Problem: CHAPTER 6.

AN APPRENTICESHIP TO THE TEMPLE.

The action of our characters during the night included in the last two chapters has now come to a pause. Vetranio is awaiting his guests for the banquet; Numerian is in the chapel, preparing for the discourse that he is to deliver to his friends; Ulpius is meditating in his master's house; Antonina is stretched upon her couch, caressing the precious fragment that she had saved from the ruins of her lute. All the immediate agents of our story are, for the present, in repose.

It is our purpose to take advantage of this interval of inaction, and direct the reader's attention to a different country from that selected as the scene of our romance, and to such historical events of past years as connect themselves remarkably with the early life of Numerian's perfidious convert. This man will be found a person of great importance in the future conduct of our story. It is necessary to the comprehension of his character, and the penetration of such of his purposes as have been already hinted at, and may subsequently appear, that the long course of his existence should be traced upwards to its source.

It was in the reign of Julian, when the gods of the Pagan achieved their last victory over the Gospel of the Christian, that a decently attired man, leading by the hand a handsome boy of fifteen years of age, entered the gates of Alexandria, and proceeded hastily towards the high priest's dwelling in the Temple of Serapis.
1. Where is everybody from the story right now?
2. Who's in the chapel?
3. What is he preparing to give his friends?
4. Where is Ulpius?
5. Doing what?
6. Who is Vetranio expecting?
7. Why are the coming over?
8. Where's Antonina?
9. What's she rubbing?
10. Of what?
11. Did something happen to it?
12. What?
13. Where does the author want our attention to go?
14. From what?
15. Who will be a person of significance later in the story?
16. Has the story already given some clues as to his purposes?
17. Who was in charge during the Pagan gods' last win?
18. Who did they fight against?
19. How old was the boy who entered Alexandria?
20. Whose residence was he going to?
Answer: 1. in repose.
2. Numerian
3. discourse
4. in his master's house
5. meditating
6. his guests
7. for the banquet
8. on her couch
9. fragments
10. her lute
11. yes
12. unknown
13. to a different country
14. from the one in the romance scene
15. Numerian's perfidious convert
16. ye
17. Julian
18. the Gospel of the Christian
19. 15
20. the high priest's

Problem: AUSTIN, Texas (CNN) -- Lady Bird Johnson, who was first lady during the 1960s and in her later years became an advocate for beautifying public landscapes, died Wednesday, family spokesman Tom Johnson said. She was 94.

Lady Bird Johnson's real name was Claudia.

She was the widow of Lyndon Baines Johnson, sworn in as the nation's 36th president on November 22, 1963, just hours after President John F. Kennedy's assassination.

Lady Bird Johnson was briefly hospitalized last month with a low-grade fever. She was released and returned to her Austin home on June 28. After suffering a stroke in 2002 that limited her ability to speak, she communicated chiefly by writing.

Upon news of her death, Texas Gov. Rick Perry ordered flags in the state to be flown at half-staff.

"Lady Bird Johnson embodied all that is beautiful and good about the great state of Texas," Perry said. "She inspired generations of Americans with her graceful strength, unwavering commitment to family and keen sense of social justice."

The former first lady was born Claudia Alta Taylor in 1912 in Karnack, Texas, a small town near the Louisiana line. She got her unusual nickname while still a toddler from her nurse, who proclaimed the child was as "purty as a lady bird."

Lady Bird attended St. Mary's Episcopal School for Girls, a junior college near Dallas and then transferred to the University of Texas at Austin. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in history in 1933, then stayed an extra year to earn a journalism degree.
1. who died?
2. how old was she when she died?
Answer: 1. Bird Johnson
2. She was 94.

Problem: The mystery stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are famous all over the world. The detective in his stories is called Sherlock Holmes. He solves mysteries in a most surprising way. His assistant, Dr Watson, watches with admiration and then writes up the story of the mystery afterwards. This is a useful story writing skill. Because Watson is not very clever, the story remains a mystery until the end. The readers can sometimes pick up some clues before he does! Then, to make Watson understand the mystery, Holmes has to explain it all, step by step. So we, the readers, get to see it step by step too. Watson is almost as good a character in the story as Sherlock Holmes! The very first time they meet, Holmes greatly surprises Watson. When they are first introduced, Holmes says to Watson, 'How do you do? I see you have been to Afghanistan .' Watson is too amazed by this to ask Holmes how he knows this. Watson has, indeed, been to Afghanistan. Later, he asks Holmes about it. Holmes explains that there is nothing magical about what he does. He gets to know it all by very, very careful observation . Observation One Watson was introduced to Holmes as a doctor. Yet Holmes thought that the way he stood and walked made him seem like a soldier. So, this meant he was probably an army doctor. Observation Two Watson's face was quite dark skinned. But his wrists were pale. So his dark face was probably sun burnt. This meant that he had been to a hot, sunny country. Observation Three At the time, the British army had soldiers at bases in many parts of the world. So there were still a lot of places to choose from. However, Holmes saw that Watson looked very tired and he was always holding his left arm, as if it was painful. So, he had probably been with the army to a place where they were fighting. There was only one place where the British army was fighting at that time: Afghanistan.
1. who is the writer?
2. is he well known?
3. who is the main player in his books?
4. does someone help him?
5. who?
6. does the main character have a job?
7. what?
8. how did he surprise his helper when they first met?
9. was his helpers skin milky and white?
Answer:
1. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
2. Yes
3. Sherlock Holmes
4. Yes
5. Dr Watson
6. Yes
7. detective
8. Knowing he went to Afghanistan
9. No