Stories

for reading
comprehension 1
L A Hill

LONGMAN
INTRODUCTION

This is the first of a series of three books which have been

written to replace my Comprehension and Precis Pieces, and
Further Comprehension and Precis Pieces written with R. D. S.
Fielden.
In this series of reading comprehension passages, the vocabu•
lary and structures are carefully graded. The grading follows
that of the Longman Structural Readers. Book 1 of this series
covers Stages 1 and 2 of those readers; Book 2 covers Stages 2
and 3; and Book 3, Stages 4 and 5. Words outside the grading
are given at the end of each book.
In this series, the comprehension questions contain no com• position
element; the students simply have to choose between alternatives
which are supplied to them.
The series also contains grammatical exercises. The instruc•
tions for these sometimes contain words which are outside the
grading. They are therefore more suitable for class than private
use, unless the student has someone who can explain the dif•
ficult words. In a class, the teacher should explain such difficult
words to the students before asking them to do an exercise. In
nearly all the grammatical exercises, the student has to choose
between alternatives which he or she is given.

L. A. Hill
Mr Jones's shop sold food. Mr Jones and a young man worked there.
The young man's name was George.
A man came into the shop on Monday. He was a funny man.
Mr Jones was in the office. It was behind the shop. The funny
man looked at George and said, "I want a small table, please."
George said, "We don't sell tables in this shop. We sell
food."
The man smiled and answered, "A small, brown table." He
took a picture out of his bag and showed it to George. It was
a picture of a small, brown table.
George put his mouth near the man's ear and said, "We do
not have tables in this shop! Food! Not tables!"
The man smiled and answered, "That's good. Thank you." Then he
sat down on a chair and waited.
George was not happy. He went into the office and spoke
to Mr Jones. Then he and Mr Jones came out again.
Mr Jones was angry. He looked at the man and said, "What
do you want?"
The man smiled and answered, "I want a loaf of brown
bread, please. Haven't you got any bread in your shop?"
Mr Jones said, "Yes, we have." He looked at George, and
then he went and got a loaf of brown bread from a big box and
gave it to the man.

3
 UNIT1

Exercise 1
Look at these questions. Find the right answers. Then write the
questions and the answers:
1 Did Mr Jones work in George's shop?
a) No, he didn't. b) Yes, he did.
2 Who worked in Mr Jones's shop?
a) A funny man did. b) George did.
3 Did the shop sell tables, or food?
a) It sold food. b) It sold tables.
4 Did the funny man ask George for some food?
a) No, he didn't. b) Yes, he did.
5 Did the funny man ask George for a table?
a) No, he didn't. b) Yes, he did.
6 Did George show him a table?
a) No, he didn't. b) Yes, he did.
7 Whose office did George go into then?
a) Mr Jones's. b) The funny man's.
8 Did Mr Jones speak to the funny man?
a) No, he didn't. b) Yes, he did.
9 Was Mr Jones happy, or angry?
a) He was angry. b) He was happy.
10 Did the funny man ask Mr Jones for a table, or some food?
a) A table. b) Some food.

Exercise 2
Write this story. Choose the right words each time:
Mr Jones sold (food/tables and chairs) in his shop. His shop was
(behind/in front of) his office. A (funny/young) man worked in
the shop too. (A/The) funny man came into the shop on Mon•
day; He asked (George/Mr Jones) for a (chair/table). Then he
showed George a (picture of a table/table). George (did not
sell/sold) the funny man a small, brown table. The funny man
(smiled/was not happy). He sat down and (waited/was angry).
Then (George/the funny man) brought Mr Jones out of the
(office/shop). Mr Jones (smiled/was not happy). The funny man
asked him for a (loaf of brown bread/small, brown table), and Mr
Jones gave (him a big box/it to him).

4
 UNIT 1

Exercise 3

nd some when we cannot. Use an only when the next word begins with a, e, i, a, or u, or an h w

Look at these pictures. Put a, an, or some, in the empty places:

1 George is
2 Now 3 This is .. . 4 This is .. .
eating .. . loaf of bread. egg. It is in .. .
George is
meal. He is There is .. . water.
putting .. .
putting .. . butter on his cheese near it.
food in his bread with .. .
mouth with
knife.
.. . fork.

5 This is .. . 6 There is .. . 7 This is .. . 8 This is ,. .

glass. There is tea in this cup. cup too. There picture of .. .
.. . milk in it. There is . .. is .. . coffee in table.
spoon in it. it.

5
Gladys was at school in a small, quiet town in England. She
was sixteen years old, and her father and mother were poor,
and their house was very small.
Maisie was Gladys's friend. She went to that school as well.
Gladys said, "Maisie, I'm going to find a very rich man and I'm
going to marry him. Then I'm going to have a beautiful house
and a large garden, and a lot of clothes, and a lot of money."
Maisie smiled and said, "Where are you going to find a very
rich man, Gladys? There aren't any in our town."
But Gladys was a very pretty girl. Her eyes were blue, and
her hair was black and soft. She went to London, and then she
went to America. She found a tall, very rich man there, and she
married him. She was twenty-two years old then.
Then she and her husband went to England. They went to
Gladys's old house, and Maisie came there.
Gladys said, "I've married a very rich man, Maisie, and I've
got a beautiful house and a large garden and four gardeners.
And I've bought a lot of clothes and I have money as well. My
husband's got a plane too, and he flies it!"
Maisie said, "A lot of people have got planes and fly them,
Gladys."
"In their house?" Gladys asked.

6
 UNIT 2

Exercise 1
Look at these questions. Find the right answers. Then write the
questions and the answers:
1 Were Gladys's father and mother rich?
a) No, they were not. b) Yes, they were.
2 Did Gladys want to work in her small, quiet town?
a) No, she did not. b) Yes, she did.
3 Who did Gladys want to marry?
a) A rich man. b) A tall man.
4 Were there any very rich men in Gladys's town?
a) No, there were not. b) Yes, there were a lot. c) Yes,
there were some.
5 Did Gladys marry in London, or in America?
a) In London. b) In America.
6 Was her husband a short man?
a) No, he was tall. b) Yes, he was.
7 Where did Maisie see Gladys again?
a) In America. b) In London. c) In their small town.
8 Whose house did they meet in?
a) Gladys's old house. b) Maisie's house.
9 Who flew the plane in this story?
a) Gladys did. b) Gladys's husband did.
10 Where did he or she fly it?
a) In the garden. b) In the house.

Exercise 2
Write this story. Choose the right words each time:
Gladys's school was in a (city/town/village), (and/but) Maisie's
was in a (city/town/village). Gladys lived in a (big/small) house.
She had (black/blue) eyes, (and/but) she was (beautiful/not beauti-
ful). She went to America (after/before) she went to London. She
married a man in (America/London). Then she went back to Eng•
land (with/without) her husband. She met Maisie there.
(Gladys/Maisie) had a very rich husband now. He had (a
plane/two planes). (A lot of people/He) flew (it/them) in their house.

7
 UNIT 2

Exercise 3

ned) when the result of the action is still there; but we use the did tense — the past simple (e.g.

Look at these examples:

Gladys has opened the Gladys opened the window

window. Look! It is open. at 2 o'clock, but now she has
shut it. Look! It is shut.

Put bought, has bought, came, has come, went, has gone, married,
has married, sold or has sold, in the empty places:

1 Gladys isn't here now. She 2 This is America. Gladys

. . . to America. . . . here in 1981, and now
she .. . a tall, rich man.

3 Gladys . . . to America in 4 Tom . . . this car from a

1981, but now she . . . back man in January, but now he
to England. She is saying, .. . it to a lady. It isn't his
"This is Tom. We . . . in now.
America in 1982."