Explicit and Inferred
RL.5.1
Read the text, then answer the questions.
The Mill: Mr Whately's Account
I did not close the mill. The mill closed. For eleven years I put my own money in. In 1979 I sold my house and moved into the office above the weaving floor, and nobody knew that but my accountant. People say I should have told them earlier. I have thought about that more than they have. If I had said in January that we might not last the year, half the workforce would have left by February, and then we certainly would not have. I held on until the day I could not pay them. Then I told them. I have been told this was cowardice. I would call it arithmetic.
- 1. When did he tell the workforce?
- 2. Why does he say he has thought about it more than they have?
- 3. How long did Mr Whately put his own money into the mill?
Orpheus Looks Back
Orpheus played so well that rivers changed course to listen. When his wife Eurydice died, he went down to argue with the dead. He played to the ferryman, who took him free. He played to the three-headed dog, which lay down. He played to the king of the underworld, who wept, and who had never wept. The king gave one condition. Eurydice would follow him up, and he must not look back until both of them stood in the light. He climbed for a day. He could not hear her footsteps — the dead make none — and he had only the king's word. Ten paces from the daylight, he turned round. She was there. That was the last he saw of her.
- 1. How close to the daylight was he when he turned?
- 2. What was the king's condition?
- 3. Why could Orpheus not hear Eurydice behind him?
LessonPrint · RL.5.1 · Set 8 · free to copy for classroom use