I. What book does the extract come from? Comment on the language.

II.How did the man happen to find himself in the gloomy passages alone and half-dressed?

III. Write a simplified version of the passage using your active whenever possible.

IX

Reflecting that prevention is better than cure, Peggy Dixon, a pretty, dark-haired girl of twenty-four decided to have her small, second-hand car overhauled before she went on holiday. She wanted to reduce the risk of mechanical trouble. This was very sensible of her.

Less sensible was her decision, on the morning that she set off for the coast, to take a short cut, ignoring the fact that the beaten road is the safest. For unexpectedly, in a quiet country lane, the engine began to splutter and the car slowed to a half. As a policewoman, Peggy knew quite a lot about cars, and now she carried out various fault-finding tests.

While she was working under the bonnet, another car drew up behind hers. A good-looking, well-dressed young man got out and said confidently: "In trouble? Perhaps I can help?"

Because she was feeling cross with herself, Peggy replied rather testily: "I think it's only a minor electrical fault that I can easily trace, thank you."

"Easier said than done! Mind if I try the starter? I'm always glad to offer to help a lame dog over a stile."

302

Peggy didn't like being referred to as a lame dog.

"Thanks, but I'm not in any great difficulty," she said with a hint of defiance.

"Oh yes, you are!" cried the young man, who was already in the driving seat and had switched on the ignition. "There's not a drop of petrol .in your tank."

Peggy bit her lips with vexation. She'd gone to all the trouble of having her car overhauled, but had quite forgotten to. have the tank filled up with petrol.

And she and the stranger were miles from anywhere. Good-looking he might be, and well-dressed, but how far could he be trusted? Beauty - or being handsome - was, she knew, skin deep and clothes did not make the man.

The stranger put his hands in his trouser pockets and began to whistle. Peggy wished he wouldn't be so cheerful. His manner irritated her.

"Unfortunately," he said presently, "I haven't got a spare can of petrol, but; Г have got a bottle of lemonade."

"They say one is never too old to learn," retorted Peggy sarcastically. "I'll be interested to know how the engine of a car can be mads to run on lemonade."

"It can't. But there are tricks in every trade ..."

Peggy watched him walk over to his own car, take out a lemonade bottle, empty its contents on the roadside, and then produce a length of transparent plastic tubing.

"What I'm going to do now," he said, "is a well-known practice among thieves. I'll siphon some petrol from the tank of my car into the lemonade bottle. Four bottles full should be enough to get you to the nearest garage."

It wasn't until John Smith was filling the bottle with petrol for the fourth time that she noticed the number plate on his car. Seeing it made her catch her breath. She opened the door of her own car and searched in her handbag for the notebook. Four pages were filled with the numbers of cars stolen within a radius of 50 miles of the police station where she worked. "ZXV 1001," she read to herself. John Smith was driving a stolen car.

(From "Modern English", 1973)

EXERCISES