Задание
Прочитайте текст и выполните задания 12–18. В каждом задании выберите вариант ответа 1, 2, 3 или 4,соответствующую выбранному Вами варианту ответа.
Sissy's Progress
“It would be a fine thing to be you, Miss Louisa!” Sissy said, one night, when Louisa tried to make her perplexities for next day something clearer to her.
“Do you think so?”
“I should know so much, Miss Louisa. All that is difficult to me now, would be so easy then.”
“You might not be the better for it, Sissy.”
Sissy said, after a little hesitation, “I should not be the worse, Miss Louisa.” To which Miss Louisa answered, “I don't know that.”
“But, if you please, Miss Louisa,” Sissy pleaded, “I am so silly!'”
Louisa, with a brighter laugh than usual, told her she would be wiser by-and-by.
“You don't know,” said Sissy, half crying, “what a silly girl I am. All through school hours I make mistakes. Mr and Mrs M'Choakumchild call me up, over and over again, regularly to make mistakes. I can't help them. They seem to come natural to me.”
“Mr and Mrs M'Choakumchild never make any mistakes themselves, I suppose, Sissy?”
“Oh no!” she eagerly returned. ‘They know everything.”
“Tell me some of your mistakes.”
“I am almost ashamed,” said Sissy, with reluctance. “But today, for instance, Mr M'Choakumchild was explaining to us about Natural Prosperity.”
“National, I think it must have been,” observed Louisa.
“Yes, it was. But isn't it the same?” she timidly asked.
“You had better say, National, as he said so,” replied Louisa, with her dry reserve.
“National Prosperity. And he said, Now, this schoolroom is a nation. And in this nation, there are fifty millions of money. Isn't this a prosperous nation? Girl number twenty, isn't this a prosperous nation, and aren’t you in a thriving state?”
“What did you say?” asked Louisa.
“Miss Louisa, I said I didn't know. I thought I couldn't know whether it was a prosperous nation or not, and whether I was in a thriving state or not, unless I knew who had got the money, and whether any of it was mine. But that had nothing to do with it. It was not in the figures at all,” said Sissy, wiping her eyes.
“That was a great mistake of yours,” observed Louisa.
“Yes, Miss Louisa, I know it was, now. Then Mr M'Choakumchild said he would try me again. And he said, “This schoolroom is an immense town, and in it there are a million inhabitants, and only five-and-twenty are starved to death in the streets, in the course of a year. What is your remark on that proportion?” And my remark was - for I couldn't think of a better one - that I thought it must be just as hard upon those who were starved, whether the others were a million, or a million million. And that was wrong, too.” “Of course it was.”
“Then Mr M'Choakumchild said he would try me once more. And he said, “Here are the stutterings.” “Statistics,” said Louisa.
12. At school, Sissy wished she could ...
1) be a more obedient pupil.
2) answer questions correctly.
3) remain calm in the classroom.
4) move to a different class.
13. Louisa reacted to Sissy's concerns by ...
1) becoming angry.
2) telling her she'll gain knowledge.
3) comparing their lives.
4) expressing surprise at them.
14. The words 'I can't help them' when spoken by Sissy mean ...
1) 'My classmates are better than me.'
2) 'My teachers find me useless.'
3) 'I can't work any faster.'
4) 'I can't avoid making errors.'
15. When Louisa asked for examples from Sissy, Sissy was ...
1) keen to share her experiences.
2) not sure what Louisa meant.
3) somewhat unwilling to speak.
4) upset by Louisa's questioning.
16. Why did Sissy mention 'figures'?
1) Mr M'Choakumchild was concerned with them.
2) She was particularly worried about her maths.
3) She was talking about her test results.
4) She had added some up incorrectly.
17. Mr M'Choakumchild's second question to Sissy was about...
1) how to plan towns.
2) public healthcare.
3) the relationship between two numbers.
4) population growth.
18. Sissy gave answers that were incorrect in the sense that they ...
1) gave too much information.
2) missed the point of the question.
3) embarrassed the teacher.
4) hid her opinions.