"Education"
Passage from "The Count of Monte Cristo"
"You must teach me a small
part of what you know," said Dantes, "if
only to prevent your growing weary of me. I can well
believe that so learned a person as yourself would
prefer absolute solitude to being tormented with the company of one as ignorant
and uninformed as myself. If you will only agree to my request, I promise you
never to mention another word about escaping."...
"Alas, my boy," said
he, "human knowledge is confined within very narrow limits; and when I
have taught you mathematics, physics, history, and the three or four modern
languages with which I am acquainted, you will know as much as I do myself.
Now, it will scarcely require two years for me to communicate to you the stock
of learning I possess."
"Two years!" exclaimed Dantes; "do you really believe I can acquire all these
things in so short a time?"
"Not their application,
certainly, but their principles you may; to learn is not to know; there are the
learners and the learned. Memory makes the one, philosophy the other."
"But cannot one learn
philosophy?"
"Philosophy cannot be
taught; it is the application of the sciences to truth; it is like the golden
cloud in which the Messiah went up into heaven."
"Well, then," said Dantes, "What shall you teach me first? I am in a
hurry to begin. I want to learn."
"Everything..." And
that very evening the prisoners sketched a plan of education
Reading
Comprehension Questions
1) In the first paragraph of the above passage, Dantes makes a comment that suggests the characters are in
which setting?
a.
a school
b.
a library
c.
a prison
d.
a mansion
2) In the first paragraph of the above passage, Dantes uses which argument to try to convince the man to
teach him?
a.
it will make Dantes more tolerable
b.
it will help the man escape
c.
it will make the man smarter
d.
it will keep Dantes from getting
into trouble
3) In the above passage, there is the statement "to learn is not to know." This statement is saying that "to learn" is only to do which
of the following?
a.
memorize something
b.
understand something
c.
philosophize about something
d.
disagree with something
4) In the above passage, a character states: "it is like the golden
cloud in which the Messiah went up into heaven." What is the
"it" referring to in this simile?
a.
knowledge
b.
philosophy
c.
money
d.
memory
5) The above passage can best be described as which of the
following?
a.
a monologue
b.
a dialogue
c.
a stream of consciousness
d.
a verse
6) Based on the events of the above passage, which of the
following most likely happened next?
a.
the men will begin studying together
b.
the men will try to escape
c.
the men will go their separate ways
d.
the men will begin fighting
Answer Key
1)
In the first
paragraph of the above passage, Dantes makes a
comment that suggests the characters are in which setting?
a.
a school
b.
a library
c.
a prison
d.
a mansion
2)
In the first
paragraph of the above passage, Dantes uses which
argument to try to convince the man to teach him?
a.
it will make Dantes more tolerable
b.
it will help the man escape
c.
it will make the man smarter
d.
it will keep Dantes
from getting into trouble
3)
In the above
passage, there is the statement "to
learn is not to know." This
statement is saying that "to
learn" is only to do which of the following?
a.
memorize
something
b.
understand something
c.
philosophize about something
d.
disagree with something
4)
In the above
passage, a character states: "it is like
the golden cloud in which the Messiah went up into heaven."
What is the "it" referring to in this simile?
a.
knowledge
b.
philosophy
c.
money
d.
memory
5)
The above
passage can best be described as which of the following?
a.
a monologue
b.
a dialogue
c.
a stream of consciousness
d.
a verse
6)
Based on the
events of the above passage, which of the following most likely happened next?
a.
the men will
begin studying together
b.
the men will try to escape
c.
the men will go their separate ways
d.
the men will begin fighting