The man who didn't wash his dishes

Read the text and do the tasks

THE MAN WHO DIDN’T WASH

HIS DISHES

(after Phyllis Krasilovsky)

There once was a man who lived alone in a little house in

a small town. He always cooked his own dinner, cleaned the

house by himself and made his own bed.

One night he came home feeling very hungry, so he made a

big dinner. He ate too much and he was very tired after

finishing. He decided to leave the dishes till the next night.

But the next night he was TWICE1 as hungry, so he

cooked TWICE as big of a dinner, and it took TWICE as long

to eat it, and he was TWICE as tired as he had been the day

before. As the days passed by, he got hungrier and more tired,

and there were so MANY dirty dishes that he started to pile

them on the table.

As soon as the table was full he started to put them on his

bookshelves. As soon as THEY were full, he started piling

them on the fl oor for several days and soon he couldn’t get

into his house!

One night he looked in his cupboard and found out2 that

there wasn’t any clean dish there. Soon he used up all his

ashtrays3 and clean fl owerpots, and his sweets dishes, and

drank water from vases. He used up EVERYTHING, even the

pots he cooked his food in, and the frying pan, and the kettle,

and he didn’t know what to do! He was SO unhappy. His whole

house was full of dirty dishes, and dirty fl owerpots, and dirty

ashtrays, and dirty sweets dishes, and dirty pots, and a dirty

soap dish, and a dirty frying pan, and a dirty kettle. He couldn’t

find his books or his clock, or even his BED any more! He

couldn’t sit down to think because even his chairs were piled with

dishes, and he couldn’t fi nd the sink so he could wash them!

But THE RAIN STARTED! And the man got an idea. He

drove his big lorry around to the side of his house and piled all

the dishes, and all the vases, and all the ashtrays, and pots, and a

frying pan, and a kettle on it and drove the truck out into the rain.

The rain fell ON EVERYTHING and soon the dishes were

clean again. THE RAIN WASHED THEM! Then the man carried

everything back into the house again. He put the dishes into the

cupboard, the frying pan and the pots on the pot shelves, the ash

trays on the tables, the fl owerpots back where he found them, the

vases where the vases go, the kettle on the gas cooker, and the soap

dish in the bathroom. He was so tired after carrying everything

back and putting it away that he decided, “I’d better always wash

my dishes just as soon as I have fi nished my dinner.” The next

night when he came home, he cooked his dinner, fi nished eating it,

then washed the dishes and put them right away. He did this every

night after that, too. HE IS VERY HAPPY NOW. He can fi nd his

chairs, and he can fi nd his clock, and he can fi nd his BED. It is

easy for him to get into his house, too, because there are no more

dishes piled on the fl oor or anywhere!

II Choose the correct answer

1. A man lived..

II Choose the correct answer

2. He started to pile the dirty dishes…

II Choose the correct answer

3. After a while the man couldn’t get…

II Choose the correct answer

4. One day he found out that…

II Choose the correct answer

5. He decided…

II Choose the correct answer

6. At last, he man carried back…

III Choose the correct answer

1. Where did a man live?

III Choose the correct answer

2. How did he feel one night?

III Choose the correct answer

3. Who cooked meals?

III Choose the correct answer

4.Why did the man put the plates on the floor?

III Choose the correct answer

5. What did the man do to have clean dishes again?

III Choose the correct answer

6. When did the man decide to wash the dishes?