Passage 2
Most valid contracts are obeyed by both parties. Each does what was promised, and the contract is dissolved by being carried out. Sometimes a contract will not be fulfilled because both parties agree to end it. Occasionally the law will excuse one party from meeting an agreement. (For example, bankruptcy frees a person from credit agreements, and death or serious illness is a valid excuse for not fulfilling a contract for personal services. )But where one party has no legal excuse for failure to live up to the terms of a contract, the other party can claim breach of contract.
The essence of a contract is that the law will enforce the promise made. Three enforcement alternatives-discharge, damages ,and specific performance- are open to a person whose contract has been breached by the other party. We can illustrate the protection afforded by law with a hypothetical example. Nick Santo, a builder, contracts to buy 2,000 feet of pine board from the Zeller Lumberyard. The contract stipulates that the price for the board is to be $2 per foot and that delivery must be made by January 25. But on January 10 the lumberyard calls Santo and tells him that another contractor has offered to buy all of the yard's lumber at $2. 50 per foot. Zeller tells Santo that he must pay the higher price or wait until February 15 for delivery. The builder has the following options:
Discharge. When one party violates the terms of the agreement , the other party is under no obligation to continue with his or her end of the contract. In other words, the second party is discharged from the contract. Santo is free to buy his wood from another lumberyard. If Zeller goes ahead and delivers the wood at the later date, Santo does not have to accept it.
Damages. A party has the right to sue in court for damages that result from the other party's failure to fulfill a contract. The damages awarded usually reflect the direct loss of profit resulting from the nonperformance. If Santo had to pay another yard a higher price to get lumber, he would be entitled to collect the difference from Zeller, plus court costs. lf Zeller's failure to deliver the wood as contracted caused Santo to lose a large contract or a good customer, the court might force Zeller to pay damages far exceeding the value of the wood itself.
Specific performance. A party can be compelled to live up to the terms of the contract if money damages would not be adequate had agreed to sell not pine board but one-of-a-kind wood paneling from a sixteenth-century Spanish castle, Santo could demand specific performance of the contract. Since the wood paneling was purchased elsewhere, the only satisfactory remedy would be to order Zeller to go through with the deal.
What is mainly discussed in the passage?
A、Most valid contracts are obeyed by both parties.
B、When the law will excuse one party from meeting an agreement.
C、What happens if a contract is breached by the other party.
D、A contract between Nick Santo and Zeller.
【正确答案】：C
【名师解析】:本段主要讨论了合同违约时的法律后果和相应的补救措施。文章首先指出大多数有效合同会被双方遵守，但当一方未能履行合同条款时，另一方可以主张合同违约。接着，文章介绍了合同违约时的三种法律救济方式：解除合同、损害赔偿和特定履行。通过Nick Santo和Zeller Lumberyard之间的合同案例，具体说明了这三种救济方式如何应用。因此，正确答案是C，即讨论了合同被另一方违约时会发生什么。
