The Borrowed Ladder
Written by Studio AM.
Your result
- Words per minute
- Score
- Pace
Words per minute mean something only with the score beside them. They describe this passage on this read. With fewer than 3 right, try the next slower pace.
Choose a pace and select Start. The passage is paced and timed, then the questions check what you understood. How pace mode works
Reading time 0:00
Two farmers, Brek and Tomas, kept orchards on the same slope. Neither owned every tool an orchard needs, so they borrowed from each other.
Brek treated a borrowed tool better than his own. He returned a ladder the evening he finished with it, and once, finding a rung cracked, he mended it before carrying it back. Tomas returned things when he was asked, and sometimes only when he was asked twice. The saw came back dull. The cart came back with a loose wheel and no word about it.
One autumn, frost was coming, and both men still had apples on the trees. The tallest ladder on the slope belonged to the widow Maren, and both men knocked at her door that morning.
She did not think long. "Brek brings things back," she said. "He may take it now. Tomas may have it after, if the frost waits."
Every borrowed tool is a test, and you do not choose when the grade is given.
The passage is hidden while you answer. It comes back with your result.
Questions
Choose an answer. The explanation appears after you answer.
-
Question 1 of 4
What lesson does this fable teach?
The answer is B: How you return what you borrow decides what you are trusted with later.
Brek's careful returns lead Maren to trust him with the ladder first.
-
Question 2 of 4
Why does Maren decide so quickly at the door?
The answer is D: Their previous borrowing habits give her a reason to trust Brek.
Her comment about Brek returning things connects her choice with the habits described earlier.
-
Question 3 of 4
In this passage, "mended" most nearly means
The answer is A: repaired
He fixes a cracked rung before returning the ladder, so mended means repaired.
-
Question 4 of 4
What was wrong with the cart when Tomas returned it?
The answer is C: Its wheel was loose, and he said nothing.
Tomas returns the cart with a loose wheel and does not mention it.
Score: none answered yet.