A lady in an old cotton dress and her husband, dressed
in an old suit, stepped off the train in Boston, and walked into the president
of Harvard’s outer office. The secretary could tell in a moment that such
country people had no business at Harvard. She frowned(皱眉). “We want to see the president,” the man said softly.
“He’ll be busy all day,” the secretary said coldly. “We’ll wait,” the lady
replied.
For hours, the secretary didn’t talk to them, hoping
that the couple would finally become tired and go away. They didn’t. And the
secretary finally decided to disturb the president. “Maybe if they just see you
for a few minutes, they’ll leave,” she told him. He frowned too. Someone of his
importance obviously didn’t have the time to spend with them.
The president walked toward them unwillingly. The lady
told him, “We had a son that attended Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard,
and was very happy here. But he was accidentally killed. And my husband and I
would like to set up a memorial(纪念碑) to him
somewhere on campus. ” The president was so surprised that he shouted sharply,
“We can’t put up a statue(塑像) for every person who
attended Harvard and died. This place would look like a cemetery (墓地).
“Oh, no” the lady explained, “We don’t want to build a
statue. We thought we would give a building to Harvard.” The president rolled
his eyes. He glanced at their plain clothes, and said with surprise, “A
building! Do you have any idea how much a building costs? We have over seven
and a half million dollars in the physical buildings here at Harvard.”
For a moment the lady was silent. The president was
pleased. He could get rid of them now. The lady turned to her husband and said
quietly. “Is that all it costs to start a university? Why don't we just start
our own?” Her husband nodded. Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford walked away,
traveling to Palo Alto, California where they set up the university with their
name, Stanford University, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared
about.
1.What did the old couple go to Harvard for?
A.They wanted
to see their son.
B.They had an
important meeting
C.They went to
Harvard just to start a university
D.They wanted
to meet the president of Harvard.
2.Why didn’t the president come out to meet the
couple?
A.He was really
busy at that time.
B.The secretary
didn’t allow the couple to meet the president.
C.He was
important and didn’t have time for unimportant people.
D.He had an
important friend to meet and had to spend some time together.
3.From the passage, we can know ______.
A.the old
couple were in fact rich people
B.the secretary
was afraid of the old couple
C.the old
couple’s son was killed in Harvard
D.the president
of Harvard was kind and patient to anyone
4.The best title of the passage is “______”.
A.A Statue or A
Building B.How Stanford
University Was Built
C.A Visit to
Harvard University D.A Strange Old
Couple