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Graded Material. Reading Comprehesion + graded activities- Teens-Adults-Elementary

A funny rescue
When I was living in California with my family, a dear friend of mine, Jack Stiller the most
committed police officer ever came to our house for dinner and told us one of the most
amazing and funny anecdotes. He worked as part of a rescue team in a little town in
Montana, US. Although you may find this story hard to believe, its a true "heroic" story.

Jack Stiller was having dinner late at night and saw his friend Alex running
desperately to his door. Im sorry Jack for interrupting dinner, but we have an
emergency rescue. A little girl got lost on the mountain," he said. "Her parents
are at the police station and our boss called to see if we could take care of this.
Alex put on his jacket and they drove as fast as they could in the middle of cold
winter evening.
Jack and Alex arrived at the girls house on the mountain. They needed a photo
of the girl and some clothes for the sniff dogs to start the search. Her parents
were not at home. They were at the police station, and there was nobody else in
the house. Jack didnt want to waste more time. It was cold and the girl was out
there in the mountains, hopefully alive and certainly very scared. Jack,

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determined to do whatever it took to save this girl, broke a back window and
quietly entered the place. He didnt want to alarm the neighbours, so he asked
Alex to keep watch over the neighbourhood while he looked for a photo.
Jack looked carefully inside the house, but it was dark. He lit a match and saw a
photo frame on the living room table. He thought he was lucky to find a clear
photo of the girl so fast. He walked to the girls bedroom and took some of her
clothes, which were piled on a chair.
Alex and Jack started the search. It was pitch dark and freezing cold. Backup was
necessary to find her faster, so Jack and Alex asked their boss to send a rescue
team to search the area. By ten oclock ten more men arrived. Jack showed them
the picture of the girl and they all walked in different directions in order to start
the search.
After two hours of intense work, Jack and Alex were pretty disappointed. There
was no trace of the girl and it was already midnight. Jack had an idea. He asked
one of the officers to take the girls picture to the police station, so they could
send it to a TV channel and speed things up with the help of the locals.
Finally, the photo arrived at the station. The girls parents looked at the photo
for a minute, then looked carefully again and sadly said: This is not our
daughter, officer." Jack had his police radio on and heard the bad news. He
thought: "Did I break into the wrong house and take the wrong photo?" He was
shocked. He couldnt think clearly. Anyway, he apologised and, with the right
picture in hand which the police e-mailed to his phone went on with the
search. At this point helicopters were also searching the area.
While waiting, the girls mother said: "I remember this picture now. It was in a
new photo frame I bought yesterday, and this photo with a nice girl smiling is the
picture that came with it. The price is still on the frame, for goodness' sake!"
Jack was extremely embarrassed. Alex patted him on the shoulder and asked his
partner to keep his spirits up in order to find the girl. The rescue team was working
hard again. Nobody teased him or blamed him at that point. After an hour, a
helicopter reported to Jack. The girl was safe. They could see her with a dog under
some trees. After an hour the complicated search had a happy end.
Needless to say, Jack had to endure all kinds of practical jokes after this funny
episode frames with silly photos on his desk and identikits made from shopping

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leaflets but Jack had a good sense of humor, and after all, he had really put his
foot in it that time.

Easy
Order the events
a. ___ Jack and Alex went out on an emergency rescue.
b.___ Jack asked for backup to find the girl faster.
c.____ A helicopter found the girl.
d.____ More officers from the rescue force arrived.
e.____ A girl got lost on the mountains.
f.____ The parents said that the photo was not the lost girls.
g.____ Jack broke into the girls house to get a photo and some of her clothes.
h.____ The police e-mailed Jack the correct photo.

Medium
Answer the questions
1 Who was Jack Stiller?
2 What did Jack and his partner Alex have to do so late in the evening?
3 Where did the girl get lost?
4 What did Jack and Alex do first?
5 Who helped them with the rescue?
6 How did Jack feel when he realized he had the wrong photo?
7 Who sent Jack the correct picture?
8 What happened in the end?

Hard
Make a summary out of the answers to questions in Medium activity.
Add connecting words to make a short narrative text.

Answers on the last page

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Answer key
Easy
a.2
b.4
c.8
d.5
e.1
f.6
g.3
h.7

Medium
1 He was a police officer.
2 They had to rescue/find a girl.
3 She got lost on the mountains
4 They went to the girls house to get a photo of her.
5 The police rescue team did
6 He felt embarrassed.
7 The police did.
8 A helicopter rescued the girl. After that, Jack had to bear some practical jokes about the
misunderstanding.

Hard
Different possibilities allowed
Example: Jack was a police officer. One day, Jack and his friend Alex had to find a girl lost on the
mountains. First, the went.. After some hours, the police rescue team helped them with the search, etc

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