The Real and Definite Values of Stamps and Cups of Tea

Transcription

1 Esame complementare passerella maturità professionale scuole universitarie Locarno, giugno 2015 Cognome e nome... Gruppo...numero... I N G L E S E Read the passage and answer the questions that follow. The Real and Definite Values of Stamps and Cups of Tea His mother was supposed to throw the ball for Roddy to catch but first she looked over towards the flower beds and then it missed him by a mile and bounced into the boating pond. ʹMum! Watch what youʹre doing!ʹ Saying that was naughty because she sometimes says it to him. Now they are kneeling by the boating pond. She has stretched down her arm but the ball stays bobbing just out of reach. She keeps looking up in a worried way at the treetops behind them. This pulls her dress tight against the bumps on her chest. Itʹs his favourite dress of hers, the one with red and yellow butterflies. ʹThis will do the trick.ʹ Suddenly, a man is kneeling by Roddyʹs mother and stretching out a long furled umbrella, holding it by the ferrule. The crook of the handle pulls in the ball. Roddy leans to retrieve it. The man catches hold of Roddyʹs arm. ʹWe donʹt want you falling in, too.ʹ ʹSay thank you, Roddy,ʹ says his mother, and he does. ʹHope you havenʹt dirtied your knees,ʹ she says to the man. She seems about to brush his trouser knees, but doesnʹt. ʹI think we could all enjoy a cup of tea and perhaps Roddy would like an ice cream!ʹ He beams at Roddy. He has a deep voice and a large red face. He is wearing a blue blazer and now takes up a raincoat from a seat nearby and settles it across his arm. Roddy has to wait on the marble steps of the Winter Gardens café for them to catch up, so slowly do they walk. She says, ʹThis is Mr Butler, Roddy. I always think this is such a lovely place,ʹ she adds as they are enfolded by hushed chatter and a delicate warm sugary smell and screechy music. Roddy looks at the menu and gasps. ʹA cup of tea is one and three!ʹ This morning his mother showed him three shillings 1 in her purse and said, laughing, ʹItʹs all Iʹve got to last until pay day.ʹ But seeing his face sheʹd added, ʹNow donʹt you go worrying. Itʹs after putting aside for our keep and things.ʹ He says now, ʹA cup of tea isnʹt worth a whole shilling and three pence.ʹ Mr Butler beams again. ʹIsnʹt it?ʹ ʹMy gran says if she had a café she would charge a pennyhalfpenny a cup and still do well.ʹ ʹAh, but perhaps a cup of tea is worth more than a pennyhalfpenny.ʹ ʹBut this is ten times a penny halfpenny.ʹ Roddyʹs mother says in her correcting voice, ʹRoddy, sometimes itʹs nice to go somewhere nice.ʹ ʹHow do we know how much somethingʹs worth?ʹ Mr 1 A shilling was a coin worth twelve pence Butler asks this as if he and Roddy are in league together to ignore his motherʹs shushing of him. ʹMy job is an insurance agent and some people put in for more than things are worth.ʹ Roddy canʹt think what to say. He just knows a cup of tea isnʹt worth a whole shilling and thruppence. Gran knows it, and she s right about things. The value of something is always there but invisible like gravity, that stops you floating off. Miss Corner at school says God created everything, so He must make things be worth what theyʹre worth, real and definite forever. Mr Butler presses, ʹIf you were dying of thirst in a desert, a cup of tea could be worth ten shillings!ʹ ʹTea would be too hot in a desert.ʹ Roddy laughs to show this is a clever answer. Mr Butler laughs, too. ʹMy, youʹre a clever one, and not just mental arithmetic. How old are you?ʹ ʹIʹm ten on the 28th.ʹ ʹThe 28 th.ʹ He repeats it like someone who might send a present. ʹYouʹve a very promising boy, Mrs ʹ ʹIʹm Lily. Lily Dunlop. Yes, theyʹre putting him in early for the Eleven Plus.ʹ ʹThatʹs only sensible,ʹ replies Mr Butler, nodding. This is how a boy with a mother and a father hears them talking about him, leaving him out. The Joanna Wyatt Trio are playing a tune Roddy knows from the wireless. Thereʹs a piano, a violin and another instrument like a big upright violin. They sweep into the tune, moving their arms very grandly. ʹSome Enchanted Evening,ʹ he says. ʹItʹs the second time since we came in.ʹ ʹLovely,ʹ says Mr Butler. They donʹt get just three cups of tea. Thereʹs a tea pot, cups and saucers, jugs of milk and steaming hot water, little cakes and a bowl of sugar lumps. ʹWhat are your hobbies?ʹ ʹI collect stamps.ʹ ʹSo do I!ʹ Mr Butler speaks like they are two boys at school making friends. ʹWhatʹs your favourite stamp country?ʹ ʹI only collect British Empire. I like Indian States, all the funny writing.ʹ Mr Butler beams admiration of such an unusual choice. ʹIʹve got a Penny Black. Itʹs worth twenty eight pounds.ʹ His mother sounds like sheʹs saying sorry when she puts in, ʹAn old lady gave him a lot of stamps her brother collected as a boy. Now you mustnʹt keep on at Mr Butler, Roddy.ʹ Mr Butler pays the bill. Roddyʹs mother holds out coins for the two of them but he refuses them. Roddy says ʹThank youʹ without being told. Mr Butler asks whether he can give them a lift home. A car ride!

2 But Roddyʹs mother says, ʹWe couldnʹt put you to the trouble.ʹ Roddy says, ʹWe could, but Gran would grumble.ʹ ʹIt wouldnʹt be trouble,ʹ says Mr Butler. ʹAll right, we will.ʹ She sits next to Mr Butler in the front and stretches out her arm along the back of Mr Butlerʹs seat. For Roddy in the back itʹs like being abandoned behind a gate. When they get home, she doesnʹt get out until Mr Butler opens the door for her. He walks up the garden path with them. She knocks the door, saying, ʹI forgot my key,ʹ but they always knock when they come back from somewhere. Gran opens the door. ʹThis is Mr Butler, Mum. He got Roddyʹs ball out of the boating pond and gave us a lift home. Wasnʹt that kind? This is my mother.ʹ Gran looks at Roddyʹs mother and then at Mr Butler. Her face has the look it had when Roddy brought four children into the house to play and she said, ʹGrandad and I have given you a home, Roddy, not all the children in the road.ʹ Roddyʹs mother says, ʹI think we could all enjoy a cup of tea.ʹ Her voice sounds like his own when, because there are outsiders present, he can say something naughty without being grumbled at. Roddy says, ʹI donʹt want a cup of tea. We had ʹ ʹShush, Roddy,ʹ his mother interrupts. ʹLet Gran say hello to Mr Butler. He was in the RAF.ʹ Granʹs look does not change but she says, ʹCome in. Iʹm Mrs Dunlop. Your fatherʹs mending the skylight in the attic.ʹ The front door opens. As the two women lead the way, Mr Butler gives a warning frown, putting his finger to his lips. He winks. Mr Butler is invited to sit and the women go through to the kitchen. ʹDo you want to see my stamps?ʹ ʹOf course.ʹ Mr Butler speaks as if this is why he has come to the house. He leafs through the album. He admires the Indian States and the Penny Black worth 28. ʹGrandad gave me the album for my birthday two years ago.ʹ What are these figures?ʹ He points to what Roddy has written beneath the stamps: 2 d, 1/ ʹIs that what they are worth?ʹ Gran and Roddyʹs mother are talking at the same time, which they do when Gran grumbles. ʹNo, prices.ʹ ʹYou sell your swaps?ʹ ʹWell, I could. Mr Butler points to an Australian stamp with a bird on it. ʹOoh, Iʹve been looking for this for a long time.ʹ Itʹs worth sixpence.ʹ ʹA bargain! And this one, too. Only a shilling?ʹ Itʹs worth one and eleven.ʹ ʹA businessman selling things for less than theyʹre worth!ʹ ʹPeople wonʹt buy things unless the price is less than theyʹre worth, else you arenʹt gaining anything.ʹ ʹBut then they go down in value.ʹ ʹNo,ʹ he cries. Somewhere there are huge invisible realities. ʹThe value stays the same.ʹ Voices are louder in the kitchen. Grandadʹs is now among them. Mr Butler says, ʹHow do you know itʹs worth one and eleven?ʹ ʹStanley Gibbonsʹ catalogue.ʹ ʹYes, but how do Stanley Gibbons find out the value? ʹOh, they know,ʹ says Roddy. ʹYou have to be an expert.ʹ ʹOoh, and this one. Itʹs rare and only one and six. Now, how much do I owe you?ʹ From the kitchen thereʹs a crockery sound different from the noise of just putting it on a tray. ʹThree shillings and thruppence.ʹ He puts Mr Butlerʹs stamps into an envelope. Mr Butler counts the money out. Roddyʹs mother comes through from the kitchen. She looks like she did when Gran and Grandad said she couldnʹt go to the staff dance at work because she had to stay home and look after him. She says loudly, ʹIʹm ever so sorry, itʹs not convenient to have tea. I canʹt say when weʹll be coming to the Winter Gardens again.ʹ ʹBut Iʹve just given your bloody kid three and three for some stamps.ʹ ʹGive it back, to him, Roddy.ʹ She sounds sad. The puffy look around her eyes means sheʹs been crying. He says, ʹWhen Gran said you had to take that dress back and get the money and they said a saleʹs a sale and wouldnʹt, Grandad said, ʺThe shopʹs within their rights. They canʹt be made to hand the money back when someoneʹs bought something.ʹʹʹ She gasps. She goes to the sideboard for her handbag. She holds out coins to Mr Butler. He takes them. He turns to Roddy. He throws down the little envelope. ʹLet me tell you, Sunshine, that what your blasted stamps are worth all anythingʹs worth is what people are willing to pay for them. Thatʹs all.ʹ Itʹs suddenly clear that something fixed and certain and safe has been in danger all afternoon. Mr Butler glares at Roddyʹs mother. ʹWhat you can get people to pay.ʹ ʹNo, what my stamps are worth is real and definite, not people paying.ʹ They pay no attention to him. Roddy adds, ʹGod makes them worth what theyʹre worth.ʹ His mother says, very quietly, ʹItʹs only three shillings I gave you. Iʹll have to owe you the rest.ʹ Thereʹs now something in her voice, something that makes Roddy think of being disobedient, like throwing a ball to be caught when the grown ups have said you are not to. Also, whatʹs in her voice makes him think again of her arm forming a gate and him behind it in the back seat. It makes Mr Butler, who was already half out the door, stop and look back at her for a while before he leaves. Roddy does not realise what that something is until the minister at the crematorium, having linked Lily Butlerʹs 2 many kindnesses in her long life with Christian charity, of which the value is eternal and unchanging, speaks of the hope of the resurrection. Hope! That was what asserted itself when she said she would have to owe Mr Butler the rest; not the shiny eyed hope of optimism, though, but the brave despairing hope that is indistinguishable from having nothing to lose because everyone, yes, everyone has abandoned you. A short story, slightly abridged, by Paul Brownsey, At the time, a woman assumed her husband s family name on marrying him.

3 1 PART ONE COMPREHENSION 1. Choose the best explanation for the words in italics. Use the context to help you. a) Saying that was naughty [ ] (ll. 5 6) impolite funny childish crazy b) Roddy looks at the menu and gasps. (l. 32) smiles happily yawns sleepily suddenly shivers breathes deeply c) [ ] Gran would grumble (l. 102) suffer complain be scared walk d) The puffy look around her eyes [ ] (ll ) reddish wet swollen sad e) Mr. Butler glares at Roddy s mother. (l. 194) screams unexpectedly at looks angrily at calls loudly hugs warmly [5 x 1 = 5 points] 2. Are these explanations appropriate? a) This will do the trick (l. 13) The man means his umbrella will help them get the ball Yes No b) Roddy [ ] has to wait [ ] for them to catch up, so slowly do they walk. (ll ) Mr. Butler and Lily can t keep up with Roddy because he s too fast. Yes No c) [ ] they are enfolded by hushed chatter [ ] (ll ) They are surrounded by the noise of people speaking quietly to each other. Yes No d) [ ] as if he and Roddy are in league together [ ] (l. 49) They both support the same philatelic society Yes No [4 x 1 = 4 points]

4 2 Give a brief answer to each of these questions. a) Is Lily as wealthy as Mr. Butler? Compare and give evidence to support your answer. b) Why was Mr. Butler so kind and friendly with Roddy? c) What kind of grandmother is Roddy s? What evidence can you find in the text? d) What happened in the kitchen between Lily and her parents? Explain. [There are 3 points for each, 2 points for content and 1 for expression; if the content is irrelevant, no points will be given.] [4 x 3 = 12 points]

5 3 PART TWO ANALYSIS 1. Lily and Mr. Butler had known each other for some time before the day at the park. Find two pieces of evidence in the text to support this idea and explain them. 2. Why did Lily lie by saying I forgot my key (l. 111)? What does it imply? 3. Why does Lily speak loudly when she comes through from the kitchen? What does it suggest?

6 4 4. What does Roddy mean when he says the brave despairing hope (ll )? [Write between 30 and 50 words for each answer. There are 6 points for each, 4 for content and 2 for expression; if the content is irrelevant, no points will be given.] [ 4x 6 = 24 points]

7 5 PART THREE COMPOSITION ʺMoney canʹt buy love.ʺ Do you agree with this statement? Consider various kinds of love and support your ideas with examples from your own experience. [You should write about 250 words. Points will be given for relevance, expression and structure.] [20 points]