Viola Desmond: a theatre seat, a court case and a pardon

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CELPIP Practice Reading: Reading for Information ID: #63148 Easy Viola Desmond: a theatre seat, a court case and a pardon

Read the following passage.

A. Viola Desmond was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1914. As a young woman she wanted to open a beauty salon, but beauty schools in Nova Scotia did not accept Black students, so she did her training as a hairdresser and beautician in Montréal and in the United States. Back in Halifax she opened Vi's Studio of Beauty Culture. Within a few years she had also set up the Desmond School of Beauty Culture, which drew students from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Quebec, and she made and sold her own line of beauty products.

B. On November 8, 1946, Desmond was on a business trip when her car broke down in the town of New Glasgow. While she waited for repairs, she went to see a movie at the Roseland Theatre and took a seat on the main floor. The theatre kept Black customers in the balcony, and when she would not move upstairs, the police were called. She was roughly carried out, taken to the police station and kept in jail for the night.

C. Desmond was charged with tax evasion. A main-floor ticket carried one cent more in tax than a balcony ticket, and she was accused of not paying that cent. At her trial she had no lawyer, and nobody told her that she had a right to one. She was ordered to pay a $20 fine and $6 in court costs. Because the case was framed as a tax matter, the racism behind it stayed hidden. With the support of family and friends, she appealed, and the case reached the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia in 1947, but she lost.

D. Later, her marriage ended, and she left her business in Nova Scotia and moved to Montréal. She died in New York City in 1965. On April 15, 2010, Nova Scotia granted her a free pardon, and the premier made a public apology. The pardon was granted by Lieutenant Governor Mayann Francis, the first Black Nova Scotian to hold that office. Desmond was named a national historic person in 2017, and in 2018 she became the first Canadian woman to appear on a regularly circulating $10 bill.

E. Not given in any of the above paragraphs.

Decide which paragraph, A to D, has the information given in each statement below. Select E if the information is not given in any of the paragraphs.

ABCDE

- 1. Many years after her death, Nova Scotia formally cleared her name.

ABCDE

- 2. She did not have a lawyer to help her at her trial.

ABCDE

- 3. After being removed from the cinema, she spent a night locked up.

ABCDE

- 4. Her face now appears on a banknote that people use every day.

ABCDE

- 5. She sat downstairs because she could see the screen better from there.

ABCDE

- 6. Her beauty school was the biggest of its kind in the region.

ABCDE

- 7. She studied beauty work outside Nova Scotia because schools there would not take Black students.

ABCDE

- 8. An organization that supported her paid her fine for her.

ABCDE

- 9. Her attempt to overturn the verdict in a higher court did not succeed.

A.I. Explanation:

Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: On April 15, 2010, Nova Scotia granted her a free pardon, and the premier made a public apology.
Why this is correct: The fourth paragraph says she died in 1965, and then that Nova Scotia granted her a free pardon in 2010. A pardon from Nova Scotia clears her name, and it came 45 years after her death.
Tips: Two paragraphs deal with her conviction. Follow the dates to the one that tells what happened after 1965.
Why the other options are wrong:
A: Look at paragraph A: it tells us she was born in Halifax and built beauty businesses there. It names Nova Scotia as her birthplace, but no pardon.
B: Paragraph B covers one evening in New Glasgow in 1946, when she was arrested. Nothing is cleared or forgiven there.
C: Notice that paragraph C gives the charge, the fine and the lost appeal. Her conviction is in this paragraph, but the pardon that came later is not.
E: The fourth paragraph reports the 2010 pardon from Nova Scotia. The same paragraph dates her death to 1965, so the order of events is clear.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: At her trial she had no lawyer, and nobody told her that she had a right to one.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph C: at her trial she had no lawyer. Nobody told her she had a right to one. So she faced the court alone, without legal help.
Tips: Find the paragraph about the court case, then look for what she did not have in the courtroom.
Why the other options are wrong:
A: The first paragraph is about her training and her beauty businesses before 1946. Courts and lawyers do not come up in it.
B: Look at paragraph B: it ends with her night at the police station. The trial happens afterwards and is told in the next paragraph.
D: Look at paragraph D: it moves on to her later life, the pardon and the $10 bill. It does not go back to how her trial was run.
E: Her lack of a lawyer is spelled out in Paragraph C, along with the fact that nobody explained her rights.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: She was roughly carried out, taken to the police station and kept in jail for the night.
Why this is correct: In paragraph B, she was carried out of the theatre, taken to the police station and kept in jail for the night. A cinema is a movie theatre. A night in jail means a night locked up.
Tips: The third paragraph also talks about punishment. Ask which paragraph tells where she slept that night.
Why the other options are wrong:
A: Notice that paragraph A describes her studies and her salon in Halifax. It has no arrest and no jail in it.
C: The third paragraph lists her punishment from the court, a fine and court costs. It does not mention any night behind bars.
D: The fourth paragraph is about her move to Montréal, her death and the honours after it. It is not about the night of the arrest.
E: Her night in jail comes at the end of Paragraph B, right after the police carried her out of the theatre.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: Desmond was named a national historic person in 2017, and in 2018 she became the first Canadian woman to appear on a regularly circulating $10 bill.
Why this is correct: The fourth paragraph says that in 2018 she became the first Canadian woman to appear on a regularly circulating $10 bill. A bill in regular circulation is money people use every day, and her picture is on it.
Tips: Money comes up in two places. One is a fine she had to pay, the other honours her.
Why the other options are wrong:
A: Notice that paragraph A talks about her businesses and the products she sold. Money is earned there, but no bill carries her picture.
B: The second paragraph tells how she was removed from the Roseland Theatre, which has nothing to do with money showing her face.
C: Paragraph C has dollar amounts too: the $20 fine and $6 in costs. But those are sums she had to pay, not a bill with her portrait.
E: Near the end of paragraph D, the $10 bill from 2018 is named. She is the first Canadian woman to appear on one.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: While she waited for repairs, she went to see a movie at the Roseland Theatre and took a seat on the main floor.
Why this is correct: The second paragraph tells us she took a seat on the main floor and would not move to the balcony. It never gives her reason for choosing that seat, so nothing about seeing the screen is in the text.
Tips: The passage says where she sat. Check whether it ever says why she chose that seat.
Why the other options are wrong:
A: Look at paragraph A: it is set in Halifax before 1946 and does not mention the theatre or any seat.
B: In paragraph B, you learn where she sat and that she refused to go upstairs. But it gives no reason at all for her choice of seat.
C: Look at paragraph C: it compares the tax on the two kinds of ticket. That is about price, not about her view of the screen.
D: Notice that paragraph D covers her later years and her honours, and says nothing about the night at the movie.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: Within a few years she had also set up the Desmond School of Beauty Culture, which drew students from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Quebec, and she made and sold her own line of beauty products.
Why this is correct: The first paragraph says her school drew students from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Quebec. That shows it reached a wide area, but the paragraph never compares its size with other schools.
Tips: The statement says 'the biggest of its kind'. Find her beauty school and check what the passage says about its size.
Why the other options are wrong:
A: The first paragraph names the school and the places its students came from. Yet it never calls it bigger than any other school.
B: The second paragraph is about the theatre in New Glasgow and her arrest, not about her school.
C: Look at paragraph C: it deals with the tax charge and the court case. Her school does not appear in it.
D: Notice that paragraph D says she left her business when she moved away, but it does not rank her school against others.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: As a young woman she wanted to open a beauty salon, but beauty schools in Nova Scotia did not accept Black students, so she did her training as a hairdresser and beautician in Montréal and in the United States.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph A: beauty schools in Nova Scotia did not accept Black students. So she trained in Montréal and the United States. Both places are outside Nova Scotia. The word 'so' links the refusal to her choice.
Tips: Find where schools in Nova Scotia turn away Black students. Then check where she went to study instead.
Why the other options are wrong:
B: Notice that paragraph B shows Black customers being kept out of part of a theatre. The unfair treatment there is at a movie, not at a school.
C: The third paragraph is about her tax charge, her trial and her appeal. Her education is not part of it.
D: The fourth paragraph mentions Montréal as the city she moved to late in life, not as the place where she trained.
E: Paragraph A gives both the reason and the places. Schools at home refused Black students, so she trained in Montréal and the United States.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: With the support of family and friends, she appealed, and the case reached the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia in 1947, but she lost.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph C: it gives the $20 fine and says family and friends supported her appeal. It never says who paid the fine, and no organization is named anywhere in the passage.
Tips: Support for an appeal is not the same as paying a fine. Check who helped and with what.
Why the other options are wrong:
A: Notice that paragraph A is about her beauty school and products. No group helps her with money there.
B: The second paragraph tells of the arrest and the night in jail, which happened before any fine was ordered.
C: The third paragraph mentions the fine and the support of family and friends. But it does not link them, and it names no organization.
D: The fourth paragraph is about the pardon, the apology and the $10 bill, not about who paid what in 1947.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: With the support of family and friends, she appealed, and the case reached the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia in 1947, but she lost.
Why this is correct: The third paragraph says she appealed and the case reached the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia in 1947, but she lost. An appeal is an attempt to change the verdict, and losing means it failed.
Tips: Two later events try to clear her name. Only one went to 'a higher court' and failed.
Why the other options are wrong:
A: Notice that paragraph A covers her life before 1946 and does not mention any court or appeal.
B: The second paragraph stops at the police station on the night of her arrest. No court has heard the case yet.
D: Paragraph D has a later decision in her favour, the 2010 pardon. But the Lieutenant Governor granted it, not a court hearing an appeal.
E: The third paragraph ends with the 1947 appeal to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia and says plainly that she lost it.

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