Outstanding Short Stories 

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Outstanding Short Stories - Activity worksheets   of 2

Activity worksheets 

LEVEL 5

PENGUIN READERS

Teacher Support Programme

While reading 
The Man Who Could Work Miracles
1 Arethesetrueorfalse?WriteTorFand

changethefalsesentencessothattheyare
true.

a WhenFotheringayperformshisfirst

miracle,therearefourotherpeoplein
theinn.

c

b Fotheringayholdsthelampupsidedown. c

c MostpeopleintheinnthinkFotheringay

isveryclever.

c

d Aftertheshockofhisfirstmiracle,

Fotheringaystartstofeelratherproud
ofhisability.

c

e Hecanperformanymiraclehewants

throughwillpoweralone.

c

2 Solvetheseproblems.

a Wellsseemstohavemadeamistakein

thetext.Accordingtohim,whatisthe
approximatespeedatwhichthingsonthe
surfaceoftheearthinEnglandtravel,
expressedinmilesperhour?Whatisthe
speedatwhichhesayseverythinghadbeen
thrownforward?Whatisthemistake?

b Consideringthattheaccelerationofgravity

(g)isaroundtenmetrespersquaresecond
(10m/s

2

)andthatittookthecowthatfell

nexttoFotheringay24seconds(t)totravel
upandanother24secondstotraveldown,
atwhatspeed(v)wasitthrownup,expressed
inmetrespersecond(m/s),ifv=t.g?

The Model Millionaire
3 Usethesyllablesintheboxtoformwordsand

completethesentences.Whodotheydescribe?
Writetheirnamesatthebeginning.

ing dev ing ly spot o grown ly

ty charm il roar faint ver ly

a ………………hasa………………faceand

an………………beard.

b ………………couldbe………………

crossed.

c ………………smiled………………at

Hughie’sgood-heartedaction.

d ………………,whensurprised,laughed

……………….

e ………………hasahatandcallshimselfan

unlucky……………….

4 Findouttheanswers.

a HowlongitwouldtakeHughietosave

enoughtomarryLauraifhespenthalfhis
allowanceayear?

b HowmanytimesHughie’sannualallowance

isthepictureofthebeggarsoldfor?

c Whatpercentageofhisannualincomedid

Hughiegivetothebeggar?

Lord Emsworth and the Girl Friend
5 a Who/Whatdothesephrasesdescribe?

 1 ‘ahighpriestofsomeancientreligion

abouttokillahumanbeingforthegods’
………………

 2 adoglyingonhisbackatGladys’sfeet

withallfourlegsintheair………………

 3 ‘aman,who,bymistake,haskickedaloyal

dog’………………

 4 menwho,‘ifangrywithaheadgardener,

wouldhavehimcuttopieces’
………………

b Findonemorephraseorsentencethatuses

thistypeofhumourousirony.Shareitwith
yourclass.Whatmakesitfunny?

6 a ImaginethatWodehousehasgiveneach

sectionofthisstoryaheading.Whichis
theheadingofeachsection?Writethe
numbers1–5nexttothem.

 1 Dressedbystrangeforces…..

 2 Dressedtospeak…..

 3 Dressedtoleave…..

 4 Dressedwiththewronghat…..

 5 DressedinwhatIwanttowear…..

b Thinkofotherpossibleheadingsforeach

section.Sharethemwithyourclass.

The Doll’s House
7 a Who/Whatwaslike…

 1 aqueenunderthetree?…………………..

 2 littledots?………………………………..

 3 twolittlecats? ……………………………

 4 achicken?………………………………..

b Doyouthinkthecomparisonsareeffective?

Why?

Outstanding Short Stories 

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c   Pearson Education Limited 2008

Outstanding Short Stories - Activity worksheets  2 of 2

Activity worksheets 

LEVEL 5

PENGUIN READERS

Teacher Support Programme

8 Answerthesequestions.Discussyouranswers

withyourclass.

a WhatisKeziaabouttoshowtotheKelvey

girlswhenAuntBerylinterruptsher?

b WhatisElsehappytohaveseen?

c DoKeziaandElsehaveanythingincommon?

Ifso,what?

9 Findinthetext…

a somebodyusingpower…………………

b anactionusedtoshowfriendship

…………………

c somebodynotvaluingapresent

…………………

d anactionusedtohurtsomebodyandplease

others…………………

X-ing a Paragraph
10 DothesesentencescontainFact(F)or

Possibility(P)?

a MrBullet-headmadeamistakeingoing

toNopolis.

c

b ThemissingOsweretakenbyaman

fromtheDailyNews.

c

c Bobunderstoodthathewastofight

thepeopleintheDailyNewsoffice.

c

d Itiscommonpracticeinprinting

officestoreplacealettertheydon’t
havebyanX.

c

e Peoplewereangryatfirstaboutthe

strangearticle.

c

11 Inthisparagraph,twovowelshavebeen

replaced,byxandX.Whicharethey?
Readtheparagraphandfindinthebooka
paragraphthatsaysthesame.Writethepage
andparagraphnumber.

ThxcXnfusiXnthatthisstrangxarticlxcausxd
cannXtbximaginxd.PxXplxfirstthXughtthat
thxstrangxsignshidadxvilishtrick,andthxy
rushxdtXBullxt-hxad’shXmxtXpunishhim,
butthxycXuldnXtfindhim;hxhadlxft,
nXbXdyknxwhXw…andhxhasnxvxr
rxturnxd.…………

The Courtship of Susan Bell
12 Whosaysthefollowing,andwhoorwhatdo

thewordsinitalicsreferto?

a ‘There,showhermycard.’

b ‘Iamsurprisedthatmotheragreedtotake

him.’

c ‘Idon’tthinktheywouldhavedonememuch

good.’

d ‘IcannotletSusantakethatfromyou.’

13 Whatdothewordsin italicsreferto?

a ‘butHettawasfrightenedatthe trick.’

(page59)……

b ‘Butit mustn’t have any meaning,sir,’

(page64)……

c ‘thatmakesitworse.’(page64)……

d ‘Youngmensaythese thingstoamuse

themselves.’(page69)……

14 WhenhemadeasecondpictureforSusan,

Aaronsaid,‘Ihopethatitwillneitherburst
withthecoldnorbedestroyedbythefire.’
Explainwhy…

a hementionsbridgesbeingdestroyedbycold

weather.

b hementionsbridgesbeingdestroyedbyfire.

c thebridgemaybetakenasasymboloftheir

love.

Lord Mountdrago
15 Whichofthesewordsandphrasesdescribeor

referto:

1 DrAudlin 2 LordMountdrago

3 bothofthem

Writethecorrectnumber.

a good-looking…..

b withstrangepowers…..

c rude…..

d tiredpaleblueeyes…..

e forty-two…..

f largesoftfirmhands…..

g rich…..

h impatient…..

i successful…..

j well-known…..

16 a Lookuptheword‘empathetic’inyour

dictionary.Doesthe‘he’initalicsonpage
93suggestthatLordMountdragowasor
wasn’tempathetic?

b Findoutwhatthissentencesays.Doyou

agreewithit?

 If_o_dMo_____ag_h_d

 bee_empathet_cwithG__ff__hs,

 pe_h_psh_wouldn’tha_edie_.

Outstanding Short Stories 

Photocopiable

c   Pearson Education Limited 2008

Outstanding Short Stories - Progress test   of 

Progress test 

LEVEL 5

PENGUIN READERS

Teacher Support Programme

The Man Who Could Work Miracles

1 Arethesesentencestrue(T)orfalse(F)?

a MrMaydigwasveryenthusiasticabout

MrFotheringay’spowers.

c

b Withhisnewpowers,MrFotheringaycould

makeotherpeoplechangetheirhabits.

c

c MrMaydigwantedtouseMrFotheringay’s

powerstohisownbenefit.

c

d InthediscussionbetweenMrFotheringay

andMrBeamish,MrBeamishisright.

c

The Model Millionaire

2 Maketruesentencesandputtheminorder.

Hughie…

 a …inherited

 hisfather’s
 possessions

 b …tradedtea
 c …boughtand

 soldshares

 d …soldwine

3 a CirclethewordsthatdescribeHughie.

 sympathetic ironic friendly generous

 b OscarWildecallshim‘useless’.Doyouthinkhe

is?Why?

Lord Emsworth and the Girl Friend

4 Puttheseeventsinorder.Writenumbers1–6.

Theheadgardener…
a c threatenstoleaveandLordEmsworthbegshim

tostay.

b c istoldthatGladyscanpickalltheflowersshe

wants.

c c decidestokeephispositionatBlandingsCastle.
d c ishitbyastonethrownbyagirl.
e c seesthegirlwhothrewastoneathimandruns

towardsher.

f c insistsonhisideaofcuttingapathopenamong

sometrees.

The Doll’s House

5 Completethecrosswordpuzzle.
 Across

a thenameoftheeldestsister
b thesurnameofthegirlswhoownedthedoll’shouse
c thecolouroftheframesofthepicturesonthewalls

 Down

d thenameofaKelveygirl
e thenameofaKelveygirl
f theplaceinwhichpeoplethoughtMrKelveywas

g thesurnameofthegirlwhoaskedElseifshewould

beaservant

X-ing a Paragraph

6 Choosethecorrectoption.

a MrBullet-headthoughtthathisinflexibilitywasone

ofhisstrengths / weaknesses.

b MrBullet-headbrought his printing press from the  

east / rented a printing press in Nopolis.

c Thetwoeditorspublishedatotaloffour / 

fiveeditorialarticlesabouteachotherintheir
newspapers.

d Mr Bullet-head / Bob’s masteraskedBobtotakethe

IsfromtheDailyNewsoffices.

e ThechiefprinterthoughtthatusinganXwasa

goodideabecausenobody would read the article /  
the article was nonsense anyway.

The Courtship of Susan Bell

7 Find12wordsoffourlettersormorerelatedto

thestoryinthischart.Only7arepropernames.
Thewords/namescanbeinanydirection.

R

E

T

S

I

N

I

M

E

S

A

N

Y

N

A

B

L

A

L

G

N

K

L

A

W

Y

E

R

T

O

D

O

A

L

S

U

X

A

N

T

V

I

R

T

E

E

N

G

I

N

E

E

R

A

E

B

N

D

U

N

N

H

R

B

A

L

Lord Mountdrago

8 a AreLordMountdragoandDrAudlinsimilar(=)

ordifferent(≠)intheseaspects?

 1 toleranceoftheweaknessesofothers

c

 2 tendencytojudgeothers

c

 3 firmnessintheirdecisions

c

 4 prideintheirknowledgeandskill

c

 5 capacitytotoleratesilencesinconversation c

 b Whichoftheseaspectsoftheirpersonalities

becomesclearintheexchangeofcallsbetween
LordMountdrago’ssecretaryandDrAudlin?
Circletherightnumber.

1 failedforlackof

experience.…..

2 nobodybought

him.…..

3 theyendedona

wallandashelfin
hishouse.…..

4 gottiredofit.…..

but

a 

d

e

f

b

g

c