READING COMPREHENSION – SIMPLE PAST

VOCABULARY

1. Look for the following words and expressions in the dictionary. Then, use them to complete the sentences below.

clothes pea mattress frightful eiderdown quilt lightning to find out prince plenty of shoes

storm princess bottom thunder

a)Lady Diana was the _____________ of England. She was married to _________ Charles.
b)I have _________________ books. My library is quite big.
c)Ana told Mary that her boyfriend was seeing someone else. She desperately wants __________________ about it.
d)The ________________ last night was horrible. The rain was strong and there was also ________________ and
_________________.
e)Did you watch The Exorcist? It’s really ________________.
f)There is a big party tomorrow. I need to buy new ______________ and _________.
g)Would you like some __________ soup? It’s cold today.
h)The Little Mermaid lives in the _______________ of the sea.
i)– My back is killing me! I think I have to buy a new _____________.
j)– Oh! That’s true. You should also buy a new ____________________. This one is very old.

READING COMPREHENSION

The Princess on the Pea

Hans Christian Andersen

There was once a prince. He wanted a princess, but it had to be a true princess! So he
journeyed all around the world to find one, but no matter where he went, something was wrong. There
were plenty of princesses, but whether or not they were true princesses he couldn’t find out. There
was always something that wasn’t quite right. So he came home again and was very sad, for he
wanted a true princess so very much.
One evening there was a terrible storm. The lightning flashed, the thunder boomed, and the
rain poured down. It was really frightful! Then somebody knocked at the city gate, and the old king
went out to open it.
A princess was standing outside, but heavens, how she looked from the rain and the bad
weather! Water poured off her hair and clothes and ran in at the toe of her shoe and out the heel, but
she said she was a true princess.
“Well, we’ll soon find out!” thought the queen, but she didn’t say anything. She went into the
bedroom, took off all the bedding, and put a pea on the bottom of the bed. Then she took twenty
mattresses and laid them on the top of the pea and then put twenty eiderdown quilts on the top of
the mattresses. There the princess was to sleep that night.
In the morning, they asked her how she had slept.
“Oh, just miserably!” said the princess. “I’ve hardly closed my eyes all night! Heaven knows
what was in my bed! I’ve been lying on something so hard that I’m black and blue all over! It’s simply
dreadful!”
Then they could tell that this was a true princess, because through the twenty mattresses and
the twenty eiderdown quilts she had felt the pea. Only a true princess could have such a delicate skin.
So the prince took her for his wife, for now he knew that he had a true princess, and the pea
was put into the museum, where it can still be seen, if no one has taken it! See, this was a true story!

2. Answer the following questions. Give complete answers.

a) What did the prince want?
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b) What did he do to find what he wanted?
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c) Did he find what he wanted?

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d) What happened in the night of the storm?

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e) Who was the girl?

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f) What did the queen do?

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g) What happened in the morning?

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h) What did the prince do after that?

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