Comprehension
6 - ] Upper Intermediate & Advanced
On any collecting trip , obtaining the animals is ,
as a rule , the simplest part of the job . As soon as the local people discover
that you are willing to buy live wild creatures , the stuff comes pouring in ;
ninety per cent is , of course , the commoner types , but they do bring an
occasional rarity . If you want the really rare stuff , you generally have to
go out and find it yourself , but while you are devoting your time to this you
can be sure that all the common local animals will be brought in to you . So
one might also say that getting the animals is easy : the really hard part is
keeping them once you have got them .
The chief difficulty
you have when you have got a newly caught animal is not so much the shock it
might be suffering , but the fact that being caught forces it to exist close to
a creature it regards as an enemy of the worst possible sort : yourself . On
many occasions an animal may take beautifully to being in a cage but getting
used to the idea of living with people is another matter . This is the
difficulty you can only deal with by patience and kindness . For month after an
animal may try to bite you every time you approach its cage , until you despair
of ever making a favourable impression on it . Then , one day , sometimes without
any preliminary warning , it will trot forward and take food from your hand ,
or allow you to tickle it behind the ears . At such moments you feel that all
the waiting in the world was worthwhile .
Feeding , of course ,
is one of your main problems . Not only must you have a fairly extensive
knowledge of what each animal eats in the wild state , but you have to work out
something else when the natural food is unavailable , and then teach your
animal to eat it . You also have to provide for their individual likes and
dislikes , which vary enormously . I have known a rat which , refusing all
normal rat food - fruit , bread , vegetables - lived for three days on an
exclusive diet of spaghetti . I have had a group of five monkeys ,of the same
age and types , who displayed the oddest individual characteristics . Out of
the five , two loved hard-boiled eggs , while the other three were frightened
of the strange white shape and would not touch them , actually screaming in
fear if you put such a terrifying object as a hard-boiled egg into their cage .
These five monkeys all adored oranges but , whereas four would carefully peel
their fruit and throw away the skin , the fifth would peel his orange equally
carefully and then throw away the orange and eat the peel . When you have a
collection of several hundred creatures all displaying such curious
characteristics , you are sometimes driven mad in your efforts to satisfy their
desires , and so keep them healthy and happy .
But of all the irritating tasks that you have to undertake during a
collecting trip , bringing the baby animals up by hand is undoubtedly the worst
. To begin with , they are generally stupid over taking a bottle and there is
nothing quite so attractive as struggling with a baby animal in a sea of warm
milk . And then they have to be kept warm , especially at night , and this
means ( unless you take them to bed with you , which is often the answer ) you
have to get up several times during the night to refill hot-water bottles .
After a hard day’s work , to drag yourself out of bed at three in the morning
to see to hot-water bottles is an occupation that soon loses its charm .
Answer the following questions
1 . What does the writer say about getting hold of
animals ?
( A ) The best solution is to collect most of them
yourself .
( B ) dealing with local collectors takes a lot of
time .
( C ) Collecting large numbers of animals is usually
no problem .
( D ) Local people may not understand how rare some
animals are .
2 . What is the main problem with an animal that has
just been caught ?
( A ) It is frightened to be near humans .
( B ) It has been badly shocked by its experience .
( C ) It does not like being with other animals .
( D ) It will try to break out of its cage .
3 . How does the writer treat new animals in his
collection ?
( A ) He keeps away from those that bite .
( B ) He tries to build up a relationship with them .
( C ) He feeds them by hand every day .
( D ) He keeps them separate for several months .
4 . How does the writer make sure the animals have a
good diet ?
(
A ) He collects food for them from their natural home .
(
B ) He gives them a variety of fruit , bread and vegetables .
( C ) He mixes food they dislike in with their
favourites .
( D ) He finds alternatives to their natural food if
necessary .
5 . What do we learn about the five monkeys ?
( A ) Some of them did not want eggs in their cage .
( B ) One of
them did not know how to peel an orange .
( C ) Some of them were too frightened to eat
anything .
( D ) One of them threw his orange at the others .
6 . The writer says that with a large collection of
animals , it is
( A ) impossible to keep them all in cages .
( B ) a problem to control their natural curiosity.
( C ) crazy to expect them all to be healthy .
( D ) hard work to give each one what it wants .
7 . What problem does the writer have at night ?
( A ) He has to work with the baby animals until 3
a.m. .
( B ) He keeps the baby animals’ cages in his bedroom
.
( C ) He has to keep getting up to look after the
babies .
( D ) The babies have to be given regular warm drinks
.
Answer Key
1 . C 2 . A 3
. B 4 . D 5 . A 6 . D 7 . C
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