It was Mary’s birthday. She received a letter from her uncle in a village.
"Dear Mary, "the letter said," Happy birthday. We have a good harvest this year. I am sending you some chickens. They will arrive tomorrow. I hope you like them. Best wishes, Uncle Toby."
Mary was very pleased. She liked eating eggs and she liked eating chicken. "I can keep the chickens for their eggs or eat them," she thought.
When the chickens arrived the next day, they were in a box. Mary was very glad. She took the box off the back of the truck and began to carry it into her garden.
However (然而), the box of chickens was heavy and she dropped it. The box fell to the ground and broke. The chickens all run out. They ran everywhere--into the neighbors’ (邻居) gardens, on to the road, into shops, even into the next street. Mary spent hours trying to find them and take them back to her garden.
A few days later her uncle came to visit her.
"Did the chickens arrive safely" he asked Mary.
"Yes, Uncle Toby," Mary said. "But I had a lot of trouble with them. I dropped the box. It broke open and the chickens ran everywhere. I spent the whole morning looking for them."
"Did you find them all" her uncle asked.
"I hope so," Mary answered. "I caught eleven of them."
"That’s very interesting, her uncle said with a smile, "because I only sent you six.\
Mary got ______ more chickens than she should in the end.