Analytical Reader

Second chapter.

Read the following text.

 (…) At the church door Tom stopped to speak to a friend. “Billy, do you have a yellow ticket?”

“Yes.”

“Will you sell it to me?”

“What will you pay for it?”

Tom offered enough, and received the ticket. Then Tom stopped other boys, and bought more tickets, some red and some blue. He was busy with this buying for about ten minutes. Then he went into the church.

These tickets were given for learning the Bible verses. A blue tick­et was given for two verses. A red ticket was equal to ten blue tickets. A yellow ticket was equal to ten red tickets. And for ten yellow tickets, for learning two thousand verses, the Sunday school teacher gave the student a Bible.

It was a wonderful day when a boy or a girl received one of these Bibles. Perhaps Tom did not want the Bible. But he did want the wonderful experience of receiving it.

“Now, children,” the teacher said, “sit up as straight as possible, and listen. That is what good little boys and girls should do.”

While the teacher was talking, three gentlemen and a lady entered the church. The lady was leading a child. When Tom saw this small girl, waves of happiness went over him. He began hitting other boys, pulling their hair, doing everything to force the new girl to look at him and

smile. He was quickly forgetting the water the woman threw from her window the night before.

The gentlemen and the lady went to the front of the church and sat down there. Then the teacher told who they were. One gentleman was Mr. Thatcher, who lived in the village. All knew him. But one was his brother, the great Judge Thatcher. He had traveled, he had seen the world, he came from a large town twelve miles away.

The teacher wished that on this day he could give some boy or girl a Bible. He would have been proud to do that. The famous Judge Thatcher would know, then, that this was a fine Sunday school. But no child had enough yellow tickets.

At this moment, when hope was dead, Tom Sawyer came forward.

He had nine yellow tickets, nine red tickets, and ten blue tickets. It was like a storm coming from a clear sky. The teacher had not expected Tom to gather so many tickets in ten years, but here were the tickets.

It was the surprise of the year.

 Match the word with its definition.

Ticket                                                   a building for Christian religious activities                           

Church                                                 a person from the time of birth until he or she is an adult

Bible                                      a small card that shows that the person holding it has paid for an activity 

Child                                                                the holy writings of any religion.     

Year                                      an extreme weather condition with strong winds and heavy rain or snow

Storm                                             any period of twelve months