READING COMPREHENSION

Exercise 1

There was once an officer who had plenty of money and always bought beautiful
clothes, but he was prouder of his boots than of anything else that he wore.
This officer had a very good servant, who always kept his clothes very clean and tidy
and made his boots shine more brightly than those of any of the other officers, but this servant
was old, and one day he had to retire and let another soldier take his place.
The officer’s new servant was young and clever, but lazy. One morning, when it had
rained a lot during the night before, and the roads were very muddy, the officer saw that his
boots had not been cleaned, so he called his new servant and said to him, ‘I am going to go for
a ride this morning, and my boots have not been cleaned.’
‘Sir,’ answered the new servant very politely, ‘it rained a lot last night, and there is a lot
of mud on the roads this morning.’
‘Yes,’ answered the officer, ‘I agree, but what has that got to do with my boots?’
‘Well, sir,’ explained the servant, ‘if I clean your boots now, they will soon get dirty
again, so it is a waste of time to clean them.’
The officer said nothing, but after he had returned from his ride and had eaten his lunch,
he did not leave any food for his servant as he usually did.
The servant waited and waited, and then at last, when he was
feeling very hungry, said, ‘Please, sir, you have not given me any food for
my lunch yet.’
‘Oh,’ answered the officer calmly, ‘it would be a waste of time to
give you any food now, because you would only be hungry again in a few
hours’ time.’
1. Put one word from this story in each empty place in these sentences!
a. When the officer wanted his lunch, he always .................... his servant and asked for it.
b. When the servant did not understand something, the officer ..................... it to him
carefully.
c. .................... there is a lot of mud tomorrow, the officer’s boots will get dirty.
d. It is a .................... of money to buy the servant any food, because he will only be hungry
again in a few hours’ time.
e. The servant went to the shops yesterday morning. He cleaned the officer’s boots after
he had .................... from the shops.
2. Find words in this story which mean about the opposite of!
a. not a lot c. rudely e. excitedly
b. more ashamed d. do not believe what you say
3. Give short answer to these questions. Use one sentence for each answer!
a. Why did the first servant retire?
b. How was the second servant different from the first?
c. Why did the new servant not want to clean the officer’s boots?
d. What explanation did the officer give for not leaving foor for his servant?
e. What was the lesson which the officer tried to teach his servant?
Exercise 2

The train was rather full. At the last station before the frontier, a small man with a fat
stomach got in, carrying in a big paper package. It was carefully packed, but the feet of two
ducks could be seen outside the paper. The man found an empty seat, put the package in the
middle of the floor, took out a newspaper and began to read it.
The other passengers knew that people were not allowed to take food across the frontier,
so they were very surprised that the little man was foolish enough to leave the ducks’ legs where
they could be seen so easily.
When the train reached the frontier, a policeman came in to look at the passangers’
passports and to examine their luggage. Of course, he saw the package with the ducks’ legs at
once and said, ‘Whose is that package?’
Nobody answered.
The policeman repeated the question, and added, ‘I shall have to take it away from the
owner. Nobody’s allowed to take food out of the country.’
‘Well, then,’ said the small man with the fat stomach, ‘hurry up and take it. We want to
get home.’ The policeman took the package and went on to the next carriage.
At the next station, when they were safely across the frontier, the small man got up,
smiled at the other passengers and said, ‘I hope that they’ll enjoy the ducks’
feet. The rest of the package had nothing but rubbish in it.’
Then he opened his coat and pointed to another paper package which
he was carrying under it. It was tied tightly over his stomach, which was not
really fat. ‘I have the rest of the two ducks in this package,’ he said.
1. Put one word from this story in each empty place in these sentences!
a. The policeman took a .................... of rubbish away from the small man.
b. The small man ..................... the rubbish and the duck’s legs carefully in paper.
c. When the policeman got home and began to .................... the parcel, he found that it was
full of rubbish.
d. People are not allowed to cross a frontier unless they have ..................... .
e. The small man was the .................... of the ducks.
2. Find words in this story which mean about the opposite of!
a. not given permission c. did not get to e. loosely
b. wise d. valuable things
3. Give short answer to these questions. Use one sentence for each answer!
a. Why were the passengers surprised that the small man had left the ducks’ legs where
they could be seen?
b. Why did the small man leave the package in the middle of the floor?
c. Why did the policeman take the package away?
d. What did the policeman find when he opened the package?
e. Why did the small man look fat?