Текст № 8 Hundreds for the post
методическая разработка по английскому языку (7 класс) на тему

                                Hundreds for the post

The newspapers announced a vacant post for a teacher at Camford University. There were hundreds of candidates who applied for it, including Pete.

You know Camford to be a very small town; there was only one hotel to stay at, and this was so full that they had to put many of the candidates two in a room. Pete was one of these, and the man to share the room with him was a self-confident fellow called Adams with a loud voice and a laugh that you could hear all over the hotel. But he was a clever fellow too.

The Dean and the committee interviewed all the candidates; and as a result of the interview, the number was reduced to two, Pete and Adams. The committee could not decide which of the two to take, so they decided to make their final choice after each candidate had given a public lecture in the lecture-hall. They were given the subject to speak on. The committee wanted the candidates to give the lecture in three days time.

For three days Pete never left his room. He worked day and night at that lecture, writing it out and memorizing it, almost without eating and sleeping. Adams didn’t do any preparation at all. You could hear him talk and laugh in the bar where he had a crowd of people round him. He came to his room late at night, asked Pete how he was getting on with his lecture, and then told 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 Pete sat up working at his lecture.

The day of the lecture arrived. They all went to the lecture-room and Pete and Adams took their seats at the platform. And then Pete discovered, to his horror that the type-written copy of his speech had disappeared. The Dean said he would call out the candidates in alphabetical order, Adams first. And with despair in his heart Pete watched Adams calmly take the stolen speech out of his pocket and read it to the professor who gathered to hear it. And how well he read! Even Pete had to admit that he couldn’t have read it so well himself, and when Adams finished, there was a great burst of applause. Adams bowed and smiled, and sat down.

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

The Dean and the committee went out to decide who the successful candidate was, but everybody believed Adams to be chosen. Then the Dean and the committee came back. “Gentlemen”, the Dean said, “the candidate we have chosen is Mr. Pete Hodbell”. Pete had won. Everybody was surprised. “I think”, the Dean continued, “I ought to tell you how we came to that decision. We were all filled with the admiration at Mr. Adams learning and his manner of speaking. I was greatly impressed: I didn’t think Mr. Adams to have it in him. But you remember Mr. Adams read his lecture to us. When Mr. Hodbell’s turn came, he repeated, word for 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. Hodbell must have. This is why we considered Mr. Hodbell to be exactly the man we wanted”.

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