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(皺眉). “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(紀念碑) 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.
小題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. |
小題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. |
小題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 |
小題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 |
