Tom lived in a little village. He had a small garden with a big apple tree. It was old and didn’t give any apples. But Tom liked this tree, because his friends came to his garden to rest in its shade. Tom’s father had placed a broad wooden table under it, so that they could have tea with their guests and lead long conversations about life and everything.
Tom’s neighbor, who lived next door, often looked at his yard from behind the fence. He was angry that the people from the village preferred Tom’s house to his one. He didn’t like having guests, but he wanted other people to like him. He dreamed to be the centre of attention. He thought that the old apple tree was the main reason why people liked Tom’s house.
One day he chose the moment when Tom’s family was away at work, sneaked into the garden and struck the tree several times with an axe. Next summer the tree didn’t let out its leaves. It got dry and died. Tom was very upset. He had to cut the apple tree down. The neighbour was happy. He had built a small pavilion in his yard, and held the gates wide open, inviting people from the village to come in and be his guest. People did come in, but they didn’t find what to talk to him about. So after saying a few phrases they said good-bye and went to visit Tom and to have long interesting conversations with him and his parents. The neibour was very surprised. Probably, he had painted the pavilion a wrong colour?
1) Why did people come to visit Tom and his family?
2) Why did the neighbour want people to visit him?
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