question: CHAPTER XXIX

"Guess I'll have to wash my hands of him," Collins told Johnny. "I know Del Mar must have been right when he said he was the limit, but I can't get a clue to it."

This followed upon a fight between Michael and Collins. Michael, more morose than ever, had become even crusty-tempered, and, scarcely with provocation at all, had attacked the man he hated, failing, as ever, to put his teeth into him, and receiving, in turn, a couple of smashing kicks under his jaw.

"He's like a gold-mine all right all right," Collins meditated, "but I'm hanged if I can crack it, and he's getting grouchier every day. Look at him. What'd he want to jump me for? I wasn't rough with him. He's piling up a sour-ball that'll make him fight a policeman some day."

A few minutes later, one of his patrons, a tow-headed young man who was boarding and rehearsing three performing leopards at Cedarwild, was asking Collins for the loan of an Airedale.

"I've only got one left now," he explained, "and I ain't safe without two."

"What's happened to the other one?" the master-trainer queried.

"Alphonso--that's the big buck leopard--got nasty this morning and settled his hash. I had to put him out of his misery. He was gutted like a horse in the bull-ring. But he saved me all right. If it hadn't been for him I'd have got a mauling. Alphonso gets these bad streaks just about every so often. That's the second dog he's killed for me."
1. Who fought?
2. Did they have a friendly rapport beforehand?
3. Who won the fight?
4. Whom is speaking?
5. Does Michael have an even temper?
6. What does Collins liken him to?
****
answer: 1. Michael and Collins
2. No
3. unknown
4. Collins
5. No
6. A gold-mine

question: Rome is the capital of Italy and a special comune (named "Comune di Roma Capitale"). Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region. With 2,877,215 residents in , it is also the country's most populated comune. It is the fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents. Rome is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio (Latium), along the shores of the Tiber. The Vatican City is an independent country inside the city boundaries of Rome, the only existing example of a country within a city: for this reason Rome has been often defined as capital of two states.

Rome's history spans more than 2,500 years. While Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The city's early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and Sabines. Eventually, the city successively became the capital of the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, and is regarded as the birthplace of Western civilisation and by some as the first ever metropolis. It was first called "The Eternal City" by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the "Caput Mundi" (Capital of the World).
1. What is the main subject?
2. How long does its history span?
3. And according to myth, it was around when?
4. Is it the capital city of where?
5. And what region?
6. What is the metro area's population?
7. What independent country is within its limits?
8. Is this normal?
9. Where did the population originate from?
10. The capital of where did it become in those days?
****
answer: 1. Rome
2. 2,500 years
3. 753 BC
4. Italy
5. Lazio region
6. 4.3 million
7. The Vatican City
8. Not really
9. T a mix of Latins, Etruscans and Sabines.
10. the Roman Kingdom

question: (CNN) -- Garth Brooks is still holding out hope he can do shows in Ireland despite the Dublin city council saying no to two of them.

Brooks told the Irish promoter after the city's approval of just three shows he would wait "to the last second" before sending his crew and gear back the the United States.

"I cannot begin to tell you how badly my heart is breaking right now," the singer wrote in a note to Aiken Promotions on Tuesday. Brooks' rep on Wednesday provided CNN a copy of the note.

The Dublin shows had been planned for Croke Park Stadium, a football arena that can hold more than 90,000 fans, on five consecutive nights during the last week of July. The council approved Friday, Saturday and Sunday shows, but rejected licenses for Monday and Tuesday night concerts.

The promoter, saying Brooks insisted on five shows or none at all, announced Tuesday that all concerts of "The Garth Brooks Comeback Special Event" were canceled and the 400,000 tickets sold would be refunded.

A measure of the demand to see Brooks perform live is impressive, considering the 400,000 tickets sold represent nearly one of every 10 people in the Republic of Ireland's 4.5 million population.

"I hope you understand that to play for 400,000 people would be a dream, but to tell 160,000 of those people that they are not welcome would be a nightmare," Brooks wrote. "To do what the city manager suggests (play three shows and not all five) means I agree that is how people should be treated and I just can't agree with that."
1. who will wait for the last moment ?
2. and the first mane ?
3. why is he holding out hope ?
4. despite what council ?
5. how many did they turn down ?
6. how many tickets were sold ?
7. was it all given back ?
8. where did the send the crew back to ?
9. what else went back ?
10. who did he write a note to ?
11. on what day ?
12. when did cnn get it ?
13. how many shows were spproved ?
14. what days ?
15. what days were no approved ?
16. day or night ?
17. how many could the arena hold ?
18. on hoe many night straight ?
19. when ?
20. of what month ?
****
answer:
1. Brooks
2. Garth
3. he can do shows in Ireland
4. Dublin city
5. two
6. 400,000
7. yes
8. United States
9. gear
10. Aiken Promotions
11. Tuesday
12. Wednesday
13. Three
14. Friday, Saturday and Sunday
15. Monday and Tuesday
16. night
17. 90,000
18. five consecutive
19. during the last week
20. July