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Comprehension

Read through the following text twice before trying to answer the questions. There are some tricky word in this text so please be careful.

 

The bowls never wanted washing. The boys polished them with their spoons again till they shone again; and when they had performed this operation (which never took very long, the spoons being nearly as large as the bowls), they would sit staring at the copper, with such eager eyes, as if they could have devoured the very bricks of which it was composed; employing themselves meanwhile, in sucking their fingers most assiduously, with the view of catching up any stray splashes of gruel that might have been cast thereon.

 

Boys have generally excellent appetites. Oliver Twist and his companions suffered the tortures of slow starvation for three months. At last they got so voracious and wild with hunger, that one boy who was tall for his age, hinted darkly to his companions that unless he had another basin of gruel, he was afraid he might some night happen to eat the boy sleeping next to him, who happened to be a weakly youth of tender age. He had a wild, hungry eye and they implicitly believed him. A council was held; lots were cast for who should walk up to the master after supper that evening and ask for more; and it fell to Oliver Twist.

 

Now you have read it twice, have a go at answering the following questions independently.

 

  1. What did the boys used to polish their bowls?
  2. How are the boys feeling in the first paragraph?
  3. What word in the text means - a desire for food or drink?
  4. What adjective describes the youth sleeping next to him?
  5. Who had to ask for more?

 

Home learners please could you take a photo of your answered questions and email it to Mr Hindman on Purple Mash.

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