Reading comprehension

“The ￡1,000,000 Bank-Note” (p.98~111)

1. I was an expert in all the details of stock business when I was twenty-seven years old. 2. I went to London by taking a brig after a long and stormy voyage.

3. I was totally down and broke twenty-four hours after my arrival at London. 4. Betting is the English way of settling any disagreements or arguments.

5. The Bank of England issued some notes of a million pounds for the purpose of public transaction with foreign countries.

6. The bet falls on “I” because “I” was the perfect person the two brothers would

choose for: honest and intelligent, poor, a stranger and with no friend in the country at all.

7. Since I had no way of explaining the million-pound bank-note, I was immediately arrested by the police.

8. I tried to return the million-pound bank-note to the owners, yet they refused to take it back.

9. The letter explained clearly what he will do with the bank-note, with signature, address and date.

10. The sentence“Well, here was a coin to be in!” means “Here was a difficult situation to be in”.

11. After reasoning for about an hour, I had a clear idea what to do with the money. 12. As an honest man, I decided to give the bank-note to the Bank of England. 13. Since I had the bank-note, I boldly went into a shop selling clothes. 14. Tod was quite friendly to me at first when he began to serve me.

15. The boss was all apologetic and served him earnestly when he saw the bank-note. 16. The experience in the clothing shop emboldened and enabled him to buy whatever he wants. Within a week he was equipped with all needful comforts and luxuries. 17. The sentence “I was the making of Harris” means “Harris began to make a lot of money because of my stuck to eating my breakfast there.”

18. I enjoyed myself to the fullest extent during the day while at night I lost my sleep, fearing that once the story is revealed, I would be pressed for debt.

19. About the tenth day of my fame I went to visit the American minister to show my respect for him.

20. The American minister turned out to be my father’s boyhood schoolmate and Yale students together and warm friends.

21. Though not sure what would be his salary would be if he won the bet, he was careful enough not to spend beyond his means.

22. I agreed to attend the minister’s dinner party for I am eager to flatter the upper class people. 23. There in the minister’s party, I fell in love with a lovely girl named Portia who was a friend of the minister’s daughter.

24. Mr. Lloyd Hastings was successful in his business in London.

25. “…the matter of precedence couldn’t be settled” refers to the English custom that persons of highest social position would sit at the head of the table.

26. “The English never play any games for amusement” means they would not play any game without a bet.

27. Miss Langham and I were too happy to care for whether we win or lose the game.

28. I told Portia honestly everything about myself: my story of troubles, worries and fears. 29. Portia became greatly worried and anxious after hearing my whole story.

30. I saved Hastings from ruin by letting him use my name to sell his stock shares. 31. At the end of the month, I was a true millionaire.

32. I went to see the two brothers by the end of the month alone.

33. It turns out that the two gentlemen were Portia’s step-father and Uncle respectively.

Babylon Revisited (p. 141~154)

1. In the story, Babylon refers to Paris, a city of luxury and decadence.

2. The first part of the story provides us information about the Ritz bar: frequented by wealthy and glamorous Americans in the 1920s.

3. It can be inferred that Charlie used to drink a lot or was alcoholic in the past.

4. The sentence “It had gone back into France” suggests that in the past, the bar was full of crazy and wild Americans.

5. Charlie used to be very rich before the Great Depression for he had never eaten in a really cheap restaurant in Paris.

6. Charlie was not on good terms with his sister-in-law.

7. Marion bore hostility to Charlie, however, her husband was quite friendly to him.

8. Charlie endured his sister-in-law’s scolding, hostility and unfairness because he wanted to regain the custody of his daughter.

9. Charlie went to the places he frequented in the past just to relive his old days.

10. Charlie paid a heavy price for his dissipation: his wife died and his daughter was taken away from him.

11. Marion was jealous of Charlie who threw away money like water, while she and Peter only earned enough to survive.

12. By the end of the first section, Charlie is seen to be a changed man: he could resist the temptation of alcohol and prostitution.

13. Charlie made a formal introduction of himself to his daughter so as to gain some information about her life and atmosphere she is in without her suspicion. 14. Charlie failed to gain his daughter’s love and confidence.

15. In the beginning of section III, Marion’s black mourning dress foreshadows Charlie’s failure in getting his daughter back.

16. Marion showed hostility to Charlie openly and clearly, because she was jealous of him.

Charlie keeps a drink a day in order to test himself that alcohol wouldn’t be a great attraction to him.

17. Charlie realized that he would never be able to establish proper father-daughter relationship with Honoria if she went on living with her aunt.

18. Lincoln was more sympathetic with Charlie and showed some disgust with his wife.

19. In p.148 “the terrible thing” Charlie did was that he locked his wife out in the snow which caused her death directly.

20. In section III, Charlie almost gained his point.

21. In the end of section III, Charlie dreamed of his wife: it shows his unfulfilled desire-- his wife had forgiven him, why not Marion?

22. Marion agreed that Charlie would take Honoria with him when he left for Prague, but she still wanted to keep the legal guardianship for another year.

23. Marion’s prejudice against Charlie was justified because he did not work hard at all and became so rich.

24. Honoria was eager to leave with her father, but she did not show it.

25. Marion’s changed attitude toward Charlie as a family member means that he could have his daughter with him now.

26. Charlie would have succeeded in getting his daughter back had it not been for Duncan and Lorraine’s uninvited visit to the Lincoln’s apartment.

27. By the end of the story, Charlie showed no control of himself by drinking more than one whisky.

28. Charlie’s purpose of coming to Paris is to have his daughter with him, living a normal family life and he succeed in the end.

29. Charlie was confident that he could regain his daughter because he has the money. 30. Charlie has learned from his past mistakes and received punishment for that.

31. In the story, Marion stands for people with conventional puritan ideas who are strict with their children.

32. Duncan and Lorraine stand for old forces that attempt to draw Charlie back to the old ways and serve as obstacles on his way to regeneration.

A Rose for Emily (p158~164)

1. Miss Emily’s death means the fall of the monument of the town.

2. Men and women went to her funeral because she was respected by all.

3. Miss Emily represents the declining aristocrats in the American south with the progression of industrialization.

4. Miss Emily was exempted from any tax in the town because her father had loaned money to the town.

5. The younger generation of the city authorities tried to tax her but in vain.

6. Miss Emily had been living in total seclusion for about ten years before her death. 7. Miss Emily was still single in her thirties because her father drove away all her suitors.

8. The day after her father’s death, Miss Emily received all visitors and their condolences and aids. 9. Miss Emily was asked to clean her place up and she obeyed.

10. In section III, Miss Emily is seen to be dating with a foreman named Homer Barron. 11. The whole town gossiped about and approved her going out with Homer 12. Homer Barron agreed to marry Miss Emily in the end.

13. Miss Emily always carried her head high which shows her arrogance, unbending will and stern unmoving features.

14. Miss Emily bought the arsenic to kill herself.

15. Homer had no intention to marry her at all, he just played fuss and loose with Emily.

16. Miss Emily usually went out with Homer Barron on Sunday afternoon in the glittering buggy, her head held high and his hat cocked and a cigar in his teeth, reins and whip in a yellow glove. 17. Miss Emily’s cousins came to the town from Alabama because her behavior set a bad example for young people in the town.

18. Homer Barron disappeared from the town for several days in order to make room for Miss

Emily to get rid of her kinsman from Alabama.

19. In the South, most poor people belonged to the Baptist Church, while people of high social ranks belonged to the Episcopal Church.

20. Homer was never seen again ever since he came back to the town to be seen enter Emily’s house through the kitchen door at dusk one evening.

21. Miss Emily was in her early thirties when she went out with Homer.

22. The front door of her house remained closed ever since the disappearance of Homer except a period of six or seven years when she gave lessons in china-painting.

23. Miss Emily lived in total solitude for about forty years till her death at age seventy-four. 24. After the funeral, people went to an upstairs room which had not been open for forty years. 25. The man found lay in bed was Homer, supposed to be poisoned to death by Miss Emily.

26. It may be inferred from the long strand of iron-gray hair on the pillow that Miss Emily had been sleeping with the corpse.

27. It can be inferred from the story that Miss Emily carefully prepared the murdering of Homer Barron.

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