The silence of the Reference Library was broken only by an occasional cough and now and then by the scarcely audible sound of pages being turned over. There were about twenty people in the room, most of them with their heads bent over their books. The assistant librarian who was in charge of the room sat at a desk in one corner. She glanced at Phillip as he came in, then went on with her work.
Phillip had not been to this part of the library before. He walked around the room almost on tiptoe, afraid of disturbing the industrious readers with his heavy shoes. The shelves were filled with thick volumes: dictionaries in many languages, encyclopaedias, atlases, biographies and other works of reference. He found nothing that was likely to interest him, until he came to a small section on photography, which was one of his hobbies. The books in this section were on a high shelf out of his reach, so he had to fetch a small ladder in order to get one down. Unfortunately, as he was climbing down the ladder, the book he had chosen slipped from his grasp and fell to the floor with a loud crash. Twenty pairs of eyes looked up at him simultaneously annoyed by this unaccustomed disturbance. Phillip felt himself go red as he picked up his book, which did not seem to have been damaged by its fall, ,
.
He had just sat down when he found the young lady assistant standing alongside him, “You must be more careful when you are handling these books,” she said severely. Satisfied that she had done her duty, she turned to go back to her desk. Then a sudden thought struck her. “By the way, how old are you?” she asked Phillip. “Thirteen,” he told her. “You’re not allowed in here under the age of fourteen, you know,” the assistant said. “Didn’t you see the notice on the door?” Phillip shook his head. He expected the assistant to ask him to leave. Instead, in a more kindly tone, she said: “Well, never mind. But make sure that you don’t disturb the other readers again, otherwise I shall have to ask you to leave.”
Intermediate Comprehension Passages
Donn Byrne