Work in pairs asking each other fact-finding questions. Make use of your Active Vocabulary.

Explain the following quotations from the story. Cite examples to support your argument.

a) "Good looks are inclined to influence one more than they should".

b) "Never display emotion".

Act out dialogues between

a) Miss Marple and Inspector Slack

to repeat idle talk; close quarters; the money angle; to do benefit by one's death; wicked world; to come into a tidy sum; to put the crime to smb; to be on bad terms; to be infatuated with smb; to be perfectly natural under the circumstances; on the spot; old-fashioned crime.

b) Miss Marple and Colonel Melchett

to pick smth up;to try smth on; tape measure; valuable emeralds; to set up a flower shop; one's share of the swag; to urge smb to do smth; to go to prison for a robbery; to put a stop to smth; to verify smth;to be taxed with the truth.

Retell the story as if you were

a) Miss Hartnell

b) Mr. Spenlow

c) Miss Marple.

V. POST-READING TASKS

1. Comment on the following proverbs and quotations with the reference to the story. Does the story prove the truth of the proverbs?

1. See a pin and pick it up, all the day you'll have good luck.

2. Ill-gotten goods never prosper.

Write a summary of the story making use of the following linking devices.

To start with; with the reference to; for this reason; for instance; as was previously stated; I'm inclined to believe that; with regard to; in addition; in conclusion.

VI. TALKING POINT

Discuss the moral problems raised in the story. Support examples to prove your personal point of view.

UNIT 7

STRANGE JEST

Jane Helier’s friends, Edward Rossiter and Charmain Stroud are saddened by the news of their Uncle’s death, especially as the inheritance he promised them has come to nothing. The case seems quite simple to Miss Marple.

I. PRE-READING TASKS

1. You are going to read A. Christie story "Strange Jest". Before reading, make sure you understand the following words and word-combinations:

*china-blue - a greyish to moderate blue

*Treasure Island - The reference is to Treasure Island in the novel of the same name by Robert Louis Stevenson.

*buckle down - set to work in earnest

*Arsene Lupin- the principal character in detective stories by the French writer Maurice Leblanc, whose works were translated into English and enjoyed wide popularity in the English-speaking countries.

*Portsmouth - a city and chief British naval base in southeast Hampshire, on Portsea Island, 117 km. southwest of London

*burr walnut - a kind of walnut used in making furniture

*Hawaii - the largest of the Hawaiian Islands, a group of twenty islands in the North Paci­fic (now they form the 50th state of the U.S.A.)

*Mauritius- an island in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar

*Gammon and spinach! - Meaning-nonsense!

Practice the pronunciation of the following proper names from the text.

Jane Helier, Charmian Stround, Edward Rossiter, Treasure Island, Uncle Mathew, Ansteys, Mrs. Eldritch, Portsmouth, Hawaii, Matilda Graves, Betty Martin, Lionel, Christmas.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 1375