[originaltext]W: You are going to give a short speech of thanks for the speaker

W: You are going to give a short speech of thanks for the speaker this evening, aren’t you, Bill?
M: Yes.
W: You don’t sound very enthusiastic. It’s not that bad, is it?
M: No. I don’t mind, really. But I can never forget the first speech of thanks I did.
W: Why? What happened?
M: Well, I was in my early twenties. I joined the local history society.
W: Yes?
M: Anyway, I went along to a lecture by a Miss Bligh.
W: Oh. Do go on.
M: She was going to talk with slides about our town in the mid-18th century. She had just published a book on the subject which was reckoned to be quite good. So I went along. When I arrived, the secretary asked me if I could give the speech of thanks. Rather stupidly, I said yes.
W: We’ve all done it.
M: Anyway, from that point on, I was scared. What should I say? I decided to make notes during the lecture, and refer to interesting parts and thank her on behalf of the society. In fact, by the time Miss Bligh stood up to talk, I was feeling much better. But she was so nervous that she kept forgetting what to say, and she spoke almost in a whisper. People at the back kept calling out "We can’t hear. " It was embarrassing!
W: I can imagine it.
M: At least the slides were good, that is, until the bulb in the projector blew. And she had to finish her talk with no illustrations.
W: So what did you say in your speech of thanks?
M: What can you say? You have to be polite. I mentioned the interesting facts, referred to the excellent slides, and then finished by saying "We’d all like to thank Miss Bligh for blowing out her slides. "
W: Oh, no.
M: I felt terrible. I tried to apologize, not very successfully.
W: And the speech of thanks this evening?
M: I’ll write down exactly what I’m going to say and read it carefully.
Questions 1 to 4 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
1. What is the man asked to do this evening?
2. What do we learn about the man?
3. What does the man say about Miss Bligh?
4. What does the man say about the first time he gave a speech of thanks?