Exercise 3. Прочитайте отрывок из романа и выполните задания 1 – 7, выбирая букву A, B, C или D. Установите соответствие номера задания выбранному вами варианту ответа.
Pitcher, a confidential clerk in the
office of Harvey Maxwell, allowed a look of mild interest and surprise when his
employer briskly entered at half-past nine in company with a young lady. Miss
Leslie had been Maxwell’s stenographer for a year. She was beautiful in a way
that was decidedly unstenographic. On this morning she was softly and shyly
radiant. Her eyes were dreamily bright, her expression a happy one, tinged with
reminiscence. Pitcher, still mildly curious, noticed a difference in her ways
this morning. Instead of going straight into the adjoining room, where her desk
was, she stayed for a while, slightly irresolute, in the outer office. Once she
moved over by Maxwell’s desk near enough for him to be aware of her presence.
The man sitting at that desk was no
longer a man; it was a machine, moved by buzzing wheels and uncoiling springs.
“Well – what is it? Anything?” asked
Maxwell sharply.
“Nothing,” answered the
stenographer, moving away with a little smile.
This day was Harvey Maxwell’s busy
day. Messenger boys ran in and out with messages and telegrams. Maxwell himself
jumped from desk to door sweating. On the Exchange there were
hurricanes and snowstorms and volcanoes, and those powerful disturbances
were reproduced in miniature in Maxwell’s office. The rush and pace of business
grew faster and fiercer. Share prices were falling and orders to sell them were
coming and going and the man was working like some strong machine. Here was a
world of finance, and there was no room in it for the human world or the world
of nature.
When the luncheon hour came, Maxwell
stood by his desk with a fountain pen over his right ear. His window was open.
And through the window came a delicate, sweet smell of lilac that fixed the
broker for a moment immovable. For this odour belonged to Miss Leslie; it was
her own, and hers only. She was in the next room – twenty steps away.
“By George, I'll do it now,” said
Maxwell half aloud. “ I’ll ask her now. I wonder why I didn’t do it long ago.”
He dashed into the inner office and charged upon the desk of the stenographer.
She looked at him with a smile.
“Miss Leslie,” he began hurriedly,
“I have but a moment to spare. I want to say something in that moment. Will you
be my wife? I haven’t had time to approach you in the ordinary way, but I
really do love you.”
“Oh, what are you talking about?”
exclaimed the young lady. She rose to her feet and gazed upon him, round-eyed.
“Don’t you understand?” said
Maxwell. “I want you to marry me. I love you, Miss Leslie. I wanted to tell
you, and I snatched a minute. They are calling me for the phone now. Tell them
to wait a minute, Pitcher. Won’t you, Miss Leslie?”
The stenographer acted very
strangely. She seemed overcome with amazement; then tears flowed from her
wondering eyes; and then she smiled sunnily through them.
“I know now,” she said softly. “It
is this old business that has driven everything else out of your head for the
time. I was frightened at first. Don’t you remember,
1. Harvey
Maxwell was
A) a stenographer.
B) a clerk.
C) Pitcher’s boss.
D) Pitcher’s partner.
2.
Pitcher was mildly interested and surprised because
A) Miss Leslie moved decidedly to
Maxwell's desk.
B) Miss Leslie arrived with Maxwell.
C) Maxwell came late at half past ten.
D) Maxwell looked irresolute that
morning.
3. It was Harvey Maxwell's hard day
because
A) he had no one to help him.
B) all messenger boys had gone.
C) the weather was hot.
D) the Exchange was a busy place.
4. ‘On the Exchange there were hurricanes
and snowstorms and volcanoes’ means
A) the
Exchange was about to be destroyed.
B) the
financial situation was difficult.
C) natural
disasters often happened in that area.
D) those
were powerful disturbances of nature.
5. Maxwell dashed into the inner
office at lunch time because
A) he liked
the lilac smell.
B) the
smell reminded him of Miss Leslie.
C) Pitcher
called him for a phone call.
D) he
needed to send a message.
6. Harvey Maxwell made a proposal
between phone calls because he
A) was rather
pressed for time.
B) used to
make business proposals in such a way.
C) always
acted very strangely.
D) was
afraid Miss Leslie would leave him.
7. Miss Leslie was astonished by
the proposal because
A) she had
never heard anyone make it in such a way.
B) she had
never expected it from Harvey Maxwell.
C) she had
married the man the day before.
D) it came
too quickly and without warning.