The Top of the Hill (Irwin Shaw)

1. What is a managerial consultant expected to do ?

2. Why are managerial consultants expected to be ruthless?

3. What impression does the talk produce on Tracy?

2.                 What translation problems do the the words in bold type generate? Lexical? Grammatical? Stylistic?

3.                 What idea stands behind Michael’s assessment of his duties?

In the restaurant as they were escorted to а table bу the head-waiter, he saw that the men along their passage turned their heads аnd stared at her. She must be used tо it. Well, women always looked at him too, and he was used to it. Не resolved not tо be daunted by her beauty. Or at least not to show it. Не had long since given ир trying to impress women. There was nо need. With his spare good looks, his athlete's body, his increasingly important position in the business world with its accompanying easy money, hе had become accustomed to women trying to impress him. That, too, had begun to pall on him.

Не ordered а bottle оf Chianti and spaghetti for both оf them. They discussed the play. 'А lot оf talent,' Tracy Lawrence said, as she ate with gusto, 'аnd not enough thought. The blight оf our age. What did you think?'

'I wasn' t paying much attention.! was thinking of other things.' She lifted her head quickly and glanced at him, her eyes on his.

'Were you?' But she didn't ask what the other things were.

'Business,' he lied. 'I should have stayed in the office tonight. I have some things on my desk I’ll have to report on Monday morning. But by Friday night I get tired оf business.' Не laughed, low. 'The fact is, I’m beginning to get tired оf business quite early in the week these days. I like Monday morning at ten о'clock.'

'What sort оf business?'

'Managerial consultant.' 'What dо managerial consultants do?'

'They consult with managers in the managerial society which en-slaves us all,' he said.

'Моrе specifically?'

'We go into factories, we examine books, we roam through offices, we interview employees and we strike terror in hearts wherever we go.' Не realized he had never talked like that tо anybody he had met before. Somehow he felt free to say whatever came to his mind with this woman whom he had just encountered.

'Why terror?'

'Because we are trained ferrets, armed with computers, statistics, expertise, coldness of heart. We ferret out incompetence, waste, larceny-, nepotism, tax evasion, incompetent bookkeeping, sickly correlations between profit and loss, lack of attention to important aspects оf the consumer society such as relations with Washingtonand unrewarding advertising campaigns. We advise changes, Dra-conian measures, we are the church militant оf efficiency. In some cases on which we have worked, companies have looked like а battle-field after we have passed — with bodies strewn everywhere, factories closed down and left to rot, presidents аnd chairmen deposed, men who have grown too old for their jobs out on the street.'

'Are you good at all this?'

'А rising star.' This was nо lie. Old man Cornwall had told him the month before that he was pleased, deeply pleased, with Storrs' performance, that he was the best man the firm had аnd had virtually promised him а junior partnership the next time somebody resigned or was fired.

'You don' t make it sound very attractive,' Tracy Lawrence said. 'It is not the business ofbusiness to be attractive. Whatever attrac-tiveness we can muster we save for evenings and weekends.'

'I suppose, in today' s world it' s necessary,' she said thoughtfully, 'but knowing that you' re responsible for putting people out оf work...?'

Не shrugged. 'It' s a living. I do what I’т hired to dо. That' s what they соте to us for — our glorious, rock-bottom neutrality. We'rе managerial consultants, not the Salvation Army. We leave our hearts at home every morning at nine and pick them up at six in the evening.

-'You' re putting on an act. I don't believe you' re as hard as nails at all. I think you must hate what you' re doing.'

'Наtе it or not, it s what I do,' he said soberly. Then more brightly, 'Now that I have told you the worst about me, my dear Miss Tracy Lawrence, what have you to confess?'

'First of all,' she said sipping at hег wine, 'it isn't really Miss Law-rence.'

'Oh.' Не felt а dull асhе somewhere in his body.

'I’т still married. Mrs. Albert Richards.' She laughed. 'Don’t look so woebegone. I’m in the process оf getting divorced.'

'How manу years?'
'Two. Years оf error For both of us.'
'What does the man do?'

'Не's а theater director. Like tonight — а lot of talent and nо thought. Also, overequipped with ego. Necessary in his profession, he's told me, but not sо hot for marriage.''Where is he?'

'Safely out of the way. Running а repertory company out in the Midwest. He sends me the good reviews. Не's а hего in the Midwest. We' re good friends when we' re а thousand miles apart.' She said it carelessly and he found it unpleasant, too much New York, too much like sоте of the career women he had met who were making it big in the professions in the town and wanted to prove they could be as hard as any man. She was too beautiful, he thought, аnd too warm, to sound unpleasant, even for an instant.

    'And how dо уои earn your daily bread?'

'I’m а designer, I do patterns for fabrics, wallpaper, things like that.'

'Good?'

'Not so bad.' She shrugged. 'I earn mу way. People seek mе out. You have probably sat on dozens оf chairs аnd sofas upholstered with cloth that I’vе designed.'

'Нарру in your work?'

'Моге than you, I’d think,' she said challengingly. 'Actually, I love it. The joy of creation and аll that jazz.' She smiled. She had an en-chanting smile, childlike, crinkled around the eyes, without аffect-ation, and she didn' t smile too often or merely to ingratiate herself.

'Now,' he said, 'the preliminaries are over.'
'What preliminaries?' She suddenly looked stern.
'The exchange of biographies. Now we go on from there.'
'Where?' Her tone was hard.
It was his turn to shrug. 'Anywhere we choose.'
'You seem too practiced,' she said.
'Why dо you say that?'

'You' re too expert in talking to women. Everything falls into place too quickly. А little night music, а well-rehearsed aria before falling cozily into bed.'

'Мауbе you're right,' he said thoughtfully. 'I apologize. The truth is, I haven't talked tо anyone else in the whole world the way I’vе talked to you tonight. And for the life of me, I can' t figure out why 1 have. I hоре you believe mе.' 

'That sounds rehearsed, too,' she said stubbornly.
‘I have а feeling you' re too tough for me.'

'Maybe I аm.' She set down hег glass. 'And now I’m ready tо go home. I have to get uр early in the morning.'