Reading Comprehension — Butterflies and Caterpillars

Read two short passages about butterflies and hungry caterpillars and answer ten questions.

Butterflies in the Garden

The garden was full of butterflies. Some had red wings, some bright blue, some yellow with orange spots. On their heads were two thin feelers called antennae. Under the head was a long tongue, as fine as a hair and rolled up like a spring. To drink from a flower, a butterfly unrolls its tongue and dips it deep inside.

Uncle Paul pointed to a tiny blue butterfly with little round spots all over its wings.

"It must be hard to catch," said Emile. "Its wings are covered in eyes!"

"Those spots are not real eyes," said Uncle Paul. "A butterfly sees with the two eyes on its head, just like every other butterfly."

"Is it true that butterflies come from caterpillars?" asked Jules.

"Yes. Every butterfly was once a caterpillar."

The Great Eaters

"A kitten is a tiny cat," said Uncle Paul. "It grows bigger and bigger, but it always looks like a cat. Insects are different. When a butterfly first flies, it is already as big as it will ever be. There are little kittens, but there are no little butterflies."

"Then where does the growing happen?" asked Jules.

"In the caterpillar. It must store up food to build everything the butterfly will need: wings, legs and feelers. So the caterpillar eats for two: for itself, and for the butterfly it will become. It eats night and day, almost without stopping. To miss a mouthful would be a mistake!"

That is why gardeners worry about caterpillars. A few hungry caterpillars can eat a whole row of cabbages down to the stalks.

Adapted from The Story-book of Science by Jean-Henri Fabre (1917).