TOEFL Listening Practice Skill 1-3 (Longman TOEFL PBT)

1. Read the text 1 below then do the task 1.

TEXT 1: THE MONKEY AND THE TURTLE

Once upon a time there was a heavy down pour that made rivers overflow their banks. So a monkey and a turtle agreed to go to the river to pick up rampe (things brought by the flood) from the stream. When they arrived at the river, they found a banana trunk drifting along the river. They picked up the banana trunk and then divided it between them to grow in their fields. The monkey thought it would be better if he took the upper half of trunk so that it could grow easily and yield fruit sooner than the lower half of it because the upper half was closer to where the bananas were. The monkey then gave the lower half to the turtle and together they went directly home to plant their shares.

(1)

Every day the monkey came to the turtle’s field asking how his lower half grew and how many leaves it had. The turtle answered. “Quite dense, I guess!”“And how is your upper half, Monkey?” “Well, it withered,” answered the monkey.	(2)
Days went by and almost every day the monkey asked the turtle about his lower half. And the turtle always answered, “Denser and denser!” On the contrary, the monkey always answered, “Withered and wintered!” At last, the monkey’s upper half stopped growing, while the lower half of the turtle began to bear fruit. Soon the turtle’s bananas were ripe enough to harvest, but the turtle could not climb the banana tree to pick the fruit. So he sent for the monkey to help him climb the banana tree and pick the bananas.	(3)
When the monkey got to the top of the tree, he began to pick ripe bananas, peeled them one by one and ate them greedily. The monkey went on eating, while the turtle was watching him from below. He got no bananas whatsoever from the monkey even after he begged him kindly. “Pass one or two to me, Monkey!” “Wait! Let me finish tasting all of them first!”	(4)
The turtle went on asking for the bananas but the monkey only dropped the banana skins for his friend.	(5)
This scene went on and on until the turtle got angry since his right was denied by the monkey. Then the turtle left the place. On his return, he brought with him several pieces of sharp-pointed bamboos. He stuck the bamboo pieces upright on the grass around the banana tree, and said, “Hey Monkey! When you get down, remember not to jump upon the grassless part of the field because you might be bitten by the king’s watchdogs. Please jump on the grass!”	(6)

Having eaten up all turtle’s bananas, the monkeys jumped down on the grassy area shown by the turtle and ... what happened then? The bamboo stakes, prepared by the turtle, worked and the monkey was stabbed right through his belly and died. The turtle immediately took along bamboo to catch the monkey’s blood flowing from the wound and then he carried it on his shoulder. The turtle walk along the streets singing, offering his merchandise... “Who wants to buy some sugar, please” As the turtle passed by the palace, the king heard his singing and asked his man to send for the turtle since he wanted to buy the sugar. When the turtle came before the king and showed his sugar, the king bought it. But, when the king was about to pay the turtle refused to receive the money. He wanted the king to give him a gong in exchange for the sugar. The king agreed to the turtle’s demand and gave the turtle a gong. Having received the gong, the turtle went on his way to sell the sugar. All along his way he beat the gong while singing his song. “Gong... gong... gong... gong... Eat, ... eat up the bones of your fellow man Drink, ... drink up the blood of your fellow man.” The turtle went on singing all along the street. And when the king heard this song, he realized that he had been deceived by the turtle in buying his sugar. The king asked his man to send for the turtle again. When he came before the king, the turtle confessed that he had actually sold the king monkey’s blood instead of sugar. The king got angry at what the turtle had done to him. Unjustly he decided to sentence the turtle to death by beheading. The turtle accepted the sentence, but he had a request to propose, “I accept the king’s decision, but should the punishment be executed, I want my head cushioned on the king’s thighs.” This request was granted by the king.

The punishment was executed in front of the people, attended by all knights, ministers, and governors of the kingdom. The turtle was laid upon the king’s thighs. The executioner was ready with his long sharp sword, which was shining in the sun. As he was about to chop the turtle’s head, immediately the turtle withdrew his head inside the shell. What happened then? The sword surely cut the king’s thighs off and killed him.

(10)

This story ended with the death of the greedy monkey and of the unjust king.(M. Arief Mattalitti and other, Sastra Lisan Wolio (Jakarta: PPDPB, DPDK, 1985)

(11)

Setting	Characters	Events	Resolution	Conclusion
-          Once upon a time -          At the bank of the rivers -          In the field where there was banana tree -          The palace -          Along the street -          Punishment day	-   Monkey -   Turtle -   King -  Executioner	-     Once upon a time, a monkey and a turtle agreed to go to the river to pick up the things brought by the flood from the stream. -     They found a banana trunk drifting along the river. -     They picked up the banana trunk and divided it into two parts; the top part belonged to the monkey and the button part belonged to the turtle, to grow in their fields. -     The monkey’s upper part stopped growing while the lower part of the turtle began to bear fruit. -     Soon, the turtle’s banana was ripe, but the turtle could not climb the banana tree. -     The turtle asked for help to the monkey to take the ripe bananas. -     When the monkey gets to the top of the banana tree, he ate all ripe bananas without giving to the turtle. -     Then, the turtle arranged the trap by sticking some sharp pointed bamboos on the grass around the banana tree. -     The monkey jumped down on the grassy area shown by turtle and the monkey’s belly was stabbed. -     The turtle took the monkey’s blood into a bamboo and sold it. -     The turtle offered his merchandise to the people and he told that it’s sugar inside in his song along the street. -     The king bought the sugar and gave the gong as an exchange after their agreement. -     The turtle continued to sell the ‘sugar’ using the gong to attract people’s attention and he changed the lyric of his song. -     The king realized that he had been deceived by hearing his songs. -     The turtle confessed that the sugar was the king’s monkey’s blood. -     The king was very angry and decided to give him death sentence. -     The turtle accepted the sentence and he made request that when he executed, the turtle laid upon the king’s thighs. The king agreed his request.	The turtle confessed that he had killed the monkey because of his greediness and of his ignorance of the turtle’s right. The king didn’t have wise decision. He gave death sentence to the turtle. But, the turtle was smart in making his final request. When the punishment came, he laid upon the king’s thighs as his final request. When executioner was about to chop his head, he withdrew his head inside the shell immediately. The sword surely cut the king’s thighs off and killed him.	The story was ended with the death of the greedy monkey and of the unjust king.