We began with an experiment. The man asked me to make a drawing on a blank piece of paper. I made a sketch of a creature I had invented some time ago to amuse my children. When I had finished, he asked me to cover the drawing with my hand. Then he asked me to concentrate hard and to try to transmit the thought of what I had sketched A minute went by with no result. He shook his head, "it seems very complicated: is it a kind of amoeba?" Slowly and hesitantly he began to draw the creature’s right ear-the spot where I’ve always begin the drawing. “you’ve got it.” I said. "Go on! " He completed the drawing quickly. I had carefully redrawn the picture in my mind as I tried to transmit it—which probably accounts for the identical starting point.
The man then demonstrated other power. He made the hands of my watch turn back two hours and the date go forward two days by stroking a coin placed over its face, explaining afterward that he derives power from metal. He had a little trouble trying to break my car key. However, he placed it against a metal radiator, and after a few seconds, said,46 It is starting to go. The key snapped in two.
Then he tried to transmit a picture to me by telepathy. I attempted to make my mind receptive, but no image came into it. Feeling rather embarrassed, I just drew the first thing that came into my head: check mark. The man showed me the piece of paper he was holding. It contained a mirror image of the symbol I had drawn. It could be significant in this connection that the man is left-handed.
After I left the room, I began to sift my impressions. Only the day before, an acquaintance had warned me to watch carefully for sleight-of-hand tricks, especially as the man had earlier been a stage conjuror. I had to admit that most of the things had done could have been tricks. For instance, snapping the keys with his fingers and altering the hands and date on my watch with the winder would have been well within the ability of a skilled conjuror. But how could he have faked the drawing of what I had drawn? And if that feat was due to genuine telepathic power, the other demonstrations could also be genuine.
1.In line 11, “derives” most nearly means（ ）.
2.It be inferred from line 19-25 that the telepathist’s demonstrations would appear most convincing to a critical observer if the telepathist were to （ ）.
3.The “acquaintance” mentioned in line 19 can best be described as a （ ）.
4.Which phrase best characterizes the author’s general attitude in this passage?
