7. The Man They Couldn't Hang

TASK 1. Complete the text with the English equivalents of the following Russian words.

- просто;

- осужденный, приговоренный;

- пережил;

- попытки;

- приговор,приговаривать;

- заменялся;

- пожизненное заключение;

- признан виновным;

- казнить;

- виселица;

- открываться;

- хотя;

- тюрьма;

- освобожденный;

- причина.

It is no Ц) legend that if а Ш man 0} three £4} to hang him, his (5) was automatically £6) to Q. In 1885 John Lee, a 19-year-old footman was (8) of murdering his employer. (2) to death, Lee then (3J three (4) by a hangman John Perry, to (9J him at Exeter Gaol in Devon, England.

The wooden {Щ had warped in the rain, and three times the trapdoor refused to Щ) when Lee was placed on it - Щ) it worked perfectly when he was moved down to the ground. So Lee was (5J to (7) and spent 22 years in U2J. Ш) m 1907, he emigrated to the United States, married there, and died of natural (15) in 1933 at the age of 67.

8. Napoleon's Law

TASK 1. Complete the following text with the words from the box.

188

force; ordinary; civil; affected; adopted;

legal; dominated; studied; equals; drafted; emperor.

The laws of much of continental Europe (particularly France), of Quebec in Canada, and of much of Latin America - along with the (a) laws of Louisiana - owe their modern form largely to the work of a man who never even (b) law. Napoleon Bonaparte, the Corsican soldier who became (c) of France after the French Revolution, established in 1800 five commissions to refine and organise the disparate (d) systems of France. The result, enacted in 1804, was the Napoleon's Code.

Some of its original 2,281 articles were (e) by Napoleon himself, and all were (f) by his thinking, even though he was completely self-taught in legal matters. The code was a triumphant attempt to create a legal system that treated all citizens as (g) without regard to their rank or previous privileges. It was also so clearly written that it could be read and understood by (h) people at a time when only Latin scholars could make sense of the earlier laws handed down since Roman times. The code was (i) intact in most of the areas of Europe that Napoleon 0} and spread from there across the Atlantic, taking root particularly in French-speaking American communities. Many of its principles are still in (k) today.

TASK 2. Choose one of the topics and prepare a talk.

1. The main points of Napoleon's biography.

2. The great victories of Napoleon Bonaparte.

3. One hundred days of Napoleon Bonaparte.

4. Great emperor and romantic lover.

5. The legal system of France at the time of Napoleon.

6. The leaders of the French Revolution.

7. World literature about the French Revolution.

8."... prince and butcher"- Nostradamus's prophetic verse about Napoleon.