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Short story / Reading comprehension




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Reading comprehension/ short story.

 
        Instructions: Read the following short story and choose the correct answers that are at the end of it.
 
 
M O N I C A

 
 
 
 
 
 
1
Monica’s travel
 

  - Monica!
-Monica! Hurry up! It is too late.
It was 8:00 am when Monica woke up. She looked to her right to see the alarm. She realized that it was not working.
She got up from her bed and took her glasses.
Monica was not happy because she knew that it was her last day in the house.
Her family was ready to move into their new house in another city because her father has got a job there.
Monica took a shower and got dressed quickly. She used to comb her hair with two big pigtails and wear a square dress that was her favorite.         
 
 
 
 

 
 
She used to comb her hair with two big pigtails and wear a square dress that was her favorite.
 
Monica went down stairs and greeted her parents and her little brother Erick.
“-Good morning Monica!” her mother answered.
-Are you ready to see your new home?
“-Mmmm…. Yes mom, I am ready.” Answered Monica with a sad voice.
Monica was not afraid to move to a new city, but she thought that to start with a new life was going to be difficult to her.
She remembered how difficult it had been for her to make good friends in the neighborhood. Now she had to say good bye to them.
-Ok, family say good bye to this old house and come to the car now.
It was 11:00 am when they were on the main road of the city. To arrive to their new house, Monica’s family had to pass by the middle of the forest.
Monica’s father thought that it was a good idea to stop there and have lunch.
Monica’s mother put a tablecloth on the grass near some beautiful trees and prepared the things for the lunch.
When Monica finished her food, she asked them if she could see around the forest. Her parents agreed, but warned her not to walk too far away.
Monica’s father placed the last things in the car. Then he said:
“-Oh! This forest is beautiful.”, Monica said.
She saw some beautiful purple flowers and little animals like rabbits and turtles. Behind a big tree, under some dry leaf, she saw a strange egg. It was green with some white and red dots on it.
 
 

 
 
. It was green with some white and red dots on it.
 
-Oh! What a beautiful egg! But this egg must be lost. I have not seen an egg like this in my entire life!
“-Monica! Monica!” Her mother shouted. “It’s time to go!”
Monica put the little egg in one of her pocket and returned where her family was.
“-What did you see?” Her mother asked.
“-Oh! Nothing special, just some flowers and little animals,” she answered while she was looking at the strange egg in her pocket.
 
 
 
 
 
 
2
The new house
 

  
Finally, Monica and her family arrived to the new house. It was a big beautiful house with two floors and a big garden.
 
“-Okay! Family it’s time to work, we have to put all our things into the new house.” ,Monica’ father said.
So, everybody started to work putting all the things inside the house.
“-Mom, Mom, can I have my own bedroom?” Erick asked.
-Yes Erick. Now you are old enough to have your own bedroom.
Monica was happy to hear that, she was waiting to have her own bedroom, but in  her old house her family did not have enough space to do that.
After long hours of hard work, the house was finally full. The new house looked beautiful.
The family was happy and after eating their dinner, they went to their bedrooms exhausted.
“-How tired I feel!” Monica said to herself.
I am going to look for my pajamas and go to sleep.
When she was undressing the little egg felt onto the floor.
-Oh! What is that? Monica said….oh yes is my strange egg; I will put it on my night table.
 
“-Good night egg! See you tomorrow.” Monica added.
The next morning Monica was ready to go to her new school.
She got dressed, and took a shower as usual.
After her breakfast, she and her little brother took the bus to go to the school.
“-It’s too big, Monica”. Erick said, while seeing the new school.
“-Yes, I see. First, we are going to look for your classroom.” She said.
They found the classroom quickly, and then Monica looked for her own classroom.
“-Hi!  “Are you in this class?” She asked a girl that was in the classroom.
“-Yes.” She said.” -Are you new here?”
Yes I am. My name is Monica.
-Nice to meet you Monica, I am Clara.
Then, another girl entered the classroom and said hello to Clara.
-Hi! Marta. This is Monica, she is new here.
-Oh! Hi, Monica, I am Marta.
The class started, and Monica was happy to have met two new friends.
When the classes finished, Monica went to look for her bother to return home.
“-How was your day?” Her mother asked.
“-It was okay” both said.
“-Mom, I want to go to the library, can you   show  me where it is?” Monica asked.
“-Of course,” her mother said, “it is near here.”
So, Monica went to the library to search about
what kind of animal was the owner of her egg.
After long hours of searching, she finally found an egg like the one she had.
-Chameleon!....I have a Chameleon egg!!....
So, she searched about the chameleons they are small lizards whose skin changes and becomes the same color as the thing -
         around it, a sort of camouflage.
When Monica returned home, she put the egg on a pillow and set a lamp over it to make the egg warm.
 
 
 


 
she put the egg on a pillow and set a lamp over it to
make the egg warm.
 
3
The lizard
 
 

Some weeks later, Monica and her family were feeling accustomed to their new life.
Marta and Clara became Monica’s best friends, and they usually visited her house.
Monica told them how she found her egg, and that she thought that the egg could be born with  some heat, but that some weeks have passed and there was no change in the egg.
“-Oh, Monica, that is stupid!, you are waiting your time taking care of that awful egg”, Clara said.
Both Clara and Marta laughed at Monica.
 
Monica got angry and asked the two girls to leave her bedroom.
Then she decided to turn off the lamp and throw the egg to the trash can.
When suddenly it moved.
The egg was being born……..it hatched!
Monica sat in front of the egg and saw how a little lizard was coming out of the egg.
“Hi! My friend,” she said to the little lizard…
Monica was amazed about what had happened when she was very angry and the lizard finally was born.
Monica took care of the lizard for some months; she did not tell anybody what had happened.
 
 
 

 
 
 
-Hi! My friend, she said, to the little lizard…
 
Monica noticed that he lizard never grew up. It was like the same size.
One morning, Monica was very tired and she did not want to the school. Her mother told her:
-Monica!
-Monica! Come here, it is too late….
“-No, mom, I do not want to go to the school today”. She replied.
“-I am not kidding, Monica, you have to go to the school right now. Her mother shouted in an angry way.
Monica was angry at her mother, but she did not say anything and went to school.
In the school one teacher complained about her because of a homework assignment that she did not hand in.
Because of that, Monica was angrier at the teacher, but she did not want to explain the teacher the reason why she did not do the assignment.
When Monica returned from her school, she saw the lizard. It was twice as big.
“-Oh! You anybody finally grew up,” she told to the lizard.  She told the lizard how angry she was at her mother and teacher and also at her friends.
The lizard had bright eyes and it apparently heard Monica in an attentive way.
Monica was talking to the lizard when her little brother entered the bedroom.
“-Monica what are you doing? Are you talking with that animal?...we are not allowed to have pets. I am going to tell it to our parents……” He said.
Monica ran after her brother and ordered him in a bad way not to tell anything about the lizard.
When she returned to her room she noticed that the lizard was even bigger….
“-What happened with you?” Monica asked…”you grow in a strange way.” She added.
The lizard used to stay and moved around Monica’s bedroom. It took some toy glasses and put them on…
When Monica saw it, she laughed a lot….”you look like me now!,” She said.
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
                You look like me now! She said.
 
The lizard seemed to understand Monica. Suddenly, its skin changed from green to blue squares just exactly as Monica’s dress.
Monica got amazed, but anyway, she thought it was very funny.
 
That night when Monica went to sleep, She heard some strange sounds, but she did not want to investigate about the sounds because she was very tired.
 
In the morning Monica heard the alarm, and put on her glasses.
 
She opened her eyes and saw a girl exactly like her……..she was surprised.
She was wearing her same glasses, her same dress and her same hairstyle.
 
“-Who are you?” Monica asked afraid.
“-Don’t you know?,” The other girl said.
“-Look!,” The girl said and she showed Monica her tail.
-I am your lizard, but do you know what? I am tired to be your lizard now I want to be you….
“-You cannot do that,” Monica said, but the lizard bit Monica in her arm quickly.
 
Monica felt a deep pain and then she started to feel strange.
“-Now you are my lizard!” The lizard said.
Monica realized that she had become the lizard now.
-But, do not worry, Monica, I am going to do the things you could not do.
The fake Monica dressed a large dress to hide her tail, and then she went down stairs.
 
 
 
 
 
 
              Look! The girl said and she showed Monica her tail.
 
She was unkind to Monica’s mother and brother. She remembered how angry at them Monica was.
When she arrived to the school, she mistreated Clara and Marta because she remembered that they called her “awful egg.”
Also, she was very rude at Monica’s professor.
In the house, Monica was shocked about what had happened. She could not explain herself what had happened.
 Monica thought that she was alone in the house, but he heard some noises.
It was her little brother, Erick.
Because he was kind of ill, her mother allowed him to stay at home.
Monica did as much noisy as she could to
call her brother’s attention.
Finally, he entered and saw the lizard with glasses.
“-What happened with you?, Why are you doing so much noisy?”, Erick asked the lizard.
He noticed something strange in the lizard; he took her in his hands.
He observed the lizard and put it on Monica’s desk and amazingly, he saw how the lizard took a pencil and started, to write something.
The lizard wrote. “I am Monica.”
Erick was surprised, but since he was a child he did not get afraid.
 
 
 
 
 
 
             He saw how the lizard took a pencil and start to
            write something.
 
Erick told the lizard:
-How can I know that you are my sister?
The lizard wrote their parents names.
-         That is not enough lizard! Everybody knows that.
“-Write the name of our first dog.” He ordered.
So, the lizard wrote:
“Come on Erick! We haven’t had a dog.”
So, Erick got convinced. With a big effort, Monica wrote the entire story for Erick.
Monica’s brother was a little boy, but he was very intelligent and he could see what Monica could not.
 
 
 
 
4
The plan
 
 

“Monica,” he said, “the lizard grew up   
when you got mad with someone else and you did not express what you felt.”
Monica realized that what her brother was
telling was truth ,and she remembered how the lizard grew up when she was very angry and then she told all her feeling to the lizard instead of telling the other people.
Together they made a plan to catch the lizard and try to make her confess how to change into Monica.
Monica’s brother placed a net on the door of the bedroom, and waited until the lizard
came.
Finally, the false Monica entered the House.
“-Hi! Dear sister,” Erick said.
She did not answer and entered the bedroom. Suddenly, the net fell over her, and Erick tied a rope around her.
-I know who you are, now I want you to tell us how to change my sister into herself again.
The false Monica said:
“-Why do you think I am going to do that?”
“-Well,” Erick said…and went out of the room. Then he entered with a big yellow cat.
Of course as a lizard she got afraid because cats usually eat lizards.
 
 
 
 
 
 

He entered with a big yellow cat.
 
She confessed that the only thing Monica had to do was bite her.
So, Monica did it. And she turned into a girl again and the false Monica into a lizard.
“-Thanks brother,” Monica said and gave Erick a huge hug and a kiss.
 
Monica did not want to kill the lizard, so she went to the forest and put the lizard in a very far and isolated place.
When she returned home, her parents were there and she apologized for her behavior.
Then, she called her friends and also apologized to them and the next day she did the same to her professor.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
So, Monica did it. And she became a girl
again and the false Monica was a lizard.
 
She decided not to tell the strange story to anybody. Anyway, nobody would believe her.
Until that day Monica always expressed her anger and talked about it. Also, she never took thing from the forest no matter how beautiful they looked.
 
 
 QUESTIONS
 
1.    Why monica did was not happy in the morning?

·        Because it was her last day in her house.

·        Because she did not want to go out with her parents.

·        Because her brother make her angry.

 
2.    What did monica find in the forest?

·        Some nice stones.

·        A beautiful tree.

·        An strange egg.

 
3.    What were the names of the 2 new monica’s friends?

·        Clara and Marta

·        Erick and Marta

·        Clara and Monica

 
4.    Why monica wanted to go to the library?

·        Because she wanted to study.

·        Because she had some homework.

·        Because she wanted to know what kind of egg she had.

 
5.    What kind of egg was monica’s egg?

·        A crocodile egg.

·        A Chameleon egg.

·        An alligator egg.

 
6.    Why monica got angry at her friends?

·        Because they borke her egg.

·        Because they makes jokes about her egg.

·        Because they did not want to study with her.

 
7.    What was unusual about the lizard?

·        It was bigger and bigger everyday.

·        It was purple and pink.

·        It was soft and warm.

 
8.    How the lizard could take monica’s appearance?

·        She bite monica.

·        She drank and special beverage.

·        She painted her body.

 
9.    How Erick discovered that monica was a lizard?

·        She told him.

·        She wrote a message in a paper.

·        She sent her an e-mail.

 
10.    What was Erick’s plan?

·        Take a cat and treat the lizard.

·        Tell his parents the entire story.

·        Kill the lizard.

 
11.    What did monica did with the lizard?

·        She killed her.

·        She let her free in the forest.

·        She locked in a box.

 
12.    Did monica tell the story to someone else?

·        Yes she did.

·        Only to her friends.

·        No she did not.