Учебно-методическое пособие по работе с книгой А. Кристи «Избранная детективная проза»

МИНИСТЕРСТВО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ И НАУКИ РФ

ОМСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ

УЧЕБНО-МЕТОДИЧЕСКОЕ ПОСОБИЕ

по работе с книгой А. Кристи "Избранная детективная проза"

(для студентов языковых специальностей, изучающих английский язык)

УДК 81.2 ББК 802.0 У912

Рекомендовано к изданию редакционно-издательским советом ОмГУ

2 июля 2004 г.

Рецензенты:

канд. филол. наук, доу ОмА МВД России В.Г. Болотнюк ст.преподаватель кафедры английского языка ОмГУ А.Г. Мартынова

У912 Учебно-методическое пособие по работе с книгой А. Кристи «Избранная детективная проза» (для студентов языковых специальностей, изучающих английский язык) / Сост. С.В. Котлярова, Н.Ю. Цыганкова – Омск: Изд-во ОмГУ, 2004. – 68 с.

ISBN 5-7779-0498-х

Пособие состоит из пяти частей Warming Up, Agatha Cristie’s Biography and Literary Career, Study Guide, Final Quiz, Supplementary Reading, которые носят законченный характер и могут быть использованы либо в полном объеме, либо отдельно.

Аутентичные материалы пособия снабжены разнообразными упражнениями репродуктивного и продуктивного типа, дотексто- выми и послетекстовыми заданиями творческого характера с вы- ходом в практику перевода с русского языка на английский.

Пособие предназначено для студентов языковых специально- стей, изучающих английский язык.

УДК 81.2 ББК 802.0

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ПРЕДИСЛОВИЕ

Предлагаемое пособие по работе с книгой А. Кристи «Из- бранная детективная проза» предназначено для студентов языковых специальностей, изучающих английский язык, может быть исполь- зовано в рамках аспекта «Домашнее чтение».

Пособие состоит из пяти частей. Цель первой части – подго- товить учащихся к работе с прозаическими произведениями детек- тивного жанра. Вторая часть содержит информацию о жизни и творчестве автора произведений; она завершается проверочным тестом. Третья часть включает сам материал для домашнего чтения и разнообразные упражнения к каждому рассказу. Они призваны обеспечить глубокое понимание текстов и совершенствование ре- чевых навыков говорения. Четвертая часть представляет собой

обобщенный заключительный тест с заданиями на проверку знания текстов и лексического материала. В пятой части дается приложе- ние с дополнительной информацией о творчестве писательницы, что способствует более глубокому постижению смысла произведе- ния.

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I.WARMING-UP

1.What is a Mystery?

Answer the following questions:

∙What do you think a mystery should be?

∙When you think about mysteries, what comes to mind?

∙What is your favorite mystery book, movie, or TV program?

∙What do you find suspenseful?

∙How did the author make you curious?

∙What do you think makes a good mystery?

2.Crime Vocabulary

1)a) Make sure you know the difference between the verbs: steal and rob.

The object of the verb 'steal' is the thing which is taken away, e.g. they stole my bike, whereas the object of the verb 'rob' is the person or place from which things are stolen, e.g. I was robbed last night. A masked man robbed the bank. 'Steal' is irregular: steal, stole, stolen.

b)Put the right form of either 'rob' or 'steal' in the sentences below.

1) Last night an armed gang ___ the post office. They ___ £2000. 2) My handbag ___ at the theatre yesterday.

3) Every year large numbers of banks ___.

4) Jane ___ of the opportunity to stand for president.

2)a) The table below gives the names of some other types of crimes together with their associated verbs and the name of the person who commits the crimes. Complete the table wherever necessary.

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b) Look at all the crimes named in this table. Which do you think are the three most serious and the three least serious?

3)a) Here are some more useful verbs connected with crime and law. Note that many of them have particular prepositions associated with them.

to commit a crime or an offence: to do something illegal

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to accuse someone of a crime: to say someone is guilty

to charge someone with (murder): to bring someone to court

to plead guilty or not guilty: to swear in court that one is guilty or otherwise

to defend / prosecute someone in court: to argue for or against someone in a trial

to pass verdict on an accused person: to decide whether they are guilty or not

to sentence someone to a punishment: what the judge does after a verdict of guilty

to acquit an accused person of a charge: to decide in court that someone is not guilty (the opposite of to convict someone

to fine someone a sum of money: to punish someone by making them pay

to send someone to prison: to punish someone by putting them in prison

to release someone from prison / jail: to set someone free after a prison sentence

to be tried: to have a case judged in court

b) Fill the blanks in the paragraph below with one of the verbs from above.

One of the two accused men ___ (1) at yesterday's trial. Although his lawyer ___ (2) him very well, he was still found guilty by the jury. The judge ___ (3) him to two years in prison. He'll probably

___ (4) after eighteen months. The other accused man was luckier. He ___ (5) and left the courtroom smiling broadly.

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6) Match each punishment with its description:

i)limiting the freedom of movement esp. for political reasons

j)being imprisoned completely alone

7)Detective Fiction Word Search.

E S P I O N A G E G A T S O H F M U R D E R Y D C P G C H S G Z B O S M A C C U R A C Y L S T C E P S U S – A Q I J O U S E L Z Z U P E N D D J M A G L W U T H Z N D E E C N N E S E V E K I I L V T M R O O L P U Y S E L A I E D J I I O A R T F Z E R D C E M T M T I U O H I M C E T A C C E I R C M O R T E N I P R I S O N O A I F M N C V T O F L Q C A T A J V Y E E E S P R O C J L X R B O R D E E P S T P I S N E A K Y T I P – O F F E L O N S N L N

WORDS FOR THE WORD SEARCH: Accuracy Identify Clues Line-Up Corpse Murder Crime Police Criminal Prison Detective Proof Embezzlement Puzzles Espionage Sleuth Evidence Slugs Extortion Sneaky Felons Speed Fiction Suspects Grandlarceny Tip-off Hostage Victim

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8) Follow up:

If possible look at an English language newspaper. List all the words connected with crime and the law which you can find in it. Alternatively: consult the website www.leeds.ac.uk/law/hamlyn.toc.htm and note down at least ten more useful legal words and expressions.

3. Discussion

Work in small groups and discuss these questions:

1)Do you think punishment is an effective deterrent to crime? If yes, which kind of punishment do you think is most effective? If not, how would you prevent crime?

2)Do you think crime is ever justifiable?

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II. AGATHA CHRISTIE'S BIOGRAPHY

AND LITERARY CAREER

Read Agatha Christie’s biography and the text about her literary career and do the quiz.

1. Agatha Christie's Biography

Agatha Christie is the world's best-known mystery writer. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and another billion in over 45 foreign languages. She is outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare.

Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller Christie Mallowan was born on September 15 in 1890 at a house called Ashfield on the outskirts of Torquay, Devon.

She was the youngest of three children: brother Monty and sister Madge. Her father Frederick Alvah Miller was an American and her mother Clara Boehmer was English.

Their income was said to be derived "from a business in New York". It was a business which seemed to flourish without

any personal attention from Frederick. Her father was also a president of the Tourqay Cricket Club.

On October 20 in 1890 she was baptized in the church All Saints Church which is about a twenty minute walk from their house.

She received names Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller – Mary after her grandmother, Clarissa after her mother and Agatha after a suggestion by a friend on a way to church.

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She spent her childhood at Ashfield, an Victorian villa, which she adored and had a very strong influence on her life.

She didn't go to school but was educated at home. She was a bright child, who taught herself to read by the age of five. She liked reading and she also took piano, singing, dancing, tennis lessons.

Then when she was only 11 years old her father died.

At the age of sixteen she was sent to Paris where she studied singing and piano. She considered becoming a professional opera singer but her voice was not strong enough. Also she considered becoming a concert pianist but her music master told her that she was too nervous to contemplate playing in public.

Nevertheless she continued to play privately at Greenway House and elsewhere.

After finishing school, Agatha spent three months in Egypt with her mother. When she returned to England in 1912 she met Colonel Lieutenant Archibald Christie and they married on Christmas Eve in 1914, at the beginning of the war. He went straight off to the war and Agatha worked in the dispensary of a Red cross hospital in Torquay. There she learned about chemicals and poisons, which proved very useful to her in her later career.

After long time Archibald returned home and on August 5 in 1919 their daughter Rosalind was born.

Agatha and Archie went in 1922 on a British Empire Exhibition. They also moved to a house called "Styles" after her first novel.

But the marriage was unhappy. It didn't last because Archie had fallen in love with another woman and so he asked for a divorce in 1926.

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The same year also her mother died. Because of that Agatha went missing for 11 days and was eventually found in a hotel in Harrogate, in the North of England under an alias. She vanished after crashing her Morris motor car. But her disappearance is still a mystery.

In 1928 the divorce was finalized and Archibald Christie then married Nancy Nelle and died in 1962.

She later found happiness with her marriage to Max Mallowan on September 11 in 1930, an archaeologist who she met on her travels in Near East in 1927. She later often assisted her husband on excavations in Syria and Iraq.

She later often told: "An archaeologist is the best husband any woman can have. The older she gets, the more interested he is in her."

The Second World War separated them and Agatha again worked at University College Hospital. During the world Rosalind, who married Huber deBurgh Prichard and had a son Mathew in 1943, widowed. She later married Anthony Hicks.

Agatha Christie also became president of the British Detection Club and in 1971 she was made a Dame of the British Empire. Max also received a knighthood in 1968 which gave them the titles of Sir Max and Lady Mallowan – also Dame Agatha Christie.

She and Max had Greenway House in Devonshire and Winterbrook House near Oxford. Towards the end Max and Agatha lived at Winterbrook House in Wallingford.

She died on 12 January in 1976 and two years later also her second husband Max Mallowan died.

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2. Agatha Christie: the Shape of her Career

Agatha Christie began with a bang, writing one of her best novels, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, during World War I (1914–1918). It took some years to get it published, finally appearing in 1920. Styles introduced her sleuth Hercule Poirot. During 1922–1926, Christie followed it up with a series of much weaker non-detective books, adventure and spy novels. Much of best work during this period was in short stories. She wrote a huge number of Poirot short stories during this era. She created many new detectives, as well as writing some outstanding stories without series heroes, such as those collected much later in The Listerdale Mystery. Also excellent in this period were the Tommy and Tuppence stories contained in Partners in Crime (1924), which were made into a delightful British television series in the 1980's, and the tales featuring Mr. Harley Quin, in The Mysterious Mr. Quin. Several of Christie's works during this period are experimental in that they mix fantasy (Mr. Quin), or satire (Tommy and Tuppence) with detective story elements. Others, such as the tales in The Listerdale Mystery, are more to be classified as "ingenious tales involving mystery and adventure" than as pure detective

stories. The greatest achievement of this period, however, is a pure detective story, the Poirot novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1925). This book, a subtle masterpiece of misdirection, created as much of a public sensation in Christie's day as The Crying Game did in ours. People argued over whether Christie's surprise solution was fair, a debate that continues to this day, but no one doubted her ability to unleash a stunning surprise on her readers.

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Following Ackroyd, Christie embarked on period where she changed her pace (1927–1931). Her spinster sleuth, Miss Jane Marple, was the subject of her finest book, the short story collection The Tuesday Night Club Murders (1927–1932), as well as the novel Murder at the Vicarage (1930). Readers looking to get acquainted with Agatha Christie for the first time would be well advised to start here, with The Tuesday Night Club Murders. The high quality of the stories, combined with their great variety of approach, make it the perfect introduction to Christie's world. Christie also brought Hercule Poirot to the stage, in the play Black Coffee.

During 1934–1941, Christie's writing changed direction again. She stopped creating so many sleuths, stuck closely to the detective story proper, and concentrated on detective novels and short stories featuring Hercule Poirot. These works are the "meat and potatoes" of her career. They maintain a uniform standard of excellence, and are what many people fondly think of as a "typical Agatha Christie" novel. Cleverly plotted, with ingenious solutions that surprise even the astutest readers, the novels also feature fascinating detective work. Especially outstanding among the many Poirot novels are The ABC Murders

(1936), Murder for Christmas (1938), and An Overdose of Death (1940). But most of the 14 Poirot books of this period have virtues. Murder in Mesopotamia (1936) and Sad Cypress (1940) have ingenious solutions. Even a relatively "minor" novel like Death in the Clouds (1935) is just plain fun to read. While "minor" in the body of Christie's work, it would be considered "major" in the bibliography of most lesser mystery authors.

Christie also created some important non-series works during this period. And Then There Were None and Easy to Kill (both 1939) are the best; the former is a virtuoso summing up of Christie's mystery technique, a "fantasia on detective themes", to modify a phrase of Arnold Bennett's, and is one of Christie's best books.

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Sometime during the early days of World War II (1939–1945), Agatha Christie wrote Curtain, intended as a farewell appearance for Hercule Poirot. It returns Poirot to Styles, scene of his first case, The Mysterious Affair at Styles. The two books together constitute one of Christie's high points. As per her instructions, it was not published till the 1970's.

Christie changed direction again at this point. She wrote fewer Poirot books. Christie brought back Miss Marple for a long series of novels, of which the best are the first, The Body in the Library (1942), and A Murder is Announced (1950). Christie also created an unusual mystery set in Ancient Egypt, Death Comes as the End (1944). While just so-so as a mystery plot, it is interesting as a look at daily life in the distant past.

After World War II ended in 1945, Christie's work generally suffered a decline in quality. The plots generally became much simpler, and the storytelling and characterization much less interesting. Her best post war book was the spy novel They Came To Baghdad (1951). Like many of her novels, it is set in the contemporary Middle East, where Agatha Christie lived.

Fewer of Christie's post war books feature Hercule Poirot. Perhaps significantly, she only brought Poirot back for books that showed the complex plotting of her prewar works. Some of these are outstanding, especially Dead Man's Folly (1956), The Clocks (1963), and Elephants Can Remember (1972). Dead Man's Folly seems linked thematically to an earlier Poirot novel, Evil Under The Sun (1941). The two novels somehow seem to form a pair of works in which Agatha Christie developed similar material, using similar techniques of the mystery story, and yet came up with books that are interestingly different. They remind one of Leonardo da Vinci's two versions of the painting, The Madonna on the Rocks.

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Agatha Christie wrote sixty-six Mystery novels, one hundred fifty eigth short stories, six Romance novels using the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, one book of children's literature, one two-volume book of poems, and two non-fiction titles writing as Agatha Christie Mallowan. She also wrote over a dozen plays including The Mousetrap, which opened in London on November 25, 1952, and is now the longest continuously running play in theatrical history.

She is best known for her detective stories, largely centred around two detectives; the elderly Miss Marple and the pompous Poirot. Apart from her plots, today it is the period detail of her books that fascinates; the English village, the spa hotel, the country house and the cruise-ship. She chronicles a vanished pre-WW2 upper middle class Britain which enhances the staginess of her characters and plots.

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3. Agatha Christie Quiz

Test your Agatha Christie knowledge by taking this quiz!

1.What's Agatha's full name like?

a)Agatha Maria Clara

b)Agatha Mary Clarissa

c)Agatha Victoria Clarissa

2.What year was Agatha born?

a)1890

b)1889

c)1891

3.How is the house in which Agatha spent her childhood called?

a)Styles

b)Ashfield

c)Greenway House

4.What are her parents' names?

a)Frederick & Clara

b)Monty & Madge

c)William & Victoria

5.What's the title of Agatha's first published novel?

a)Sad Cypress

b)The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

c)The Mysterious Affair at Styles

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6.How many novels did Agatha write under the name Mary Westmacott?

a)5

b)4

c)6

7.What's the name of Agatha's first husband?

a)Max

b)Archibald

c)James

8.In which novel did Agatha first introduce Hercule Poirot?

a)The Mysterious Affair at Styles

b)The Murder at the Vicarage

c)The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

9.What book was intended as a farewell appearance for Hercule Poirot?

a)The Mysterious Affair at Styles

b)The Body in the Library

c)Curtain

10.In which novel did Agatha first introduce Miss Marple?

a)The Murder at the Vicarage

b)Sleeping Murder

c)The Body in the Library

11.What is one of the best novels featuring Miss Marple?

a)A Murder is Announced

b)Death Comes as the End

c)The Clocks

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12.The tales featuring Mr. Harley Quin

a)mix satire with detective story elements.

b)mix fantasy with detective story elements.

c)mix humour with detective story elements.

13.Which Agatha's book created a public sensation?

a)The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

b)The Crying Game

c)The Mousetrap

14.Which books are considered to be "typical Agatha Christie" novel?

a)Books featuring Miss Marple

b)Books featuring Hercule Poirot

c)Books featuring Mr. Harley Quin

15.Which of Agatha's plays is also the longest running show in the world?

a)Black Coffee

b)Spider's Web

c)The Mousetrap

16.How old was Agatha when she died?

a)85

b)80

c)82

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III. SELECTED SHORT STORIES.

STUDY GUIDE

1. The Case of the Discontented Husband

Pre-reading tasks

1.Read the title of the story. Why do you think the husband was discontented? Is it going to be a criminal story? What kind of crime is going to take place?

2.Make sure you know how to pronounce these words:

discontented, Reginald, sympathetic, descended, inarticulate, pathos, adore, disastrously, fascinating, relinquishing, temperamentally, unsuited, vague, exquisitely, Madeleine, conscious, élan, hysterics.

Comprehension

Answer the following questions:

1)What was Mr. Parker Pyne's new client like?

2)What kind of problem did Mr. Wade have?

3)How did he explain his wife's desire to divorce?

4)What did Mr. Parker Pyne suggest his client should do?

5)How did Madeleine de Sara appear at the Wades'? How did Mrs. Wade and Mrs. Massington judge her?

6)Why did Madeleine say that Mrs. Wade must be proud of her husband?

7)Did Madeleine prefer male or female company? Why?

8)What happened in the rose garden?

9)Why did Mrs. Wade talk of packing up and leaving? Why did she change her mind?

10)What kind of a tremendous scene did Madeleine speak about?

11)What did Mrs. Wade accuse Madeleine of?

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