"Caught in the
Act"
Passage from "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"
"TOM!"
No
answer.
"TOM!"
No
answer.
"What's
gone with that boy, I wonder? TOM!"
No
answer.
The old
lady pulled her spectacles down and looked over them about the room; then she
put them up and looked out under them. She seldom or never looked THROUGH them
for so small a thing as a boy; they were her state pair, the pride of her
heart, and were built for "style," not service—she could have seen
through a pair of stove-lids just as well. She looked perplexed for a moment,
and then said, not fiercely, but still loud enough for the furniture to hear:
"Well,
I lay if I get hold of you I'll—"
She did
not finish, for by this time she was bending down and punching under the bed
with the broom, and so she needed breath to punctuate the punches with. She
resurrected nothing but the cat.
"I
never did see the beat of that boy!"
She
went to the open door and stood in it and looked out among the tomato vines and
"jimpson" weeds that constituted the
garden. No Tom. So she lifted up her voice at an angle calculated for distance
and shouted:
"TOM!"
There
was a slight noise behind her and she turned just in time to seize a small boy
by the slack of his roundabout and arrest his flight.
"There!
I might 'a' thought of that closet. What you been doing in there?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing! Look at your hands. And look at your mouth. What IS that...?"
"I
don't know, aunt."
"Well,
I know. It's jam—that's what it is. Forty times I've said if you didn't let
that jam alone I'd skin you. Hand me that switch."
The
switch hovered in the air—the peril was desperate—
"My!
Look behind you, aunt!"
The
old lady whirled round, and snatched her skirts out of danger. The lad fled on
the instant, scrambled up the high board-fence, and disappeared over it.
Reading Comprehension Questions
1) In the above passage, which of the following best describes
the mood of the "old lady"?
a.
careless
b.
delightful
c.
frustrated
d.
terrified
2) In the above passage, Tom is doing which of the following?
a.
hiding from his aunt because he's eating her jam
b.
making sure his aunt doesn't steal his jam
c.
working in the garden while eating some jam
d.
making jam even though his aunt told him not to
3) In the above passage, it says "The old lady pulled her spectacles down and looked over
them..." Based on the context,
which of the following is true about her glasses?
a.
she is blind
without them
b.
she wears them
just for show
c.
she wishes she
didn't need them
d.
she needs a new
pair
4) In the above passage, the aunt fixes her glasses and then
speaks "loud enough for the
furniture to hear." This phrase
is saying that she was speaking in which way?
a.
as loud as she
can
b.
just above a
whisper
c.
too quietly for
anyone to hear
d.
in a foreign
language
5) Near the end of the passage, Tom shouts, "Look behind you, aunt!" Why did he say this?
a.
to protect her
from getting hurt
b.
to prove that he
was innocent
c.
to keep her from
knowing his hiding place
d.
to distract her
while he ran away
6) The above passage is from the start of a novel. The author most likely wrote this passage to
highlight which of the following about the characters?
a.
that Tom is a troublemaker
b.
that Tom is timid
c.
that the "old lady" is unreasonable
d.
that the "old lady" is bighearted
Answer Key
1)
In the above
passage, which of the following best describes the mood of the "old
lady"?
a.
careless
b.
delightful
c.
frustrated
d.
terrified
2)
In the above passage,
Tom is doing which of the following?
a.
hiding from his
aunt because he's eating her jam
b.
making sure his aunt doesn't steal his jam
c.
working in the garden while eating some jam
d.
making jam even though his aunt told him not
to
3)
In the above passage,
it says "The old lady pulled her
spectacles down and looked over them..." Based on the context, which of the following
is true about her glasses?
a.
she
is blind without them
b.
she wears them just for show
c.
she
wishes she didn't need them
d.
she
needs a new pair
4)
In the above
passage, the aunt fixes her glasses and then speaks "loud enough for the furniture to hear." This phrase is saying that she was speaking
in which way?
a.
as
loud as she can
b.
just above a whisper
c.
too
quietly for anyone to hear
d.
in
a foreign language
5)
Near the end
of the passage, Tom shouts, "Look
behind you, aunt!" Why did he
say this?
a.
to
protect her from getting hurt
b.
to
prove that he was innocent
c.
to
keep her from knowing his hiding place
d.
to distract her while he ran away
6)
The above
passage is from the start of a novel.
The author most likely wrote this passage to highlight which of the
following about the characters?
a.
that Tom is a
troublemaker
b.
that Tom is timid
c.
that the "old lady" is unreasonable
d.
that the "old lady" is bighearted