4.Read the text. Five sentences are missing. Match each sentence (A-F) to the gaps (1-5). There is one extra sentence.
A But she had no regrets or thoughts of giving up the suffragette movement.
В During this time, Alice was arrested a total of five times because of her activism.
С But the cause of women like Alice had not been in vain.
D Alice soon discovered that the working conditions and wages women received were inferior to those of their male colleagues.
E But this dedicated woman never neglected her local community.
F Police on horseback charged the women.
At the end of the 19th century, the Suffragettes were fighting to change the law and give women the right to vote in the UK. Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters Cristobel and Sylvia led the movement. Their middle-class position in society helped them make their voices and views heard. However, other women from less fortunate backgrounds also played a vital role in the fight: women like Alice Hawkins ...
Born in 1863 to working class parents, Alice left school at 13 to work as a machinist in a shoe factory in the city of Leicester, England. 1__ While still a young woman, Alice took her first steps as an activist by joining the trade union movement for fairer conditions in the workplace.
Over the years, Alice became disappointed with the union. She felt that it neglected women’s rights and was much more focused on male workers, who were still regarded as the ‘breadwinners’ in society. So, in 1907, Alice travelled to London to attend her first meeting of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). On that same day, the group marched to the House of Commons to demand voting rights. 2__ They arrested Alice and imprisoned her for the first time.
That first prison experience had a big impact on Alice. 3__ In fact, she felt inspired to fight even harder for the cause by setting up a new branch of the WSPU in Leicester. She worked tirelessly with local shoe trade workers and would spend her Sundays cycling out to towns and villages to campaign for support. 4__
Alice fought on. The highpoint of her campaigning years came in June 1908 when she spoke at a huge rally in Hyde Park, London. The day became known as ‘Women’s Sunday’ and over 250,000 supporters attended. The event made national news and Alice was singled out by The Times newspaper as one of the most notable speakers that day.
The days of the British suffragette movement came to an abrupt halt when the nation turned its attention to the Great War of 1914. 5__ In 1920, British women were given their right to vote. Alice continued working with the local trade union up until her death in 1946 at the age of 83. Even today the memory of brave ‘Alice the Suffragette’ lives on.
5. Choose the correct response.
1. A: Where did you witness the incident?
B: a It was 8 pm last night. b On Joyce Street.
2. A: What did you see?
B: a He was wearing a red cap.
b A man running out of the house.
3. A: Can you describe a man? B: a He was tall and slim.
b I shouted at him to stop.
4. A: Can I take your address and telephone number? B: a I appreciate your help.
b Of course.
5. A: Is there anything else you can tell me?
Agatha Christie was born in Devon, England in 1890 as the daughter of a British army captain. During the First World War she worked in a hospital as a nurse. Later on she got a job in a pharmacy. This influenced many of her crime stories because some of her victims were poisoned.
Agatha Christie was married twice and especially her second husband travelled a lot with her. Some of her novels, like "Death on the Nile" were set in the Middle East. "Murder on the Orient Express" was written in Istanbul.
At the beginning of the 1970s Agatha Christie became ill, but she went on writing. When she died in 1976 she had written over 60 novels, 150 short stories and 16 plays. Her stage play "The Mousetrap" is the longest running play in history. It was first performed in 1952 and after a record 23,000 performances it is still running today.
Many of Christie's books and short stories have been turned into successful movies.
In her works Agatha Christie created two great characters. Hercule Poirot is a Belgian detective who appeared in 33 of Agatha Christie’s novels. He his best known for his moustache. Poirot thinks logically and likes order. He examines the crime scene in detail and claims that every crime can be solved.
As time went on Agatha Christie became tired of her Belgian detective and wanted to get rid of him. But he was very popular among her readers. When he died in "Curtain" in 1978 he became the only fictional character to get an obituary in the New York Times.
Agatha Christie's other well-known character was Miss Marple, an old woman who wants to be an amateur detective. She likes knitting, walking around the neighbourhood and she observes things very carefully. She became famous for solving cases where the police failed. In contrast to Hercule Poirot, Christie was very fond of Miss Marple.
Plots
Almost all of Agatha Christie's novels are whodunits. They focus on English people of the middle and upper classes.
Usually the detective comes across a murder scene by chance or is called by a friend who may be involved. He or she questions the suspects, examines the crime scene carefully and gives the reader clues so that they may have a chance to solve the crime themselves. In the course of the story one, or even a few, of the suspects usually die.
Finally the detective gets all the suspects together and gives away information that not everyone knows, until the real murderer is revealed.
In some of Agatha Christie's stories the murderer escapes justice; sometimes they get killed. Twice the murderer turns out to be the narrator of the story.
1. How many departments are there at our college?
2. How many reading-rooms are there in our school?
3. How many new words are there in this exercise?
4. How many English books will be there in our library?
5. How many old houses were there in our street last year?
6. How many exams were there last term?
7. How many dictionaries are there on the tables?
8. How many labs for foreign language students are there in our University?
9. How many terms (semesters) are there each year?
10. How many students' meetings will be there next week?