not want to be
outdone by any of the other Avonlea
housekeepers. 4. Anne is nervous and
often doubts her own ability whereas Diana
is confident that things will turn out well
and is reassuring. Anne is imaginative and
rather high-strung whereas Diana is calm
and logical. 5. Anne couldn’t sleep that
night and got up early, at sunrise. She was
caught a cold from playing in the spring the
previous evening. She drew a long breath
when she shut the oven door, showing how
breathlessly she had been working on the
cake and how anxious she was for it to turn
out well. 6. “Anne felt that Mrs Allan’s
approving smile was almost too much
happiness for this world.” 7. No, she
didn’t, because the text says Anne was red
with embarrassment after tasting the cake
and she didn’t expect the cake to taste the
way it did. 8. Not only had the cake
turned out badly due to Anne using
Anodyne Liniment instead of vanilla, but
also Anne had failed to smell the contents of
the bottle before using them, due to her
cold.
9. Anne jumped up because she realised that
the person she had been talking to was not
Marilla but Mrs Allan. 10. No, because
Anne ‘permitted herself to be led down and
comforted’. The paragraph also says that she
had enjoyed the evening more than she had
expected.
B. 1. a. plenty of cake and other things to eat,
without Anne’s layer cake b. The
problem was of the possibility of Anne’s
cake not rising.
C. c. Marilla’s view was that Anne’s cake
was not very important nor necessary, as
there were other things to eat, but Anne
was worried that if the cake didn’t rise, she
would fail to bake a nice cake for Mrs
Allan.
2. a. Marilla saw Mrs Allan’s
expression. It was a strange expression
indicating that there was something
wrong with the cake.
b. Marilla guessed that there was
something wrong with the cake. She quickly
tasted the cake to confirm her guess.
c. Anne did not notice it probably
because Mrs Allan did not say a word
and ate the cake steadily. Also, Anne
hadn’t eaten the cake herself yet.
3. a. Mrs Allan’s kindly voice, speaking
to Anne, in Anne’s bedroom.
b. Tell Mrs Allan that the liniment Anne
had put into the cake by mistake was not
poisonous.