Упражнения для подготовки к ЕГЭ по английскому
языку. № 39.
Прочитайте текст
"Горшок с золотом" и выполните задания
A15-A21, вставив цифру
1, 2, 3 или 4,
соответствующую номеру выбранного вами варианта
ответа.
The Pot of Gold
Ralph worked nights on a plan
that promised him a well-paying job in Texas,
but through no fault of his own this promise was
never realized. In the third year of his marriage
with Laura, a firm that was almost identical in
size and character with the firm Ralph worked
for underwent a change of ownership, and Ralph
was approached and asked if he would be interested
in joining the overhauled firm. His own job promised
only meager security after a series of slow promotions
and he was glad of the chance to escape.
He met the new owners, and their
enthusiasm for him seemed intense. They were prepared
to put him in charge of a department and pay him
twice what he was getting then. The arrangement
was to remain tacit for a month or two, until
the new owners had secured their position, but
they shook hands warmly and had a drink on the
deal, and that night Ralph took Laura out to dinner
at an expensive restaurant.
They decided to look for a larger apartment, to
have a child, and to buy a secondhand car. They
faced their good fortune with perfect calm, for
it was what they had expected all along. The city
seemed to them a generous place, where people
were rewarded either by a sudden and deserved
development like this or by the capricious bounty
of lawsuits, eccentric and peripheral business
ventures, unexpected legacies and other windfalls.
He was twenty-eight years old; poverty and youth
were inseparable in his experience, and one was
ending with the other. The life they were about
to 'leave had not been hard, and he thought with
sentiment of the soiled tablecloth in the Italian
restaurant where they usually went for their celebrations,
and the high spirits with which Laura on a wet
night ran from the subway to the bus stop. But
they were drawing away from all this. Shirt sales
in department-store basements, lines at meat counters,
weak drinks, the roses he brought her up from
the subway in the spring, when roses were cheap
- these were all unmistakably the souvenirs of
the poor, and while they seemed to him good and
gentle, he was glad that they would soon be memories.
The reorganization and Ralph's new position hung
fire, but they talked about it freely when with
friends. "All we need is patience,"
Laura would say. There were many delays and postponements,
and they waited with the patience of people expecting
justice. He decided to telephone his potential
employers. Their secretary told him they were
both out. This made him apprehensive. He called
several times from the telephone booth in the
lobby of the building he worked in and was told
that they were busy, they were out, they were
in conference with lawyers, or they were talking
long-distance.
This variety of excuses frightened
him. He said nothing to Laura that evening and
tried to call them the next day. Late in the afternoon,
after many tries, one of them came to the phone.
"We gave the job to somebody else, sonny,"
he said. Like a saddened father, he spoke to Ralph
in a hoarse and gentle voice. "Don't try
and get us on the telephone any more. We've got
other things to do besides answer the telephone.
This other fellow seemed better suited, sonny.
That's all I can tell you, and don't try to get
me on the telephone any more."
(an extract from
The Pot of Gold by H. Melville)
A15
What type of firm was Ralph offered a job
in?
1) Same type as the previous job.
2) Overhauled firm.
3) Identical in size.
4) Security firm.
A16Ralph decided to accept the job offer because:
1) he would have been given a pay rise.
2) he would have been given a promotion.
3) he wanted to escape poverty.
4) the owners were very enthusiastic.
A17
Ralph and Laura looked forward to the new
position:
1) with excitement.
2) with dreams about the future.
3) with indifference.
4) with the feeling that they deserved it.
A18Ralph bought Laura roses because:
1) they were her favourite flowers.
2) they were cheap.
3) they were sold nearby.
4) he liked them.
A19According to the author:
1) Ralph didn't want to leave the life he led.
2) Ralph regretted his departure.
3) Their life was full of pleasant things.
4) Ralph was eager to escape but was sentimental.
A20What was Laura reaction at delays of the new
position?
1) She telephoned the employers.
2) She was patient.
3) She was worried.
4) She kept silent about it.
A21The new owners' attitude to Ralph:
1) has remained as enthusiastic as before.
2) was sympathetic.
3) has changed with time.
4) was rude.