E - Klasse 10 - Arbeit Nr. 2 - GreenButterSolutions

Reading comprehension. Answer the questions on the text in complete sentences.

James Thurber, The very proper gander*

Not so very long ago there was a very fine gander. He was strong and smooth* and beautiful and he spent most of his time singing to his
wife and children. One day somebody who saw him strutting* up and down in his yard and singing remarked*, "There is a very proper
gander." An old hen* overheard* this and told her husband about it that night in the roost*. "They said something about propaganda," she
said. "I have always suspected* that," said the rooster9, and he went around the barnyard next day telling everybody that the very fine
gander was a dangerous bird, more than likely a hawk* in gander's clothing. A small brown hen remembered a time when at a great
distance she had seen the gander talking with some hawks in the forest "They were up to no good* ," she said. A duck* remembered that
the gander had once told him he did not believe in anything.
"He said to hell* with the flag, too" said the duck. A guinea hen* recalled* that she had once seen somebody who looked very much like the
gander throw something that looked a great deal like a bomb.
Finally everybody snatched up* sticks and stones and descended on* the gander's house. He was strutting in his front yard, singing to his
children and his wife. "There he is!" everybody cried.
"Hawk-lover! Unbeliever! Flag-hater! Bomb-thrower!" So they set upon him and drove him out of the country.
Moral: Anybody who you or your wife thinks is going to overthrow the government by violence must be driven out of the country.

 
(273 words)

Annotations

gander - Gänserich
smooth - glatt  
to strut - stolzieren
to remark - anmerken, sagen
hen - Henne
to overhear - mitanhören, belauschen
roost - Hühnerstall
to suspect - vermuten
rooster - Hahn
hawk - Habicht
to be up to no good - etwas im Schilde führen
duck - Ente
hell - Hölle
guinea hen - Perlhuhn
to recall - sich erinnern
to snatch up - schnappen
to descend on - überfallen
to overthrow (the government) - (die Regierung) stürzen