Read the following passage from the story ‘The Bet’ and answer the questions
that follow.
The old banker remembered all this and thought:
‘Tomorrow at twelve o’clock he will regain his freedom. By our agreement I
ought to pay him two millions. If I do pay him, it is all over with me: I shall be
utterly ruined.’
Fifteen years before, his millions had been beyond his reckoning; now he
was afraid to ask himself which were greater, his debts or his assets. ‘Cursed
bet!’ muttered the old man, clutching his head in despair, ‘Why didn’t the
man die? He is only forty now. He will take my last penny from me, he will
marry, will enjoy life, will gamble on the Exchange; while I shall look at him
with envy like a beggar, and hear from him every day the same sentence: ‘I
am indebted to you for the happiness of my life, let me help you!’ No, it is
too much! The one means of being saved from bankruptcy and disgrace is
the death of that man!’
1. ‘I am indebted to you for the happiness of my life’. Who are the ‘I’ and the
‘you’ referred to in this sentence.
2. Greed for money leads men to cruelty. What cruel deed does the banker
think about?
3. ‘Cursed bet!’ Why does the banker consider the bet a curse?
4. Pick out an expression that suggests the state of mind of the banker.
5. Find out a word from the passage that means ‘not having enough money
to pay one’s debts’
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