1997/01（本試）
One autumn afternoon a friend of mine, Captain Baker, returned from a trip to Washington and found his wife, Jane, waiting for him at the station in New York. She had gone to meet him because she had suddenly been given tickets for the opera that night. She was afraid they would be late if they didn’t go there directly from the station.
She told him about something that she had found while she was waiting for the train to arrive. In a corner of the station she had noticed a telephone booth with a sign on its door, “Out of Order.” Glancing into the booth, she had seen a small object beneath the telephone.
“Look!” she said, holding out to him a small blue wooden cat. They smiled over the curious toy, and she pushed it into her bag as they left the station.
Later, they were sitting in the back row in the crowded opera house enjoying the wonderful music. Some of the audience were standing just behind them. Suddenly Jane felt fingers touching her lightly on the back of her arm. She shivered a little, and tried to keep her attention on the music.
When the touch was repeated a moment later, she whispered to her husband about it, but he only replied that people do not bother you at the opera on purpose. However, the touch was repeated and it seemed there was a reason for it. Yet the touch was so slight that she hesitated to turn round and glance back.
At the end of the first part they left their seats. Jane said, “Those fingers brushing lightly against me felt so strange, like the fingers of a ghost.” She felt so nervous that she could not return to her seat and the Captain reluctantly agreed that they should leave the opera and go home. But on the way home Jane began to doubt that anything had touched her at all. She admitted it might have been merely her imagination.
After they reached home, she remembered the little cat and got her bag to have another look at it. She noticed the bag felt heavier. When she opened it and looked inside, she was amazed to see a pile of diamonds, sapphires and pearls.
Not surprisingly, they could hardly sleep at all that night. Both were now convinced that those ghostlike fingers had put the jewels in her bag during the opera. The next morning they went to the police. At first the police could not understand this strange situation. It was only after Jane happened to mention finding the little wooden cat that they could give an explanation.
“Thieves had stolen the jewels and were going to pass them over to a woman. In order to identify her, they placed the cat in the booth and told her to pick it up. They would be watching her, and afterwards would pass the stolen objects to her. The woman arrived late, however, and you found the cat by chance. They followed you and found a clever way to pass the jewelry to you.”
Much of the jewelry was returned to the owners, but a considerable amount was not and came into Jane’s possession. She also kept the small wooden cat, which she had grown to like.
- Why did Jane go to the station?
① She had left her bag in a phone booth there by mistake.
② She wanted to tell her husband about the cat she had found.
③ She was to accompany her husband on a trip
④ She wished to reach the opera house with her husband on time. - What was the purpose of the wooden cat?
① It had a message from the thieves hidden in it to say where they would all meet.
② It was a sign that the thieves would wait at the opera house.
③ It would indicate where the bag with the jewels was to be left.
④ It would show which woman the thieves should give the jewels to. - What happened in the opera house?
① Jane felt herself being touched and wanted to leave early.
② Jane noticed something being taken from her bag.
③ Jane spoke angrily to someone who was bothering her.
④ Jane’s husband didn’t enjoy the opera and so they went home before the second part. - Why did Jane and her husband have difficulty sleeping that night?
① They felt they should not have taken the cat from the phone booth.
② They regretted that they hadn’t seen the end of the opera.
③ They were disturbed by the mysterious treasure they had found
④ They were worried because the police had found out about the jewels. - Why did the thieves’ plan go wrong?
① They couldn’t find Jane when they looked for her at the station.
② They didn’t expect anyone else to take the cat away from the booth.
③ They didn’t realize that the telephone was not working.
④ They were too late in putting the cat under the telephone.
