Comprehension Open-ended
Read the passage carefully and answer the questions in complete sentences.
| Calvin, Clement and their parents spent a weekend at an inn in the countryside. There were few guests at the inn as the weather had been stormy. On the first night, as the boys slept, the lights went out for two hours. In the middle of the blackout, unknown to her guests, Mrs. Connor’s antique silver candlesticks were apparently stolen. They had been made more than two hundred years earlier by a famous silversmith. The next day, the sun was out, and the storm of the night before was all but forgotten. Mrs. Connor let her guests know about the theft, and apologetically asked them all not to leave the inn. The police would soon arrive. “Hey!” Clement grinned. “Maybe this weekend will end up being more interesting than we expected.” “Especially,” he said slowly, “if we solve the case.” Calvin enthusiastically agreed. The police came. “I think it is an inside job,” Sergeant Timms said. “There are two clear shoeprints in the mud outside the window of the room where the candlesticks were kept. The prints face away from the house. The thief was in the house, entered the music room, and went outside through the window so he or she would not be seen coming out just before the theft was discovered.” “That’s right!” volunteered Clement. “And there are only a couple of prints because the thief walked back to the house in the grass. So, let’s measure the shoeprints and compare them with those of every man here!” Sergeant Timms smiled. Everyone was called into the living room, and the men were asked to take off their shoes. Besides Calvin’s father, there were two other men, Mr. Jones and Mr. Hobbs. Each man’s right shoe was measured against a plaster cast of the print that the police had made. One fitted perfectly. “Mr. Jones,” Sergeant Timms addressed the thin, tall guest, “I am arresting you for the theft of the silver candlesticks.” Mr. Jones shouted, “I didn’t do it!” As Sergeant Timms led him away, Clement and Calvin yelled almost together, “Wait! It’s true! He did not do it! Mr. Hobbs did it. Look, the heels have the same pattern.” Sergeant Timms shook his head. “That’s impossible,” he insisted. “His shoe is too big.” Clement came closer. “Search his luggage. You see, it rained last night, but the sun was out today. That was when the police took the imprint. The mud had shrunk after it dried. The print was bigger in the wet mud and fitted Mr. Hobb’s shoe size.” He was then arrested and the candlesticks were found hidden among his clothes in his luggage. | 5 10 15 20 |
1. Were there many guests at the inn in the countryside? Why?
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2. What happened on the first night of the boys’ stay at the inn?
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3. Who was Mrs. Connor?
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4. Why did Mrs. Connor ask her guests not to leave the inn that morning?
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5. From which room were the candlesticks stolen?
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6. Which sentence supports Sergeant Timms’ deduction that the theft was an inside job?
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7. Why did Sergeant Timms smile after Clement made the suggestion about measuring and comparing the shoeprints?
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8. Calvin and Clement believed that Sergeant Timms had initially arrested the wrong man. Why was that so?
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9. Which word in the passage has the same meaning as indentation?
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10. Do you think that Calvin and Clement enjoyed their weekend at the inn? Why?
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