Английский язык. Нужна помощь! Reading
Read the text and mark the following statements as True (T), False (F) or Not Stated (NS).
…A lady in a faded linen dress and her husband, dressed in a homespun worn suit, stepped off the train in Boston and walk timidly without an appointment into the Harvard University President’s outer office.
The secretary could tell in a moment that such provincial, country bushmen had no business at Harvard and probably didn’t even deserve to be in Cambridge.
“We want to see the president,” the man said softly.
“He’ll be busy all day,” the secretary answered.
“We’ll wait,” the lady replied.
For hours the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would finally become discouraged and go away. They didn’t and the secretary grew frustrated and finally decided to disturb the president, even though it was a thing she always regretted.
“Maybe if you see them for a few minutes, they’ll leave,” she said to him.
He sighed angrily and nodded. Someone of his importance obviously didn’t have the time to spend with them, but he hated faded linen dresses and homespun worn suits being in his outer office.
The president, with stony face and dignity, strutted toward the couple.
The lady told him, “We had a son who attended Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a year ago, he was accidentally killed. My husband and I would like to erect a memorial to him, somewhere on campus.”
The president wasn’t touched… He was shocked.
“Madam,” he said, unfriendly, “we can’t put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard and died. If we did, this place would look like a cemetery.”
“Oh, no,” the lady explained quickly. “We don’t want to erect a statue. We thought we would like to give a building to Harvard.”
The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the faded dress and homespun suit, and then exclaimed, “A building! Do you have any earthly idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars in the physical buildings here at Harvard.”
For a moment the lady was silent.
The president was pleased. Maybe he could get rid of them now.
The lady turned to her husband and said quietly, “Is that all it costs to start a university? Why don’t we just start our own?”
Her husband nodded.
The president’s face wilted in confusion and bewilderment. Mr and Mrs Leland Stanford got up and walked away, travelling to Palo Alto, California where they established the University that bears their name, Stanford University, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.
Задания:
1) The couple were waiting for a long time before the president of Harvard University decided to speak with them ()
2) The couple looked presentable ()
3) The name of the dead student was Tom ()
4) The president of Harvard University wanted to erect the memorial to the couple's son ()
5) When the parents knew the price, they decided to establish their own university to commemorate the name of their son ()
Ответы
Відповідь:
1) The couple were waiting for a long time before the president of Harvard University decided to speak with them (T)
2) The couple looked presentable (F)
3) The name of the dead student was Tom (NS)
4) The president of Harvard University wanted to erect the memorial to the couple's son (F)
5) When the parents knew the price, they decided to establish their own university to commemorate the name of their son (T)
Пояснення:
1. As the text indicates:
"For hours the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would finally become discouraged and go away. They didn’t and the secretary grew frustrated and finally decided to disturb the president, even though it was a thing she always regretted."
Therefore, the couple waited for hours before the secretary decided to disturb the president and was ignored during this time.
2. As the text indicates:
…A lady in a faded linen dress and her husband, dressed in a homespun worn suit, stepped off the train in Boston and walk timidly without an appointment into the Harvard University President’s outer office.
The secretary could tell in a moment that such provincial, country bushmen had no business at Harvard and probably didn’t even deserve to be in Cambridge.
Therefore, they didn't make a good impression on other people and hardly looked presentable.
3. As the text indicates:
...“We had a son who attended Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a year ago, he was accidentally killed."
The text doesn't mention the name of the deceased.
4. As the text indicates:
"...My husband and I would like to erect a memorial to him, somewhere on campus.”
“Madam,” he said, unfriendly, “we can’t put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard and died. If we did, this place would look like a cemetery.”
The president wasn't even touched by the couple’s story and responded unfriendly to their request.
5. As the text indicates:
"“A building! Do you have any earthly idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars in the physical buildings here at Harvard.”
"The lady turned to her husband and said quietly, “Is that all it costs to start a university? Why don’t we just start our own?”
"Mr and Mrs Leland Stanford got up and walked away, travelling to Palo Alto, California where they established the University that bears their name, Stanford University, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about."