Reading Comprehension 9th grade (I term)

Read the article and put the information in correct order.

Animal magic

1

It’s possible that you haven’t heard of Julie Tottman, but you’ve probably seen the results of her efforts. She trains animals for films and TV, and her animals include the owls in Harry Potter, the dogs in 101 Dalmatians and Blofeld’s white cat in James Bond.

2

Her first animal was a small dog her parents gave her for her 11th birthday. She was so happy that she cried for days and kept waking in the night to check it was still alive. She knew then she wanted a career working with animals, and when she was 13, she started at a hairdresser’s for dogs every Saturday.

3

She first got the idea of going into the movie business when a friend’s father asked her to help with the animals on a film he was making. After that, she contacted every film and TV company she could find, phoning them, writing letters, never stopping. In the end, she got a great job on 101 Dalmatians: ‘I spent six months being paid to play with puppies, which was superb’, she says.

4

She says that you can train almost any animal, apart from snakes and insects, but that some learn faster than others. Rats are very intelligent, but owls are not as clever as people think. It took her a long time to teach the owls to deliver letters in Harry Potter – something that other birds could learn in a week.

5

Getting a job is not easy, but Julie says if anyone asked her for advice, she would tell them to follow their dreams and never give up. You don’t need any special qualifications, but you have to be the right kind of person. You have to have a lot of patience, and you must have a feeling for animals.

6

The method she uses is fairly simple – when she wants an animal to sit, jump or lie down, she can spend weeks at home teaching it, rewarding it with food or praising when it does the right thing. She has put down some of her ideas and methods in a new book she has written – so now anyone who is interested in teaching their dogs or cats a few tricks can have a go at home.

Read the article again. Choose the correct alternative.

1. Julie has               [appeared in, done work for] some famous films.

2. She got her first job with animals when she was    [11, 13].

3. She says she worked extremely hard                       [trying to find a job, for a friend’s father].

4. She says you can train        [owls, snakes], but it takes time.

5. You have to have the right                [qualifications, personality] to succeed.

6. She has written a book about                       [how to train pets, her life in the movie].

Read the text and decide if the statements are True or False.

Julie Tottman is well known to most people because she appears in films and TV shows.