The Story of Doctor Dolittle Once upon a time, many years ago when our grandparents were little children - there was a doctor; and his name was Dolittle — Doctor John Dolittle. He lived in a little town called Puddleby. All the people, young and old, knew him well by sight. And whenever he walked down the street in his high hat everyone said, "There goes the Doctor! He's a clever man." And the dogs and the children ran up and followed him.
The house he lived in was small; but his garden was very large and had a wide lawn and stone seats and willows. His sister, Sarah Dolittle, was housekeeper for him; but the Doctor looked after the garden himself. He was very fond of animals and kept many kinds of pets. Besides the gold-fish in the pond, he had rabbits in the shed, white mice in his piano, a squirrel in the food cupboard and a hedgehog in the cellar. He also had a cow, a horse that was twenty-five years old – and chickens, and pigeons and many other animals.
One day when an old lady came to see the Doctor, she sat on the hedgehog that was sleeping on the sofa. After that she walked ten miles every week to see a different doctor in the next town.
As time went on, the Doctor got more and more animals and of course it cost a lot to feed them. However less and less people came to see him. Soon he had to sell his piano and the brown suit he wore on Sundays. He became poorer and poorer, but the dogs and the cats and the children still ran up and followed him through the town – the same as they had done when he was rich.
LISTENING COMPREHENSION VARIANT 28 Listen to the text and decide if the statements are true or false. The story took place more than a hundred years ago.
Dr Doolittle was a very clever man.
Everybody in the town knew what Dr Doolittle looked like.
He had a large house with a small garden.
Dr Doolittle used to be rich.
Sarah Doolittle was the doctor‘s wife.
Some of the animals lived in the furniture.
One of Dr Doolittle‘s pets was a very old cow.
Dr Doolittle sold his best suit and the piano.
All the people followed Dr Doolittle through the town.
