AEIS English. Admission to Singapore Secondary 2 English Test. Sample test.新加坡入学英语考试–录取中二级.模拟考试.2/2
Comprehension 1
The text below is about a famous cat who lived in a library. Read it carefully and answer Questions 5-13.
He was a yellow tabby with twinkling green eyes who arrived in the overnight drop box of a library one frigid January night. Dewey Readmore Books soon became the library’s star boarder and an international celebrity. Dewey, named after the Dewey Decimal System used by libraries to catalogue books, quickly became well known in Spencer, Iowa, USA—a farm town with a population of about 11 000. No one quite knew why the rest of the world cared about him, but they did. Writers and television crews came from all over the country and from as far as Japan to see this famous cat. Vicki Myron, who found and looked after Dewey, explained his attraction as “magic—there is no other word for it.”
Dewey was discovered in the Spencer library’s overnight drop box in January 1988, at a time when lowa was in the midst of an economic chill that had gripped the nation. The timing was relevant, although Spencer is a town that has not changed much since the 1930s, with a downtown of family-owned stores connecting two-and three-storey brick buildings. The cat’s arrival was also considered timely, because Myron, the librarian, who was just working six months at her job, was looking to make the library more like home.
Dewey fit right into that plan. From the start, he had a friendly character, positioning himself for most of the opening hours just inside the door. He responded well to anyone who petted him and before long, the regular library users were claiming that he could recognise them. Soon, Dewey became the topic of conversation all over town. Non-library users became so curious that they started pouring into the library. Visits to the library increased from 60 000 a year to more than 100 000. Many newcomers were suffering especially hard from the crippling economy that hit the farming community, and Myron thought that Dewey lifted their spirits and made them a bit more eager to stop off at the library. “He was something to be proud of when Spencer didn’t have a lot to be proud of,” Myron said. “It was his personality. He was so loving and mellow. He didn’t care who you were.”
Some farmers claimed that after he had greeted them, Dewey would lead them to a section of the library where there was a book they would be interested in. One person even claimed that the only time he saw Dewey agitated was when the cat led him to the fiction section, reached up and tried to pull out a book with its claws. The farmer refused to play and he also did not read fiction. Dewey then started wailing so loudly that Myron came over to see if the farmer was maltreating her cat. “Just take the book home,” she said to the farmer. “Keep Dewey happy.” No one was 35 more surprised than Myron when the farmer returned the book on his next visit. “That book really cheered me up,” he admitted. Thus did the story become part of the Dewey legend.
Dewey died on 29 November 2006, at age 19. His ashes were buried in the lawn outside the library. A granite marker was placed at the site. Myron believes his legacy will live on in the book she has written about him. The book has since reached the top ten on American best-seller lists and in the stories, people share about him stories such as a woman whom Myron met. The woman’s mother lived in Spencer and would visit Dewey, but after suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, she was moved to a care centre in Sioux City. Her memory failed and soon she could only remember her daughter’s name—and Dewey’s.
As Myron said, Dewey changed lives one lap at a time.
Questions
1 Which word in paragraph 1 informs the reader that the cat’s fur has bands of varied colours?
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2 What does the word ‘frigid” (line 2) suggest about that night?
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3 (a) Why was Dewey an appropriate name to give the cat?
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(b) What does the writer mean by calling Dewey ‘the library’s star boarder (line 3)?
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(c) According to paragraph 1, what was unique about Dewey’s fame?
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4 (a) Explain what an ‘economic chill’ (line 11) is.
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(b) How might the ‘economic chill” (line 11) explain how Dewey came to be in the library?
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5 (a) Explain in your own words what it was about Dewey that ‘fit right into that plan’ (line 17).
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(b) Why was ‘positioning himself… just inside the door (line 18) significant?
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6 (a) what made the non-library users ‘curious’ (line 22)?
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(b) What does the word ‘crippling’ (line 24) tell the reader about the economy?
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(c) According to paragraph 4, explain in your own words the reasons for Dewey’s popularity.
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7 The farmer refused to play’ (line 33). What game did the farmer think he was refusing to play and how was he refusing to play it?
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8 What does Myron mean by saying that Dewey ‘changed lives one lap at a time’ (line 47)?
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9 The structure of the text reflects the developments of Dewey’s life. Complete the flow chart by choosing one word or phrase from the box to summarise the main idea of the story in the relevant paragraphs. You do not need to use all the phrases in the box.
The legend of Dewey
- perfect timing
- farmers joining the library
- hard economic times
- his fame lives on
- the arrival of Dewey
- Myron
- Dewey’s popularity
- Dewey at the door
Flow chart
- Paragraph 1: _________________________
- Paragraph 2-3: _________________________
- Paragraph 4: _________________________
- Paragraph 5-6: _________________________
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