As soon as Bassanio and Graziano left for Venice, Portia told Lorenzo that she and Nerissa were going to stay in a convent（女修道院）until their husbands came back. She told him she wanted to prepare herself for marriage. She asked Lorenzo and Jessica to look after the palace and the servants until she came back. Lorenzo was very happy to do this for her. He thought she was a very wise and kind woman. “Bassanio was lucky to have her for his wife,” he said. Portia said she agreed to let Bassanio go to Venice because Antonio’s letter showed her that he must be a very good man.
Portia and Nerssa, however, were not going to a convent. Portia had a different plan, but she did not want to tell Lorenzo and Jessica what it was. It was a secret. She called one of her servants.
She told him to go to Padua and find her friend, Bellario. She gave him a letter to give to Bellario.
“He will give you some clothes and other things to bring back to me,” she said, “Bring them to the ship that goes to Venice. Hurry! I will be at the ship before you get there,”
The servant hurried away with the letter, and Portia called Nerissa. “Come on, Nerissa,” she said, “we are going to see our husbands sooner than they think.”
She told Nerissa that their husbands would not recognize them because they were going to disguise（假扮）themselves as men. “I know how to behave like a man, ” she said. “I will wear a dagger and walk like a man. I will talk about the battles（战争）I have won. I will tell lies about the women who fell in love with me. I’ll tell people that I refused their love and that they cried and that some of them even died of sadness. I’ll say that I’m sad about causing them to die, and everyone will believe that I’m a man.”
【小题1】Where would Portia and Nerissa finally go according to the passage?| A．A convent. | B．A ship. | C．Venice. | D．A village. |
| A．They would disguise themselves as men. | B．They would tell lies about the women. |
| C．They would prepare themselves for marriage. | D．They would ask their husband back. |
| A．锤子 | B．短剑 | C．徽章 | D．烈酒 |
| A．Women’s lies | B．Wise and kind Portia |
| C．Leaving for a new place | D．Portia has a plan |
