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30. THE FAMOUS OPERA SINGER Fausto Ruiz got off the plane at the airport of the city where he had been born fifty years ago. He walked into the centre of the city and went into a café. Fausto sat at his table and waited for the waiter to come to him. He sat there for ten, fifteen, twenty minutes. They didn’t come and ask him what he wanted. They were ignoring him. Angry, Fausto got up and walked out of the café, slamming the door behind him. Now he remembered why he had left this town twenty years ago and why he had never come back. Twenty years ago, Fausto Ruiz had been the most famous singer in the world. He had sung in all of the most famous opera houses. When he was at the height of his fame, he decided to come back to his home town and to sing in a triumphant concert in the theatre. He began to sing one of his best-known songs. And at the end of the song, there was just silence. Nobody clapped, nobody applauded, nobody cheered. At the end of another song, there was silence for a moment, then the people began to boo and to hiss. Then someone threw a tomato at him, then a rotten orange and old shoes. He left his hometown that night, and he said that he would never, ever go back there. But twenty years later, Fausto Ruiz changed his mind. He was getting old now, he thought, and he wanted to go back home again and decided to go and visit the house where he had been born. He walked all the way across the town, expecting to be recognised by people, but they too ignored him. He was so angry and so disappointed now that he began to shout as he walked along the streets. “I am the great Fausto Ruiz!!! The greatest singer the world has ever heard!!!” Nobody took any notice of him. When he finally reached his old house, he at least had a pleasant surprise. Outside the house, there was a statue, and it was a statue of himself. Fausto went to have a closer look at the statue. There was some writing. He looked carefully at it. There was his date of birth, fifty years ago. And then there was something else. It was the date of his death. And the date was yesterday. 1- Have you enjoyed this story? Why? 2- Which events of the story are connected with these feelings?: a) Surprise b) Anger c) Disappointment d) Relief 3- What are most important events in the story? 4- Look at these sentences and then build them up into a paragraph: John had not a holiday for years. Now he has gone to Greece. He has taken his son with him. They have planned to stay there for six weeks. They have promised to send us a postcard.