Saturday 14 March 2015

READING COMPREHENSION: THE GARDEN THAT MOVED HOUSE!

Here you have a test to read and answer the questions. There are three tasks: pre-reading task, comprehension check and language work.
You'll find the key below all the exercises.
 Have a nice day! :)

The Garden that Moved House ! 


Pre-reading task 
The following words are either flowers or colours. Put them in the correct column. Use your dictionary to check new words. 
tulip       pink       orange       daffodil       grey       rose       red       gold       white       snowdrop    yellow       brown       primrose
Flowers:  
Colours:

Read the text and answer the questions.
• Artist Verena Devoy loves gardening. It is her passion. Until three days ago she lived in a lovely little thatched cottage in a village near Cambridge. She spent ten years and thousands of pounds to make her garden there beautiful. She had flowers and plants for every season of the year.
• In autumn, big orange chrysanthemums grew next to the gold of the trees and bushes. In winter, little snowdrops grew in the grass and under the trees. In spring there were bright yellow daffodils all over her front lawn and tulips and primroses next to the path. And summer! Summer was the prettiest season of all! She bought hundreds of roses to fill every part of the garden: she bought climbing roses to put round the windows and doors, pink roses for the front garden, and red and white roses for the back. A lot of people came to the village especially to see Verena’s garden. It was more beautiful than the park.
• Then last summer she decided that she would like to move to a bigger house. It was easy to sell her beautiful cottage. Mr and Mrs Grey from London came to see it.
• ‘We fell in love with it immediately, especially the garden –we couldn’t believe the colours of the roses. We wanted to move from London because we didn’t have a garden there.
• Of course Mr and Mrs Grey bought the cottage and at the end of the summer they moved from London. They arrived at the cottage. ‘There was no garden! There was a brown field with some stones and rocks. There weren’t any flowers or trees and there wasn’t any grass! It looked terrible! We couldn’t believe our eyes!’
 • But it was true! Verena Devoy loved the garden so much that she took it with her when she left. Five large lorries carried all the flowers, trees, and plants to her new house five miles away. It cost £1,000! She says:
• ‘I’ve got a much bigger garden now and I’m going to make it even more beautiful than my first garden. I’m going to plant all the flowers and trees again and this time I’m going to have a pond with some goldfish.’
 • And Mr and Mrs Grey? What do they say? ‘She can’t do this! We bought the garden with the house! We’re going to see our solicitor!’

Comprehension check 
a) What is Verena’s job? What is her hobby?
b) Why did she spend thousands of pounds?
c) Which was the most colourful season in her garden?
d) Why did Verena want to move?
e) Did Mr and Mrs Grey like the cottage when they first saw it?
f) Why were they shocked when they arrived at the cottage?
g) How much did Verena pay to move her garden?
h) What are her plans for her new garden?
i) What are Mr and Mrs Grey going to do?

Language work
Here are some answers. Complete the questions. The first one is an example.
a) How much did she spend to make her garden beautiful? Thousands of pounds.
b) Which was ____________? Summer. Because of all the roses.
c) Why _______________? To see Verena’s garden.
d) Was ___________________? Yes, it was. Very easy.
e) Why __________________? Because they wanted to have a garden.
f) When _____________________? At the end of the summer.
g) Has Verena _____________________ now? Yes, she has. It’s much bigger.
h) Who ________________? Their solicitor.

KEY
Flowers: tulip, rose, daffodil, snowdrop, primrose
Colours: pink, yellow, orange, brown, grey, red, gold, white
Comprehension check:
a) She an artist. Her hobby is gardening.
b) To make her garden more beautiful.
c) Summer.
d) Because she wanted a bigger house.
e) Yes, they did.
f) Because there was no garden.
g) £1,000
h) To plan all the flowers and trees and have a pond.
i) To see their solicitor.
Questions:
b) Which was the prettiest season?
c) Why did a lot of people come to the village?
d) Was the cottage easy to sell?
e) Why did the Greys want to move from London?
f) When did they move?
g) Has Verena got a bigger house now?
h) Who are the Greys going to see?

No comments:

Post a Comment