Fortune
Tellers
A young couple entered the restaurant in Andy’s
view. They were holding hands. Andy sat back down in his chair.
He felt sick. He turned and faced his father, who was eating xôi.
“What’s the matter, son?” asked
his father. “I thought you were going to the birthday party.”
“It’s too late.”
“Are you sure?”
Andy nodded. He looked at the plate of xôi.
He wanted to bury his face in it.
“Hi, Andy.” A voice came from behind.
Andy looked up. He recognized the beautiful face,
and he refused to meet her eyes. “Hi, Jennifer,” muttered
Andy, looking at the floor.
“You didn’t miss much, Andy. The party
was dead. I was looking for you, hoping you could give me a ride
home. Then I met Tim, and he was bored like me. And he said he’d
take me home…. Andy, do you want to eat with us? I’ll
introduce you to Tim.”
Andy said, “No, I’m eating xôi
with my father.”
“Well, I’ll see you in school then,
okay?”
“Yeah.” And Andy watched her socks
move away from his view.
Andy grabbed a chunk of xôi. The rice and
beans stuck to his fingernails. He placed the chunk in his mouth
and pulled it away from his fingers with his teeth. There was a
dry bitter taste. But nothing could be as bitter as he was, so he
chewed some more. The bitterness faded as the xôi became softer
in his mouth, but it was still tasteless. He could hear the young
couple talk and giggle. Their words and laughter and the sounds
of his own chewing mixed into a sticky mess. The words were bitter
and the laughter was tasteless, and once he began to understand
this, he tasted the sweetness of xôi. Andy enjoyed swallowing
the sticky mess down. Andy swallowed everything down— sweetness
and bitterness and nothingness and what he thought was love.
Adapted from Nguyen Duc Minh, “Fortune Tellers.” in
the collection American Eyes.©1994 by H. Holt
1. Who is telling this story? |
|
|
Jennifer |
|
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Andy |
|
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Tim
|
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Andy’s
father |
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An
unnamed narrator |
| 2.
What is the most reasonable conclusion to make from the statement
in the first paragraph, “He felt sick.”? |
|
|
Eating
xoi with his father gave Andy a stomachache. |
|
|
Andy
was upset when he saw Jennifer holding hands with Tim. |
|
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Andy
was unhappy about the restaurant his father had selected. |
|
|
Andy
was upset with Jennifer for making him miss the party. |
|
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Andy
mistakenly thought that Tim was his best friend. |
| 3.
According to the passage, Tim would most likely describe the party
as: |
|
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mysterious.
|
|
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lively.
|
|
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dull.
|
|
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upsetting.
|
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remarkable.
|
| 4.
Based on the last paragraph, it can be most reasonably inferred
that Andy’s increasing enjoyment of eating xôi was related
to: |
|
|
hearing
Tim and Jennifer laughing and talking. |
|
|
the
fact that it stuck to his fingernails. |
|
|
sitting
at a table with Tim and Jennifer while he ate. |
|
|
the
fact that his father made the xôi |
|
|
seeing
Tim and Jennifer eating xôi. |
| 5.
This passage is mainly about the relationship between: |
|
|
Andy
and his father. |
|
|
Andy
and Tim. |
|
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Andy’s
father and Tim. |
|
|
Jennifer
and Tim. |
|
|
Jennifer
and Andy. |
