TPO.8

In this set of materials, the reading part discusses the doubts on Chevalier's memoir and the author provides three reasons of support, and the listening section refutes the information presented in the article and argues that no memoir can be exactly true in every details, but the Chevalier's is reliable.

First, the passage posits that the Chevalier claimed in his memoir that he was rich and he spent a lot of money on parties and gambling but the evidence has revealed that he borrowed considerable amount of money from merchants hence if he was rich we would not have needed to borrow money. However, the talk makes the point that loaning money dose not mean that he was poor, in fact it takes some time to convert his assets to actual money consequently in this time he had to borrow some money for his parties and gambling.

Second, the text asserts that there is no doubt the Chevalier met a famous writer named Voltaire; but critics complain that the memoir cannot be accurate because it was written many years after the conversations occurred and they believe that no one can remember the exact phrases from a meeting which was held many years earlier. On the contrary the professor believe that the Chevalier each night after the meeting wrote down the conversion and kept them, moreover when he wants to write the memoir he referred to these notes, therefore this is a sold document to proof that these are the exact conversations that has been occurred.

Third, according to the article, Chevalier escaped from a prison in Venice by making a hole using a piece of metal on the ceiling of the prison. But the critics claim that it is not true and the Chevalier had many politically well-connected friends in the city and he offered a bribe for escaping from the prison. The speaker disagrees with this point and postulates that other prisoners also had powerful friends and they can escape by bribing, and by referring to old Venice governments writings which show that after the time when Chevalier escaped the ceiling of the prison had repaired, and this is a strong evidence which shows the Chevalier escaped from a hole in the ceiling of the prison.