Reading Compreh...

The following two passages are from critical commentaries

on "the Tramp," the comic character created by silent-film

star Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977).

Passage 1

Before Charlie Chaplin came along, tramps and hoboes

had long been a part of the cartoon and comic strip tradition,

represented most prominently in England in 1896

by Tom Browne's "Weary Willie and Tired Tim" and

in the United States in 1900 by Frederick Burr Opper's

"Happy Hooligan." But Chaplin was to bring a definitive

genius to the tramp figure, raising it to heights of poetic

and mythic power in his first year with the Keystone studios.

That Chaplin had considered using the tramp figure earlier

is suggested by the title of one of his childhood stage teams,

"Bristol and Chaplin, the Millionaire Tramps.' But the

tramp character was not fully realized until 1914, when

Chaplin donned the baggy pants, the floppy shoes, the cane,

the derby hat, and the little moustache for his second film.

As Chaplin would later explain, "The moment I was dressed,

the clothes and makeup made me feel the character. By the

time I walked on stage 'the Tramp' was fully born." He

would polish and revise the character through other film

roles until 1915, when he was featured in his own two-reel

film,The Tramp.

        In his own comments on the Tramp, Chaplin put his

finger on many of the elements that made the characterization

so powerful and universally relevant. As he said

after introducing the character to his director, "this fellow

is many-sided, a tramp, a gentleman, a poet, a dreamer, a

lonely fellow, always hopeful of romance and adventure.

He would have you believe he is a scientist, a musician, a

duke,a polo player. However, he is not above picking up

cigarette butts or robbing a baby of its candy." The Tramp,

in other words, is a human being down and out on his luck

and full of passion for life and hope that things will get

better.He is imaginative and creative, and thus a romantic

and an artist, who brings style to his meager existence and

art to his struggle for survival. Yet when things become

worse,he is willing to place practicality above sentiment

and violate the usual social amenities. He is indeed complex

and many-sided, thereby touching most human beings at

one or more points in our character and makeup. There is a

good deal in his nature that most of us identify with in our

secret selves, apart from what we are in the public world

we inhabit.

Passage 2

       There is no doubt that Charlie Chaplin was a regu-

lar reader of the most famous of the early comic strips,

"Weary Willie and Tired Tim." Weary Willie and

Tired Tim made their debut on the front of Illustrated

Chips in 1896 when Chaplin was an energetic eight year

old.In his book, My Autobiography, Chaplin only mentions

his love of comics in passing, commenting that one of his

rare pleasures was reading "my weekly comic on a serene

Sunday morning."

        He was much more forthcoming---and revealing---

in 1957 while talking to journalist Victor Thompson.

Chaplin began reminiscing about his younger days--and

one particular occasion when he had a short-lived job at

a glass-blowing establishment in London.

      "In the lunch breaks, I used to entertain the men with

sand dances," he told Thompson. "On one occasion I

danced so furiously, I got sick and had to be sent home.

I sat on the curb feeling I was dying. A woman gave me a

penny to go home by horse-bus, but I walked and bought

a comic with the windfall.

"Ah,those comics, Chaplin went on, the wonderfully

vulgar paper for boys with Casey Court pictures, and the

'Adventures of Weary Willie and Tired Tim,' two famous

tramps with the world against them. Theres been a lot said

about how I evolved the little tramp character who made my

name.Deep, psychological stuff has been written about

how I meant him to be a symbol of all the class war, of

the love-hate concept, the death-wish and what-all.

      "But if you want the simple Chaplin truth behind the

Chaplin legend, I started the little tramp simply to make

people laugh and because those other old tramps, Weary

Willie and Tired Tim, had always made me laugh."

       If one glances through old copies of Illustrated Chips,

it is possible to find similarities between the scrapes that

Weary Willie and Tired Tim got into and those in some of

Chaplin's films: even the titles of Chaplin's early movies

seem derived from the adventures of the comic book heroes.

And if further proof of the influence is needed, isn't the

very appearance of the gaunt Weary Willie strikingly

similar to that of Chaplin's Little Tramp?

[passage-header]Read the passage and answer the question that follows:
[/passage-header]SIR EDWARD TRENCHARD: Good morning, Coyle, good morning (with affected ease). There is a chair, Coyle. (They sit.) So you see those infernal tradespeople are pretty troublesome.
COYLE: My agent's letter this morning announces that Walter and Brass have got 69978judgement and execution on their amount for repairing your townhouse last season. Boquet and Barker announce their intention of taking this same course with the wine account. Handmarth is preparing for a settlement of his heavy demand for the stables. Then there is Temper for pictures and other things and Miss Florence Trenchard's account with Madame Pompon, and-
SIR EDWARD: 85932Confound it, why harass me with details, these 42791infernal particulars? Have you made out the total?
COYLE: Four thousand, eight hundred and thirty pounds, nine shilling and sixpence.
SIR EDWARD: Well, of course, we must find means of settling this 72231extortion.
COYLE: Yes, Sir Edward, if possible.

SIR EDWARD: If possible?
COYLE: I, as your agent, must stoop to detail, you must allow me to repeat, if possible.

SIR EDWARD: Why, you don't say there will be any difficulty in raising the money?
COYLE: What means would you suggest, Sir Edward?

SIR EDWARD: That, sir, is tour business.
COYLE: A foretaste on the interest on the Fanhille & Ellenthrope mortgages, you are aware both are in the arrears. The mortgagees, in fact, write here to announce their intentions to foreclose. (Shows papers.)

SIR EDWARD: Curse your 59501impudence, pay them off.
COYLE: How, Sir Edward?

SIR EDWARD: Confound it, sir, which of us is the agent? Am I to find you brains for your own business?
COYLE: No, Sir Edward, I can furnish the brains, but what I ask of you is to furnish the money.

SIR EDWARD: There must be money somewhere, I came into possession of one of the finest properties in Hampshire only twenty-six years ago, and now you mean to tell me I can't raise 4,000 pounds?
COYLE: The fact is distressing, Sir Edward, but so it is.
SIR EDWARD: There's the Ravensdale property 82233unencumbered.

COYLE: There, Sir Edward, you are under a mistake. The Ravensdale property is deeply encumbered, to nearly its full value.
SIR EDWARD(Springing up.): Good heavens.
COYLE: I have found among my father's papers a mortgage of that very property to him.

SIR EDWARD: To your father! My father's agent? Sir, do you know that if this be true I am something like a beggar, and your father something like a thief.
COYLE: I see the first plainly, Sir Edward, but do not the second.
SIR EDWARD: Do you forget, sir, that your father was a charity boy, fed, clothed by my father?

SIR EDWARD: And do you mean to tell me, sir, that your father repaid that kindness by robbing his benefactor?
COYLE: Certainly not, but by advancing money to that benefactor when he wanted it, and by taking the 17056security of one of his benefactor's estates as any prudent man would under the circumstances. 

SIR EDWARD: Why, then, sir, the benefactor's property is yours.
COYLE: I see one means, at least, of keeping the Ravensdale estate in the family.

SIR EDWARD: What is it?
COYLE: By marrying your daughter to the mortgagee.

SIR EDWARD: To you?
COYLE: I am prepared to settle the estate of Miss Trenchard the day she becomes Mrs. Richard Coyle.

SIR EDWARD (Springing up.): You insolent scoundrel, how dare you insult me in my own house, sir. Leave it, sir, or I will have you kicked out by my servants.
COYLE: I never take an angry man at his word, Sir Edward. Give a few moments reflection to my offer. You can have me kicked out afterwards.

SIR EDWARD: (Pacing Stage): 43305A beggar, Sir Edward Trenchard a beggar, see my children reduced to labor for their bread, to misery perhaps; but the alternative, Florence detests him, still the match would save her, at least, from ruin. He might take the family name, I might retrench, retire, to the continent for a few years. Florence's health might serve as a pretense. Repugnant as the alternative is, yet it deserves consideration54806.
COYLE: (who has watched.): Now, Sir Edward, shall I ring for the servants to kick me out?
[passage-footer]The extract is from Our American Cousin, by Tom Taylor.[/passage-footer]

[passage-header]Read the following passage and answer the question that follows:
[/passage-header]    It was a cold and silent night. The weather was freezing. A group of monkeys was on a tree. They were clinging to its branches. One of the monkeys said, "I wish we could find some fire. It will help us to keep warm". Suddenly they noticed a flock of fire flies. One of the young monkeys thought it was fire. He caught a fire fly. He put it under a dry leaf and started blowing at it. Some other monkeys also joined in his effort. 
    A sparrow came flying to its nest. The monkeys were sitting on the same tree. She noticed what they were doing. The sparrow laughed. She said, "Hey silly monkeys that is a firefly, not real fire". The sparrow continued: "I think all of you should take shelter in a cave". The monkeys did not listen to the sparrow. They continued to blow at the poor firefly. After some time the monkeys became very tired. Now they realized what the sparrow had said was correct. They set free the firefly and moved to a nearby cave. 

[passage-header]Read the following passage and answer the question that follows:
[/passage-header]    It was a cold and silent night. The weather was freezing. A group of monkeys was on a tree. They were clinging to its branches. One of the monkeys said, "I wish we could find some fire. It will help us to keep warm". Suddenly they noticed a flock of fire flies. One of the young monkeys thought it was fire. He caught a fire fly. He put it under a dry leaf and started blowing at it. Some other monkeys also joined in his effort. 
    A sparrow came flying to its nest. The monkeys were sitting on the same tree. She noticed what they were doing. The sparrow laughed. She said, "Hey silly monkeys that is a firefly, not real fire". The sparrow continued: "I think all of you should take shelter in a cave". The monkeys did not listen to the sparrow. They continued to blow at the poor firefly. After some time the monkeys became very tired. Now they realized what the sparrow had said was correct. They set free the firefly and moved to a nearby cave. 

Many people who hate spam assume that it is protected as free speech. Not necessarily so. The United States Supreme Court has previously ruled that individuals may preserve a threshold of privacy. Nothing in the Constitution compels us to listen to or view any unwanted communication, whatever its merit, wrote Chief Justice Warren Burger in a 1970 decision. We therefore categorically reject the argument that a vendor has a right to send unwanted material into the home of another. With regard to a seemingly similar problem, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 made it illegal in the United States to send unsolicited faxes; why not extend the act to include unsolicited bulk e-mail?

[passage-header]Read the passage and answer the question that follows:
[/passage-header]SIR EDWARD TRENCHARD: Good morning, Coyle, good morning (with affected ease). There is a chair, Coyle. (They sit.) So you see those infernal tradespeople are pretty troublesome.
COYLE: My agent's letter this morning announces that Walter and Brass have got 69978judgement and execution on their amount for repairing your townhouse last season. Boquet and Barker announce their intention of taking this same course with the wine account. Handmarth is preparing for a settlement of his heavy demand for the stables. Then there is Temper for pictures and other things and Miss Florence Trenchard's account with Madame Pompon, and-
SIR EDWARD: 85932Confound it, why harass me with details, these 42791infernal particulars? Have you made out the total?
COYLE: Four thousand, eight hundred and thirty pounds, nine shilling and sixpence.
SIR EDWARD: Well, of course, we must find means of settling this 72231extortion.
COYLE: Yes, Sir Edward, if possible.

SIR EDWARD: If possible?
COYLE: I, as your agent, must stoop to detail, you must allow me to repeat, if possible.

SIR EDWARD: Why, you don't say there will be any difficulty in raising the money?
COYLE: What means would you suggest, Sir Edward?

SIR EDWARD: That, sir, is tour business.
COYLE: A foretaste on the interest on the Fanhille & Ellenthrope mortgages, you are aware both are in the arrears. The mortgagees, in fact, write here to announce their intentions to foreclose. (Shows papers.)

SIR EDWARD: Curse your 59501impudence, pay them off.
COYLE: How, Sir Edward?

SIR EDWARD: Confound it, sir, which of us is the agent? Am I to find you brains for your own business?
COYLE: No, Sir Edward, I can furnish the brains, but what I ask of you is to furnish the money.

SIR EDWARD: There must be money somewhere, I came into possession of one of the finest properties in Hampshire only twenty-six years ago, and now you mean to tell me I can't raise 4,000 pounds?
COYLE: The fact is distressing, Sir Edward, but so it is.
SIR EDWARD: There's the Ravensdale property 82233unencumbered.

COYLE: There, Sir Edward, you are under a mistake. The Ravensdale property is deeply encumbered, to nearly its full value.
SIR EDWARD(Springing up.): Good heavens.
COYLE: I have found among my father's papers a mortgage of that very property to him.

SIR EDWARD: To your father! My father's agent? Sir, do you know that if this be true I am something like a beggar, and your father something like a thief.
COYLE: I see the first plainly, Sir Edward, but do not the second.
SIR EDWARD: Do you forget, sir, that your father was a charity boy, fed, clothed by my father?

SIR EDWARD: And do you mean to tell me, sir, that your father repaid that kindness by robbing his benefactor?
COYLE: Certainly not, but by advancing money to that benefactor when he wanted it, and by taking the 17056security of one of his benefactor's estates as any prudent man would under the circumstances. 

SIR EDWARD: Why, then, sir, the benefactor's property is yours.
COYLE: I see one means, at least, of keeping the Ravensdale estate in the family.

SIR EDWARD: What is it?
COYLE: By marrying your daughter to the mortgagee.

SIR EDWARD: To you?
COYLE: I am prepared to settle the estate of Miss Trenchard the day she becomes Mrs. Richard Coyle.

SIR EDWARD (Springing up.): You insolent scoundrel, how dare you insult me in my own house, sir. Leave it, sir, or I will have you kicked out by my servants.
COYLE: I never take an angry man at his word, Sir Edward. Give a few moments reflection to my offer. You can have me kicked out afterwards.

SIR EDWARD: (Pacing Stage): 43305A beggar, Sir Edward Trenchard a beggar, see my children reduced to labor for their bread, to misery perhaps; but the alternative, Florence detests him, still the match would save her, at least, from ruin. He might take the family name, I might retrench, retire, to the continent for a few years. Florence's health might serve as a pretense. Repugnant as the alternative is, yet it deserves consideration54806.
COYLE: (who has watched.): Now, Sir Edward, shall I ring for the servants to kick me out?
[passage-footer]The extract is from Our American Cousin, by Tom Taylor.[/passage-footer]

[passage-header]Read the passage and answer the question that follows:[/passage-header] My name had lost its ring of familiarity and I had to be nudged to go and receive my diploma. All my preparation had fled. 72986I neither marched up to the stage like a conquering Amazon nor did I look in the audience for Bailey's nod of approval.71356 Marguerite Johnson, I heard the name again, my honors were read, there were noises in the audience of appreciation, and I took my place on the stage as rehearsed.[passage-footer]This selection is from the autobiography of Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.[/passage-footer]

Select the option that makes the underlined part of the sentence most concise and easy to understand:

The following two passages are from critical commentaries

on "the Tramp," the comic character created by silent-film

star Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977).

Passage 1

Before Charlie Chaplin came along, tramps and hoboes

had long been a part of the cartoon and comic strip tradition,

represented most prominently in England in 1896

by Tom Browne's "Weary Willie and Tired Tim" and

in the United States in 1900 by Frederick Burr Opper's

"Happy Hooligan." But Chaplin was to bring a definitive

genius to the tramp figure, raising it to heights of poetic

and mythic power in his first year with the Keystone studios.

That Chaplin had considered using the tramp figure earlier

is suggested by the title of one of his childhood stage teams,

"Bristol and Chaplin, the Millionaire Tramps.' But the

tramp character was not fully realized until 1914, when

Chaplin donned the baggy pants, the floppy shoes, the cane,

the derby hat, and the little moustache for his second film.

As Chaplin would later explain, "The moment I was dressed,

the clothes and makeup made me feel the character. By the

time I walked on stage 'the Tramp' was fully born." He

would polish and revise the character through other film

roles until 1915, when he was featured in his own two-reel

film,The Tramp.

        In his own comments on the Tramp, Chaplin put his

finger on many of the elements that made the characterization

so powerful and universally relevant. As he said

after introducing the character to his director, "this fellow

is many-sided, a tramp, a gentleman, a poet, a dreamer, a

lonely fellow, always hopeful of romance and adventure.

He would have you believe he is a scientist, a musician, a

duke,a polo player. However, he is not above picking up

cigarette butts or robbing a baby of its candy." The Tramp,

in other words, is a human being down and out on his luck

and full of passion for life and hope that things will get

better.He is imaginative and creative, and thus a romantic

and an artist, who brings style to his meager existence and

art to his struggle for survival. Yet when things become

worse,he is willing to place practicality above sentiment

and violate the usual social amenities. He is indeed complex

and many-sided, thereby touching most human beings at

one or more points in our character and makeup. There is a

good deal in his nature that most of us identify with in our

secret selves, apart from what we are in the public world

we inhabit.

Passage 2

       There is no doubt that Charlie Chaplin was a regu-

lar reader of the most famous of the early comic strips,

"Weary Willie and Tired Tim." Weary Willie and

Tired Tim made their debut on the front of Illustrated

Chips in 1896 when Chaplin was an energetic eight year

old.In his book, My Autobiography, Chaplin only mentions

his love of comics in passing, commenting that one of his

rare pleasures was reading "my weekly comic on a serene

Sunday morning."

        He was much more forthcoming---and revealing---

in 1957 while talking to journalist Victor Thompson.

Chaplin began reminiscing about his younger days--and

one particular occasion when he had a short-lived job at

a glass-blowing establishment in London.

      "In the lunch breaks, I used to entertain the men with

sand dances," he told Thompson. "On one occasion I

danced so furiously, I got sick and had to be sent home.

I sat on the curb feeling I was dying. A woman gave me a

penny to go home by horse-bus, but I walked and bought

a comic with the windfall.

"Ah,those comics, Chaplin went on, the wonderfully

vulgar paper for boys with Casey Court pictures, and the

'Adventures of Weary Willie and Tired Tim,' two famous

tramps with the world against them. Theres been a lot said

about how I evolved the little tramp character who made my

name.Deep, psychological stuff has been written about

how I meant him to be a symbol of all the class war, of

the love-hate concept, the death-wish and what-all.

      "But if you want the simple Chaplin truth behind the

Chaplin legend, I started the little tramp simply to make

people laugh and because those other old tramps, Weary

Willie and Tired Tim, had always made me laugh."

       If one glances through old copies of Illustrated Chips,

it is possible to find similarities between the scrapes that

Weary Willie and Tired Tim got into and those in some of

Chaplin's films: even the titles of Chaplin's early movies

seem derived from the adventures of the comic book heroes.

And if further proof of the influence is needed, isn't the

very appearance of the gaunt Weary Willie strikingly

similar to that of Chaplin's Little Tramp?