5. at lead the story and say what Martin Eden felt when he came to the library for the first time. Martin Eden After Jack London Martin Eden, a strong young man and a hardworking sailor, is from a working-class family One day he meets Ruth Morse, a young girl from a rich family, and the falls in love with her. "Most of what you were saying I can't understand." Martin said. "Never trained that way, you see. I like books and poetry, and what time I've had I've read them, but I've never thought about the things the way you have. How did you learn all this you've been talking?" "By going to school and by studying," she answered. "I went to school too when I was a kid, he began to object. "Yes, but I mean high school, and lectures, and the university." "You've gone to the university?" he was surprised. Jack London " I'm going there now. I'm taking special courses in English," "How long would I have to study before I could go to the university?" he asked, "That depends upon how much studying you have already done. You have never attended high school? Of course not. But did you finish grammar school?" "I had two years to run, when I left," he answered. At that time he understood he wanted to learn. The next day he decided to go to the library. He debated between the Berkeley Free Library and the Oakland Free Library, and decided upon the latter because Ruth lived in Oakland. Who could tell? a library was the best place for her, and he might see her there. Entering the library he was shocked. He had never dreamed that the human knowledge was so big. He was frightened. How could his brain ever learn it all? And so he wandered on among the shelves packed with wisdom. Noon came, and afternoon. He forgot to eat and locked for the books on etiquette, for, in addition to career, his mind was filled by a simple and very concrete problem: When you meet a young lady and she asks you to call, how soon can you call? He had not found what he wanted, though he had found that it would take all of a man's time to be polite.. "Did you find what you wanted?" the man at the desk asked him as he was leaving. "Yes, sir," he answered. "You have a fine library here." Since that time he came to the library every day. A week of heavy reading had passed since the evening he first met Ruth, and still he dared not to call her. Time and again he nerved himself up to call. He didn't know the proper time to call, nor was there anyone to tell him. He had nothing to do but to read. It seemed to him by the end of the week that he had lived centuries, so far behind was the old life. But he was unprepared. He tried to read books that needed years of study. One day hе read a book on ancient philosophy, and the next day something modern, so his head was full of the conflict and contradiction of ideas. He had become interested in economics, industry and politics. Martin Eden went to the library to look up the definitions of a dozen unusual words. Poetry, however, was his love, and he read much of it, finding his greatest joy in the simpler poets who were more understandable. He loved beauty and there he found beauty. The man at the desk in the library had seen Martin there very often, so he began greeting him with a smile and a nod when he entered. So Martin decided to ask him the question he had been thinking about all the time. "There is something I'd like to ask you. When you meet a young lady and she asks you to call, how soon can you call? "Why I'd say any time, the man answered. "Yes, but this is different. I'm just a rough sort of a fellow, and I have never seen anything of society. This girl is all that I'm not. What is the best time to call? The afternoon? - not too close to mealtime? Or the evening? Or Sunday?" "You call her up on the telephone and find out," the librarian said with a brightening face. "I'll do it." He turned back and asked, "When you are speaking to a young lady say. for example, Miss Lizzie Smith do you say "Miss Lizzie' or 'Miss Smith"?" ver ad e "Say "Miss Smith always until you come to know her better." So Martin Eden solved the problem. Prowtec b) Answer the questions. 1. Who was Martin Eden? 2. Where did Ruth study when Martin met her? 3. What did Martin decide to do to become an educated person? 4. Why was it difficult for Martin to understand all the books he took from the library? 5. Martin said, "It would take all of a man's time to be polite. How do you under stand this sentence? Do you agree with Martin?