问答题 TRENCH: I have no objection to sit down and listen; but I don"t see how that can make black white; and I am tired of being turned on as if I were in the wrong.[He sits down. Cokane sits at his elbow, on his right. They compose themselves for a conference.]SARTORIUS: I assume, to begin with, Dr. Trench, that you are not a socialist, or anything of that sort.TRENCH: Certainly not. I"m a Conservative—at least, if I ever took the trouble to vote, I should vote for the Conservative and against the other fellow.COKANE: True blue. Harry, true blue!SARTORIUS; I am glad to find that so far we are in perfect sympathy. I am, of course, a Conservative; not a narrow or prejudiced one, I hope, nor at all opposed to true progress, but still a sound Conservative. As to Lickcheese, I need say no more about him than that I have dismissed him from my service this morning for a breach of trust; and you will hardly accept his testimony as friendly or disinterested. As to my business, it is simply to provide homes suited to the small means of very poor people, who require roofs to shelter them just like other people. Do you suppose I can keep up those roofs for nothing?TRENCH: Yes: that"s all very fine; but the point is, what sort of homes do you give them for their money? People must live somewhere, or else go to jail. Advantage is taken of that to make them pay for houses that are not fit for dogs. Why don"t you build proper dwellings, and give fair value for the money you take?SARTORIUS:[pitying his innocence]My young friend, these poor people do not know how to live in proper dwellings: they would wreck them in a week. You doubt me; try it for yourself. You are welcome to replace all the missing bannisters, handrails, cistern lids and dusthole tops at your own expense; and you will find them missing again in less than three days—burnt, sir, every stick of them. I do not blame the poor creatures: they need fires, and often have no other way of getting them. But I really cannot spend pound after pound in repairs for them to pull down, when I can barely get them to pay me four and sixpence a week for a room, which is the recognized fair London rent. No, gentlemen; when people are very poor, you cannot help them, no matter how much you may sympathize with them. It does them more harm than good in the long run. I prefer to save my money in order to provide additional houses for the homeless, and to lay by a little for Blanche.[He looks at them. They are silent; Trench unconvinced, but talked down; Cokane humanely perplexed. Sartorius bends his brows; comes forward in his chair as if gathering himself together for a spring; and addresses himself, with impressive significance, to Trench.]And now, Dr. Trench, may I ask what your income is derived from?TRENCH;[defiantly]From interest—not from houses. My hands are clean as far as that goes. Interest on a mortgage.SARTORIUS;[forcibly]Yes, a mortgage on my property. When I, to use your own words, screw, and bully, and drive these people to pay what they have freely undertaken to pay me, I cannot touch one penny of the money they give me until I have first paid you your ￡ 700 out of it. What Lickcheese did for me, I do for you. He and I are alike intermediaries: you are the principal. It is because of the risks I run through the poverty of my tenants that you exact interest from me at the monstrous and exorbitant rate of seven per cent, forcing me to exact the uttermost farthing in my turn from the tenants. And yet, Dr. Trench, you have not hesitated to speak contemptuously of me because I have applied my industry and forethought to the management of our property, and am maintaining it by the same honorable means. Questions:

问答题 Identify the author and the work from which the passages are selected.

问答题 Comment on the features of the dramatist.

问答题 Analyze the lines quoted above in terms of the playwright"s artistic view.