Раздел 2. Чтение

Прочитайте текст и выполните задания 12-18. В каждом задании выберите цифру 1, 2, 3 или 4, впишите её в соответствующее поле внизу страницы.

   A lesson with the Master

Joseph Knecht must have been twelve or thirteen years old at the time. For quite a while he had been a scholarship pupil in the Latin school of Berolfingen. His teachers at the school, and especially his music teacher, had already recommended him two or three times to the highest Board for admission into the elite schools... His music teacher, from whom he was learning violin and the lute, told him that the Music Master would shortly be coming to Berolfingen to inspect music instruction at the school. Therefore Joseph must practice like a good boy and not embarrass his teacher.

“What would you like to play?” — the Master asked. The boy could not say a word. Hesitantly, he picked up his exercise book and held it out to the Master. “No,” the Master said, “I want you to play from memory and not an exercise, something easy that you know by heart.” Knecht was confused and unable to answer. The Master did not insist. With one finger, he struck the first notes of a melody, and looked questioningly at the boy. Joseph nodded and at once played the melody with pleasure.

Once more, the Master said. Knecht repeated the melody, and the old man now played a second voice to go with it. Once more. Knecht played, and the Master played the second part, and a third part also. Once more. And the Master played three voices along with the melody... The boy and the old man ceased to think of anything else; they surrendered themselves to the lovely, congenial lines and figurations they formed as their parts crisscrossed. Caught in the network their music was creating, they swayed gently along with it, obeying an unseen conductor...

“Do you happen to know what a fugue is?” — the Master now asked. Knecht looked dubious. “Very well,” the Master said, “then Г11 show you. You’ll grasp it quicker if we make a fugue ourselves. Now the first thing you need in a fugue is a theme, and we don t have to look far for the theme. We’ll take it from our song”. He played a brief phrase, a fragment of the song’s melody. He played the theme once more, and this time he went to the first entrance and then to the second entrance. He changed the interval, then the third entrance repeated the first one again an octave higher, as did the fourth with the second. The exposition concluded with a cadence in the key of the dominant.

The boy looked at the player’s clever white fingers... His ear drank in the fugue; it seemed to him that he was hearing music for the first time in his life. Behind the music being created in his presence he sensed the world of Mind, the joy-giving harmony of law and freedom, of service and rule. He surrendered himself, and vowed to serve that world. In those few minutes he saw himself and his life, saw the whole cosmos guided, ordered, and interpreted by the spirit of music...

He had experienced his vocation, which may surely be spoken of as a sacrament. The ideal world had suddenly taken on visible lineaments for him. Its gates had opened invitingly... And through this venerable messenger — the Music Master — an admonition and a call had come from that world even to him, the insignificant Latin school pupil.

12.School that Joseph Knecht studied at was

1) a specialized school for poor kids.

2) an elite church music school.

3) a private school with grant-maintenance.

4) a secondary state school.

13.Joseph Knecht was

1) particularly good at playing violin and lute.

2) an average student with a social scholarship.

3) a bright music student, mainly keen on arts.

4) academically advanced in all the subjects.

14.Joseph could not do what the Master first asked him to do as he was

1) not able to play music from memory.

2) not articulate enough to answer the question.

3) too self-conscious, uncertain in his technical skills.

4) too nervous.

15.The Master started playing the melody with the boy because he wanted to

1) check the boy’s ability for improvisation.

2) warm the boy up and reduce his tension.

3) show him the correct way to play it.

4) demonstrate his technical superiority.

16.Explaining to Knecht what a fugue was, the Master

1) spontaneously created the needed piece on a well-known simple melody.

2) created a fugue, inviting the boy to participate in the improvisation.

3) improvised a fugue on the melody of the exercise they have just played.

4) played a well known fugue of Bach, based on the melody of the song.

17.The world of Mind that Joseph suddenly discovered for himself and vowed to serve was the world

1) where music alone reigned supreme.

2) of sacred service and self - sacrifice.

3) based on the interdependence of regularities and freedoms.

4) created by improvisation and free will of a Master.

18.The short lesson with the Master helped the boy to

1) understand his strong points and weaknesses.

2) widen his academic horizons.

3) mature and get ready for a real life.

4) choose a profession.