Matthew Hobbs was sixteen years old. He had been at the same school for five years, and he had always been a very bad pupil. He was lazy, he fought with other pupils, he was rude to the teachers, and he did not obey the rules of the school. His headmaster tried to make him work and behave better, but he was never successful and the worst thing was that, as Matthew grew older, he was a bad influence on the younger boys.

Then at last Matthew left school. He tried to get a job with a big company, and the manager wrote to the headmaster to find out what he could say about Matthew.

The headmaster wanted to be honest, but he also did not want to be too hard, so he wrote, "If you can get Matthew Hobbs to work for you, you will be very lucky.'

A        Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)? Write Tor F.

1. Matthew had come to his school when he was eleven.
2. He was always a good boy.
3. The younger boys learnt good manners from him.
4. Matthew got a job with a big company.
5. His old headmaster got a letter from the manager.
6. The headmaster answered the letter cleverly.

B       Answer these questions:

1. How did Matthew behave at school?
2. What did his headmaster do about it?
3. Did he succeed?
4. What made things even worse?
5. What did Matthew do when he left school?
6. What did the manager of the company do?
7. How did the headmaster feel about this?
8. What did he write to the manager?

C           Put the right sentences under the right pictures:

1. He did not obey the school rules.
2. He fought with other pupils.
3. He was a bad influence on the younger boys.
4. He was rude to the teachers.
5. Matthew was a lazy boy.
6. The headmaster wrote a clever answer.
7. The manager wrote to his headmaster.
8. Then he left school and tried to get a job in a company.