Question:
Read the text and answer the questions.
CHAPTER VI: FIRKET

June 7, 1896

Since the end of 1895 the Dervish force in Firket had been under the command of the Emir Hammuda, and it was through the indolence and neglect of this dissipated Arab that the Egyptian army had been able to make good its position at Akasha without any fighting. Week after week the convoys had straggled unmolested through the difficult country between Sarras and the advanced base. No attack had been made upon the brigade at Akasha. No enterprise was directed against its communications. This fatal inactivity did not pass unnoticed by Wad Bishara, the Governor of Dongola; but although he was nominally in supreme command of all the Dervish forces in the province he had hardly any means of enforcing his authority. His rebukes and exhortations, however, gradually roused Hammuda, and during May two or three minor raids were planned and executed, and the Egyptian position at Akasha was several times reconnoitred.

Bishara remained unsatisfied, and at length, despairing of infusing energy into Hammuda, he ordered his subordinate Osman Azrak to supersede him. Osman was a Dervish of very different type. He was a fanatical and devoted believer in the Mahdi and a loyal follower of the Khalifa. For many years he had served on the northern frontier of the Dervish Empire, and his name was well known to the Egyptian Government as the contriver of the most daring and the most brutal raids. His cruelty to the wretched inhabitants of the border villages had excluded him from all hope of mercy should he ever fall into the hands of the enemy. His crafty skill, however, protected him, and among the Emirs gathered at Firket there was none whose death would have given greater satisfaction to the military authorities than the man who was now to replace Hammuda.
1. Who was in command?
2. who was neglected?
3. when was he in command from?
4. was akasha attacked?
5. was the inactivity go unnoticed?
6. how often was convoys deployed?
7. who was in supreme command?
8. what was his other occupation?
9. of where?
10. did any one have the ability to enforce his rule?
11. when were the raids?12. how many raids?
13. what position was changed?
14. was he satisfied?
15. Who superseded him?
16. was he a normal dervish?
17. what was he a follower of?
18. was he a kind ruler?
19. what protected him?
20. who was wanted dead?

Numbered answers:
1. the Emir Hammuda
2. the Dervish force
3. Since the end of 1895
4. no
5. yes
6. Week after week
7. Wad Bishara
8. Governor
9. Dongola
10. no
11. May
12. two or three
13. the one at Akasha
14. no
15. Osman Azrak
16. no
17. the Khalifa
18. no
19. His crafty skill
20. Osman

Question:
Read the text and answer the questions.
Rebel-controlled northern Syria (CNN) -- Mohamed Rashid walked out of the gate of his house with a giant blood stain on his white T-shirt.

"This is the blood of a martyr! Of a hero! Of a lion!" he bellowed. "This is his blood. It is pure!"

Mad with grief, Rashid kissed his bloody T-shirt before being led away by worried relatives.

Just hours before, Rashid learned his son Abdul was killed in battle in the Syrian city of Aleppo.

Housam Abdul Rashid was a 22-year-old defector from the army. He was also the fourth man from his small hilltop village to be killed fighting for the rebels.

The younger Rashid is one of the casualties of the five-day-old rebel offensive on Aleppo, the country's commercial capital. Another rebel, who asked only to be named "Khorshid" because his wife and children were still living in Aleppo, described how his comrade was killed by a helicopter gunship, while climbing onto a rooftop.

Syria: As al-Assad's grip loosens, what could come next?

"Housam's specialty was a sniper," Khorshid said. "He went to the roof, and a helicopter gunship killed him. Another fighter from Aleppo with him was also killed. I was just 4 meters away when it happened."

Khorshid said the rebels mounted their offensive on Aleppo last Friday, two days after a bomb killed four of Syria's top security officials.

Rebel commanders and fighters claimed they made gains, particularly in the neighborhood of Salahuddin. But they were also clearly suffering casualties.

What began 17 months ago as a peaceful protest movement has evolved into a full-fledged armed insurgency.
1. Who's blood was on Mohamed's shirt?
2. What was his son's name?
3. What animal did he compare Abdul to?
4. Where did he die?
5. How old was he?
6. What was his role when he was battling rebels?
7. What specifically caused his death?
8. Was he the only one who died on the roof that day?
9. How many soldiers died with him?
10. Who provided this information?
11. Why didn't he want to provide his real name?
12. When did the rebels begin planning their attack?
13. How did 4 Syrian personnel die?
14. Do the rebels feel they are making progress?
15. Where is the progress most evident?
16. Was Housam the only person from his village to be lost from the battling?
17. How many others?
18. What did all this start as?
Numbered answers:
1. His sons
2. Housam Abdul Rashid
3. A lion
4. in battle in the Syrian city of Aleppo.
5. 22
6. a sniper
7. "He went to the roof, and a helicopter gunship killed him
8. No
9. One
10. Khorshid
11. because his wife and children were still living in Aleppo,
12. last Friday,
13. a bomb killed them
14. Yes
15. in the neighborhood of Salahuddin.
16. No
17. Three
18. 17 months ago