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1) Two Mexicans
Two Mexicans had accused each other of cheating, and both of them were getting angrier and angrier. “I will kill you,” shouted Jose. Miguel laughed rudely and answered, “You could never kill me, but I could you.” “Just try,” Jose shouted back. “We’ll fight a duel in the park at five o’clock tomorrow morning.” “No, not in the park,” Miguel answered, “the police might see or hear us there. Let’s go out to a quiet place in the country.” “Alright,” said Jose, “I accept. Let’s go to San Antonio by the first train tomorrow morning. That’s where I usually fight my duels.” “I do too”, answered Miguel. The next morning, they went to the railway station together, and Jose bought a return ticket but Miguel bought a single one. “Hoho,” said Jose, “so you don’t expect to return. I always get a return ticket.” “I never do,” answered Miguel calmly. “I always use my opponents other half.”
Why were the two Mexicans so angry? Why didn’t Miguel want to fight the duel in the park? Where did they fight it? Why did Jose buy a return ticket? Why did Miguel buy a single one?
2) Ice-cream
Mrs Evans went to a large local cinema one summer afternoon. Half way through the wonderful film, there was the usual interval so that people could buy sweets, chocolates and ice-cream. Mrs Evans rarely bought anything in the cinema but this time she was feeling hot. So she thought, “I’ll have an ice-cream to cool me, I certainly need it.” Quite a lot of the audience were waiting to buy ice-cream from the girl who was selling them, so Mrs Evans waited for her turn. There was a small boy in front of her. When it was his turn, he offered the girl ten pence, and asked for an ice-cream. But they cost twenty pence. So the girl said, “I want another ten pence, please.” The small boy put the coin back in his pocket, put his hand in another pocket, took out another ten pence coin, and offered that to the girl. Mrs Evans was so amused, that she paid the other ten pence herself.
Why did Mrs Evans decide to have an ice-cream in the cinema? Why did she have to wait before she could buy it? Why did the girl ask the small boy for more money? What did the boy do then? Why did Mrs Evans help him?
3) Copies
A clerk, who worked in small office in a factory, discovered that there were so many files in his room that there was not room for any more. Also, each file was so full that is was impossible to add any more papers to it. “Well”, he thought, “Every week, I have to find room for several hundred letters. So something will have to be done about this.” He thought and thought, and then decided to send a note to his manager, explaining what had happened and asking him for his permission to go through the old files and to take out and destroy all letters which were no longer of any use. The next day, he received a message from his manager in answer to his. It said, “Alright, you have permission to do as you suggest, but you must make copies of all letters before destroying them.
Why did the clerk want to destroy some of the papers in his office? Which ones did he want to destroy? What did he do before he started to destroy them? What did the manager say he could do?
4) Twenty dollars
Len and Jim worked for the same company. One day, Len lent Jim twenty dollars, but then Jim left his job and went to work in another town without paying Len back his twenty dollars. Len did not see Jim for a year, and then he heard from another friend that Jim was in town and staying at the central hotel. So he went to see him there late in the evening. He found out the number of Jim’s room from the clerk at the desk downstairs and went up to find him. When he got to the room he saw Jim’s shoes outside the door waiting to be cleaned. “Well, he must be in,” he thought and knocked at the door. There was no answer. He knocked again. Then he said, “I know you’re in Jim, your shoes are out here.” “I went out in my slippers,” answered a voice from inside the room.
Why couldn’t Len ask Jim to pay him back sooner? How did Len find out that Jim was at the central hotel? How did he find out which Jim’s room was? Why had Jim put his shoes outside the door? How did Len know that Jim hadn’t really left his room?
5) Timothy was not a very good pupil
Timothy was ten years old. He was not a very good pupil, and he did not like having to do homework because he preferred to do other things in his free time. Frequently, he did not do his homework, and when he did do it, he always made a lot of mistakes. Then one day, his mathematics teacher looked at Timothy’s homework, and saw that he had got all his sums right. He was very pleased and rather surprised. He called Timothy to his desk and said to him, “You got all your homework right this time, Timothy. What happened? Did your father help you?” Usually Timothy’s father did help him with his homework but the evening before this, he had not been able to because he had not been at home, so Timothy answered, “No, sir, he was busy last night, so I had to do it all myself.”
What kind of homework did Timothy’s teacher expect to see from him? Why was one of his teachers surprised one day? What did he think had happened? Did Timothy usually do his homework alone? When Timothy’s father helped him with his homework, did he get all of right?
