Once a tiger was in a cage. Soon a good man went by. As soon as the tiger saw the man, the tiger began to cry. “Please! Please!” the tiger called. “Please, let me out.” “No,” said the good man. “If I do, you will eat me.” “I will not eat you,” the tiger said. “Please let me out.”
The good man believed the tiger. He opened the door of the cage. The tiger jumped out. “How silly you are,” the tiger laughed. “Now I am going to eat you.” “Wait!” the man cried. “You ought not to eat me. Let us ask others what they think.” “You may ask three others. ” the tiger said.
The good man asked a tree. The tree said, “I give shade (树荫). And yet I am cut down. Let the tiger eat you.”
Next, the good man asked a bird. The bird said, “I hurt no one. Yet people hunt and kill me. Let the tiger eat you.”
The last one that the good man asked was a road. The road said, “I don’t care if the tiger eats you. People could not get along too well without me. Yet all day and all night people step on me without even a ‘thank you’.”
The tiger was ready to eat the good man. Just then a dog came by. “What is happening?” asked the dog. The man told the dog the whole story.
“I don’t understand,” said the dog. “The tiger wants to eat you because you put him in a cage?”
“No, no,” said the man. “Some other men put him in a cage.”
“Oh,” the dog said. “He is going to eat you because you do not have a cage.”
“Silly dog!” the tiger cried. “Don’t you understand? I was in the cage. This man let me out.”
“Oh, I see,” the dog said. “When the man was in the cage, you let him out.”
“I was in the cage!” the tiger cried. “In this way!” with that, he jumped back into the cage.
At once, the dog closed the door of the cage. “Oh,” the dog laughed. “At last I understand!”
The good man and the dog walked off. The tiger looked sad in the cage. If he waited long enough, perhaps another good man would come by.
1. When the tiger saw the man, he began to cry, because _____________.
A. he wanted the man to help him out of the cage
B. he wanted to eat the man
C. he wanted to eat the dog
D. he wanted to eat the bird
2. After the tiger jumped out of the cage, he wanted _____________.
A. to thank the man B. to eat the man
C. to ask the others D. to run away
3. The tree ____________ with the tiger because _______ to the tree.
A. agreed; humans were kind B. agreed; humans were not kind
C. disagreed; humans were kind D. disagreed; humans were not kind
4. The bird let the tiger eat the man because __________.
A. people helped birds B. it liked tigers
C. it liked the man D. people hunted and killed him
5. What happened to the tiger at last?
A. The dog agreed that the tiger could eat the good man.
B. The tiger jumped back into the cage and was closed in the cage again.
C. The tiger ate the good man and the dog.
D. The tiger made friends with the good man and the dog.