Some people seem easy to understand: their character appears obvious on first meeting. Appearances, however, can be deceptive. I shrug my shoulders when people tell me that their first impressions of a person are always right. For my own part I find that the longer I know people, the more they puzzle me.
I read in this morning’s paper that Edward Hyde Burton had died. He was a businessman and he had been in business in Japan for many years. Once he gave me a great surprise. Unless I had heard the story from his own lips, I’d never have believed that he was capable of such an action. He was always neatly and quietly dressed in accordance with his age and position. He didn’t talk much, but what he said was sensible. You couldn’t imagine he’d possibly raise his voice in anger. Here was a man who attracted you because you felt in him a real love for his fellows. He’d tell with point a good and spicy story, and in his youth he’d been something of an athlete. He was a rich man and he’d made every penny himself. I suppose one thing that made you like him was that he was so weak; he aroused your instincts(本能) of protection. You felt he couldn’t bear to hurt a fly.
One afternoon Burton told me a “funny” story in a quiet, dry humour:
“There was a namesake(同名人) of mine, who was the best bridge player I ever met. He seemed to have a fantastic instinct about the cards. He won a good deal of my money by card-playing.”
“One day he came to me when he lost all his fortune. He came to see me in my office and asked me for a job. I asked him how old he was.”
“ ‘Thirty-five’, he said.”
“ ‘And what have you been doing ever since ?’ I asked him.”
“ ‘Well, nothing very much.’ he said.”
“ ‘I’m afraid I can’t do anything for you just yet’ I said. ‘Come back and see me in another thirty-five years, and I’ll see what I can do.’ ”
“He didn’t move. He went rather pale. He hesitated for a moment and then he told me that he had had bad luck at cards for some time. He lost everything he had. He hadn’t a penny. He was down and out. If he couldn’t get something to do he’d not survive.”
“I looked at him for a bit. I could see now that he was all to pieces. He’d been drinking more than usual and he looked fifty.”
“Suddenly I had an idea.” Pausing in his story, Burton turned to me. “When I was young I swam over three miles round the beacon(灯塔) and landed at the river of Tarumi. It’s rather difficult on account of the currents round the beacon. Well, I told my young fellow about it and I said that if he’d do it I’d give him a job.”
“I could see he was rather surprised. He was not in good condition for sports. He looked at me for a moment and then he nodded.”
“I told him I’d drive round to the river at half past twelve and meet him.”
“ ‘Done,’ he said.”
“I wished him good luck and he left me. I had a lot of work to do that morning and I only just managed to get to the river Tarumi at half past twelve. But I needn’t have hurried; he never turned up.”
“Did he fear it at the last moment?” I asked.
“No, he didn’t fear it. He started all right. But of course he’d ruined his constitution(体质) by drink. The currents round the beacon were more than he could manage. We didn’t get the body for about three days.”
I didn’t say anything for a moment or two. I was rather shocked. Then I asked.
“When you made him that offer of a job, did you know he’d be drowned?”
He looked at me with his kind blue eyes, smiling. “Well, I hadn’t got a position in my office at the moment.”
72. The underlined word “deceptive” may mean .
A. puzzling B. misleading C. complex D. impressive
73. For some time, Edward Burton impressed the author most with his .
A. age and position B. wealth and ability
C. sensibility and humor D. kindness and weakness
74. We can infer from Burton’s story that his namesake .
A. never saw through his trick B. annoyed him by playing cards
C. could not do any job well D. intended to cheat him with a lie
75. We learned from the story that Edward Burton .
A. knew the young man would kill himself
B. arranged the end of his namesake’s life
C. did much for the poor fellowman
D. killed his card-friend by mistake
76. Edward Burton could be described as a(n) person.
A. innocent B. smart C. careless D. cruel