托福閱讀聽力寫作 demo 2

 托福閱讀聽力寫作 demo 2  by David pai Email: ginway2012@gmail.com

 

TP08

Reading

Toward the end of his life, the Chevalier de Seingalt (1725-1798) wrote a long memoir recounting his life and adventures. The Chevalier was a somewhat controversial figure, but since he met many famous people, including kings and writers, his memoir has become a valuable historical source about European society in the eighteenth century. However, some critics have raised doubts about the accuracy of the memoir. They claim that the Chevalier distorted or invented many events in the memoir to make his life seem more exciting and glamorous than it really was.

For example, in his memoir the Chevalier claims that while living in Switzerland, he was very wealthy, and it is known that he spent a great deal of money there on parties and gambling. However, evidence has recently surfaced that the Chevalier borrowed considerable sums of money from a Swiss merchant. Critics thus argue that if the Chevalier had really been very rich, he would not have needed to borrow money.

Critics are also skeptical about die accuracy of the conversations that the Chevalier records in the memoir between himself and the famous writer Voltaire. No one doubts that the Chevalier and Voltaire met and conversed. However, critics complain that the memoir cannot possibly capture these conversations accurately, because it was written many years after the conversations occurred. Critics point out that it is impossible to remember exact phrases from extended conversations held many years earlier.

Critics have also questioned the memoir's account of the Chevalier's escape from a notorious prison in Venice, Italy. He claims to have escaped the Venetian prison by using a piece of metal to make a hole in the ceiling and climbing through the roof. Critics claim that while such a daring escape makes for enjoyable reading, it is more likely that the Chevaliers jailers were bribed to free him. They point out that the Chevalier had a number of politically well-connected friends in Venice who could have offered a bribe.

 

Listening

Professor:

No memoir can possibly be correct in every detail, but still, the Chevalier's memoir is pretty accurate overall, and is, by and large, a reliable historical source Let's look at the accuracy of the three episodes mentioned in the reading.

First, the loan from the merchant. Well, that doesn't mean that the Chevalier was poor. Let me explain. We know that in Switzerland, the Chevalier spent huge amounts of money on parties and gambling, and he had wealth. But it was a kind of property you have to sell first to get money. So, it usually took a few days to convert his assets into actual money. So, when he ran out of cash, he had to borrow some while he was waiting for his money to arrive, but that's not being poor.

Second, the conversations with Voltaire. The Chevalier states in his memoir that each night immediately after conversing with Voltaire, he wrote down everything he could remember about that particular night's conversation. Evidently the Chevalier kept his notes of these conversations for many years and referred to them when writing the memoir. Witnesses who lived with the Chevalier in his later life confirmed that he regularly consulted notes and journals when composing the memoir.

Third, the Chevalier's escape from a prison in Venice. Other prisoners in that prison had even more powerful friends than he did, and none of them were ever able to bribe their way to freedom, So bribery hardly seems likely in his case. The best evidence, though, comes from some old Venetian government documents. They indicate that soon after the Chevalier escaped from the prison, the ceiling of his old prison room had to be repaired. Why would they need to repair a ceiling unless he had escaped exactly as he said he did.

 

Summary writing:

In the lecture,  the professor aim at the critics’ several doubts about the genuineness of Chevalier’s memoir about his life and adventures—disclaim of Chevalier’s wealth, the reliability of his interview minute ,and the suspicion of the way he escape—,and counter these doubts with his distinct supportive evidences and analyses. Below are the further.

 

For the first, the professor think it premature to refer to ‘Chevalier’s borrowing’ as the synonym or equivalent  ‘lack of money ‘ without carefully checking the process and why of the operation of money borrowings. In his perspective, even the rich sometimes lack cash, in light of the liquidity of and turnover of assets. 

 

Second, the professor find a strong evidence to strengthen/augment the authenticity of the memo that an witness, ever living with him , proved/confirmed that he often consulted from the immediate note made on or right after the scene of interviewing the celebrities and the top reporter.

 

Last, the professor has a critical evidence to prove Chevalier did break loose from the jail by a undeniable official Venetian document of the repair of the ceiling, and has a disbelief of the critics’ presumptive conclusion that Chevalier bribed the jailers to get free since there are other more influential figures without doing so/this.