for him to stick to it. Should he regret some day, he would have to pay a much higher price to get himself out of it. Anyway, for the old man, and for his customers as he believes, the life-cleaner is more important than the love potion.
4. This means there is a wide difference between the young and the old. Young people tend to be over-passionate for love, sometimes senselessly and irrationally, while the old, just like the old man who sells the mixtures, would take a cool and sensible, sometimes even cynical attitude towards love.
5. "Au revoir," an urbane and polished reply to the young man's good-bye, meaning "until I see you again," indicates the old man's firm belief that the young man will eventually come back to him for the life-cleaner. This shows his cynical pessimism about love.
IV. Explain in your own words the following sentences.
1. "Just because I am able to do you a favor/sell you the love potion, I feel safe telling you so much about my other medicines."
2. "They, the love potions," said the old man, "will help change the girl's attitude towards you. She will no longer hold you in contempt. Instead, She will begin to give you her deep-felt love and care."
Structural analysis of the text
The last line "goodbye, until we meet again" carries an ironic double meaning. It's a conventional way to say goodbye. And with all those clues given in the story, it also suggests that the old man expects the young man will return for the glove-cleaner.
Rhetorical features of the text
"It would be no good charging that sort of price for a love potion. Young people who need a love potion very seldom have five thousand dollars. Otherwise they would not need a love potion." (Paragraph 13)
Vocabulary exercises
I. Explain the underlined part in each sentence in your own words.
1. feeling very much worried and afraid
2. everything I sell could be well deemed as extraordinary
3. difficult to notice
4. much more lasting than the momentary impulse
5. with enthusiasm
II. Fill in the blank in each sentence with a word taken from the box in its appropriate form.