I never forget a face

SUMMARY



I never forget a face, but I forget names. My memory for faces helps me a lot in business. Once I was in a train, people began to go out gradually. I found myself with only one fellow in the carriage. He wasn’t willing to get into conversation with me. I encouraged him to speak, but in vain. At last, I gave up my attempts and he slept. When we reached Bardfield station, I woke and suggested taking him in my car as it was raining heavily outside. On halfway across the open country, he asked me to let him get out in an area where there were no houses. When I slowed down, he hit me hard on the back of my head. When I came to myself, I was lying in a ditch with rain pouring down on me. When I went to the police station to report, I found the man’s picture on the wall there. He was wanted for robbery with violence and attempted murder.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS



1-What was strange about the writer?
* He never forgot a face, but he forgot people’s names.



2- Why did the writer’s wife think he ought to be a reporter?
* He could wait at first nights at cinemas to look for all the famous people who go to see the film.



3- What was wrong with the wife’s point of view?
* It wouldn’t do as he couldn’t remember names.



4- How could the writer overcome his weakness of not remembering names?
* He connected faces with places; and he would speak about the places they met.



5- What was the wife’s complaint concerning neighbours?
* He didn’t know his neighbours names.



6- What did the writer know about the passenger with him?
* He was a Bardfield, but he couldn’t place him.



7- What did the writer guess the traveller was?
* He guessed he was one of those who had come to live in the small houses by the bus stop.



8- How did the writer start to talk to that man?
* As if they were old friends.



9- How did the traveller speak?
* He spoke well in a friendly manner.



10- How did the writer start his conversation?
* He asked him if he generally travelled down on that train.



11- To what extend did the writer succeed in getting information about the traveller?
* He failed to get much information.



12- Why did the writer boast about a business he had done that morning?
* To encourage the stranger to talk, or boast about something he had done.



13- How was the weather when they got out of the station?
* It was raining and blowing.



14- What did the writer offer the stranger?
* He offered him a lift.



15- What did the stranger say when they were half way across the open country?
* He asked the writer to let him get out.



16- What did the stranger do when the writer slowed down?
* He hit him hard on the back of his head and pushed him out of the car. He took his umbrella, gold watch, money and car.



17- Why was the stranger wanted?
* He was wanted for robbery with violence and attempted murder.



18- How did the writer’s troubles with names put him in difficulties from time to time?
* He lost business more than once.



19- What is the attitude of some of the villagers towards newcomers to the village?
* They are rather unfriendly.



20- The writer was struggling hard to get information from the stranger on the train. How did he account his lack of success in getting the stranger to talk?
* He said the stranger looked tired as if he had been working too hard lately.



21- Why did the writer suspect that the stranger didn’t own a car?
* Because he thought he lived in a cheap house by the bus stop and didn’t expect a man who lived in a cheap house to own a car.



22- Why does the writer like living in Bardfield?
* Because it’s only forty minutes from London and there’s a lot of country people there.





QUOTATIONS





1- “You can guess that there is not a man a woman or a child here in Bardfield that I don’t know by sight.”
a) Who is the speaker to whom?
b) What was his trouble?
c) How did he overcome it?



2- “My wife says sometimes I ought to be a reporter for the newspaper and wait about at first nights at cinemas, looking for all the famous people who go to see the films.”
a) Why does the writer’s wife say he ought to be a reporter?
b) Why shouldn’t he do very well as a reporter?
c) What was the result of this?



3- “Some of us who’ve lived in the place for a long time are rather unfriendly towards newcomers.”
a) What was the speaker’s attitude towards newcomers?
b) Why did the speaker say so?
c) How did he start his conversation with the other passenger?




4- “I’d even boasted a little about a rather nice bit of business I’d done that morning.”
a) What was the aim of the speaker’s boasting?
b) To what extend was it successful?
c) How did he account for his lack of success?




5- “Wake up, old fellow! We’re there.”
A) Who to whom?
b) Where were they?
d) What would happen if the speaker hadn’t woken him?




6- “What! Here! It seemed mad.”
a) Why was the writer astonished?
b) Why did he say, “it seemed mad”?
c) What happened to him wen he slowed down?





7- “Wanted for robbery with violence and attempted murder.”
a) Where was this statement written?
b) When did the writer read it?
d) What did the robber steal from him?