Hunting for a Job by S.S. McClure

TEXT 6

True or false

He lifted a postcard in the street and read it attentively.

It seemed to him that the most interesting things in life might lie in distant places.

Rudolf was always dreaming of a peaceful family life.

The dentist's name and address were printed on the card he had been given.

The adventurous piano salesman stopped at the corner and considered whether it was worth going there.

The door slowly opened and a girl not yet twenty stood in the room.

The girl fainted because of starvation.

Rudolf rushed to the nearest store to fetch some food for the girl.

Give Russian equivalents for the following words and expressions from the text and use them in the sentences of your own.

To be badly lighted.

took a quick glance

great poverty

unrealised dreams

low wages

As a matter of fact

To sigh deeply

The adventurous piano salesman

Discuss the following:

What’s the main idea of the story?

What is your attitude towards the main character of the story?

What are your emotions after reading the story? Did you like the plot?

Retell the text briefly. Give a character sketch of the main hero(es).

Find grammatical phenomena and structures which you have studied during the semester

I reached Boston late that night and got out at the South Station. I knew no one in Boston except Miss Bennet. She lived in Somerville, and I immediately started out for Somerville. Miss Bennet and her family did all they could to make me comfortable and help me to get myself established' in some way. I had only six dollars and their hospitality was of utmost importance to me.

My first application for a job in Boston was made in accordance with an idea of my own. Every boy in the Western states knew the Pope Manufacturing Company, which produced bicycles. When I published my first work "History of Western College Journalism" the Pope Company had given me an advertisement, and that seemed to be a "connection" of some kind. So I decided to go to the offices of the Pope Manufacturing Company to ask for a job. I walked into the general office and said that I wanted the president of the company.

"Colonel Pope?" asked the clerk.

I answered, "Yes, Colonel Pope."

I was taken to Colonel Pope, who was then an alert energetic man of thirty-nine. I told Colonel Pope, by way of introduction, that he had once given me an advertisement for a little book I had published, that I had been a College editor and out of a job. What I wanted was work and I wanted it badly.

He said he was sorry, but they were laying of hands. I still hung on. It seemed to me that everything would be all up with me', if I had to go out of that room without a job. I asked him if there wasn't anything at all that I could do. My earnestness made him look at me sharply.

"Willing to wash windows and scrub floors?" he asked.

I told him that I was, and he turned to one of his clerks.

"Has Wilmot got anybody yet to help him in the downtown' rink?" he asked.

The clerk said he thought not.

"Very well", said Colonel Pope. "You can go to the rink and help Wilmot out for tomorrow."

The next day I went to the bicycle rink and found that what Wilmot wanted was a man to teach beginners to ride. I had never been on a bicycle in my life nor even very close to one, but in a couple of hours I had learnt to ride a bicycle myself and was teaching other people.

Next day Mr. Wilmot paid me a dollar. He didn't say anything about my coming back the next morning, but I came and went to work, very much afraid that I would be told I wasn't needed. After that Mr. Wilmot did not exactly engage me, but he forgot to discharge me, and I came back every day and went to work. At the end of the week Colonel Pope sent for me and placed me in charge of the uptown' rink.

Colonel Pope was a man who watched his workmen. I hadn't been mistaken when I felt that a young man would have a chance with him. He often used to say that "water would find its level", and he kept an eye on us. One day he called me into his office and asked me if I could edit a magazine.

"Yes, sir," I replied quickly. I remember it flashed through my mind that I could do anything I was put at '96 that if I were required to run an ocean steamer I could somehow manage to do it. I could learn to do it as I went along'. I answered as quickly as I could get the words out of my mouth, afraid that Colonel Pope would change his mind before I could get them out.

This is how I got my first job. And I have never doubted ever since that one of the reasons why I got it was that I had been "willing to wash windows and scrub floors". I had been ready for anything.

Paraphrase the sentences using phrases from the text:

1) Miss Bennet and her family received him very warmly.

2) Everybody tried to help him to find some kind of job.

3) Their concern and hospitality were very important to him.

4) He told Colonel Pope that he was unemployed and needed any job very much.

5) The man thought that everything would be lost for him if he didn't find a job.

6) He has never ridden a bicycle in his life.

7) Mr. Wilmot neither employed the journalist nor dismissed him.

8) The boss made him responsible for the uptown rink.

9) It suddenly occurred to him that his willingness to do any job had helped him to get his first job.

Give Russian equivalents for the following words and expressions from the text and use them in the sentences of your own.

to get oneself established in some way

of utmost importance

hospitality

application for a job

earnestness

look at smb. sharply

to teach beginners

he did not exactly engage me

in a couple of hours

to change his mind

Answer the questions to the text:

1) Who was the only person the author knew in Boston?

2) In what way was he received? Why was it of great importance to him?

3) What made the young man apply for a job at the Pope Company?

4) Describe Colonel Pope. What was his reaction to the young man's story?

5) Why did the man still hang on though he found out that the company was laying off hands?

6) What question did the Colonel ask him?

7) Describe the young man's job and say whether he was good at it.

8) Why did the man continue to work for Mr. Wilmot though he hadn't engaged him?

9) What happened at the end of the week?

10) What job was the young man offered in the long run?

11) What idea flashed through his mind?

12) What helped the man to get his first job?

Discuss the following:

1) Say if you agree or disagree with the statement "water would find its level". How do you understand it? Give examples in support of your opinion.

2) Give a character sketch of the main hero. Compare him with the heroes of the story "Success Story."

3) Is the problem of unemployment acute nowadays? Why? Is this problem interconnected with the problem of wasted lives? Give your grounds.

What is your attitude towards the main character of the story?

Text 7

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