OXFORD BOOKWORMS COMPREHENSION TEST

Stage 3
Chemical Secret

1 Are these sentences true (T) or false (F)?
a _T_ John Duncan’s wife died at sea.
b _F_ John’s new job was in a plastics
factory.
c _T_ The factory was near a river.
d _F_ The waste products from the factory
went into the drinking water for
the town.
e _T_ The waste products were dangerous
to rats.
10 marks
2 Who said this in the story? John,
Andrew, David Wilson, the doctor,
Simon, Mary, Christine.
a ‘When can you start?’ ...David Wilson..
b ‘I wouldn’t want anyone to drink those waste
products.’ ..The doctor..
c ‘You should leave too.’ ..Mary..
d ‘He thinks I’m still a little girl.’ ..Christine..
e ‘I’m too old.’ ..John..
f ‘I have to write an article every week about
the environment.’ ..Simon..
g ‘Money doesn’t grow on trees.’ ..David
Wilson..
h ‘Have you robbed a bank or
something?’ ..Christine..
i ‘We can’t put those chemicals in the
river.’ ..Mary..
j ‘Can we have a boat?’ ..Andrew..
20 marks
4 Who are these two people?
................John and Mary................
...........................................................................
10 marks
5 Where are they?
..............In the factory restaurant...................
...........................................................................
10 marks
6 Complete these sentences about the last
chapter of the story.
a John was living..in a small flat near the sea..
b His bedroom was full of ..baby clothes..
c He hadn’t spoken to Christine because ..she
wouldn’t speak to him..
d Every morning he rang the hospital to
ask ..if Christine was there..
e On the way to the hospital he went into a
shop and ..bought some flowers..
f The rain was falling on the sandbanks
where ..the seals used to live..
30 marks
Total marks

3 Fill in the gaps in the story using these

words: floating, swimmer, life, heavy,
swim, water, slowed, turn, floated, swim.
Hurriedly, Simon began to ..swim.. after her. He
was a good ..swimmer.. but the white
clothes ..slowed.. him down. The ..water..
seemed heavy and held him back. For the rest of
his ..life.. he would dream about that long,
slow ..swim.. towards a white body that ..floated..
quickly away. As he reached her she
was ..floating.. with her face down, unconscious.
He tried to ..turn.. her over but it was so difficult
because she was ..heavy.. .
20 marks

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OXFORD BOOKWORMS COMPREHENSION TEST ANSWERS
Stage 3
Chemical Secret

1
a T
b F
c T
d F
e T

2
a David Wilson
b The doctor
c Mary
d Christine
e John
f Simon
g David Wilson
h Christine
i Mary
j Andrew

3
swim, swimmer, slowed, water, life, swim,
floated, floating, turn, heavy.

4
John and Mary

5
In the factory restaurant

6
a … in a small flat near the sea.
b … baby clothes.
c … she wouldn’t speak to him.
d … if Christine was there.
e … bought some flowers.
f … the seals used to live.

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OXFORD BOOKWORMS MULTIPLE CHOICE TEST
Stage 3
Chemical Secret

SETTING 8 John said he hadn’t been able to find

Choose the best answer.
1 John Duncan stopped being a
biologist _____.
D  to make and sell boats
2 He lost his business after _____
B  his wife died
3 David Wilson told John that they needed a
biologist _____.
C  to say that the factory was safe
4 John was _____ when he was offered
the job.
D  very surprised
5 He had _____.
B  a son and a daughter
6 The flat he and his family lived in
was _____.
A  small and miserable
another job because _____.
B  there were too many bright young
biologists
9 Christine Duncan had never _____.
A  been skiing
10 John told his children that they were
going _____.
C  to be rich
CHARACTERS
Choose the best answer.
11 Before John got the job, he was _____.
B  tall and thin, with grey hair
12 David Wilson had _____.
A  a cold, hard smile
13 Mary had _____ and a friendly face.
A  short brown hair

7 When his wife was alive, they used to 14 Christine was _____ than her brother,
have a _____. Andrew.
C  house in the country C  three years older

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OXFORD BOOKWORMS MULTIPLE CHOICE TEST
Stage 3
Chemical Secret

15 They _____ when they first met her. 22 ‘She sailed around the world alone in a
B  were angry with MarY small boat.’
B  John
16 David Wilson said that John would _____
if he told the truth. 23 ‘I wouldn’t want anyone to drink those waste
D  lose his job products.’
D  John’s doctor
17 Christine told Mary that Simon _____.
A  made her feel important 24 ‘I never knew they lived here, so close to
the town.’
18 Simone wrote an article saying that _____.
B  Mary
B  the factory’s waste products were
dangerous 25 ‘Money doesn’t grow on trees, you know!’
C  David Wilson
19 Peter and Susan were _____.
D  two friends from Greenworld 26 ‘You should leave, too, and get a job in
another company.’
20 At the end of the story, John was
A  Mary
living _____.
D  in a small flat near the sea 27 ‘He says he’s too old for me, and I mustn’t
see him!’
DIALOGUE C  Christine
28 ‘We want to help those poor seals, if
Who said this?
we can.’
21 ‘You’ll have your own office, and a company D  a young chemist
car, of course.’
A  David Wilson 29 ‘Nothing can come out of that pipe now!’
A  Simon

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OXFORD BOOKWORMS MULTIPLE CHOICE TEST
Stage 3
Chemical Secret

30 ‘Are you worried about her baby?’ 38 a small grey or brown animal with a tail
D  the lawyer B  rat
39 unhappy because you are not with
VOCABULARY other people
A  lonely
Choose the best answer.
31 a person who says things that are not true 40 an illness of the body
C  liar D  disease

32 to have enough money to buy something

PLOT
B  afford
33 bad, not nice Choose the best answer.
D  nasty 41 The most important thing that the company
produced was _____.
34 land, air, water, plants, etc.
C  paint for cars
C  environment
42 Some of the _____ left a mark on
35 worried, afraid
John’s leg.
A  nervous
D  waste products
36 an official description of something
43 He told his doctor that the water at the river
C  report
mouth was _____.
37 make a liquid run out of a container by B  safe
mistake
44 When John tested the waste products on
B  spill
rats, some of their babies _____.
D  were born without eyes and ears

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OXFORD BOOKWORMS MULTIPLE CHOICE TEST
Stage 3
Chemical Secret

45 David Wilson _____ to clean up the waste.

A  was not interested in machines
46 After eighteen months, Mary _____.
C  decided to move to another company
47 Christine wanted to marry Simon, who was
interested in _____.
A  the environment
48 She drank the dangerous river water _____.
D  when she nearly drowned
49 At the Public Enquiry, John _____.
B  told the truth
50 John didn’t know if his grandchild
would _____.
D  be born healthy
20 marks

Total marks

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OXFORD BOOKWORMS MULTIPLE CHOICE TEST ANSWERS
Stage 3
Chemical Secret

SETTING PLOT
1 d 41 c
2 b 42 d
3 c 43 b
4 d 44 d
5 b 45 a
6 a 46 c
7 c 47 a
8 b 48 d
9 a 49 b
10 c 50 d

CHARACTERS
11 b
12 a
13 a
14 c
15 b
16 d
17 a
18 b
19 d
20 d

DIALOGUE
21 a
22 b
23 d
24 b
25 c
26 a
27 c
28 d
29 a
30 d

VOCABULARY
31 c
32 b
33 d
34 c
35 a
36 c
37 b
38 b
39 a
40 d

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OXFORD BOOKWORMS
Stage 3
Chemical Secret
BEFORE READING
Activity 1
Encourage students to speculate. Right
answers do not matter at this stage but
the ‘yes’ answers are probably 2, 4, and
5.
Activity 2
Encourage students to speculate but do not
tell them the answers.
1 John Duncan doesn’t tell the truth about his
job.
2 The chemical factory kills some animals.
3 John Duncan loses his job at the chemical
factory.
4 By the end of the story John Duncan is a
poor man.
Activity 3
Encourage students to think about different
types of guilt, in order to prepare them
for thinking about John Duncan at the
end of the story – is he guilty, and if so,
what is he guilty of?
Some ideas for the discussion:
 THE MAN WHO KILLS HIS WIFE'S
LOVER (OR WOMAN WHO kills her
husband’s lover) is guilty of deliberate
intentional murder, but has the excuse of
being provoked.
 THE DRUNK DRIVER IS NOT GUILTY
OF DELIBERATE MURDER, but the
death of the victim is equally tragic.
 THE PERSON WHO KNOWS THE
NAME OF A MURDERER HAS killed no
one directly, but shares in the guilt of the
murder and may be putting other victims
at risk by keeping silent.
WHILE READING
Chapters 1 and 2
1 How . . .? Forty-five.
2 What . . .? Biology and boats.
3 Why . . .? Because he started a boat-building
business with his wife.
4 What . . .? She died in a storm in a sailing race.
5 Why . . .? To make sure that everything in the
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BOOK ACTIVITY ANSWERS
factory was safe / to tell the government
that it was safe to work there and safe to
have a paint factory near the town.
6 How . . .? He disliked him because Wilson
made him feel uncomfortable and seemed
to enjoy making people feel small.
7 How . . .? Two years.
8 Why . . .? Because her father had never had
enough money to pay for it.
Chapters 3 and 4
1 The company had brought four hundred new
jobs to the town.
2 The waste products from the factory went into
the river.
3 The factory was two kilometres from the sea.
4 The town’s drinking water came from the river
five kilometres upstream.
5 John had spilt some of the waste products on
his leg, but was not very worried about it.
6 John bought a boat for his children.
7 When Mary came to dinner, the evening went
badly.
8 Everybody enjoyed watching the seals on the
sandbank.
Chapters 5 and 6
Several experiments were done on rats to test
the waste products which are produced by
the factory. These chemicals are diluted
and on most days less than two parts per
million go into the river. Two groups of
mother rats were given drinking water
which contained the waste products: the
first group had five parts per million; the
second group had two parts per million.
When the baby rats were born, in the first
group some had no eyes, some had no
ears, and some had six legs. In the
second group some were born without
legs.
These results show that it is not safe to put
these chemicals in the river. The company
must build machines to clean up the
waste products before they leave the
factory.
Before Reading Chapter 7
Encourage speculation. The one ‘yes’ answer
is number 5.
OXFORD BOOKWORMS
Stage 3
Chemical Secret
Chapters 7 to 10
3+8 Although John didn’t want Christine to
marry Simon, in the end he agreed to
the marriage.
10+4 Mary liked John and felt sorry for him,
but she was pleased that he hadn’t
asked her to marry him.
6+1 Christine did not believe her father when
he told her that the river water was not
dangerous.
9+5 The Greenworld people put cement in
the pipe in order to stop the chemicals
going into the river.
2+7 Christine was unconscious when she fell
in the river so she nearly drowned before
Simon saved her.
Before Reading Chapter 11
Open answers. Encourage speculation.
Chapters 11 and 12
1 Because David Wilson told him he would lose
his job if he didn’t.
2 Because he had been in Scotland with Mary
that weekend.
3 The newspaper with the report about Christine
nearly drowning in the river.
4 Because he told the enquiry that he was
worried about Christine’s baby, and that the
chemicals were dangerous.
5 Because Christine wouldn’t see him, or speak
to him on the phone, or answer his letters.
6 He was afraid that Christine’s baby would be
born with no eyes or ears or legs, like the
baby rats.
AFTER READING
Activity 1
Yesterday a young woman nearly drowned in the
river when she was sailing with her husband
and two friends near the paint factory.
Christine MacDonald, aged 18, was hit on
the back of the head by a sail and was
unconscious when she fell into the water.
Her body began to float downstream,
towards the sea, but a man from the factory
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BOOK ACTIVITY ANSWERS
shouted a warning, and her husband, Simon
MacDonald, swam after her and managed to
pull her out onto the river bank further
downstream.
Mrs MacDonald is the daughter of John Duncan,
who is the chief biologist at the paint factory.
His daughter Christine belongs to
Greenworld, an environmental group which
believes that chemicals in the factory’s
waste products are killing the baby seals.
She and her friends put bags of cement into
the factory’s waste pipe to stop the
chemicals going into the river.
Mrs Macdonald is going to have a baby and
doctors are very worried because she drank
a lot of water from the river near the factory.
Activity 2
Students may come up with their own ideas
during discussion, but here are some
suggestions:
John Duncan was a good father because . . .
 he liked to talk to his children.
 he looked after his children when their
mother had died.
 he got a good job because he wanted
them to go skiing, to have a good
home, and to have a boat and a horse.
 he spent time with his children – he went
sailing with them.
 he was pleased when his daughter got
married, and tried to help her.
 he was worried about his daughter’s
baby.
John Duncan was a bad father because . . .
 he told them lies about his job.
 he put money before honesty.
 in his job, he did not stop the river being
dangerous for his daughter and her
baby.
Activity 3
6 WILSON: Hello, Mary, what can I do for you?
3 MARY: I’ve come to tell you that I’m leaving,
David.
12 WILSON: Leaving? But why?
5 MARY: You know why. Because of the waste
products that are going into the river.
OXFORD BOOKWORMS BOOK ACTIVITY ANSWERS
Stage 3
Chemical Secret

7 WILSON: Oh, them! Mary, I’ve told you, those Managing Director, Wiltech Paints
chemicals aren’t dangerous!
2 MARY: Yes, they are. Look at those baby rats! Activity 5
9 WILSON: But they’re rats, Mary, not people. Encourage students to discuss and give
And nobody drinks water from the river reasons for their opinions.
mouth. You know that!
1 MARY: The seals do. And look at their babies.
8 WILSON: Seals! Who cares about a few
seals?
15 MARY: I care. I care about everything in the Activity 6
river. Possible answers:
4 WILSON: OK, so you care. But what can I do
1 If I get this job at the paint factory, I’ll be able
about it?
to buy a nice house / I’ll be able to give my
10 MARY: You can buy machines to take out
children anything they want / we’ll all live
some of the chemicals before the waste
well and go on holidays.
products go into the river.
2 If Mary likes my children, perhaps she’ll
13 WILSON: No, I can’t, Mary. The company
marry me / I’ll ask her to marry me.
can’t afford them.
3 If the baby rats are born healthy, everything will
11 MARY: So the seals have to die because you
be fine / the river water will be safe / there
can’t afford the machines?
won’t be a problem.
16 WILSON: Yes. People come first, Mary. Four
4 If Wilson agrees to build the machines, we’ll
hundred people work here. That’s what I
clean up the river / the river water will be
worry about – their jobs!
safe and clean.
14 MARY: Well, you don’t have to worry about
5 If I leave this job, I’ll never get another job / I
my job any more, David. I’m leaving
won’t have any money / we’ll all be poor
tomorrow. Goodbye.
again.
Activity 4 6 If I stay here and say nothing, I’ll keep my
job / we won’t be poor / nobody will know
Sir: your article yesterday about our factory
that the river is dangerous.
contained some information which was
7 It was a terrible mistake to take this job in the
completely untrue, and I wonder where your
first place / stay in the job when Wilson
journalist got his facts from.
refused to build the machines / say nothing
Scientists do not yet know why the seals are to Christine and Simon about the problem /
dying. Although our factory puts some waste agree to write to the newspapers for David
products into the river, it is less than two Wilson / agree to speak at the enquiry.
parts per million, and a lot more waste
Encourage students to discuss what John
comes from the sewage works. It is also
Duncan’s biggest mistake was.
untrue to say that the river water is unsafe
for people. All the town’s drinking water Activity 7
comes from five kilometres upstream, so
Encourage students to use their imagination
nobody can drink water which contains our
and invent their own ideas.
waste products.
Our company cares about this town because a
lot of our workers live here. We have created
four hundred new jobs since we came here
ten years ago. We can clean up the waste if
we spend two million pounds on machines
to do it, but that would mean fewer jobs for
the people of this town.
David Wilson,

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