Short Story Reading Comprehension Test

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Vocabulary And Context

Using a dictionary, complete the following definitions. Record the meaning of the word that best suits the context in which it is used. Each definition is worth 2 marks.

1. Indiscriminate:

2. Telescoping:

3. Sullenly:

4. Coupling:

5. Balmy:

6. Predestined:

7. Obstinacy:

8. Tenacious:

9. Countenance:

10. Tremulous:

1.He (the dog) should be taught to distinguish between a burglar and an inoffensive person passing along the highway with no intention of taking anything but the air. Men with a taste for dogs owe it to society not to cultivate dogs that have an indiscriminate taste for men.

2. Presently a brakeman (a member of the crew of a train), with a small red flag in his hand, stationed himself some two hundred yards in the rear of the train, in order to prevent the evening express from telescoping us.

3.Then our engine sullenly detached itself from the tender and disappeared.

4. An overturned gravel-car lay across the track a quarter of a mile beyond. It was fully an hour before the obstruction was removed, and our engine had backed down again to its coupling.

5.A passing farmer in a rickety open wagon agreed to drive me towards Watson's home. It was a balmy evening, the air was charged with sweet wood-scents, and here and there a star half-opened an eyelid on the peaceful dusk.

6.I was yielding myself up wholly to the glamour of the time and place when suddenly I thought of Goliath. At that moment Goliath was probably prowling about Watson's yard seeking whom he might devour; and I was that predestined nourishment.

7. There was a tough streak in Watson himself, a kind of thoroughbred obstinacy.

8.An animal with a tenacious grip was what would naturally commend itself to his liking.

9. He held in his hand a lamp, which he came within an ace of dropping as the light fell upon my countenance.

10. Suddenly the pretty housemaid descended the steps and picked up from the graveled path a little panting, tremulous wad of something - not more than two handfuls at most - which she folded tenderly to her bosom.

Goliath

By Thomas Bailey Aldrich

Mr. Watson was in the banking business. He had been married for one or two tears, and was living out of town, in what he called a "little box", on the slope of Blue Hill. He had once or twice invited me to run out to dine and spend the night with him, but some engagement had interfered. One evening, however, I accepted his invitation for a certain Tuesday.
Watson, who was having a vacation at the time, was not to accompany me from town, but was to meet me with his pony-cart at Green Lodge, a small station on the Providence Railway, two or three miles from "The Briers," the name of his place.
"I shall be proud to show you my wife," he said, "and the baby - and Goliath."
"Goliath?"
"That's the dog," answered Watson, with a laugh. "You and Goliath ought to meet - David and Goliath!"
If Watson had mentioned the dog earlier in the conversation I might have shied at his hospitality. I may well confess at once that I do not like dogs, and am afraid of them.
"So you keep a dog?" I remarked carelessly.
"Yes," returned Watson. "What is a country place without a dog?" I said to myself, "I know what a country place is with a dog. Its a place I should prefer to avoid." But as I accepted the invitation, and as Watson was to pick me up at Green Lodge station, and see me safely into the house, I said no more.
Living as he did on a lonely road, and likely at any hour of the night to have a burglar or two drop in on him, it was proper that Watson should have a dog on the grounds. I remember his keeping at Cambridge a bull-pup that was the terror of the neighborhood. He had his rooms outside the collage yard in order that he might reside with this fiend.
A good mastiff or a good collie - if there are any good collies and mastiffs - is perhaps a necessity to exposed country houses; but what is the use in allowing him to lie around loose on the landscape, as is generally done? He ought to be chained up until midnight. He should be taught to distinguish between a burglar and an inoffensive person passing along the highway with no intention of taking anything but the air. Men with a taste for dogs owe it to society not to cultivate dogs that have an indiscriminate taste for men.
The run from town to Green Lodge is about twenty-five minutes, and the last stop before reaching that station is at Readville. We were possibly half way between these two points when the train slackened and came to a dead halt between some ragged woodland. Heads were instantly thrust out of the windows right and left, and everybody's face was an interrogation. Presently a brakeman (a member of the crew of a train), with a small red flag in his hand, stationed himself some two hundred yards in the rear of the train, in order to prevent the evening express from telescoping us. Then our engine sullenly detached itself from the tender and disappeared. What had happened? An overturned gravel-car lay across the track a quarter of a mile beyond. It was fully an hour before the obstruction was removed, and our engine had backed down again to its coupling. I smiled bitterly thinking of Watson and his dinner.
I looked around for Watson and the pony-cart. What had occurred was obvious. He had waited an hour for me, and then driven home with the conviction that the train must have passed before he got there, and that I, for some reason, had failed to come on it. The capsized gravel-car was an episode of which he could have known nothing.
A walk of three miles was not a pleasant prospect, and would not have been even if I had had some idea of where "The Briers" was, or where I was myself. At one side of the shed, and crossing the track at right angles, ran a straight, narrow road that quickly lost itself in a cluster of swamp-willows. Beyond the tree-tops rose the ragged line of Blue Hills, now touched with the twilight's tenderest amethyst. Over there, in that direction somewhere, lay Watson's house.
A passing farmer in a rickety open wagon agreed to drive me towards Watson's home. It was a balmy evening, the air was charged with sweet wood-scents, and here and there a star half-opened an eyelid on the peaceful dusk.
I was yielding myself up wholly to the glamour of the time and place when suddenly I thought of Goliath. At that moment Goliath was probably prowling about Watson's yard seeking whom he might devour; and I was that predestined nourishment.

I knew what sort of watchdog Watson would be likely to keep.
There was a tough streak in Watson himself, a kind of thoroughbred obstinacy. An animal with a tenacious grip was what would naturally commend itself to his liking. He had specified Goliath, but maybe he had half a dozen other dragons to guard his hillside Hesperides (in Greek mythology, a garden containing the three golden apples of the gods. It was guarded by a giant and a fierce dragon). I had depended on Watson meeting me at the station, and now, when I was no longer expected, I was forced to invade his premises in the darkness of the night, and run the risk of being torn limb from limb before I could make myself known to the family. I recalled Watson's last inane remark,
"You an Goliath ought to meet - David and Goliath!"
It now struck me as a most heartless pleasantry.
When we reached the junction of the Green Lodge road and the turnpike, I felt that I was parting the only friend I had in the world. The man had not spoken two words during the drive, and now rather gruffly refused my proffered half dollar; but I would have gone home with him if he had asked me. I hinted that it would b e much to his pecuniary advantage if he was willing to go so far as out of his course as the doorstep of Mr. Watson's house; but either because wealth had no charms for him, or because he had failed to understand my proposition, he made no answer, and giving his mare a slap with the ends of the reins, rattled off into space.
Fifteen or twenty minutes later I stood in front of what I knew at a glance to be "The Briers," for Watson had described it to me. The three sharp gables of his description had not quite melted into the blackness which was rapidly absorbing every object; and there, too, but indistinct, were the twin stone gateposts with the cheerful Grecian vases on top, like the entrance to a cemetery.
The house stood well back on a slight elevation, with two or three steps leading down from the patio to the walk. Here and there a strong light illuminated a lattice - window. I particularly noticed that one on the ground floor in an ell of the building, a wide window with diamond-shaped panes - the diningroom. The curtains were looped back, and I could see a pretty housemaid in her cap coming and going. She was removing the dinner things: she must have long ago taken away my unused plate.
The very stillness had a sort of menace in it. My imagination peopled those black spaces under the trees with dragon-like creatures. There certainly was an air of hidden dog about the place, though as yet no dog had developed. However, unless I desired to rouse the inmates from their beds, I saw that I ought to announce myself without much further delay. I softly opened the gate, which having a heavy ball-and-chain attachment, immediately slipped from my hand and slammed to with a bang as I stepped within.
I was not surprised, but I was paralyzed all the same, at instantly hearing the familiar sound of a watchdog suddenly rushing from his kennel. The kennel in this instance was on a porch: a convenient arrangement - for the dog - in case of visitors.
The next sound I heard was the scrabble of the animals four paws as he landed on the pathway. There he hesitated, irresolute, as if he were making up his diabolical mind which side of the mound to take. He neither growled nor barked in the meantime, being evidently one of those wide-mouthed, silent brutes that mean business.
I held my breath, and waited. Presently I heard him stealthily approaching me on the left. I at once hastened up the right hand path, having tossed my grip (small suitcase) in his direction, with the hope that while he was engaged in tearing it to pieces, I might possibly be able to reach the porch and ring the doorbell.
My ruse failed, however, and the grip, which might have served as a weapon of defense, had been sacrificed. The dog continued his systematic approach, and I was obliged to hurry past the porch steps. A few seconds brought me back to the point of my departure. The garden-gate, which now lay at my hand, offered an easy way to escape; but I was ignorant of the fastenings; I had forgotten which way it swung; besides, as I had no stopover ticket, it was necessary that I continue on my circular journey.
So far as I could judge, the dog was now about three yards in my rear; I was unable to see him, but I could plainly detect his quick breathing, and his deliberate footfalls on the gravel. I wondered why he did not spring upon me at once; but he knew he had his prey, he knew I was afraid of him, and he was playing with me as a cat plays with a mouse.
By this time my brisk trot had turned into a run, and I was spinning around the circle at the rate of ten miles an hour, with the dog at my heels. Now I shot by the porch, and now past the gate, until presently I ceased to know which was the gate and which the porch. I believe that I shouted "Watson!" once or twice, no doubt at the wrong place, but I do not remember. At all events, I failed to make myself heard. My brain was in such confusion that at intervals I could not for the soul of me tell whether I was chasing the dog, or the dog was chasing me. Now I almost felt his nose at my heel, and now I seemed upon the point of trampling him underfoot.
When I saw a shapeless black object lying, or crouching, in my path, I automatically kicked it into the outer darkness. It was only my hat, which had fallen off on one of the previous trips.
I has accomplished the circuit of the mound for the tenth - possibly the twentieth - time (I cannot be positive), when the front door of the house was opened with a jerk, and Watson, closely followed by the pretty housemaid, stepped out upon the porch. He held in his hand a lamb, which he came within an ace of dropping as the light fell upon my countenance
"Good heavens! Willis; is this you? Where did you tumble from? What's become of your hat? How did you get here?"
"Six o'clock train - Green Lodge - white horse - old man - I -"
Suddenly the pretty housemaid descended the steps and picked up from the graveled path a little panting, tremulous wad of something - not more than two handfuls at most - which she folded tenderly to her bosom.
"What's that?" I asked.
"That's Goliath," said Watson..

Answer the following the questions:
One mark each.

True and False.

1. Mr. Watson was on his way to have dinner with a gentleman he worked with.
2. At Green Lodge station, Mr. Watson was to meet his friend and see him safely to "The Briers".
3. On the way to Green Lodge station there was a bus accident and thus a delay of one hour.
4. A friendly farmer in a rickety old wagon agreed to drive the visitor to "The Briers".
5. The watchdog heard the arrival of the guest even before he had opened the gate.
6. The dog growled and barked in the meantime, being one of those wide-mouthed, brutes that means business.
7. The man was so scared and confused that at times he was unable to tell if the dog was chasing him or if he was chasing the dog.

Multiple Choice:
One mark each.

1. David Willis saw a shapeless black object lying, or crouching on the path. The object was:

a) His own suitcase.
b) The dog lying in wait.
c) His hat and coat.
d) His own hat.

2. The narrator says he knows what type of dog that his friend would keep. He thought the dog would be:

a) A bull-pup like the one his friend has in college.
b) A vicious beast that would tear him limb from limb.
c) One that would lie around the estate loose and be able to distinguish between a burglar and a guest.
d) None of the above.

3. David Willis was:

a) Glad the bus had been delayed and that he had missed dinner.
b) Unconcerned about the delay.
c) Scared his host would be upset that he was late.
d) Sure that his host had left the arrival destination after waiting there for him.

4. "The Briers" was described as:

a) A pleasant country estate.
b) Having four sharp gables.
c) Having a single gatepost with a cheerful Grecian vase on top.
d) None of the above.

5. After walking fifteen or twenty minutes to the gate of "The Briers", it was obvious that:

a) The visitor was no longer welcome since the house was in darkness.
b) The garden gate would not offer an easy escape from the watchdog because it was locked.
c) The visitor would have to enter the property under the soft glow and protection of only the moon.
d) He could not enter the property because he was too scared.

Short Answer:
Answer the following in complete sentences.
When possible, you must support your answers with examples from the story.
Pay particular attention to spelling, grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure.

# 1 - 3 marks.
# 2 - 5 marks.
# 3 - 5 marks.

1. Writing about frightening experiences in a humorous way can help us to put them into perspective. The visitor in this story is very frightened. Just because the dog turns out to be very small doesn't make his experience any less terrifying (although it makes it a lot more fun for us). Could the story have worked if the dog had had any other name? Give at least 2 reasons to support your answer.
2. Like the stories "Hurry, Hurry" and "Charles", this short story also has a surprise ending.
Did the ending of this short story take you by surprise? If so, give 4 reasons and examples from the story that contributed to the surprise ending. If not, give 4 reasons and example from the story that enabled you to outguess the author.
3. How does the narrator feel as he crosses the yard to the house? Give two reasons and examples from the story to support your answer. Think about how the author felt about dogs in general. Do you think that this influenced his emotions as he crossed the yard?

Answer Key:

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True And False:

1. False
2. True
3. False
4. False
5. False
6. False
7. True

Multiple Choice:

1. d)
2. b)
3. d)
4. d)
5). c)

Short Answer:

1. No.
Reason # 1.
Reason # 2.

2. Yes/No. Plus 4 plausible reasons and examples from story.

3. Scared. Worried. Plus 2 examples from story.
Prior to the event the narrator already disliked/was scared of dogs.
Already biased from passed experiences with dogs (knew the type of dog the man used to own).

Vocabulary And Context

Using a dictionary, complete the following definitions. Record the meaning of the word that best suits the context in which it is used. Each definition is worth 2 marks.

1. Indiscriminate - Making no distinctions.

2. Telescoping - To slide one into another.

3. Sullenly - Gloomy and dismal.

4. Coupling - A mechanical device for joining things together.

5. Balmy - Soothing and mild.

6. Predestined - Intended for.

7. Obstinacy - Stubborn/Intended to have one's own way.

8. Tenacious - Persistent.

9. Countenance - Face.

10. Tremulous - Shacking or quivering.

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