- Câu hỏi 329804:
The restaurant owner John Moore writes about his relationship with his son Gary, the famous TV chef.
I believe everyone's given a chance in life. My son, Gary, was given his chance with cooking, and my chance was to run a restaurant. When l heard about the opportunity, I rushed over to look at the place. It was in a really bad state. It was perfect for what I had in mind.
Coming into this business made me recall my childhood. l can remember my mother going out to work in a factory and me being so upset because l was left alone. With that in mind, I thought, 'We want time for family life.' My wife dedicated herself to looking after the children and did all my accounts, while I ran the business. We lived over the restaurant in those days, and we always put a lot of emphasis on having meals together. It's paid dividends with our children, Gary and Joe. They're both very confident. Also, from a very early age they would come down and talk to our regular customers. It's given both of them a great start in life.
Gary was quite a lively child when he was really small. We had a corner bath, and when he was about seven he thought he'd jump into it like a swimming pool, and he knocked himself out. When he was older he had to work for pocket money. He started off doing odd jobs and by the age of about ten he was in the kitchen every weekend, so he always had loads of money at school. He had discipline. He used to be up even before me in the morning. If you run a family business, it's for the family, and it was nice to see him helping out.
Gary wasn't very academic, but he shone so much in the kitchen. By the age of 15 he was as good as any of the men working there, and sometimes he was even left in charge. He would produce over a hundred meals, and from then I knew he'd go into catering because he had that flair. So when he came to me and said, 'Dad, I've got to do work experience as part of my course at school,' I sent him to a friend of mine who's got a restaurant.
Gary recently took up playing the drums and now he has his own band. Goodness knows what will happen to the cooking if the music takes off. My advice to Gary would be: if you start chasing two hares, you end up catching neither, so chase the hare you know you're going to catch. He understood when I said to him: 'Gary, if you're going to get anywhere in life, you've got to do it by the age of 30. If you haven't done it by then, it's too late.
Gary went to catering college at the age of 17, and on his first day he and the other new students - they're normally complete beginners - were given what's supposed to be a morning's work. But within an hour Gary had chopped all his vegetables, sliced all his meats. He'd prepared everything. That's my son for you! In the end, he was helping other people out.
None of us can believe how successful Gary's TV cookery series has become. I'm extremely proud of him. I've always tried to tell him that if you want something, you've got to work jolly hard for it, because no one gives you anything. He's seen the opportunity he's been given and grabbed hold of it with both hands. You know, you talk to your children as they grow up, and if they only take in ten per cent of what you've told them, you've got to be happy with that. The things Gary says, the things he does, I think, well, he must have listened sometimes
What does the writer mean by 'paid dividends' in paragraph 2?
A. allowed money to be saved
B. brought financial reward
C. was worth the suffering
D. produced benefits
- Câu hỏi 329807:
The restaurant owner John Moore writes about his relationship with his son Gary, the famous TV chef.
I believe everyone's given a chance in life. My son, Gary, was given his chance with cooking, and my chance was to run a restaurant. When l heard about the opportunity, I rushed over to look at the place. It was in a really bad state. It was perfect for what I had in mind.
Coming into this business made me recall my childhood. l can remember my mother going out to work in a factory and me being so upset because l was left alone. With that in mind, I thought, 'We want time for family life.' My wife dedicated herself to looking after the children and did all my accounts, while I ran the business. We lived over the restaurant in those days, and we always put a lot of emphasis on having meals together. It's paid dividends with our children, Gary and Joe. They're both very confident. Also, from a very early age they would come down and talk to our regular customers. It's given both of them a great start in life.
Gary was quite a lively child when he was really small. We had a corner bath, and when he was about seven he thought he'd jump into it like a swimming pool, and he knocked himself out. When he was older he had to work for pocket money. He started off doing odd jobs and by the age of about ten he was in the kitchen every weekend, so he always had loads of money at school. He had discipline. He used to be up even before me in the morning. If you run a family business, it's for the family, and it was nice to see him helping out.
Gary wasn't very academic, but he shone so much in the kitchen. By the age of 15 he was as good as any of the men working there, and sometimes he was even left in charge. He would produce over a hundred meals, and from then I knew he'd go into catering because he had that flair. So when he came to me and said, 'Dad, I've got to do work experience as part of my course at school,' I sent him to a friend of mine who's got a restaurant.
Gary recently took up playing the drums and now he has his own band. Goodness knows what will happen to the cooking if the music takes off. My advice to Gary would be: if you start chasing two hares, you end up catching neither, so chase the hare you know you're going to catch. He understood when I said to him: 'Gary, if you're going to get anywhere in life, you've got to do it by the age of 30. If you haven't done it by then, it's too late.
Gary went to catering college at the age of 17, and on his first day he and the other new students - they're normally complete beginners - were given what's supposed to be a morning's work. But within an hour Gary had chopped all his vegetables, sliced all his meats. He'd prepared everything. That's my son for you! In the end, he was helping other people out.
None of us can believe how successful Gary's TV cookery series has become. I'm extremely proud of him. I've always tried to tell him that if you want something, you've got to work jolly hard for it, because no one gives you anything. He's seen the opportunity he's been given and grabbed hold of it with both hands. You know, you talk to your children as they grow up, and if they only take in ten per cent of what you've told them, you've got to be happy with that. The things Gary says, the things he does, I think, well, he must have listened sometimes
The word “shone” in Paragraph 4 means
A. was cheerful
B. was very good
C. was clean
D. was helpful
- Câu hỏi 329808:
The restaurant owner John Moore writes about his relationship with his son Gary, the famous TV chef.
I believe everyone's given a chance in life. My son, Gary, was given his chance with cooking, and my chance was to run a restaurant. When l heard about the opportunity, I rushed over to look at the place. It was in a really bad state. It was perfect for what I had in mind.
Coming into this business made me recall my childhood. l can remember my mother going out to work in a factory and me being so upset because l was left alone. With that in mind, I thought, 'We want time for family life.' My wife dedicated herself to looking after the children and did all my accounts, while I ran the business. We lived over the restaurant in those days, and we always put a lot of emphasis on having meals together. It's paid dividends with our children, Gary and Joe. They're both very confident. Also, from a very early age they would come down and talk to our regular customers. It's given both of them a great start in life.
Gary was quite a lively child when he was really small. We had a corner bath, and when he was about seven he thought he'd jump into it like a swimming pool, and he knocked himself out. When he was older he had to work for pocket money. He started off doing odd jobs and by the age of about ten he was in the kitchen every weekend, so he always had loads of money at school. He had discipline. He used to be up even before me in the morning. If you run a family business, it's for the family, and it was nice to see him helping out.
Gary wasn't very academic, but he shone so much in the kitchen. By the age of 15 he was as good as any of the men working there, and sometimes he was even left in charge. He would produce over a hundred meals, and from then I knew he'd go into catering because he had that flair. So when he came to me and said, 'Dad, I've got to do work experience as part of my course at school,' I sent him to a friend of mine who's got a restaurant.
Gary recently took up playing the drums and now he has his own band. Goodness knows what will happen to the cooking if the music takes off. My advice to Gary would be: if you start chasing two hares, you end up catching neither, so chase the hare you know you're going to catch. He understood when I said to him: 'Gary, if you're going to get anywhere in life, you've got to do it by the age of 30. If you haven't done it by then, it's too late.
Gary went to catering college at the age of 17, and on his first day he and the other new students - they're normally complete beginners - were given what's supposed to be a morning's work. But within an hour Gary had chopped all his vegetables, sliced all his meats. He'd prepared everything. That's my son for you! In the end, he was helping other people out.
None of us can believe how successful Gary's TV cookery series has become. I'm extremely proud of him. I've always tried to tell him that if you want something, you've got to work jolly hard for it, because no one gives you anything. He's seen the opportunity he's been given and grabbed hold of it with both hands. You know, you talk to your children as they grow up, and if they only take in ten per cent of what you've told them, you've got to be happy with that. The things Gary says, the things he does, I think, well, he must have listened sometimes
“…chase the hare you know you're going to catch.” in Paragraph 5 means
A. do everything you want.
B. do many things at one time.
C. do one thing at a time
D. do what you think you can do successfully.
- Câu hỏi 329809:
By the time a child is six or seven she has all the essential avoidances well enough by heart to be trusted with the care of a younger child. And she also develops a number of simple techniques. She learns to weave firm square balls from palm leaves, to make pinwheels of palm leaves or frangipani blossoms, to climb a coconut tree by walking up the trunk on flexible little feet, to break open a coconut with one firm well-directed blow of a knife as long as she is tall, to play a number of group games and sing the songs which go with them, to tidy the house by picking up the litter on the stony floor, to bring water from the sea, to spread out the copra to dry and to help gather it in when rain threatens, to go to a neighboring house and bring back a lighted faggot for the chief's pipe or the cook-house fire.
But in the case of the little girls all these tasks are merely supplementary to the main business of baby-tending. Very small boys also have some care of the younger children, but at eight or nine years of age they are usually relieved of it. Whatever rough edges have not been smoothed off by this responsibility for younger children are worn off by their contact with older boys.
For little boys are admitted to interesting and important activities only so long as their behavior is circumspect and helpful. Where small girls are brusquely pushed aside, small boys will be patiently tolerated and they become adept at making themselves useful. The four or five little boys who all wish to assist at the important, business of helping a grown youth lasso reef eels, organize themselves into a highly efficient working team; one boy holds the bait, another holds an extra lasso, others poke eagerly about in holes in the reef looking for prey, while still another tucks the captured eels into his lavalava.
The small girls, burdened with heavy babies or the care of little staggerers who are too small to adventure on the reef, discouraged by the hostility of the small boys and the scorn of the older ones, have little opportunity for learning the more adventurous forms of work and play. So while the little boys first undergo the chastening effects of baby-tending and then have many opportunities to learn effective cooperation under the supervision of older boys, the girls' education is less comprehensive. They have a high standard of individual responsibility, but the community provides them with no lessons in cooperation with one another.
This is particularly apparent in the activities of young people: the boys organize quickly; the girls waste hours in bickering, innocent of any technique for quick and efficient cooperation
Which of the following is the best description of the author's technique in handling her material?
A. Generalization from a particular viewpoint.
B. Presentation of facts without comment.
C. Both description and interpretation of observations.
D. Description of evidence to support a theory.
- Câu hỏi 329810:
By the time a child is six or seven she has all the essential avoidances well enough by heart to be trusted with the care of a younger child. And she also develops a number of simple techniques. She learns to weave firm square balls from palm leaves, to make pinwheels of palm leaves or frangipani blossoms, to climb a coconut tree by walking up the trunk on flexible little feet, to break open a coconut with one firm well-directed blow of a knife as long as she is tall, to play a number of group games and sing the songs which go with them, to tidy the house by picking up the litter on the stony floor, to bring water from the sea, to spread out the copra to dry and to help gather it in when rain threatens, to go to a neighboring house and bring back a lighted faggot for the chief's pipe or the cook-house fire.
But in the case of the little girls all these tasks are merely supplementary to the main business of baby-tending. Very small boys also have some care of the younger children, but at eight or nine years of age they are usually relieved of it. Whatever rough edges have not been smoothed off by this responsibility for younger children are worn off by their contact with older boys.
For little boys are admitted to interesting and important activities only so long as their behavior is circumspect and helpful. Where small girls are brusquely pushed aside, small boys will be patiently tolerated and they become adept at making themselves useful. The four or five little boys who all wish to assist at the important, business of helping a grown youth lasso reef eels, organize themselves into a highly efficient working team; one boy holds the bait, another holds an extra lasso, others poke eagerly about in holes in the reef looking for prey, while still another tucks the captured eels into his lavalava.
The small girls, burdened with heavy babies or the care of little staggerers who are too small to adventure on the reef, discouraged by the hostility of the small boys and the scorn of the older ones, have little opportunity for learning the more adventurous forms of work and play. So while the little boys first undergo the chastening effects of baby-tending and then have many opportunities to learn effective cooperation under the supervision of older boys, the girls' education is less comprehensive. They have a high standard of individual responsibility, but the community provides them with no lessons in cooperation with one another.
This is particularly apparent in the activities of young people: the boys organize quickly; the girls waste hours in bickering, innocent of any technique for quick and efficient cooperation.
The primary purpose of the passage with reference to the society under discussion is to…
A. give a comprehensive account of a day in the life of an average young girl
B. criticize the deficiencies in the education of girls
C. show that young girls are trained to be useful to adults
D. explain some differences in the upbringing of girls and boys
- Câu hỏi 329811:
By the time a child is six or seven she has all the essential avoidances well enough by heart to be trusted with the care of a younger child. And she also develops a number of simple techniques. She learns to weave firm square balls from palm leaves, to make pinwheels of palm leaves or frangipani blossoms, to climb a coconut tree by walking up the trunk on flexible little feet, to break open a coconut with one firm well-directed blow of a knife as long as she is tall, to play a number of group games and sing the songs which go with them, to tidy the house by picking up the litter on the stony floor, to bring water from the sea, to spread out the copra to dry and to help gather it in when rain threatens, to go to a neighboring house and bring back a lighted faggot for the chief's pipe or the cook-house fire.
But in the case of the little girls all these tasks are merely supplementary to the main business of baby-tending. Very small boys also have some care of the younger children, but at eight or nine years of age they are usually relieved of it. Whatever rough edges have not been smoothed off by this responsibility for younger children are worn off by their contact with older boys.
For little boys are admitted to interesting and important activities only so long as their behavior is circumspect and helpful. Where small girls are brusquely pushed aside, small boys will be patiently tolerated and they become adept at making themselves useful. The four or five little boys who all wish to assist at the important, business of helping a grown youth lasso reef eels, organize themselves into a highly efficient working team; one boy holds the bait, another holds an extra lasso, others poke eagerly about in holes in the reef looking for prey, while still another tucks the captured eels into his lavalava.
The small girls, burdened with heavy babies or the care of little staggerers who are too small to adventure on the reef, discouraged by the hostility of the small boys and the scorn of the older ones, have little opportunity for learning the more adventurous forms of work and play. So while the little boys first undergo the chastening effects of baby-tending and then have many opportunities to learn effective cooperation under the supervision of older boys, the girls' education is less comprehensive. They have a high standard of individual responsibility, but the community provides them with no lessons in cooperation with one another.
This is particularly apparent in the activities of young people: the boys organize quickly; the girls waste hours in bickering, innocent of any technique for quick and efficient cooperation
What was boys’ attitude to girls when they worked in team to capture eels?
A. They felt bored
B. They did not show anything.
C. cheerful
D. Hostile
- Câu hỏi 329813:
By the time a child is six or seven she has all the essential avoidances well enough by heart to be trusted with the care of a younger child. And she also develops a number of simple techniques. She learns to weave firm square balls from palm leaves, to make pinwheels of palm leaves or frangipani blossoms, to climb a coconut tree by walking up the trunk on flexible little feet, to break open a coconut with one firm well-directed blow of a knife as long as she is tall, to play a number of group games and sing the songs which go with them, to tidy the house by picking up the litter on the stony floor, to bring water from the sea, to spread out the copra to dry and to help gather it in when rain threatens, to go to a neighboring house and bring back a lighted faggot for the chief's pipe or the cook-house fire.
But in the case of the little girls all these tasks are merely supplementary to the main business of baby-tending. Very small boys also have some care of the younger children, but at eight or nine years of age they are usually relieved of it. Whatever rough edges have not been smoothed off by this responsibility for younger children are worn off by their contact with older boys.
For little boys are admitted to interesting and important activities only so long as their behavior is circumspect and helpful. Where small girls are brusquely pushed aside, small boys will be patiently tolerated and they become adept at making themselves useful. The four or five little boys who all wish to assist at the important, business of helping a grown youth lasso reef eels, organize themselves into a highly efficient working team; one boy holds the bait, another holds an extra lasso, others poke eagerly about in holes in the reef looking for prey, while still another tucks the captured eels into his lavalava.
The small girls, burdened with heavy babies or the care of little staggerers who are too small to adventure on the reef, discouraged by the hostility of the small boys and the scorn of the older ones, have little opportunity for learning the more adventurous forms of work and play. So while the little boys first undergo the chastening effects of baby-tending and then have many opportunities to learn effective cooperation under the supervision of older boys, the girls' education is less comprehensive. They have a high standard of individual responsibility, but the community provides them with no lessons in cooperation with one another.
This is particularly apparent in the activities of young people: the boys organize quickly; the girls waste hours in bickering, innocent of any technique for quick and efficient cooperation
The expression 'innocent of' (in the last paragraph) is best taken to mean
A. unsuited for
B. uninvolved in
C. unskilled in
D. not guilty of
- Câu hỏi 329815:
The sons are composers and prize-winning musicians, while Dad makes the instruments. Matthew Rye reports.
Whole families of musicians are not exactly rare. However, it is unusual to come across one that includes not only writers and performers of music, but also an instrument maker.
When South Wales schoolteachers John and Hetty Watkins needed to get their ten-year-old son, Paul, a cello to suit his blossoming talents, they baulked at the costs involved. ‘We had a look at various dealers and it was obvious it was going to be very expensive,’ John says. ‘So I wondered if I could actually make one. I discovered that the Welsh School of Instrument Making was not far from where I lived, and I went along for evening classes once a week for about three years.’
‘After probably three or four goes with violins and violas, he had a crack at his first cello,’ Paul, now 28, adds. ‘It turned out really well. He made me another one a bit later, when he’d got the hang of it. And that’s the one I used right up until a few months ago.’ John has since retired as a teacher to work as a full-time craftsman, and makes up to a dozen violins a year – selling one to the esteemed American player Jaime Laredo was ‘the icing on the cake’.
Both Paul and his younger brother, Huw, were encouraged to play music from an early age. The piano came first: ‘As soon as I was big enough to climb up and bang the keys, that’s what I did,’ Paul remembers. But it wasn’t long before the cello beckoned. ‘My folks were really quite keen for me to take up the violin, because Dad, who played the viola, used to play chamber music with his mates and they needed another violin to make up a string trio. I learned it for about six weeks but didn’t take to it. But I really took to the character who played the cello in Dad’s group. I thought he was a very cool guy when I was six or seven. So he said he’d give me some lessons, and that really started it all off. Later, they suggested that my brother play the violin too, but he would have none of it.’
‘My parents were both supportive and relaxed,’ Huw says. ‘I don’t think I would have responded very well to being pushed. And, rather than feeling threatened by Paul’s success, I found that I had something to aspire to.’ Now 22, he is beginning to make his own mark as a pianist and composer.
Meanwhile, John Watkins’ cello has done his elder son proud. With it, Paul won the string final of the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition. Then, at the remarkably youthful age of 20, he was appointed principal cellist of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, a position he held, still playing his father’s instrument, until last year. Now, however, he has acquired a Francesco Rugeri cello, on loan from the Royal Academy of Music. ‘Dad’s not said anything about me moving on, though recently he had the chance to run a bow across the strings of each in turn and had to admit that my new one is quite nice! I think the only thing Dad’s doesn’t have – and may acquire after about 50–100 years – is the power to project right to the back of large concert halls. It will get richer with age, like my Rugeri, which is already 304 years old.’
Soon he will be seen on television playing the Rugeri as the soloist in Elgar’s Cello Concerto, which forms the heart of the second programme in the new series, Masterworks. ‘The well-known performance history doesn’t affect the way I play the work,’ he says. ‘I’m always going to do it my way.’ But Paul won’t be able to watch himself on television – the same night he is playing at the Cheltenham Festival. Nor will Huw, whose String Quartet is receiving its London premiere at the Wigmore Hall the same evening. John and Hetty will have to be diplomatic – and energetic – if they are to keep track of all their sons’ musical activities over the coming weeks.
What does Paul say about the Rugeri cello?
A. It has qualities that he had not expected.
B. The cello his father made may become as good as it.
C. He was not keen to tell his father that he was using it.
D. His father’s reaction to it worried him.
- Câu hỏi 329819:
The sons are composers and prize-winning musicians, while Dad makes the instruments. Matthew Rye reports.
Whole families of musicians are not exactly rare. However, it is unusual to come across one that includes not only writers and performers of music, but also an instrument maker.
When South Wales schoolteachers John and Hetty Watkins needed to get their ten-year-old son, Paul, a cello to suit his blossoming talents, they baulked at the costs involved. ‘We had a look at various dealers and it was obvious it was going to be very expensive,’ John says. ‘So I wondered if I could actually make one. I discovered that the Welsh School of Instrument Making was not far from where I lived, and I went along for evening classes once a week for about three years.’
‘After probably three or four goes with violins and violas, he had a crack at his first cello,’ Paul, now 28, adds. ‘It turned out really well. He made me another one a bit later, when he’d got the hang of it. And that’s the one I used right up until a few months ago.’ John has since retired as a teacher to work as a full-time craftsman, and makes up to a dozen violins a year – selling one to the esteemed American player Jaime Laredo was ‘the icing on the cake’.
Both Paul and his younger brother, Huw, were encouraged to play music from an early age. The piano came first: ‘As soon as I was big enough to climb up and bang the keys, that’s what I did,’ Paul remembers. But it wasn’t long before the cello beckoned. ‘My folks were really quite keen for me to take up the violin, because Dad, who played the viola, used to play chamber music with his mates and they needed another violin to make up a string trio. I learned it for about six weeks but didn’t take to it. But I really took to the character who played the cello in Dad’s group. I thought he was a very cool guy when I was six or seven. So he said he’d give me some lessons, and that really started it all off. Later, they suggested that my brother play the violin too, but he would have none of it.’
‘My parents were both supportive and relaxed,’ Huw says. ‘I don’t think I would have responded very well to being pushed. And, rather than feeling threatened by Paul’s success, I found that I had something to aspire to.’ Now 22, he is beginning to make his own mark as a pianist and composer.
Meanwhile, John Watkins’ cello has done his elder son proud. With it, Paul won the string final of the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition. Then, at the remarkably youthful age of 20, he was appointed principal cellist of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, a position he held, still playing his father’s instrument, until last year. Now, however, he has acquired a Francesco Rugeri cello, on loan from the Royal Academy of Music. ‘Dad’s not said anything about me moving on, though recently he had the chance to run a bow across the strings of each in turn and had to admit that my new one is quite nice! I think the only thing Dad’s doesn’t have – and may acquire after about 50–100 years – is the power to project right to the back of large concert halls. It will get richer with age, like my Rugeri, which is already 304 years old.’
Soon he will be seen on television playing the Rugeri as the soloist in Elgar’s Cello Concerto, which forms the heart of the second programme in the new series, Masterworks. ‘The well-known performance history doesn’t affect the way I play the work,’ he says. ‘I’m always going to do it my way.’ But Paul won’t be able to watch himself on television – the same night he is playing at the Cheltenham Festival. Nor will Huw, whose String Quartet is receiving its London premiere at the Wigmore Hall the same evening. John and Hetty will have to be diplomatic – and energetic – if they are to keep track of all their sons’ musical activities over the coming weeks.
Why did John Watkins decide to make a cello?
A. He felt that dealers were giving him false information.
B. He wanted to encourage his son Paul to take up the instrument.
C. He wanted to avoid having to pay for one.
D. He was keen to do a course at the nearby school.
- Câu hỏi 329820:
The sons are composers and prize-winning musicians, while Dad makes the instruments. Matthew Rye reports.
Whole families of musicians are not exactly rare. However, it is unusual to come across one that includes not only writers and performers of music, but also an instrument maker.
When South Wales schoolteachers John and Hetty Watkins needed to get their ten-year-old son, Paul, a cello to suit his blossoming talents, they baulked at the costs involved. ‘We had a look at various dealers and it was obvious it was going to be very expensive,’ John says. ‘So I wondered if I could actually make one. I discovered that the Welsh School of Instrument Making was not far from where I lived, and I went along for evening classes once a week for about three years.’
‘After probably three or four goes with violins and violas, he had a crack at his first cello,’ Paul, now 28, adds. ‘It turned out really well. He made me another one a bit later, when he’d got the hang of it. And that’s the one I used right up until a few months ago.’ John has since retired as a teacher to work as a full-time craftsman, and makes up to a dozen violins a year – selling one to the esteemed American player Jaime Laredo was ‘the icing on the cake’.
Both Paul and his younger brother, Huw, were encouraged to play music from an early age. The piano came first: ‘As soon as I was big enough to climb up and bang the keys, that’s what I did,’ Paul remembers. But it wasn’t long before the cello beckoned. ‘My folks were really quite keen for me to take up the violin, because Dad, who played the viola, used to play chamber music with his mates and they needed another violin to make up a string trio. I learned it for about six weeks but didn’t take to it. But I really took to the character who played the cello in Dad’s group. I thought he was a very cool guy when I was six or seven. So he said he’d give me some lessons, and that really started it all off. Later, they suggested that my brother play the violin too, but he would have none of it.’
‘My parents were both supportive and relaxed,’ Huw says. ‘I don’t think I would have responded very well to being pushed. And, rather than feeling threatened by Paul’s success, I found that I had something to aspire to.’ Now 22, he is beginning to make his own mark as a pianist and composer.
Meanwhile, John Watkins’ cello has done his elder son proud. With it, Paul won the string final of the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition. Then, at the remarkably youthful age of 20, he was appointed principal cellist of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, a position he held, still playing his father’s instrument, until last year. Now, however, he has acquired a Francesco Rugeri cello, on loan from the Royal Academy of Music. ‘Dad’s not said anything about me moving on, though recently he had the chance to run a bow across the strings of each in turn and had to admit that my new one is quite nice! I think the only thing Dad’s doesn’t have – and may acquire after about 50–100 years – is the power to project right to the back of large concert halls. It will get richer with age, like my Rugeri, which is already 304 years old.’
Soon he will be seen on television playing the Rugeri as the soloist in Elgar’s Cello Concerto, which forms the heart of the second programme in the new series, Masterworks. ‘The well-known performance history doesn’t affect the way I play the work,’ he says. ‘I’m always going to do it my way.’ But Paul won’t be able to watch himself on television – the same night he is playing at the Cheltenham Festival. Nor will Huw, whose String Quartet is receiving its London premiere at the Wigmore Hall the same evening. John and Hetty will have to be diplomatic – and energetic – if they are to keep track of all their sons’ musical activities over the coming weeks.
What is meant by ‘crack’ in the second paragraph?
A. plan
B. period
C. attempt
D. shock
