Reading Comprehension practice From The Happy Prince By Oscar Wilde
Reading Comprehension practice From The Happy Prince By Oscar Wilde: Here are three passages from “The Happy Prince,” each followed by 10 multiple-choice questions designed for a reading comprehension test.
Reading Comprehension Test: Passage 1
Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
The eyes of the Happy Prince were filled with tears, and tears were running down his golden cheeks. His face was so beautiful in the moonlight that the little swallow was filled with pity. “I am the Happy Prince.” “Why are you weeping then?” asked the swallow.
“When I was alive and had a human heart,” answered the statue, “I did not know what tears were, for I lived in the Palace, where sorrow is not allowed to enter. My courtiers called me the Happy Prince, and happy indeed I was. So I lived, and so I died. And now that I am dead they have set me up here so high that I can see the ugliness and all the misery of my city, and though my heart is made of lead yet I cannot choose but weep.”
“Far away in a little street there is a poor house. One of the windows is open, and through it I can see a woman seated at a table. Her face is thin and worn… she is a seamstress. She is embroidering flowers on a satin gown for the loveliest of the Queen’s maids of honour. In a bed in the corner of the room her little boy is lying ill. He has a fever, and is asking his mother to give him oranges. His mother has nothing to give him but river water.”
Multiple-Choice Questions (Passage 1)
- What was falling from the Happy Prince’s eyes?
a) Raindrops
b) Gold dust
c) Tears
d) Jewels
Answer: c) Tears - In the palace, what was not allowed to enter?
a) Strangers
b) Animals
c) Sorrow
d) The poor
Answer: c) Sorrow - The statue’s heart was made of what material?
a) Solid gold
b) Bright sapphire
c) Hard stone
d) Lead
Answer: d) Lead - Why was the Happy Prince weeping now?
a) He was lonely
b) He missed the palace
c) He could see the city’s misery
d) He was getting old
Answer: c) He could see the city’s misery - What was the profession of the poor woman the Prince could see?
a) A baker
b) A seamstress
c) A washerwoman
d) A flower-seller
Answer: b) A seamstress - What was the seamstress embroidering flowers on?
a) A velvet cloak
b) A silk scarf
c) A satin gown
d) A cotton dress
Answer: c) A satin gown - Who was the gown for?
a) The Queen
b) The Princess
c) A Queen’s maid of honour
d) The seamstress herself
Answer: c) A Queen’s maid of honour - What was wrong with the seamstress’s little boy?
a) He had a broken leg
b) He was hungry
c) He had a fever
d) He was feeling cold
Answer: c) He had a fever - What was the little boy asking his mother for?
a) A story
b) A toy
c) Oranges
d) A glass of milk
Answer: c) Oranges - What could the mother give her son instead of oranges?
a) Bread
b) A sweet
c) River water
d) Nothing
Answer: c) River water
Reading Comprehension Test: Passage 2 💎
Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
“Far away across the city I see a young man in a garret. He is trying to finish a play for the Director of the Theatre, but he is too cold to write any more. There is no fire in the grate, and hunger has made him faint.” The Prince ordered the swallow to pluck out one of his sapphire eyes and take it to the playwright.
The next day the swallow flew back to the Happy Prince. “I have come to bid you goodbye,” he cried. “It is winter,” answered the swallow, “and the snow will soon be here.”
“In the square below,” said the Happy Prince, “there stands a little matchgirl. She has let her matches fall in the gutter, and they are all spoiled. Her father will beat her if she does not bring home some money, and she is crying. She has no shoes or stockings, and her little head is bare. Pluck out my other eye, and give it to her.”
“I will stay with you one night longer,” said the swallow, “but I cannot pluck out your eye. You would be quite blind then.”
“Do as I command you,” said the Prince. So he plucked out the Prince’s other eye. Then the swallow came back to the Prince. “You are blind now,” he said, “so I will stay with you always.”
Multiple-Choice Questions (Passage 2)
- Where did the young man live?
a) In a palace
b) In a garret
c) In a basement
d) In a small cottage
Answer: b) In a garret - What was the young man trying to finish?
a) A novel
b) A painting
c) A song
d) A play
Answer: d) A play - Why couldn’t the young man write anymore?
a) He had no ink
b) He was too cold
c) His lamp had no oil
d) He was too sad
Answer: b) He was too cold - What did the Prince send to the young playwright?
a) A ruby
b) A sapphire eye
c) A gold leaf
d) A bag of coins
Answer: b) A sapphire eye - What had happened to the little matchgirl’s matches?
a) They were stolen
b) She had sold them all
c) They fell in the gutter
d) Her father took them
Answer: c) They fell in the gutter - Why was the matchgirl afraid of going home?
a) She had lost her way
b) Her father would beat her
c) It was too cold at home
d) Her mother was sick
Answer: b) Her father would beat her - What did the Prince send to the little matchgirl?
a) The ruby
b) A gold leaf
c) His other eye
d) His sword
Answer: c) His other eye - The swallow initially refused to pluck out the Prince’s second eye because…?
a) He was tired
b) It was too difficult
c) The Prince would be blind
d) He wanted to go to Egypt
Answer: c) The Prince would be blind - After the Prince became blind, what did the swallow decide to do?
a) Go to Egypt
b) Find a new home
c) Stay with him always
d) Fly south for one day
Answer: c) Stay with him always - The passage indicates that the season was changing to…?
a) Spring
b) Summer
c) Autumn
d) Winter
Answer: d) Winter
Reading Comprehension Test: Passage 3 ❤️
Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
The poor little swallow grew colder and colder, but he would not leave the Prince, he loved him too well. He picked up crumbs outside the baker’s door and tried to keep himself warm by flapping his wings. But at last he knew that he was going to die. He had just enough strength to fly up to the Prince’s shoulder once more. “Goodbye, dear Prince!” he murmured.
“I am glad that you are going to Egypt at last, little Swallow,” said the Prince. “You must kiss me on the lips, for I love you.”
“It is not to Egypt that I am going,” said the swallow. “I am going to the House of Death.” And he kissed the Happy Prince on the lips, and fell down dead at his feet. At that moment a curious crack sounded inside the statue, as if something had broken. The fact is that the leaden heart had snapped right in two.
Early the next morning the Mayor looked up at the statue. “Dear me! How shabby the Happy Prince looks!” he said. They pulled down the statue of the Happy Prince. Then they melted the statue in a furnace. “This broken lead heart will not melt in the furnace,” said the overseer. So they threw it on a dust heap where the dead swallow was also lying.
Multiple-Choice Questions (Passage 3)
- Why did the swallow grow colder and colder?
a) He was sick
b) The frost had come
c) He was not eating
d) The Prince was cold
Answer: b) The frost had come - The swallow stayed with the Prince because…?
a) He forgot about Egypt
b) He loved him too well
c) His wings were broken
d) He was ordered to stay
Answer: b) He loved him too well - How did the swallow try to keep himself warm?
a) By staying in a nest
b) By hiding from the wind
c) By flapping his wings
d) By sitting near a fire
Answer: c) By flapping his wings - Where did the Prince think the swallow was finally going?
a) To a new city
b) To the House of Death
c) To Egypt
d) To a warm nest
Answer: c) To Egypt - Where did the swallow say he was going?
a) To the South
b) To the House of Death
c) To find his friends
d) To the river
Answer: b) To the House of Death - What happened inside the statue the moment the swallow died?
a) It started to cry
b) Its leaden heart broke
c) It fell off the column
d) It turned to dust
Answer: b) Its leaden heart broke - The next morning, what did the Mayor say the Happy Prince looked like?
a) Sad
b) Shabby
c) Beautiful
d) Angry
Answer: b) Shabby - What did the workmen do with the statue?
a) Repaired it
b) Cleaned it
c) Melted it
d) Moved it
Answer: c) Melted it - Which part of the statue would not melt in the furnace?
a) The golden leaves
b) The sword hilt
c) The broken lead heart
d) The feet
Answer: c) The broken lead heart - Where was the leaden heart thrown?
a) In the river
b) In the furnace again
c) On a dust heap
d) In a museum
Answer: c) On a dust heap
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