Question

The riddle of the camel race

Once upon a time, there lived a very cruel sultan(蘇丹). This sultan ruled his kingdom with an iron fist (拳頭).It was an iron fist, because he had lost one hand in a sward (劍術(shù)) fight ,the doctor fit him with an iron hand. But once a year, on his birthday, the sultan had a bit of fun. He set a challenge for some of his subjects（國民）. No one turned down (拒絕) the challenge because to do so meant many years in prison—or worse...

As the sultan’s next birthday approached, everyone started getting scared. Luckily, most people had nothing to worry about. But two of the sultan’s subjects, Ali and Baboo, had a lot to worry about—for they were told to go before the sultan.“The winner of the race is the person whose camel comes last!” he told them, with a huge grin (咧嘴笑) on his face.“The loser will get five years in prisonand a tattoo (紋身) of me on his chest to remind him of his failure(失敗).”

When they were ready, they were given the signal to set off. They did so, but very slowly. Neither of them wanted to get ahead of the other. They didn’t know what to do. They knew they had to finish the race or else they would be in trouble.

The kingdom’s wisest person, a woman named Shiraz approached the men and whispered something in each man’s ear. They raced towards the finish line as quickly as they could. One man could not stand(忍受) the tension(緊張狀態(tài))。He asked Shiraz what she had told the camel riders. She said “I just told each of them to get on the other man’s camel. After all, the winner is the person whose camel comes last.”

	Identity (身份)	What he/she did
The sultan	A very 1. sultan who ruled his kingdom with an 2. fist.	To have 3., he set a challenge and no one could 4. it 5. because of his cruelty.
Ali and Baboo	Two 6.who were told to go before the sultan.	They 7. slowly and 8. of them wanted to finish first. They 9. their camels and tried to get to the finish line first.
Shiraz	The kingdom's 10. person.	She just told them to get on the other man's camel. After all, the winner was the person whose came last.

Answer 1