Comprehension - Englishdaily626-302

Someone sent a chimpanzee to Gerald Durrell, asking him to escort it to rather anxiously, about what other undesirable habits
undesirable habits he might have that his

England. master had not warned me about.
A small van drew up outside the camp one morning, and in the back of it was an Just at that moment, the tea was brought in and Cholmondely greeted its
enormous wooden crate. It was big enough, I thought, to house an elephant. I appearance with loud hoots of joy. He watched me carefully while I half-filled his
wondered what on earth could be inside, and when the driver told me that it mug with milk and then added the tea. I had been told that he had a very sweet
contained the chimpanzee, Cholmondely, that I would be escorting to England, I tooth, so I put in six large spoons of sugar, an action which he greeted with grunts
remembered thinking how silly his owner was to send such a small chimpanzee in of satisfaction. He placed his cigarette on the table and seized the mug with both
such a huge crate. I opened the door and looked inside and there sat hands; then he stuck out his lower lip very carefully and dipped it into the tea to
Cholmondely. Just one glance at him and I realised my mistake: I would not be make sure it was not too hot. As it was a little warm, he sat there blowing on it
taking charge of a baby chimpanzee but a fully grown one, about eight or nine vigorously until it was cool enough, and then he drank it all down without stopping
years old. once. When he had drained the last drops, he peered into the mug and scooped
out all the sugar he could with his forefinger. After that, he tipped the mug up on
Sitting hunched up in the dark crate, he looked as though he were about twice as his nose and sat with it like that for about five minutes until the very last of the
big as I, and from the expression on his face, I gathered that the trip had not been sugar had trickled down into his mouth. For a few minutes, he was in a world of
to his liking. Before I could shut the door of the box, however, Cholmondely had his own, far away from the threat of civilized men.
extended a long hairy arm, clasped my hand in his and shaken it warmly. Then he
turned round and gathered up a great length of chain (one end of which was Answer the following questions in complete sentences.
fastened to a collar around his neck), draped it carefully over his arm, and
stepped down, out of the box. he stood there for a moment and, after surveying 1. What mistaken idea did Durrell have about the age of the chimpanzee that he
me carefully, examined the camp with great interest, whereupon he held out his was asked to escort to England?
hand, looking at me enquiringly. I took it in mine and we walked into the marquee
together.
Cholmondely immediately went and seated himself on one of the chairs by the
camp table, dropped his chain on the floor, sat back and crossed his legs. He
gazed around the tent for a few minutes, then looked at me enquiringly again.
Obviously, he wanted me to offer him something after his tiring journey. I had been 2. What told Durrell that the chimpanzee had been upset by the trip in the crate?
told before he arrived that he liked to drink tea, so I called out to the cook and told
him to make a pot of tea. Then I went out and had a look in Cholmondely's crate,
and at the bottom, I found an enormous and very battered tin mug. When I
returned to the tent with this. Cholmondely was quite overjoyed and praised me
for my cleverness in finding it, by uttering a few cheerful 'hoo-hoo' noises.
While we were waiting for the tea to arrive, I sat down opposite Cholmondely and 3. Why did Durrell end up holding hands with the chimpanzee?
lit a cigarette. To my surprise, he became very excited and held out his hand
across the table to me. Wondering what he would do, I handed him the cigarette
packet. He opened it, took out a cigarette, and put it between his lips. He then
reached out his hand again and I gave him the matches; to my astonishment, he
took one out of the box, struck it, lit his cigarette and threw the box down on the
table. Lying back in his chair, he blew out clouds of smoke in the most
professional manner. No one had told me that Cholmondely smoked. I wondered,
4. Give two reasons why Durrell decided to offer some tea to the 9. Find a word that means "with great energy".
chimpanzee.
10. Find a word that means "unwanted or unpleasant".
5. Why did the chimpanzee suddenly become so overjoyed that it made

cheerful hooting noises?
6. What effect did Durrell's lighting of a cigarette have on the chimpanzee?
7. Which phrase in paragraph 4 suggests that Durrell actually considered it

bad for the chimpanzee to smoke?
8. Explain the phrase "had a sweet tooth".

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Someone sent a chimpanzee to Gerald Durrell, asking him to escort it to rather anxiously, about what other undesirable habits

undesirable habits he might have that his

10. Find a word that means "unwanted or unpleasant".

5. Why did the chimpanzee suddenly become so overjoyed that it made

6. What effect did Durrell's lighting of a cigarette have on the chimpanzee?

7. Which phrase in paragraph 4 suggests that Durrell actually considered it

8. Explain the phrase "had a sweet tooth".

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