Read the paragraphs below and answer the questions.
Meantime, the Rat, warm and comfortable, dozed by the fireside. His book slipped from his knee, his head fell back, his mouth opened, and he wandered by the green banks of dream rivers. Then a coal slipped, the fire crackled and sent up a spurt of flame, and he woke with a start. Remembering what he had been engaged upon, he reached down to the floor for his book, pored over it for a minute, and then looked round for the Mole to ask him something or other.
But the Mole was not there. He listened for a time. The house seemed very quiet.
1. The Rat woke up when:
2. The shortness of the two sentences “He listened for a time. The house seemed very quiet.” is effective because it gives us a feeling of the Rat’s:
Then he called ‘Moly!’ several times, and, receiving no answer, went out into the hall. The Mole’s cap was missing from its accustomed peg. His galoshes, which always lay by the umbrella-stand, were also gone.
The Rat left the house, and carefully examined the muddy surface of the ground outside, hoping to find the Mole’s tracks. There they were, sure enough. The galoshes were new, just bought for the winter, and the pimples on their soles were fresh and sharp. He could see the imprints of them in the mud, running along straight and purposeful, leading direct to the Wild Wood.
3. The Rat suspected that the Mole had left the house, because:
4. The galoshes were all of the following EXCEPT:
The Rat looked very grave, and stood deep in thought for a minute or two. Then he re-entered the house, strapped a belt round his waist, shoved a brace of pistols into it, took up a stout cudgel that stood in a corner of the hall, and set off for the Wild Wood at a smart pace.
5. The word “grave” could most accurately be replaced by:
It was already getting towards dusk when he reached the first fringe of trees and plunged without hesitation into the wood, looking anxiously on either side for any sign of his friend. Here and there wicked little faces popped out of holes, but vanished immediately at the sight of the valiant animal, his pistols, and the great ugly cudgel in his grasp; and the whistling and pattering, which he had heard quite plainly on his first entry, died away and ceased, and all was very still. He made his way manfully through the length of the wood to its furthest edge; then, forsaking all paths, he set himself to traverse it, laboriously working over the whole ground, and all the time calling out cheerfully, ‘Moly, Moly, Moly! Where are you? It’s me — it’s old Rat!’
He had patiently hunted through the wood for an hour or more, when at last to his joy he heard a little answering cry. Guiding himself by the sound, he made his way through the gathering darkness to the foot of an old beech tree with a hole in it, and from out of the hole came a feeble voice, saying, ‘Ratty! Is that really you?’
6. The “faces” vanished back into their holes because:
7. The word “forsaking” could most accurately be replaced by:
8. The Rat called out “cheerfully” because:
9. Which of the following would be the most appropriate title for the whole passage?