Przeczytaj dwa teksty związane z prowadzeniem hotelu. Wykonaj zadania 6.1.–6.8.
zgodnie z poleceniami.

Tekst 1.

AN UNEXPECTED OFFER

I sat in the departure lounge of Hong Kong’s Kai Tak airport, waiting to board my first ever
flight on CAAC, China’s national airline, for my first trip to China and Tibet. I had a seven-
hour delay allowing me to contemplate my decision to take a job in Tibet, a place I had never
been to, and the prospect of a two-year contract in one of the remotest parts of the world.
Just one month earlier, I had travelled from Europe to Hong Kong with my short resume
typed out as lengthily as possible, and with my best English suit packed. I was looking for
a job in one of the luxury hotels of the Orient – reputedly where the finest hotels in the world
are to be found. If I had done my homework properly, I would have known that you do not
visit Hong Kong in a thick, heavy woollen suit in the height of summer, but it was my first time
in the tropics and I had much to learn. Dripping with perspiration from the humid heat of
Hong Kong, with my suit clinging to my body, I entered the Holiday Inn offices for the last
interview of my trip.
The interview was a disaster from the beginning. I was only there because the helpful
gentleman I had met at The Peninsula recommended that I see his friend at Holiday Inn, but
my heart was not set on it. I had come to Asia in search of employment in a luxury hotel. For
this reason, I wasn’t interested in working for Holiday Inn.
The high powered air conditioning in the office swept through my dripping suit and I found
myself shivering uncontrollably. The lady conducting the interview was kind enough not to
make any comment on this, for which I was very thankful, but from both sides the interview
was going nowhere. We chatted for a while. All I wanted to do was to leave this refrigerator
room as soon as possible.
I made to leave. “Thank you for coming. Don’t call us, we’ll call you,” said the lady smiling
with sincerity. As I was leaving the room I casually mentioned that I would love to go to
Lhasa, as I had seen a brochure for the Lhasa Hotel outside her office. From that moment
my fate was sealed.
“You mean you want to work in Lhasa?!” she responded in disbelief. The door was closed
behind me and before I had turned around, my interviewer was on the phone to the
company’s Vice President.
I had to meet with him the same day, as the next morning I would be returning to my job in
Paris. Still wondering what I had let myself in for, I entered his elegant office.
“So, young man, I am appointing you to the position of Sales and Marketing Manager. You
are going to spend six months a year in Tibet and six months a year relaxing in Hong Kong.
How does that sound to you?”
I could hardly believe what I had just heard, and nodded in agreement.
I returned to Paris to hand in my notice.
“Where are you going, Alec? The George V? The Ritz? Back to London?” one of my
colleagues asked.
“No, I am joining Holiday Inn.”
“Holiday Inn?!” he exclaimed. “Why? Which one?”
“Lhasa.”
“Lhasa?” he repeated with his eyebrows raised.
“Yes. Lhasa. Tibet.” I answered.
When the drizzle and fog at Kai Tak airport had cleared and my plane finally took off, I closed
my eyes to let my mind wonder what the future had in store for me.

Na podstawie: Alec Le Sueur, The Hotel on the Roof of the World

 

W zadaniach 6.1.–6.4. z podanych odpowiedzi wybierz właściwą, zgodną z treścią
tekstu. Zakreśl jedną z liter: A, B, C albo D.

6.1. Which of the following does the narrator consider a mistake?
A. booking a flight on CAAC
B. visiting the Orient in the middle of summer
C. wearing certain clothes for an interview
D. scheduling the Holiday Inn interview on the last day of his stay

6.2. During the interview, the narrator
A. felt that the conversation didn’t go well.
B. asked for the air conditioning to be turned off.
C. was put off by the interviewer’s comment about his clothing.
D. felt relieved that he had escaped the extreme heat outside.

6.3. Which of the following phrases in the story marks a turning point in the narrator’s
professional career?
A. “My heart was not set on it.”
B. “From that moment my fate was sealed.”
C. “Still wondering what I had let myself in for.”
D. “From both sides the interview was going nowhere.”

6.4. Which of the following did the narrator do before the interview?
A. He spent a month in Lhasa.
B. He arrived at Kai Tak’s departure lounge.
C. He resigned from his job at a hotel in Paris.
D. He met a man who gave him some advice.

 

Tekst 2.

BRITISH FAMILY TURNS A SPANISH RUIN INTO A HOTEL

For 18 years, the property had been uninhabited – and with its collapsed roof, crumbling
window frames and neglected interior, it was easy to see why. But the moment that Nick and
Lesley Vallance first saw the 18th century bishop’s palace in the southern Spanish town of
Velez-Malaga, they immediately recognised its potential. What they could not predict were
the obstacles and challenges that would double the amount of time and money they had
budgeted for.
It was in 2004 that the couple from Surrey, Nick, an architect, and Lesley, a fashion industry
display manager, decided to change their lifestyle completely. The company where Nick
worked had closed down and the couple were keen to swap London’s suburbs for a more
peaceful environment. “I’d never even been to Spain before, but a friend suggested opening
a hotel there, so we jumped on a plane to Malaga,” says Nick.
After viewing around 30 properties, the couple were taken to Velez-Malaga, an old town only
3 kilometres from the sea. The property they were shown there, known as Palacio Blanco,
had been a school, a mayor’s residence and, in much earlier times, a bishop’s palace. Before
the Vallances put in an offer for £300,000, they made sure that it would be possible to
convert the property into a hotel. The couple budgeted a further £350,000 for building work
and furnishings to complete the transformation. The project was to be financed by the sale of
their Victorian family home in Surrey.
In September 2005, the couple moved to rented accommodation near Palacio Blanco.
Initially, they thought the renovation would be completed within six months, but just before
they were about to start building, their neighbours demolished the next-door property –
causing one of Palacio Blanco’s main walls to collapse. A third of the building had gone.
To make matters worse, the insurance company refused to pay out on the couple’s claim.
Despite the delays, additional costs and stress caused by this disaster, Lesley and Nick
pressed ahead with their project. The end result was an intimate eight-bedroom hotel set
around a plant-filled courtyard with a swimming pool on the roof terrace. Looking back,
the couple have no regrets. “We made a good decision. I love the blue skies during the day
and the scent of flowers in the air at night,” says Lesley. “It’s a wonderful life. We may have
been through a lot, but now we’re ready for the next chapter.”

Na podstawie: www.independent.co.uk

 

Uzupełnij luki w zdaniach 6.5.–6.8. zgodnie z treścią tekstu, tak aby jak najbardziej
precyzyjnie oddać jego sens. Luki należy uzupełnić w języku angielskim.

 

6.5. The condition of the building was not surprising as nobody _______________________
______________________________________________________________ for years.

6.6. The couple moved to Spain after Nick _______________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________.

6.7. The couple decided to ____________________________________________________
in Surrey, England, in order to raise the money for buying and renovating the property in
Spain.

6.8. From the last paragraph we learn that the Vallances ____________________________
____________________________________________ their decision to move to Spain.