Read Kit’s biography (sometimes you will have to fill in the blanks with the verbs in the Past Indefinite Tense) and answer the questions.
Kit Nelson was born to an unnamed mother and Mr. Nelson before the Second World War. During the war, while his father ____ (to be) off fighting, and his mother at her father's funeral, Nelson and his 11-year old brother Elliot, were left alone. During a time in a bomb shelter, Nelson _____ (to strangle) Elliot, and _______ (to leave) a chrysanthemum on his mother's bed, as it was her favorite flower. Nelson _____ (to tell) his mother that his brother had died of scarlet fever. Though his mother _______ (to know) the truth from the start, she was not prepared to lose two children in one day, and _____ (to bury) the body before any autopsy could be performed.
During his later life, Nelson ______ (to work) at a company named C&C, which used to make bomb shelters before and during the war. Due to his job, Nelson knew the locations of abandoned bomb shelters in the United States.
Nelson __________ (to kidnap) and killed three 11-year old children in 1958. He used his knowledge of bomb shelter locations to hide his victims and strangle them. He kidnapped his victims on a Friday leaving a chrysanthemum on their bed, making them go fishing, play miniature golf, eat cherry pie, and go to the cinema. These four main hobbies were his brother Elliot's favorite things to do. He would strangle his victims inside a bomb shelter, apparently enjoying the feeling, and return them dead back to their houses on a Sunday. He was caught in 1958.
For kidnapping and murder, Nelson was incarcerated for life In Alcatraz. He was viciously beaten by the other inmates due to the criminal hierarchy, with child killers being the lowest. At some point, his father _____ (to come) to visit him, despite him not being on Nelson's list of names.
Nelson was one of the most hated prisoners, by his father, the other inmates, the wardens, and even Dr. Beauregard, who all _____ (to keep) mocking him with references to their own children. When he was beaten in the recreation yard he went to Beauregard and when Beauregard left, an inmate ___ (to warn) him about Beauregard and told him that child killers are the lowest at Alcatraz. That inmate was Tommy Madsen. At some point Warden James ordered Nelson into Solitary, a pitch black solitary cell, in order to question him about his brother's murder. Under threat of permanently being incarcerated in a pitch black cell, Nelson ______ (to admit) that he killed his brother, something even his father could not get him to do.
1. Choose the proper variant:
1. Kit Nelson was born:
a) After the World War II
b) In 1970
c) Before the World War II
2. He left a __________ on his mother’s bed when he killed his brother Elliot:
a) A chamomile
b) A rose
c) A chrysanthemum
3. The company where Kit worked before incarceration used to make:
a) Bombs
b) Bomb shelters
c) Submarines
4. He hid his victims:
a) In the bomb shelters
b) In the woods
c) In the wells
5. He made his victims:
a) go fishing, play miniature golf, eat cherry pie, and go to the cinema
b) go hunting, play miniature golf, eat cherry pie, and go to the cinema
c) go fishing, play polo, eat cherry pie, and go to the cinema
d) go fishing, play miniature golf, eat cherry pie, and go to the theatre
6. After “entertaining” his victims, Kit:
a) would stab them and leave their bodies somewhere in the woods
b) would strangle his victims inside a bomb shelter and return them dead back to their houses on a Sunday
c) would let them go home
7. Kit Nelson was incarcerated for ________ in Alcatraz:
a) 10 years
b) 25 years
c) Life
8. He was one of the most _________ prisoners in Alcatraz:
a) Favourite
b) Hated
c) Popular
9. Child killers are ________ in Alcatraz:
a) The lowest
b) The highest
c) The middle class
10. Kit Nelson _________ that he had killed his brother.
a) Refused to admit
b) Admitted
c) Couldn’t remember
2. Answer the questions:
1) Why did Nelson leave a chrysanthemum on his victims’ beds?
2) Why did he cry when he took the boy away (in the present days)?
3) Why did the guards stay away when Kit was beaten by other inmates?
4) Does Kit have any family members that are still alive?
5) What is the meaning of number 11 for Kit?
6) Is it “rapists, robbers, thieves” or “thieves, rapists, robbers”? Or “robbers, murderers, rapists – then child killers”? What does this hierarchy mean?
7) Why did Edwin James make Kit see his father, though he was not on the Nelson’s list of visitors?
8) Why do you think Hauser cancelled the Amber alert?
9) Why did Nelson kill his brother? And why did he keep killing the boys?
10) What punishment do such people as Kit Nelson deserve? Do you think they might be rehabilitated?