The comeback
Fausto Ruiz got off the boat at the port of the city where he was born fifty years ago, and to which he had been away for twenty years. There were lots of new buildings up on the hills around the city now, buildings which he didn’t recognize. Yet many of the old buildings were exactly the same, although many of the old shops were there no more.
He walked up the main road and saw that there was still one small cafè there which was the same as it had been. Walking into the cafè, he recognized the owner behind the bar as well as the waiter working there. They both looked much, much older. Fausto felt certain that he didn’t look as old as they did, even though they were all twenty years older now.
Fausto sat at a table and waited. He raised his arm and shouted to the waiter, then to the owner behind the bar, but it was useless. They didn’t come and ask him what he wanted. They were ignoring him.
Angry, Fausto got up and walked out of the cafè. Such ignorant people, he thought. Now I remember why I left this town twenty years ago, and why I never came back.
He walked along the main street as far as the main square in the town, and when he arrived there he remembered the other reason why he had never come back. In the main square there was the theatre. He had a terrible memory of what happened there twenty years ago.
Twenty years ago, Fausto Ruiz was the most famous singer in the world. He had sung in all of the most famous opera houses in the world. Everywhere he went, people paid large sums of money for tickets. When they saw him sing they clapped and applauded and cheered. When he was at the height of his fame, Fausto decided to come back and held a concert in the theatre.
The concert was announced, and all the tickets sold out within a few hours. Thousands of people crowded into the theatre to see the legendary Fausto Ruiz sing in the theatre.
There was silence as Fausto walked onto the stage. Then he began to sing, one of his best known songs. And at the end of the song, there was just silence. Fausto waited, very surprised for a moment, and then started to sing another song. At the end of this song, there was silence for a moment. Then the people began to boo, and to hiss. Fausto tried to cover the noise by singing another song, very loudly this time. But it got worse. The louder he sang, the louder the boos and hisses became. Soon, there was a rain of rotten fruit and vegetables and smelly old shoes falling down. Fausto was extremely angry. He stormed off the stage and out of the theatre. He left his hometown that night, and he said that he would never, ever go back there ever again.
Now, he decided to walk into the theatre. As he walked in he saw it was the same man selling tickets in the box office. Fausto said hello to him but the man said nothing and ignored him. “Still the same” thought Fausto. He felt sad, and left the theatre and decided to see the house where he had been born.
He walked all the way across the town, expecting to be recognized by people. He saw some men in the park, who were the same age as he was, and he remembered them. They were his friends when he was at school. He walked over to them to say hello, but they, too, ignored him.
He was so angry and so disappointed that he began to shout, “I am the great Fausto Ruiz!!!
The greatest singer the world has ever heard!!!” Nobody took any notice of him.
When he finally reached his old house, he at least had a pleasant surprise. Outside the house, there was a statue(雕塑), and it was a statue of himself. “Finally!” thought Fausto, “Somebody has recognized my genius!”
Fausto went to have a closer look. There was some writing at the bottom of the statue. “Fausto Ruiz” it said, “Singer”. Fausto was disappointed that it did not say “the greatest singer in the world”, but at least it was a statue. There was some more writing. He looked carefully at it. There was his date of birth, fifty years ago. And then there was something else. It was another date, and it was yesterday. …It was the date of his death.
12. When he returned home twenty years later, Fausto Ruiz really expected
.
A.to see the great changes in his hometown |
B.that the people as old as him could remember who he was |
C.that the people could still appreciate his singing |
D.to tell the people there that he could still recognize them |
13. Which of the following directly caused him to leave his hometown?
A.His singing in the most famous opera houses in the world. |
B.Too much admiration for him and his singing. |
C.What the people did to him in the theater. |
D.His willingness to be famous all over the whole world. |
14. The underlined sentence “Then the people began to boo, and to hiss” shows that the people there
.
A.thought highly of him and his singing |
B.became very excited when hearing him singing |
C.were ignoring him and his singing |
D.were extremely disappointed in him and his singing |
15. We can say that Fausto Ruiz is
according to the story.
A.open-minded and humorous | B.ignorant and stupid |
C.lively and cheerful | D.sensitive and proud |