The Wisdom of the Eagle and the Treachery of the
Hyena
By Frans Timmermans
Once upon a time a hyena was out foraging in the bush. It was a fine
sunny day. But as he was sniffing around, he fell into a hidden trap set by a
hunter. He found himself at the bottom of a hole, with the trap catch closed
over him. He tried to push it open but it just would not budge. It was rather
well made.
So he started shouting: “Help! Help!
Somebody get me out of here please. A lion passed by, looked to see who was in
the trap. When he saw it was hyena, he just moved on. Help me, let me out of
here, please!”, hyena shouted, but the lion closed his ears. You should know
that most animals did not like hyena very much. He was very sly and
always stealing food belonging to other animals and then laughing at them
behind their backs. So it was no surprise the lion moved on.
So the day passed, but every time an
animal passed by the trap, however much hyena begged and promised to be nice to
them in future, none stopped to help him. At last monkey came by. “Help me
please, monkey, get me out of this trap. I’ve been here all day and the hunter
will be back soon and he will surely kill me! Help me please!”
“Well now”, monkey said, “That’s all
very well. I would help you, but as soon as I pull you out of there, you will
only kill me.” Hyena protested, “Monkey, I promise I will be good, I will not
touch a hair on your head. If you let me out I will go straight home. I
promise!” Now this monkey was very kind, so he agreed to help hyena. He removed
the trap and threw down a branch so hyena could pull himself out of the trap.
But then as soon as he was out, hyena realized he’s been in this trap all day
long and had not eaten anything, at all! So, instead of going home, as he had
promised, hyena attacked the kind monkey.
Just then an eagle was flying over
the bush, and saw the hyena attacking monkey. So he swooped down, landed on the
hyena’s back, and with his powerful claws pulled the animal of poor monkey, who
was screeching in pain. After he’d separated the two, hyena wanted to know what
was going on. Monkey explained what had happened: that he had helped hyena
escape from the trap because he had promised not to attack him!
Eagle said: “In order for me to
understand exactly how this happened, I would like you to show me exactly what
you two were doing. So, Mr. Hyena, you get back into the trap, and then we will
start again.” Hyena realized he did not have much choice but to do as he was told,
so he jumped back into the trap. Eagle the covered it again with the trap, and
made sure it was secure. “Now, Mr. Hyena”, said eagle, “you can stay there and
die, for all I care. You don’t deserve the kindness of other animals if you
cannot keep a simple promise”. With that, he advised the monkey to go home to
his family, and he himself flew off to continue his journey, leaving the hyena
to his fate.
The question:
1.
The meaning of the bold word is
A.
Searching
B.
Haunting something
C.
Defecate
D.
Singing
E.
Look for something to eat
2.
Why the hyena asked for help?
A.
Because his leg hurts
B.
Because he can’t found any food
C.
Because there was a hunter
D.
Because he fell into a hidden trap set by a hunter
E.
Because he was attacked
3.
The underline refers to, except :
A.
Cunning
B.
Crafty
C.
Shifty
D.
Cheat
E.
Witty
4.
Why that most animals did not like
hyena very much?
A.
He break his promise
B.
He is greedy
C.
He was always stealing food belonging to other animals and
laughing at them behind their backs
D.
Because he is hyena
E.
He’s sly
5.
These are the right fact in the
following text, except
A.
Hyena fell into a hidden trap set by
a hunter
B.
Hyena has been in this trap all day long and had eaten
anything
C.
Every time an animal passed by the
trap except monkey
D.
the hyena attacked the monkey
E.
the hyena break his promise
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