Greatest Childrens Stories Ever Told/Greatest_Stories.iso/cdrom/ugly/uglytext.txt

Text File | 1993-02-12 | 9KB | 365 lines

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╚  The Mother Duck had been sitting on her
nest a long time waiting for the eggs to
hatch.  It was a beautiful summer day, and
she was getting rather tired of sitting
there.

1.  The Mother Duck was getting:

A)  tired of waiting
B)  angry with the eggs
C)  hungry

(A) She was a bit tired of waiting for
the eggs to hatch.


╚  Then, all at once, one after another of the
eggs began to crack, so she jumped up and
said, "Quack! Quack!" in greeting to her new
little ducklings.

╚  Finally, there were all of them, except
one.  The biggest egg of all.  "Oh, well,"
sighed the Mother Duck.  "I've waited this
long, I might as well wait a little longer."

2.  The ________ of the eggs did not hatch.

A)  smallest
B)  largest
C)  whitest

(B) The biggest egg did not hatch.


╚  So she got back on the nest and sat down.
Along came an old duck, a very good friend
of hers, and said, "Well, how are you getting
on?"

  And the brooding duck answered, "This
last egg is taking an awfully long time.  It
just won't break, and I'm getting rather
bored with the whole thing."

  "Let me look at the egg that won't break,"
said the old duck.

3.  A brooding duck is one who is:

A)  sitting on her eggs, waiting for
    them to hatch
B)  in a bad mood and refuses to talk
C)  without any friends

(A) In this case, to brood is to try to hatch
eggs by sitting on them.


  So Mother Duck got off the nest to show
her the big egg.
  "Oh, that's a turkey egg, as sure as I'm
born," said the old duck.

  "You know, I was fooled like that one time,
and the trouble I had with those youngsters.
  They were afraid of the water and, well, I
just had a terrible time."

4.  The Mother Duck's friend said the egg
    looked like a:

A)  robin's egg
B)  turkey egg
C)  chicken egg

(B) She said the egg resembled a turkey egg.


╠  "Well, I'll wait a little longer," Mother
Duck said as she settled back.

╚  At last the big egg cracked.  "Cheep,
cheep," said the youngster as he scrambled
out.

╠  But he was so big and so ugly, thought
Mother Duck.  But she shrugged her shoulders
and called to her brood.  "Quack!  Quack!"

╠  "Come with me down to the water for a
swim.  And if you don't want to swim," she
said to the Ugly Duckling, "I'll just kick you
in and make you swim!"

5.  When the large egg finally hatched, the
    youngster was:

A)  big
B)  ugly
C)  both A and B

(C) He was large and ugly.


  But to her surprise, he did want to swim,
and he swam just as well as the others.

═  But as the days passed, the whole
farmyard noticed how ugly Mother Duck's
baby was, and they were very rudely
outspoken about it.
  "What a dreadful looking creature that
duckling is!  We won't put up with him!"

6.  The other barnyard animals:

A)  paid no attention to the baby duck
B)  were rude to the baby duck
C)  were kind to the baby duck

(B) They were very impolite to the baby
duck.


  And the poor Ugly Duckling knew his
mother was ashamed of him so he took
refuge among the reeds in the pond.

╩  And when he did come to the farmyard for
the food the girl threw out to all of them,
he was criticized on all sides, and the girl
even kicked him.

7.  Who fed the Ugly Duckling?

A)  an old farmer
B)  Mother Duck
C)  a young girl

(C) A young girl threw food to all the ducks.


  Poor Ugly Duckling.  He was very unhappy,
and finally he escaped by crawling under the
fence.

╚  As he wandered through the woods by the
lake, he was frightened at how big the world
was.  Finally, he decided to cross the lake
and perhaps find a good place to stay on the
other side.

8.  The Ugly Duckling finally escaped, or:

A)  got away
B)  grew up
C)  became beautiful

(A) To escape is to get away.


  There he met some wild ducks.
  "What sort of a fellow are you?" they
asked.  "You are appallingly ugly, but why
should we care as long as you don't marry
into our family!"

╦  But just then shots rang out, and all the
wild ducks scattered as fast as they could
fly.  Poor Ugly Duckling didn't know what the
shots were, but they were so loud they
frightened him . . .

╠. . . so he took refuge under some marsh
grass, and there he stayed for two whole
days.

9.  How long did the Ugly Duckling stay
    under the marsh grass?

A)  a couple of days
B)  a week
C)  we are not told

(A) He stayed under the marsh grass
for two days.


╠  When he finally came out to get
something to eat, he saw a large flock of
big, beautiful birds come out of the bushes.
They stretched their long wings and, oh, how
white they were!

╠  The Ugly Duckling cried because he thought
about how ugly he was and how beautiful
these big white birds were.

╩  And while he watched, they flew
gracefully through the air, high,
high above him.

10.   A flock of birds is a:

A)  nest
B)  group of birds
C)  bird feeder

(B) Several birds in a group are
called a flock.


╚  Winter came on and it was bitterly cold,
and the poor Ugly Duckling shivered and
almost froze to death.  And he had a terrible
time finding enough to eat in the snow.

╚  Finally, one day, in desperation, he
started swimming in the lake, trying to find
food, but he became so exhausted that he lay
quite still, caught in the ice.

11.   While swimming, the Ugly Duckling
      became exhausted, or:

A)  very ill
B)  very tired
C)  very sad

(B) To be exhausted is to be very tired.


═  But in a little while, a farmer found him
and broke the ice around him and took him
home to his wife.

╩  She put the Ugly Duckling in a box near
the big kitchen stove, and he woke up after a
while and felt better.

12.   Who found the Ugly Duckling?

A)  a farmer
B)  Mother Duck
C)  a young girl

(A) A farmer found the Ugly Duckling and
brought him back to his house.


  For a time he lived in their farmyard and
their children wanted to play with him, but
he flew away because he thought that they
meant to hurt him like all the other people
he had known.

  But he flew right into the milk pail and
upset it, sending the milk in all directions.

  So the woman got the broom and chased
him until he flew over the fence.

╦  And so, he was back in the marsh by the
lake, and there he stayed the rest of the
winter.

13.   Who chased the Ugly Duckling with a
      broom?

A)  the farmer's wife
B)  the animals in the farmyard
C)  the children

(A) The farmer's wife chased the Ugly
Duckling with her broom.


  Spring came and one day he stretched his
wings and realized how very strong he had
grown, so he flew out to the middle of the
lake and settled on the water.  And as he
looked around, what do you suppose he saw?

╚  That's right!  It was the flock of beautiful
white birds he had seen before winter had
set in, so he started swimming toward them
as fast as he could.

  If only he could be close to these
wonderful creatures, he thought as he swam
along.  It would even be better to be killed
by them than to be bitten by the ducks,
pecked by the hens, and kicked by people.

14.   Which of the following bothered the
      Ugly Duckling?

A)  other ducks
B)  hens
C)  people
D)  all of the above

(D) Everyone picked on the Ugly Duckling.


╚  When he was up close he cried, "Kill me!"
And he bowed his head in the water, and as
he did, he saw his reflection in the clear
lake.

╠  But what did he see?  He saw a beautiful
white bird, just like those he had flown to.
He wasn't an Ugly Duckling, he was a swan!

15.   Where did the Ugly Duckling see a
      reflection of himself?

A)  in the water
B)  in a mirror
C)  in a window

(A) He saw his reflection in the lake.


╚  At that moment a group of children came
to the edge of the lake.  "Look!" one called
out.  "There's a new one, and he's the most
beautiful swan of all!"

╦  The children threw bits of cake and bread
to him, and the old swans bowed to him.
This made him quite embarrassed but, oh,
how happy he was.

16.   What did the children throw to the
      swan?

A)  cheese and crackers
B)  fruit and nuts
C)  bread and cake

(C) They threw him small pieces of bread
and cake.

╔  Finally he looked up at the sun and said,
"I never dreamed that so much happiness
was possible when I was the Ugly Duckling."

  And so, when winter came, he flew away
with the other swans and lived happily ever
after.


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