B Say if you agree or disagree and support your point of view:

1. Old Ben picked chestnuts, roasted and sold them.

2. Though Gideon liked chestnuts he never ate them in the street.

3. Gideon's massive figure was familiar to newsdealers and taxi driv­ers, pavement artists and policemen.

4. Old Ben rushed to save his chestnuts but fell down and broke his arm.

5. When the police arrived the two opposing gangs had already disap­peared.

6. The report said that there were only a few chestnuts left in the basket.

7. Old Ben told Gideon that an old lady with grey hair had given him the bag of chestnuts.

8. When Lloyd arrived at Dicey's apartment Dicey was reading a newspaper.

C Write down the names of London streets, squares, areas,

theatres etc. mentioned in the text. Say what you know

about each of them.

D Answer the following questions:

1. What kind of man was Old Ben Fairley?

2. What was your impression of the Commander of the Criminal In­vestigation Department?

3. Why do you think Dicey had not told his wife about the chestnuts?

4. Did this fact become fatal for Dicey?

E Translate the following sentences using these verbs: to

hand, to sense, to shout, to scream, to put in, to check, to

search, to reach:

Многие останавливались, чтобы дать ему шиллинг.

Бен почувствовал тревогу.

Бен закричал в знак протеста.

Он закричал от боли.

Вы уже составили отчет?

Проверьте каждого бакалейщика в районе.

Можете обыскать всю квартиру, но вы ничего не найдете.

Другая банда добралась до вас первой.

F Translate the following sentences using these

adjectives and nouns: odd, wholesale, lined, funny,

troublemaker, mind, move, sense.

Бен мало что помнил из своих семидесяти с лишним лет.

Старый Бен оптом покупал каштаны и жарил их.

Глаза ярко сияли на его изборожденном морщинами лице.

Жизнь — забавная штука.

Они — не обычные возмутители спокойствия.

Какие у вас соображения насчет Дайси?

Поторопитесь, нельзя терять времени.

Все это начало приобретать смысл.

G Think and answer:

1. Imagine that you are old Ben. One day you find a diamond in one of the chestnuts. What would you do then?

2. Suppose that Gideon buys some chestnuts and finds a diamond in one of them. What would his actions be in this case?

3. Imagine that you are Dicey Gamble. Where in your flat would you hide the hot diamonds?

H Write down all the facts related to this crime, in

chronological order. Here is an example:

■ Dicey and his gang steal some

diamonds.

■ They hid them in the chestnuts.

■ ………………………………………………………….

I Write down the facts which helped Gideon

to reveal the crime.

J Write down the qualities a good detective should

have.

K Work in pairs.

■. Ask your group-mate what he/she thinks about detectives, about

their education and experience.

■ Discuss with your group-mate what he/she knows about Scotland

Yard.

Text №2 The Case for the Defence

after Graham Greene

It was a very strange murder trial. I have never attended such a strange trial. They named it the Northwood murder in the head­lines, because the house, where the old woman was found battered to death at two o'clock in the morning, was in Northwood Street. The murderer was found immediately: and now no one present at the trial believed that the man in the dock had any chance of being acquitted.

He was a stout man with bulging eyes. Yes, an ugly customer, one you wouldn't forget. The Crown counsel proposed to call four witnesses who had seen him hurrying away from the little house in Northwood Street soon after two that morning.

Mrs Salmon, a neighbour and one of the witnesses, was unable to sleep that night: she heard the gate shut and thought it was her own gate. So she went to the window and saw Adams (that was his name) on the steps of Mrs Parker's house. He had just come out and he was wearing gloves. He had a hammer in his hand and she saw him drop it into the bushes by the front gate. But before he moved away, he had instinctively looked up — at her window. Mrs Salmon could see him clearly in the light of a street lamp.

Mr MacPougall, another witness, had been driving home late and nearly ran Adams down at the corner of Northwood Street. Adams was walking in the middle of the road looking dazed.

And old Mr Weeler, who lived next door to Mrs Parker, was wakened by a noise — like a chair falling — through the wall, thin as paper. He got up and looked out of the window, just as Mrs Salmon did, saw Adam's back and, as he turned, those bulging eyes.