I. Read the text and say whether the statements are true or false. Agatha Christie

Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie is possibly the world’s most famous detective story writer. She wrote 79 novels and several plays. Her sales outnumber those of William Shakespeare. However behind her 4,680,000 words was a painfully shy woman whose life was often lonely and unhappy.

She was born in 1890 in Devon, the third child of Clarissa and Frederick Miller, and grew into a beautiful sensitive girl with waist-length golden hair. She didn’t go to school but was educated at home by her mother. Her father died when she was 11 and both she and her mother were grief-stricken.

During World War 1, while she was working in a hospital dispensary, she learned about chemicals and poisons, which proved to be very useful to her in her later career. She wrote her first detective novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, in 1920. In it she introduced Hercule Poirot, the Belgian detective who appeared in many subsequent novels. Her other main detective was an elderly spinster called Miss Marple.

1. Agatha Christie didn’t have any brothers or sisters. 2. She had long, blond hair. 3. Agatha Christie received her education at home. 4. She learnt about poisons and chemicals when she was ill in hospital. 5. Agatha Christie wrote her first detective novel when she was 30. 6. She used the character of Hercule Poirot as the main detective only in one of her stories.

II. Fill in the blanks with a necessary word:

As soon as I get home from school, I ... my computer. First of all I ... to the Internet and go to Sporting Life, which is sports news ..., to find out the latest football results. Then I check my ... to see if anyone has sent me any messages. If I have a homework project, I'll ... the Internet to see if there is any useful information. If I find a good text that's quite long, I'll ... it as it's often easier to read on paper.

When my parents bought the computer, we got lots of free ..., including an encyclopaedia and a software package, which is very useful for writing my projects.

I sometimes get bad days when the computer seems to crash all the time; and some days the Internet is busy, so you can’t connect. People say it's because millions of users go online at that time. My mother is a bit worried that I'm going to run up huge bills on the Internet and that I'm going to become … but I don't think I will.

a) Hardware; b) website; c) e-mail; d) an Internet addict; e) start up; f) connect; g) surf; h) print.

III. Choose the correct answer:

1. We are busy now. We … the glassware.

a) sterilized

b) have sterilized

c) shall sterilize

d) were sterilizing

e) are sterilizing

2. The children ... snowballs yesterday.

a) play

b) plays

c) played

d) were playing

e) have played

3. Next Sunday I … a letter to my friend.

a) writes

b) wrote

c) was writing

d) shall write

e) shall be writing

4. People often … cold in winter.

a) had caught

b) have caught

c) is catching

d) catches

e) catch

5. Peter … his exam in Anatomy at this time yesterday.

a) are passing

b) was passing

c) pass

d) will pass

e) has passed

6. My friend … her last week.

a) saw

b) see

c) sees

d) have seen

e) had seen

7. The ambulance … just ... the boy to the hospital.

a) is … taken

b) has … taken

c) will … take

d) was … taking

e) was … took

8. She said that it was … moment of her life.

a) happiest

b) the happier

c) a happiest

d) the happiest

e) the happily

9. …wants to see you:

a) anybody

b) anything

c) somebody

d) something

e) some

10. Put … chocolate in the cake.

a) a little

b) a few

c) few

d) many

e) nothing

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