Reading Comprehension Test 44

The ability to see the situation as your opponents see it, as difficult as it may be, is one of the most important skills that you can possess as a negotiator. You must know more than simply that they see things differently. It is not enough to study them like beetles under a microscope; you need to know what it feels like to be a beetle. To accomplish this you should be prepared to withhold judgment as you try on their views. Your opponents may well believe that their views are right as strongly as you believe yours are.

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?

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?

Newspaper editor and political commentator Henry Louis Mencken was a force of nature, brushing aside all objects animal and mineral in his headlong rush to the publicity that surely awaited him. He seized each day, shook it to within an inch of its life, and then gaily went on to the next. No matter where his writing appeared, it was quoted widely, his pungently outspoken opinions debated hotly. Nobody else could make so many people so angry, or make so many others laugh so hard. 

The ability to see the situation as your opponents see it, as difficult as it may be, is one of the most important skills that you can possess as a negotiator. You must know more than simply that they see things differently. It is not enough to study them like beetles under a microscope; you need to know what it feels like to be a beetle. To accomplish this you should be prepared to withhold judgment as you try on their views. Your opponents may well believe that their views are right as strongly as you believe yours are.

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?

Mechanical pencils rule, my fifteen-year-old grandniece, Genevieve, declared when I invited her to be her generations voice on school supplies. Nobody sharpens anymore. Then, continuing with a fashion mavens hyperbole and arbitrary imperatives, she gave a passionate disquisition on types of clickers, new grips, smaller lead sizes, and other niceties of pencil selection. As she consigned the yellow-painted wooden pencil to the wastebasket of history, I felt a rush of nostalgia for the perfumed sharpener shavings of my youth.

[passage-header]Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow:[/passage-header]1. For four days, I walked through the narrow lanes of the old city, enjoying the romance of being in a city where history still lives - in its cobblestone streets and in its people riding asses, carrying vine leaves and palm as they once did during the time of Christ.
2. This is Jerusalem, home to the sacred sites of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. This is the place that houses the church of the Holy Sepulchre, the place where Jesus was finally laid to rest. This is also the site of Christ's crucifixion, burial, and resurrection.
3. Built by the Roman Emperor Constantine at the site of an earlier temple to Aphrodite, it is the most venerated Christian shrine in the world. And justifiably so. Here, within the church, are the last five stations of the cross, the 10th station where Jesus was stripped of his clothes, the 11th where he was nailed to the cross, the 12th where he died on the cross, the 13th where the body was removed from the cross, and the 14th, his tomb.
4. For all this weighty tradition, the approach and entrance to the church are nondescript: you have to ask for directions. Even to the devout Christian pilgrims walking along the Via Dolorosa - The Way of Sorrow - the first nine stations look clueless. Then a courtyard appears, hemmed in by other buildings and a doorway to one side. This leads to a vast area of huge stone architecture.
5. Immediately inside the entrance is your first stop. It's the stone of anointing: this is the place, according to Greek tradition, where Christ was removed from the cross. The Roman Catholics, however, believe it to be the spot where Jesus' body was prepared for burial by Joseph.
6. What happened next? Jesus was buried. He was taken to a place outside the city of Jerusalem where other graves existed and there he was buried in a cave. However, all that is long gone, destroyed by continued attacks and rebuilding; what remains is the massive - and impressive - Rotunda (a round building with a dome) that Emperor Constantine built. Under this, and right in the centre of the Rotunda, is the structure that contains the Holy Sepulchre.
7. "How do you know that this is Jesus' tomb?" I asked one of the pilgrims standing next to me. He was clueless, more interested, like the rest of them, in the novelty of it all and in photographing it than in its history or tradition.
8. At the start of the first century, the place was a disused quarry outside the city walls. According to the gospels, Jesus' crucifixion occurred 'at a place outside the city walls with graves nearby .....'. Archaeologists have discovered tombs from that era, so the site is compatible with the Biblical period.
9. The structure at the site is a marble tomb built over the original burial chamber. It has two rooms, and you enter four at a time into the first of these, the Chapel of the Angel. Here the angle is supposed to have sat on a stone to recount Christ's resurrection. A low door made of white marble, partly worn away by pilgrim's hands, leads to a smaller chamber inside. This is the 'room of the tomb', the place where Jesus was buried.
10. We entered in single file. On my right was a large marble slab that covered the original rock bench on which the body of Jesus was laid. A woman knelt and prayed. Her eyes were wet with tears. She pressed her face against the slab to hide them, but it only made it worse.

         "Blue Girls"
Twirling your blue skirts, travelling the sward
Under the towers of your seminary,
Go listen to your teachers old and contrary
Without believing a word.
Tie the white fillets then about your hair
And think no more of what will come to pass
Than bluebirds that go walking on the grass
And chattering on the air.
Practice your beauty, blue girls, before it fail;
And I will cry with my loud lips and publish
Beauty which all our power shall never establish,
It is so frail.
For I could tell you a story which is true;
I know a woman with a terrible tongue,
Blear eyes fallen from blue,
All her perfections tarnished - yet it is not long
Since she was lovelier than any of you.

"Fable"
In heaven
Some little blades of grass
Stood before God.
"What did you do?"
Then all save one of the little blades
Began eagerly to relate
The merits of their lives.
This one stayed a small way behind,
Ashamed.
Presently, God said,
"And what did you do?"
The little blade answered, "O My Lord,
Memory is bitter to me,
For if I did good deeds
I know not of them."
Then God, in all his splendor,
Arose from his throne.
"O best little blade of grass!" he said.