Reading task for 4th or 5th form

                               A story about a parrot

Once there lived a man who had a parrot. The man tried to teach the parrot to speak. But the parrot could learn only the phrase, “There is no doubt about it.” (в этом нет сомнения). The parrot always said these words and always gave the same answer. “There is no doubt about it”.

At last the man decided to sell (продавать; sold = V 2) the parrot. He went to the street and began to cry, “Twenty dollars for a very clever parrot!”

One woman heard this. She came up to the parrot and asked, “ Are you worth twenty dollars?” The parrot answered, “There is no doubt about it”.

“What a clever parrot”, she said and bought the bird.

After some days the woman couldn’t listen to the parrot any more. She said, “What a fool I was to buy this parrot and throw away so much money. Twenty dollars!”

Then the parrot cried, “There is no doubt about it”.

This time the parrot was right. 

True, false or not stated:

1. The parrot learned a lot of words.    

        a) true             b) false            c) not stated                                                          

2. The man liked his clever bird so much that he decided not to sell it.

        a) true             b) false            c) not stated                                                          

3. The woman thought that the parrot was very clever.  

        a) true             b) false            c) not stated                                                                                

4. The parrot said the same words.

         a) true             b) false            c) not stated                                                          

5. The woman sold the parrot.                                                                          

         a) true             b) false            c) not stated