READING COMPREHENSION

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow :

Billy Weaver had travelled down from London and by the time he arrived it was nine o’clock in the night and the moon was coming up.“Excuse me/’ he asked a porter, “but is there a cheap hotel nearby ?”“Try The Bell Hotel,” the porter answered, pointing down the road.

Billy thanked him, picked up his suitcase and set out to walk the distance 5 to The Bell Hotel. He had never been to Richmond before. But the man at the Office had told him it was a splendid city.

Billy was seventeen years old. He was wearing a new navy-blue overcoat, a new brown hat, and a new brown suit, and he was feeling fine. He walked briskly down the street. He was trying to do everything briskly 10 these days. The big shots up at the Head Office were fantastically brisk all the time. They were amazing.

The road was lonely and dark with a few scattered houses.

Suddenly, in a downstairs window, Billy saw a printed notice propped up against the window glass. It said Bed and Breakfast. 

He moved a bit closer and peered through the window into the room, and the first thing he saw was a bright fire burning in the hearth. On the carpet in front of the fire, a little dog was curled up asleep with its nose tucked into its belly.

The room in half-darkness was filled with pleasant furniture. There was a 20 piano and a big sofa and several plump armchairs; and in one comer he spotted a large parrot in a cage. Animals were usually a good sign in a place like this, Billy told himself and it looked to him as though it would be a pretty decent house to stay in.

Then a queer thing happened to him. He was in the act of stepping back 25 and going away from the window when he felt a strange urge to ring the bell!

He pressed the bell. He heard it ringing, and then at once the door swung open and a woman was standing there.

She gave him a warm welcoming smile 

“Please come in,” she said pleasantly. Billy found himself automatically moving forward into the house.

“I saw the notice in the window,” he said, holding himself back.

“Yes, I know.”

“I was wondering about a room”. 

“It’s all ready for you, my dear,” she said. She had a round pink face and very gentle blue eyes.

“How much do you charge?”

“Five dollars a night, including breakfast.”

It was fantastically cheap. He could easily afford it.

(a) Give the meaning of the following words as used in the passage : [3]

One-word answers or short phrases will be accepted.

(i) splendid (line 7)

(ii) spotted (line 22)

(in) automatically (line 21)

(b) Answer the following questions briefly in your own words.

(i) How did the porter assist Billy? [2]

(ii) Why did Billy want to do everything briskly? [2]

(iii) Why did Billy think animals were a good sign in a place like this? [2]

(iv) Which sentence tells you that something strange happened to Billy? [2]

(v) How much did the room cost? [1]

(c) In not more than 50 words, give a brief account of what Billy saw as he looked through the window of the room. [8]