Mr. Hodge was a chicken farmer. He had hundreds of chickens, and sold the eggs and the meat and got quite a lot of money for them, but he lived in a very hot part of the country, and he found that his hens laid hardly any eggs in the summer. So he decided to put air conditioning into his chicken-house so that the hens would lay well all through the year and he could get more eggs and in that way earn more money.

The owner of the company which sold the air-conditioning came to see him, and when he saw Mr. Hodge's house, he thought that he might be able to persuade him to buy some air-conditioning for that too.

'Your wife would be much happier and more comfortable then, ‘he said to Mr. Hodge. But Mr. Hodge was not interested.

‘My wife doesn't lay eggs,' he said.

A        Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)? Write Tor F.

1. Mr. Hodge's chickens laid a lot of eggs when the weather was hot.
2. Mr. Hodge wanted air-conditioning for his chickens.
3. The owner of the air-conditioning company sent a man to see Mr. Hodge.
4. The owner of the company wanted to sell as much air conditioning as possible.
5. Mr. Hodge agreed to have air-conditioning in his house too.
6. Air-conditioning in his house would not bring him more money.

B       Answer these questions:

1. What work did Mr. Hodge do?
2. How did he earn his money?
3. Why did he not get so much money in the summer?
4. Where did he decide to put air-conditioning?
5. Why did he decide this?
6. What did the owner of the air-conditioning company hope to do?
7. What reason did he give for having air-conditioning in the house?
8. What did Mr. Hodge answer?

C         Write these sentences. Choose the correct word or words to put in. The words are: could be earned, could earn, did not lay, put, sold, suggested, was put, was suggested, were laid, were sold.

1. Mr. Hodge ... eggs and meat in the market.
2. Mr. Hodge's eggs and meat... in the market.
3. The chickens ... many eggs in summer.
4. Not many eggs ... in summer.
5. Mr. Hodge ... more money if he had air-conditioning.
6. More money ... by people who had air-conditioning.
7. The owner of the company... air-conditioning for the house too.
8. Air-conditioning for the house too... by the owner of the company
9. Mr. Hodge only... air-conditioning in his chicken-house.
10. Air-conditioning ... only in Mr. Hodge's chicken-house.