There was once a man in Puerto Rico who had a wonderful parrot．The parrot was unique；there was no other like him in the whole world．He could learn to say any word—except one．He would not say the name of his native town，Catano．
The man did everything he could to teach the parrot to say Catano，but he never succeeded．At first he was very gentle with the bird，but gradually he lost his temper．“You stupid bird！Why can't you learn to say that one word？Say Catano，or I'll kill you!”But the parrot would not say it．Many times the man screamed，“Say Catano，or I'll kill you！”But the bird would not repeat the name．
Finally the man gave up．He picked up the parrot and threw him into the chicken house．“You are even more stupid than the chickens．”
In the chicken house there were four old chickens，waiting to be killed for Sunday's dinner．
The next morning，the man went out to the chicken house．When he opened the door，he was shocked by what he saw．He could not believe his eyes and ears！
On the floor lay three dead chickens． The parrot was screaming at the fourth，“Say Catano，or I'll kill you！”
COMPREHENSION：
Answer the following questions．
1．Why was the man angry at the parrot？
2．What did the man do to the parrot？
3．What did the man want to do with the chickens？
4．Why was the man surprised when he went to the chicken house ？
5．How did the three chickens die？
6．Catano was the name of the
A．bird． B．man． C．town．
7．He could not believe his eyes means：
A．He didn't like his eyes．
B．He couldn't see．
C．He saw something unbelievable．
VOCABULARY
Match the words in the first column with their definitions in the second column．
1．_______ unique
2．_______ except
3．_______ native
4．_______ succeeded
5．_______ gentle
6．_______ gradually
7．_______ lost his temper
8．_______ screamed
9．to repeat
10．picked up
11．shocked
a．not including
b．lifted
c．yelled
d．the only one of its kind
e ．slowly，over a period of time
f．to say or do some thing again
g ．very surprised
h．did well；did what you tried to do
i．got very angry
j．kind，calm
k．relating to where you were born
Key:
Comprehension
1．Because the parrot would not say the name of his native town，Catano．
2．The man did his best to teach the parrot to say Catano，but he failed．
3．The man wanted to kill the chickens for Sunday's dinner．
4．Because on the floor lay three dead chickens and the parrotwas screaming atthe fourth，“Say Catano，or I'll Kill You！”
5．The three chickens were killed by the parrot．
6．C
7．C
Vocabulary：
1．d 2．a 3．k 4．h 5．j 6．e 7．i 8．c 9．f 10．b 11．g
