Q: CHAPTER XII

A chill, gray, somber dawn was breaking when Ellen dragged herself into the cabin and crept under her blankets, there to sleep the sleep of exhaustion.

When she awoke the hour appeared to be late afternoon. Sun and sky shone through the sunken and decayed roof of the old cabin. Her uncle, Tad Jorth, lay upon a blanket bed upheld by a crude couch of boughs. The light fell upon his face, pale, lined, cast in a still mold of suffering. He was not dead, for she heard his respiration.

The floor underneath Ellen's blankets was bare clay. She and Jorth were alone in this cabin. It contained nothing besides their beds and a rank growth of weeds along the decayed lower logs. Half of the cabin had a rude ceiling of rough-hewn boards which formed a kind of loft. This attic extended through to the adjoining cabin, forming the ceiling of the porch-like space between the two structures. There was no partition. A ladder of two aspen saplings, pegged to the logs, and with braces between for steps, led up to the attic.

Ellen smelled wood smoke and the odor of frying meat, and she heard the voices of men. She looked out to see that Slater and Somers had joined their party--an addition that might have strengthened it for defense, but did not lend her own situation anything favorable. Somers had always appeared the one best to avoid.

Colter espied her and called her to "Come an' feed your pale face." His comrades laughed, not loudly, but guardedly, as if noise was something to avoid. Nevertheless, they awoke Tad Jorth, who began to toss and moan on the bed.

1. into the cabin
2. to sleep
3. exhausted
4. yes
5. until late afternoon.
6. Tad Jorth
7. yes
8. a blanket bed upheld by a crude couch of boughs
9. no
10. she heard his respiration.
11. beds
12. no
13. yes
14. braces
15. the attic.
16. Slater and Somers
17. the voices of men
18. best to avoid.
19. "Come an' feed your pale face."
20. His comrades

Numbered questions:
1. Where did Ellen drag herself?
2. Why?
3. how tired was she?
4. Did she get under a blanket?
5. How long did she sleep?
6. What was her uncle's name?
7. Where they alone in this cabin?
8. What did Tad lay on?
9. Was he dead?
10. How did she know?
11. What furniture did they have in the cabin?
12. Was there a partition?
13. Was there a ladder?
14. what was used for steps?
15. Where did it lead?
16. Who did Ellen see join the party?
17. What did she hear to know?
18. How did Somers appear?
19. What did Colter say?
20. Who laughed?

Q: A 90-year-old tortoise is going twice its usual speed after being equipped with a set of wheels. The animal, called Mrs T, was facing a terrible future after losing her two front legs in a mouse attack while she was sleeping in winter, but her owners glued the wheels onto her shell . "She's going double the speed she used to," said the owner Jude Ryder, "She uses her back legs to push herself along and seems quite happy." The 58-year-old owner was surprised when she went to check on her loved pet last month and found her front legs had been eaten in the mouse attack. The local animal doctor tried his best to save Mrs T. But he was afraid that the tortoise would not survive without being mobile. After paying PS1,000 for the treatment, Mrs Ryder turned to her son Dale for help. Dale designed the front wheels and used resin to add them to the front of the shell. Mrs Ryder said: "She liked them immediately, but she must learn how to turn and stop. She can get a good speed up, much faster than before. Mrs T is still quite young for a tortoise. She could go on for another 50 years. All she needs is a new set of tyres sometimes." When Mrs T was sixty years old, she was bought as a pet for Dale, an 8-year-old boy. It liked running happily in Mrs Ryder's garden in spring and summer. When winter came, Mrs T slept in the garden shelter. A mouse got in last month and chewed off both her front legs. Mrs Ryder said: "We were afraid she would be sure to die, but her new set of wheels have saved her life. She can run in the garden again and we can always find her because she leaves very strange footprints behind wherever she goes." Mice attacking tortoises is not uncommon around us--in 2013 Britain's oldest tortoise died after a mouse attack. The tortoise called Thomas was 130 when he was bitten at his home in Guernsey. He spent five days on strong antibiotics , but the wound became so infected that his owner had no choice but to have him put to sleep.

1. Mrs T
2. 90
3. she lost her two front legs
4. in a mouse attack
5. No
6. Yes
7. Jude Ryder
8. her owners glued wheels onto her shell
9. Yes
10. No
11. Dale
12. her son
13. Eight

Numbered questions:
1. What is the tortoise's name?
2. How old is she?
3. What happened to her?
4. how?
5. Are mouse attacks common for tortoises?
6. Did she have an owner?
7. who owned her?
8. What happened after the attack was discovered?
9. Did they take her to the vet?
10. Did the vet design the tires?
11. Who did?
12. Who is that?
13. How old is he?

Q: Lublin is the ninth largest city in Poland and the second largest city of Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the center of Lublin Voivodeship ("province") with a population of 349,103 (March 2011). Lublin is the largest Polish city east of the Vistula River, and is located approximately to the southeast of Warsaw by road.

One of the events that greatly contributed to the city's development was the Polish-Lithuanian Union of Krewo in 1385. Lublin thrived as a centre of trade and commerce due to its strategic location on the route between Vilnius and Krakow; the inhabitants also had the privilege of free trade in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Lublin Parliament session of 1569 led to the creation of a real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, thus creating the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Lublin also witnessed the early stages of Reformation in the 16th century. A Calvinist congregation was founded and certain groups of radical Arians also appeared in the city, making it an important global centre of Arianism. At the turn of the centuries, Lublin was also recognized for hosting a number of outstanding poets, writers and historians of the epoch.

1. Lublin.
2. 349,103.

Numbered questions:
1. What is Poland's ninth largest city?
2. What is its most recent population?