Questão 741723

Text to answer questions 42 and 43.

1 No matter where I was posted, whether abroad or

back in Ottawa, I usually managed to spend a brief

summer vacation in France. There I dispensed with

4 women altogether, caught up on my reading, and tried to

write a book. I meant it to be a summary of recent times,

with my experiences and judgment used tactfully, never

7 intrusively, as a binding thread. I would have called it

“My Century,” but the title had already been employed by

a celebrated Polish poet. Every year at high summer, I was

10 driven to unpack my Hermes, set it on the marble table in

the shadiest part of the terrace, roll in a sheet of Extra

Strong, and type “Chapter 1.” I could see a tamed and

13 orderly design of streams and rivulets (early youth,

intellectual awakening) feeding a tranquil river that

debouched into a limpid sea. Unfortunately, it wanted only

16 a few minutes for the sea to churn up and disgorge a ton of

dead fish. Most people considered great were in reality

only average; middling masters I held in contempt; as for

19 amateurs in any field, I saw no reason why they should not

be airlifted to Mongolia and left to forage. Obviously, this

was of no interest to anyone except cranks; yet I felt no

22 spite, no disappointment, no envy of younger men. I had

done nearly everything I wanted, and had been as

successful as my aunt had hoped.

25 After half an hour I would push the typewriter aside,

open a thick notebook, uncap the gold Parker I was given

years ago for having passed, unexpectedly well, an

28 examination in political science, and write, “Chapter 1.”

Then I would cap the pen and stare at the Mediterranean,

wondering if the wisp of darkness on the horizon could be

31 a mirage projection of Corsica.

Apart from this activity I ate breakfast and lunch at

home, went down for a swim early, when no one was

34 around, played some tennis at a court up near the railway

station, and dined with elderly neighbors. At the end of a

few weeks I bolted the window shutters, disconnected and

37 locked up the telephone (so that burglars would not be

tempted to make long-distance calls), and returned to the

39 wrack and low tide of my profession.

GALLANT, Mavis. Let it Pass. In: Montreal Stories.

Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2004. (adapted)

Considering the vocabulary in the text, mark the statements below as right (C) or wrong (E).

The word churn up (line 16) means “to move something with great force or violently”.