Question

Portia gave the decision. “One pound of the merchant’s (商人) flesh (肉) is yours. It is what the contract (合同) says. You may take his flesh!”

Shylock held his knife and told Antonio to get ready. “Wait!” exclaimed Portia. “You will not do anything that is not written in the contract. Is that right, Shylock?”

“Yes, that’s right,” said Shylock. He wondered what the wise young judge was going to say. “Well,” said the young judge, “I have read the contract carefully, and it does not say anything about taking his blood. It says ‘a pound of flesh’. You can take your pound of flesh, but you may not take one drop of his blood. If you take any of his blood, the duke (公爵) will take everything you own!”

Now it was Graziano’s turn to bless the judge and call him wise.

“You wanted justice (公平),” Portia told Shylock, “and you’ll have more justice than you wanted.”

Shylock didn’t want to give everything he owned to the duke. He decided not to take his pound of flesh. He said he would take the money.

“Give me ninety thousand dollars,” he said, “and I will have pity on Antonio and let him go.”

Bassanio was happy to give him the money. He was very pleased that his friend Antonio would not die.

“Wait!” Portia said again. “He does not want the money. It is not written in the contract.”

Shylock said he just wanted to have his money back and wouldn’t even need interest. Bassanio was ready to give it to him, but again Portia stopped him.

“He said he only wanted the thing written in the contract.”

Shylock understood that he would not get his pound of flesh. He understood that he would not get his money. He decided to go home.

“Wait!” said Portia, for the third time. “The law of Venice, says that if you plan to kill a citizen of Venice, you will lose everything that you own. Half of what you have will belong to the person you tried to kill, and the other half will belong to the duke.”

Taken from The Merchant of Venice

1.What do you think of Portia according to the passage?

A.Brave and clever. B.Generous and calm. C.Childish and careless. D.Practical and selfish.

2.Which is the right order of what happened in the story?

a. Shylock decided to take the money instead of Antonio’s pound of flesh.

b. Graziano blessed the judge and called him wise.

c. Shylock just wanted his money back without any interest.

d. The judge made the decision.

e. Shylock held his knife and got ready to take the flesh.

A.e-b-c-a-d. B.e-b-a-c-d. C.d-e-b-a-c. D.d-e-b-c-a.

3.What do you think would happen to Shylock later?

A.He would give everything that he owned to the duke.

B.He would face the loss of everything that he had.

C.He would have his money back without interest.

D.He would try to get Antonio’s flesh in another way.

Answer 1