《American short story masterpieces》课件3--Mr. Know-All.docVIP

Passage Three Mr. Know-All A smart-alec or know-all is generally disliked by everybody. In this story a rather snobbish Englishman on a sea-voyage can’t believe his bad luck when he is stuck with a cabin companion who seems to know everything—even the value of pearls and whether they are genuine or not. But is that Mr. Know-All really so annoying? I was prepared to dislike Max Kelada even before I knew him. The war (WWI) had just finished and the passenger traffic in the ocean-going liners was heavy. Accommodation was very hard to get and you had to put up with whatever the agents chose to offer you. You could not hope for a cabin to yourself and I was thankful to be given one in which there were only two berths. But when I was told the name of my companion my heart sank. It suggested closed portholes and the night air rigidly excluded. It was bad enough to share a cabin for fourteen days with anyone (I was going from San Francisco to Yokohama), but I should have looked upon it with less dismay if my fellow-passenger’s name had been Smith or Brown. When I went on board I found Mr. Kelada’s luggage already below. I did not like the look of it; there were too many labels on the suitcases, and the wardrobe trunk was too big. He had unpacked his toilet things, and I observed that he was a patron of the excellent Monsieur Coty; for I saw on the washing-stand his scent, his hairwash and his brilliantine. Mr. Kelada’s brushes, ebony with his monogram in gold, would have been all the better for a scrub. I did not at all like Mr. Kelada. I made my way into the smoking-room. I called for a pack of cards and began to play patience. I had scarcely started before a man came up to me and asked me if he was right in thinking my name was so-and-so. “I am Mr. Kelada,” he added, with a smile that showed a row of flashing teeth, and sat down. “Oh, yes, we’re sharing a cabin, I think.” 揃it of luck, aI call it. You never know who you’re going to be put in with. I was jolly glad when I h