Read the story and answer the questions after it.

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 814.

Text 1

Short Stories to Read

ISLAM.

beyond question – без сомнений

to be sent down – ниспослать

human waywardness – человеческая сущность

to cloud over – затуманивать

to grow out of – вырасти из

predestination – предопределение, судьба

the end of the world – конец света

the Day of Judgement – Судный День

pillar – столп

creed – кредо, убеждения

voluntary activity – произвольное действие

almsgiving – милостыня, подаяние

to make pilgrimage – совершить паломничество

TRUTH IS ALWAYS STRANGE, SRANGER THAN FICTION!

I would like to tell you a story about my uncle Theo. He's my oldest uncle, a tall, thin, grey-haired man whose thoughts were always on learning and nothing else. He is quiet and gentle and absent-minded and with about as much sense as a child where money is concerned.

Well, he applied for a post in Camford University. It was a very good post and there were hundreds of candidates who applied for it, and about fifteen, including Theo, were asked to go to be interviewed.

Now Camford is a very small town; there is only one hotel in it, and this was so full that they had to put many of the applicants two in one room. Theo was one of them - he shared the room with a man who was a self-confident fellow, called Adams, about twenty years younger than Theo, with a loud voice, and a laugh that you could hear all over the hotel. But he was a clever fellow all the same and had a good post in Iscariot College, Narkover.

The Dean and the committee interviewed all the candidates and as a result of the first interview the number was reduced to two, Uncle Theo and Adams. The committee couldn't decide which on e the two to take, so they decided to make their final choice after each candidate had given a public lecture in a college lecture hall. The subject they had to speak on was “The Civilization of the Ancient Greeks”, and the lecture had to be given in three day's time.

For three days Uncle Theo never left his room. He worked day and night at that lecture, writing it out and memorizing it, almost without eating or sleeping. Adams didn't seem to do any preparation at all. You could near his voice and his laughter at the bar where he had a crowd of people round him. He came to his room late at night, asked Uncle Theo how he was getting on with his lecture, and then told him how he had spent the evening playing billiards, or at the theatre or music-hall. He ate like a horse and slept like a log, and Uncle Theo sat up working at his lecture.

Finally, the day of the lecture arrived. They all went into the lecture-hall and Theo and Adams took their seats on the platform. And then, Theo discovered, to his horror, that the typewritten copy of his speech had disappeared! The Dean said he would call on the candidates in alphabetical order, Adams first: and with despair in his heart, Theo watched Adams calmly take the stolen speech out of his pocket and read it. When Adams finished there was a great burst of applause. Adams bowed and sat down.

Now it was Theo's turn. But what could he do? He had put everything he knew into that lecture. His mind was too much upset to put the same thoughts in another way. With a burning face he could only repeat, word for word, in a low dull voice the lecture that Adams had spoken so eloquently. There was hardly any applause when he sat down.

The Dean and the committee went out to decide who the successful candidate was, but everyone was sure what their decision would be. Adams leaned across to Theo and patted him on the back and said smilingly, ‘Hard luck, old fellow, but after all, only one of us could win'.

Then the Dean and the committee came back. ‘

Gentlemen,' the Dean said, ‘the candidate we have chosen is Mr. Theo Hobdell.' Uncle Theo had won! The audience was completely taken by surprise, and the Dean continued, ‘I think I ought to tell you how we arrived at that decision. We were all filled with admiration at the learning and eloquence of Mr. Adams. But you remember, Mr. Adams read his lecture to us. When Mr. Hobdell's turn came, he repeated that speech word by word from memory, though of course he couldn't have seen a line of it before. Now a fine memory is absolutely necessary for this post, and what a memory Mr. Hobdell must have! That is why we decided that Mr. Hobdell was exactly the man we wanted!

As they walked out of the room, the Dean came up to Uncle Theo, who was so confused but so happy that he hardly knew whether he was standing on his head or his heels, and as he shook Uncle Theo's hand he said, “Congratulations, Mr. Hobdell! But my dear fellow, when you are on our staff, you must be more careful and not leave valuable papers lying about!”

· Who are the main characters of the story? What have you learned about them?

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· Where does the story take place?

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· How did the story start?

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· Why couldn't the committee decide on the candidate after the first interview? What did they suggest so that they could make a decision?

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· How did the candidates prepare for the lecture?

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· What happened on the day of the lecture?

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· What was Theo's reaction to the situation? What did he do?

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· Who got the post in the end?

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2. Your answers to the questions help you to summarize the story, which means to tell what happens in it without going into details. A good way of organizing such a summary is a story frame. Read the explanation in the box and fill out a frame for this story. You are only supposed to take notes.