READING

In June 1950, a man suddenly appeared in the centre of Times Square in New York. He was about 30 years old, was
wearing old-fashioned clothes and had a hairstyle that had gone out of fashion many years before. According to
witnesses, he must have been confused about his whereabouts, because when he looked around him,
he seemed amazed and then very frightened. A minute later, he was hit by a car
and killed before anyone had managed to do anything to help him.
When police examined the man, they found 19th-century money in his pockets. They also found business cards, with
the name Rudolph Fentz on them. When the police began looking into the occurrence, they could not find any records
of the dead man. They had no idea where he could have come from, and they had almost given up hope, when they
came across the widow of Rudolph Fentz Junior. According to the widow, her father-in-law, Rudolph Fentz Senior, had
vanished one day in 1876 at the age of 29. He had left the house for an evening walk and never returned.
Amazingly, the address of her father-in-law was the same as the address on the business cards from the dead man’s
pockets. It appeared that Rudolph Fentz had gone missing in 1876 and then reappeared in 1950. Many people believed
that he must have travelled through time.
In 2000, a researcher decided to try to get to the bottom of this unusual story. His research revealed that the people and the
events of the story were actually fictional. It turned out that the source for the story was in fact a story called I’m Scared by
the famous science-fiction writer Jack Finney. Although no copies of the original story were ever found, he claimed that it
had originally come out in September 1951. Could the researcher have finally found a solution to the mystery? It seemed
so. Or so everyone thought.
In 2007, another researcher found a newspaper story about the incident from April 1951. Amazingly, this newspaper article
was printed almost five months before the short story I’m Scared. As a result, some people have developed a theory that
Jack Finney’s fictional story must have actually been based on a true story that he had read about in the newspaper. This
may have been true. Yet, since Finney died in 1995 and he was never questioned about this, we will never know.
1. Read the text and choose the correct answers. (5 points)
1. The man in Times Square was wearing clothes that were … .
a. old b. unusual for the time c. fashionable
2. The man in Times Square was killed by … .
a. a car b. a police officer c. his son
3. Police succeeded in identifying the man thanks to … .
a. his widow b. their records c. his business cards
4. Rudolph Fentz Senior’s … confirmed the date of his disappearance.
a. wife b. daughter-in-law c. son
5. The newspaper story about the incident was printed … .
a. before Jack Finney’s story b. after Jack Finney’s story c. in 2007
2 Answer the questions. (10 points)
1. According to Rudolph Fentz Junior’s widow, how old was her father-in-law when he appeared in Times Square?

2. Before 2000, how did people explain the man’s disappearance and reappearance?

3. How did a researcher in 2000 explain the man’s disappearance and reappearance?

4. What evidence is there that contradicts the first researcher’s claim?

5. Why is it impossible to find out the truth?

3 Find words or phrases in the text to match the definitions below. (5 points)
1. location …………………… 4. been published ……………………
2. found by chance …………………… 5. in fact ……………………
3. seemed ……………………
 Reading UNIT 7
1
1. b 2. a 3. c 4. b 5. a

2
1. 103
2. They believed he had travelled through time.
3. By revealing that the source for the story was in fact a story called I’m Scared.
4. a newspaper article that was printed five months before the story I’m Scared appeared
5. Because the writer of the story died and he couldn’t be questioned whether he had made up the
story or based it on a story he had read in the newspaper.
3
1. whereabouts 4. come out
2. came across 5. actually
3. appeared