Read the text. 2. Put a tick (√) in the columns: right, wrong or don’t know.

2. Put a tick (√) in the columns: right, wrong or don’t know.

3. Complete the sentences with the words: had worked, former, uniformed, long-standing, kidnapped, have, shock and grief, thousand, lurks, package, dad.

1. Fenton Hardy is…

2. He … as a New York City police detective.

3. Sam Peterson had also cracked some traditions.

4. Frank had to meet...

5. When they finally met and asked the tall … Yankee center fielder about their father.

6. “What … you done with Fenton? ”

7. The … was already open when the … policemen brought it in and placed it on Peterson’s desk.

8. Peterson and the boys sat alone with their...

9. There’ll be 500 … dead-and that’ll be only beginning.

10. Murder … behind every shadow…

4. Correct the mistakes in the underlined words:

When they finally meet and ask the toll former Yankee center fielder about their father, he shooked his had. “I was talk to him, you nows, remembering when he helped catch a crank that were sending me threatening letters. But in the first whiff of smoke coming into the room, your dad go to find out what was going on. You know that all he need is a scent of mystery and he’s off and running. I’ve always thought he’s part bloodhound.”

Samuel peterson’s face turned hard as he listened to the voice from his beeper. He pressed the talk button. “Who is you? ” he demanded. “What have you did with Fenton? ” “Come on, chief, you really doesn’t expect me to answer this questions, ” the voice say. “There’s just one question you should be asking.” “What’s that” said Peterson.

" Sweet Valley Twins. One of the Bang"
by F. Pascal

It was Monday afternoon and Jessica and Elizabeth were doing their homework. California sunlight streamed through the windows. The twins' older brother, Steven, was working on his homework, too - and driving Jessica and Beth crazy at the same time! Steven was fourteen - two years older than the twins - Just that day, out of the blue, he'd informed them that he had ESP - extrasensory perception - and had already " foreseen" everything they did or said.

" I knew you'd have problems with your homework, Jess, " Steven said now, looking smug. " My ESP is at work again."

" I'm not sure you'd need ESP to guess Jessica was going to have trouble with math, " Elizabeth pointed out.

" What are you talking about? " Jessica said to her brother. You're really getting weird, Steven. Do you know that? "

" I'm not weird, " Steven objected. " I'm special, that's all. I happen to have ESP. In fact, I had my very first vision of the future this morning".

Jessica glared at him. " The only thing extra about you is that you're extra obnoxious" she said.

Elizabeth, who was four minutes older, often thought of herself as the " big sister". Conscientious in everything she did, she really liked working hard at school. Elizabeth was very active on The Sweet Valley Sixers, the sixth-grade newspaper. Jessica, on the other hand, wouldn't have wasted a second on something as boring as the school paper. She was much too busy with the Unicorns, a special group of girls Elizabeth considered snobs.

" My ESP tells me I'm going to be late for basketball practice if I don't get out of here, " Steven said suddenly, jumping up from the table. " See you two later! " He gave Jess a serious look. " I'm getting that weird feeling again, Jessica. I think you should make sure to stay inside today. Otherwise..." He let his voice trail off ominously.

" He's giving me the creeps, " Jessica said when Steven had bounded out of the room. " How can we get him to stop this ESP nonsense? I can't stand it!

Elizabeth looked thoughtful. " I know what you mean. I think we may have to think of some way to get him stop. He's getting to be a real pain."

" OK, Liz - now here's a plan, " Jessica whispered to her sister. The twins were out in the backyard, enjoying the late afternoon sunlight and waiting for their brother.

" I still don't think it's going to work, " Elizabeth objected.

Jessica's blue-green eyes were indignant. " Trust me, Lizzie! As soon as we make Steven feel he really does have ESP, he's been going on and on about it is because he thinks it's all a joke."

" So remember - make sure that whatever Steven predicts is going to happen really does happen, " Jessica advised her. " And be sure to egg him on. Ask him all about his 'visions', and let's pretend to get really scared." She grinned. " As soon as we start to take him seriously, he's going to flip! He'll be sorry he ever said a word about ESP."

" I bet you guys are glad I'm here, " Steven declared a moment later, opening the screen door and coming out to join them. He stared. " I had a premonition today, " Steven announced. " My ESP is getting stronger all the time, you guys. This morning I had the most amazing feeling that one of you was in trouble. It was about ten-thirty."

Jessica poked Elizabeth, her eyes widening with mock horror. " Ten-thirty? Are you serious? " she gasped.

" Yeah, " Steven said, surprised by the strength of her reaction. So far no one had paid any attention to any of his " omens". " Why? " he asked. " Was I right? Did something happen to one of you? "

Jessic a paused dramatically. " Steven, I didn't believe you up until now, but you really must have ESP! " She shuddered. " I was in gym class at ten-thirty, and just missed getting hit in the head with volleyball."

Steven's eyes widened. " Wow, " he said. " That really happened at ten-thirty? "

" Cross my heart, " Jessica fibbed.

" What about me? Have you had any weird feelings about me lately? " Beth asked.

Steven thought for a minute. " Well, yeah. I guess I did. This afternoon, during basketball practice, I had this sudden feeling that you...uh, that you had just found some money." He looked closely at her. " But I guess ESP isn't right one hundred percent of the time, is it? "

" I can't believe it, " she said to her brother, feigning astonishment. " You must have overhead Amy Sutton telling someone about the five-dollar bill I found on the way home! "

Steven blinked, looking confused. " How could I have possibly run into Amy? I was at basketball practice, and then I just came straight home."

Jessica nodded seriously. " Steve, we owe you an apology. This is incredible - you do have ESP! "

When their brother was gone, sisters exchanged triumphant grins.

" See, I told you, " Jessica said happily. " He never really expected we'd start taking him seriously. Now he thinks that he really has ESP, he's scared to death! "

" I still think this is a bad idea, " Elizabeth said in a low voice. She and Jessica were out in the garage, using flashlights to find their way in the dark. It was past midnight, and they were trying their hardest not to make any noise. If their parents found out they weren't in bed, they'd get in very bad trouble. Not to mention the fact that they were about to do something really rotten to poor Steven. Elizabeth felt terrible about it. She wished she.didn't promise Jessica a favor.

" Shhh, " Jessica said. She almost tripped over a piece garden hose, and her face went white as she grabbed Elizabeth by the arm. " Darn. It's so hard trying to do this in the dark! "

" Let's forget it, " Elizabeth begged her. " Can't we just keep doing what we've been doing? Steven's already getting spooked. He'll cut out this ESP stuff any day now."

But Jessica had already managed to get the ladder off its hooks on the garage wall. " No way, " she whispered back. " We've got to teach him a lesson. Help me with this thing, Lizzie. It weighs a ton."

" I really think we should go back inside, " Elizabeth said again, this time more firmly. " Jess, that if we really scare him? He could get hysterical or something! "

" You promised to help out, " Jessica reminded her. " Don't worry, " she added. " He may be scared for a second, but then he'll probably just laugh. And he'll definitely get the idea. Then we won't have to hear any more about ESP! "

" I guess he does deserve it, " she admitted. " Remember the time he scared you in that ridiculous Creature from the Black Lagoon costume of his? "

" I remember, " Jessica said grimly. " He'll be sorry for that - and for this ESP nonsense! " Soon she had climbed up to the top. The ladder was wobbling quite a bit, and Elizabeth began to feel nervous.

" Careful! " she warned, steadying the ladder with both hands.

Jessica reached down. " Give me the costume, " she instructed.

Elizabeth passed it up to her, watching anxiously as Jessica balanced on the top of the ladder, holding onto the window ledge as she draped the sheet over herself. There were two holes cut in the sheet for the eyes, and Elizabeth thought Jessica really did look scary. It was strange how different everything looked out here in the pitch dark. She watched as Jessica inched closer to the window and tapped at the glass.

" I don't think he can hear me, " Jessica said a minute later. I'm going to try pressing my face against the glass."

Meanwhile Steven was sitting up straight in his bed, his heart pounding. What was that sound - that scratching at the window? He thought about what Jessica had said that night at dinner. Was it really true that people with ESP had visions? His face went pale. He'd never really believed he had ESP. He only told his sisters that to have some fun. Now he wished he'd never brought it up.

Taking a deep breath, he threw off the covers and padded over to the window. The shade was pulled down. He felt a terrible chill when he heard it again - a faint but definite knocking on the glass. The next moment he snapped up the shade and screamed as loud as he could when he saw - he didn't know what it was - something white and terrible pressing against the window. It was just inches from his own face!

" Jessica! " Elizabeth cried. She didn't know what had happened, but when the shade snapped up, Jessica started, and her left foot slid off the top rung of the ladder. The next instant she was clawing desperately at the sill, but it was too late for her to regain her balance. With a bloodcurdling scream she crashed down, pulling the ladder over with her. " Jessica, " Elizabeth cried again, trying to pull the sheet off her. " Jess, are you OK? "

Lights were being turned on all over the upstairs as Steven's and Jessica's cries woke Mr. and Mrs. Wakefield. By now Steven had yanked open his window and stuck his head outside. " What's going on down there? " he demanded, his color returning to normal as he realized that what he had seen wasn't a vision at all.

" Steven, get Mom and Dad - quick! " Elizabeth cried. " Jessica's hurt! "

" Jessica - " Steven choked out. " Why, that little..." His anger settled down as the meaning of Elizabeth's word's finally struck him. " Is she OK? I'll be right down! " he cried.

" Don't tell them, " Jessica moaned, trying to pull herself up. " Liz, they're going to kill us! "

" What on Earth is going on here? " Mr. Wakefield said angrily.

" The ladder fell, " Jessica whispered.

" Jessica's hurt, " Elizabeth said quickly. " Look - her ankle's starting to swell up! "

" She's not really hurt that bad, " Steven said, looking disgusted.

" Jessica, what do you think you were doing? I thought you were" - he swallowed - " a burglar or something."

" We were just trying to scare him a little, " she whispered. " We were pretending I was a spirit." She gulped. " We were sick of him acting like he had ESP."

" I think, " Mr. Wakefield said, getting up with a frown, " that you and I had better make a trip over to the Emergency Room, Jessica. We'll talk tomorrow morning about what you two girls were up to and why. For now, I think we had better get a doctor's opinion about that ankle."

Jessica looked pale as her father picked her up in his arms. She knew she and Elizabeth were in trouble. But she was even more upset about her ankle. It hurt so badly it took all she had not to cry.

She couldn't believe her bad luck. She just had to hope against hope that it wasn't broken!

Glossary:

Exercises

Ex.1 Choose the synonyms to the words: special, angry, to scream, terrible, ridiculous, to guess, to remind, firm, to scare, incredible.

Ex.2 Guess the meanings of the words, which are accented in the text.

Ex.3 Say what you think was the most exciting (dangerous) moment in the story. Explain why you think so.

Ex.4 Characterize Elizabeth, Jessica. Which girl do you like and why?

Ex.5 In this exercise you have to put the verb into the correct form.

Example: Please don't make so much noise. I am studying (study).

1. Look! It .............................. (snow).

2. How many languages ................................. (you/speak)?

3. If I __________ (know) her number, I would telephone her.

4. Those clouds are very black, aren 't they? I think it _______ (rain).

5. " Where________(your father/come) from? " " He_________(come) from Scotland? "

Boy Tales of Chilhood
by Roald Dahl

Who can tell where Roald Dahl got his ideas from? Perhaps some have their roots in remarkable things that happened to the writer as a boy and as a young man.

All full of excitement and unexpected as the stories he wrote, Roald Dahl’s tales of this own childhood are completely fascinating and are not to be missed! His story is continued in Going Solo, also published in Puffin. Roald Dahl died in November 1990 at the age of seventy-four.

My father, Harold Dahl, was a Norwegian who came from small town near Oslo, called Sarpsborg. His own father was a fairly prosperous merchant who owned a store in Sapsburg and traded in just about everything from cheese to chicken-wire.

I am writing these words in 1984, but the grandfather of mine was born, believe it or not, in1820, shortly after Wellington had defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. If my grandfather had been alive today he would have been one hundred and twenty-one. Both my father my grandfather were late started so far as children were conserved.

When my father was fourteen, which is still more than one hundred years ago, he was up on the roof of the family house replacing some loose tiles when he slipped and fell. He broke his left arm below the elbow. Somebody ran to fetch the doctor, and half an hour later this gentleman made a majestic and drunken arrival in his horse-drawn buggy. He was so drunk that he mistook the fractured elbow for a dislocated shoulder.

‘We’ll soon put this back into place! ’ he cried out, and two men were called off the street to help with the pulling. They were instructed to hold my father by the waist while the doctor grabbed him by the wrist of the broken arm and shouted, ‘Pull men, pull! Pull as hard as you can! ’

The pain must have been excruciating. The victim screamed, and his mother, who was watching the performance in horror, shouted ‘Stop! ’ But by then the pullers had done so much damage that a splinter of bone was sticking out through the skin of the forearm.

This was in 1877 and orthopedic surgery was not what it is today. So they simply amputated the arm at the elbow, and for the rest of his life my father had to manage with one arm. Fortunately, it was the left arm he lost and gradually, over the year he taught himself to do more or less anything he wanted with just the four fingers and a thumb of his right hand. He could tie a shoelace as quickly as you or me, and for cutting up the food on his plate, he sharpened the bottom edge of a fork so that it served as both knife and fork all in one. The loss of an arm, he used to stay, cause him only one serious inconvenience. He thought it impossible to cut the top off a boiled egg.

My father was a year ago or so older than his brother Oscar, but they were exceptionally close, and soon after they left school, they went for a long walk together to plan their future. They decided that a small town like Sapsborg in a small country like Norway. So what they must do, they agreed, was go away to the big country.

Their father was near seven foot tall, and he refused to support this tomfool idea. When he forbade then to go, they ran away from home, and somehow or other the two of them managed to work their way to France on cargo ship.

From Calais they went to Paris, and in Paris they agreed to separate because each of them wished to be independent of the other. Uncle Oscar, for some reasons, headed west for La Rochelle on the Atlantic coast, while my father remained in Paris for the time being.

The story of how these two brothers each started a totally separate business in different countries and how each of them made a fortune is interesting, but these is no time to tell it here except in the briefest manner.

Take my Uncle Oscar first. La Rochelle was then, and still is, a fishing port. By the time he was forty he had become the wealthiest men in the town. He owned a fleet of trawlers called ‘Pecheur d’Atlantique’ and a large canning factory. Also he collected king’s furniture and good pictures. The furniture alone should be in museum.

Glossary:

wire – дріт

tomfool – дурень, блазень

amiable - дружелюбний

acquire - набувати

Tasks