Quiz 3: The Swan by Roald Dahl

What does Peter do to protect himself from the oncoming train? Explain in at least 10 words. Be specific.

Answer explanation

Peter dropped his head and pressed it down hard into the small hole he had dug for it in the gravel. He swung his feet over to one side. He shut his eyes tight and tried to sink his body into the ground.

As the train passed over Peter, what did he feel?

• he was being pulled up by the vacuum of the train

• he was being eaten alive by a snake

• he was being eaten alive by a monster

• he felt strangely at peace

Answer explanation

"He felt as if he were being eaten alive and swallowed up in the belly of a screaming murderous monster."

How does Peter believe he can best avoid harm from Ernie and Raymond?

• a) By fighting back physically

• b) By running into some blackberry bushes

• c) By being quiet and not resisting

• d) By waiting for help from bystanders

Answer explanation

Peter didn’t say any more after that. There was no point at all in provoking these two. The less he said to them and the less he resisted them, the more chance he would have of escaping injury. He had no doubt whatsoever that in their present mood they were capable of doing him quite serious bodily harm.

What did Ernie suggest they do with Peter after untying his feet?

• Break his teeth

• Push him into the lake

• Shoot him

• Take him to the police

What did Ernie shoot at the bird sanctuary?

• A duck

• A duck and a swan

• A swan

• A goose and a duck

• A goose, swan, and duck

What happened after Peter refused to retrieve (go and bring back) the dead duck?

• Ernie punched Peter in the stomach

• Ernie slapped Peter in the face

• Ernie pushed Peter in the lake.

• Ernie broke his arm.

“Nobody shoots a bird sitting on its nest. Absolutely nobody! She may even have ​ (a)   under her! You just can’t do it!”

• pups
• chicks
• ducklings
• cygnets

Answer explanation

“Nobody shoots a bird sitting on its nest. Absolutely nobody! She may even have cygnets under her! You just can’t do it!”

Cygnets is pronounced as "sin-nets".

Peter felt a wild ​ (a)   beginning to build up inside him. He ​ (b)   up to the two bigger boys. “I wouldn’t ​ (c)   that swan if I were you,” he said trying to keep his voice calm. “Swans are the most ​ (d)   birds in England.

​

• Joy
• rage
• walked
• shoot
• protected
• beautiful
• ran
• destroy

Answer explanation

Peter felt a wild rage beginning to build up inside him. He walked up to the two bigger boys. “I wouldn’t shoot that swan if I were you,” he said trying to keep his voice calm. “Swans are the most protected birds in England.

They were ​ (a)   , these two, and from what Peter read in his father’s ​ (b)   nearly every day, they were not by any means on their own. It seemed the whole ​ (c)   was full of hooligans. They wrecked the interiors of trains, they fought battles in the streets with knives and bicycle chains and metal clubs, they ​ (d)   pedestrians, especially other young boys walking alone, and they smashed up roadside cafés. Ernie and Raymond, though perhaps not quite yet fully qualified hooligans, were most definitely on their way.

• hooligans
• newspaper
• attacked
• country
• the world

Answer explanation

They were hooligans, these two, and from what Peter read in his father’s newspaper nearly every day, they were not by any means on their own. It seemed the whole country was full of hooligans. They wrecked the interiors of trains, they fought battles in the streets with knives and bicycle chains and metal clubs, they attacked pedestrians, especially other young boys walking alone, and they smashed up roadside cafés. Ernie and Raymond, though perhaps not quite yet fully qualified hooligans, were most definitely on their way.

Where was the swan when Ernie saw it?

• the swan was swimming by with its babies

• it was swimming

• it was flying

• it was on its nest

Answer explanation

Peter, peering from a little farther away into the rushes, saw at once what they were looking at. It was a swan, a magnificent white swan sitting serenely on her nest. The nest itself was a huge pile of reeds and rushes that rose up about two feet above the waterline, and upon the top of all this, the swan was sitting like a great white lady of the lake. Her head was turned toward the boys on the bank, alert and watchful.