A. Vocabulary

Look up the meanings of the following phrases under ‘dream’ and ‘sell’ in the dictionary

Bring out the contradiction in the last exchange between the author and the Portuguese ambassador ‘In concrete terms,’ I asked at last, ‘what did she do?’ ‘Nothing,’ he said, with a certain disenchantment. ‘She dreamed.’

Comment on the ironical element in the story.

Study the following sentences and underline the part which receives emphasis

• I never saw her again or even wondered about her until I heard about the snake ring on the woman who died in the Havana Riviera disaster.

• That did not surprise me, however, because I had always thought her dreams were no more than a stratagem for surviving.

• Although she did not say so, her conversation made it clear that dream by dream, she had taken over the entire fortune of her ineffable patrons in Vienna.

• Three tables away sat an intrepid woman in an old-fashioned felt hat and a purple scarf, eating without haste and staring at him.

• I stayed in Vienna for more than a month, sharing the straitened circumstances of the other students while I waited for money that never arrived

How did the author recognise the lady who was extricated from the car encrusted in the wall of Havana Riviera Hotel after the storm?