Name ______________________
Date _______________________
Inference Practice
Lazy Tok
Tok was born lazy. When she was a baby everyone said what a good baby she was because she never cried, but really she was too lazy to cry. And the older she grew, the lazier she became.
One day she was sitting by the side of the river when a palm tree on the other side of the river spoke to her.
“Good evening, Tok,” he said. “Would you like to know how to get your meals without having to work for them?”
Tok was too lazy to answer, but she nodded her head.
“Well, come over here and I’ll tell you,” said the palm tree.
“Oh, I’m much too tired. Couldn’t you come over here?” yawned Tok.
“Very well,” said the palm tree, and he bent over the river. Then the tree shook himself, and one of his branches dropped at Tok’s feet.
“Now,” said the branch, “all you have to do is make a basket out of me. Then carry me to the edge of the road and leave me there.”
“Oh, dear,” said Tok. “What a bother! Couldn’t you do all that yourself without my help?”
“Very well,” said the branch, and it made itself into a nice, neat, fat basket. Then it went off and laid itself down by the side of the road.
It hadn’t been there long when a fat Chinese gentleman came along.
“Aha!” said the Chinese gentleman. “Here’s a fine basket. I’ll carry my goods from market in it.”
So he picked up the basket and went off with it. He soon had it full of rice, fruits, shrimps, and other nice things. He started off home with it, but he soon felt tired. So he put the basket under a tree and went to sleep. Then the basket jumped up and ran back to lazy Tok.
“Here I am,” said the basket, “full to the brim. Empty me out and you’ll have enough food to last you for a week.”
“What a bother!” said lazy Tok. “Couldn’t you empty yourself out?”
“Very well,” said the basket, and it emptied itself into Tok’s lap.
Every week after that, the basket went off and lay down by the side of the road. And each time, the basket got itself carried to the market and came back to lazy Tok full of fruit and rice and other nice things. And lazy Tok sat on the riverbank and ate and ate, until she became so fat and so lazy she simply couldn’t feed herself.
“Here we are, waiting to be eaten,” said the fruit and the shrimps and the other nice things one day.
“Oh, bother,” said lazy Tok. “Couldn’t you feed me yourselves without giving me so much trouble?”
“We’ll try,” said the fruit and the shrimps and the other nice things. So after that they used to just drop into her mouth.
Lazy Tok grew fatter and FATTER, and lazier and LAZIER. One day the basket went off to lie down by the side of the road when the fat Chinese gentleman came along.
“Twee!” he said angrily. “There you are, you thief!”
Then he took the basket and filled it with ants, lizards, spiders, bees, wasps, and other creeping, biting, stinging, tickling, and itchy things. After that he let the basket go.
Off ran the basket with its load of ants and beetles and lizards and wasps, straight home to lazy Tok.
“What have you got for me today?” asked lazy Tok.
“You’d better get up and look,” said the basket.
“Oh, dear me, no!” said Tok. “I’m too tired. Just empty yourself into my lap.”
So the basket emptied the ants and beetles and other creepy things into lazy Tok’s lap.
Lazy Tok got up and ran and ran as she had never run in her life before. But the ants, beetles, and spiders ran after her, and the lizards crawled after her, and the wasps and bees flew after her. And they stung her and bit her and pricked her. And the harder she ran, the harder they bit her.
As far as I know she may still be running, and she’s as thin as can be.
Answer the following inference questions about the passage.
1. Based on the first paragraph, you can infer that Tok was thought to be a
A cry-baby.
B good baby.
C pretty baby.
D fat baby.
2. Why did the palm tree make its branches into a basket?
A It had nothing else to do.
B It wanted to catch apples from the tree.
C It wanted to steal food from the Chinese man.
D It wanted to assist Tok.
3. In the story, what are the “goods” the Chinese gentleman carried?
A heavy things
B things he bought at the market
C palm nuts and leaves
D beetles, bees, and lizards
4. In the story, “Oh bother” means
A This is too much trouble.
B I’m not happy.
C Where is my brother?
D Leave me alone.
5. You can make the inference that the ants, beetles, and creepy things were sent to Tok
A to teach her a lesson.
B for her to eat.
C to be her pets.
D to give to the palm tree.
6. Why did Tok get thin at the end of the story?
A She stopped eating fruit, rice, and shrimps.
B She got exercise from running.
C The beetles and lizards took her food.
D She stopped being so lazy.
7. The moral of the story is
A don’t steal food.
B don’t talk to palm trees.
C don’t be lazy.
D don’t get fat.