The Colonel's lady

Unit 4

CREATIVE ASSIGNMENTS

POINTS TO PONDER

READING COMPREHENSION

Task 10. Are the following statements false or true? Correct the false ones.

1. He wished Evans would not be so positive and so jubilant.

2. "Acting on information received -" became his motto lately,

3. Mrs Merrowdene at one time of her life was unfortunate enough to be tried.

4. Anthony was never in the habit of taking arsenic.

5. The advice not to butt into other people’s affairs was quite palatable to ex-Inspector.

6. Merrowdene did not volunteer the information that he had just insured his life for his wife's benefit,

7. He did not pay very much heed to the fortune-teller’s singsong, droning voice till the end of a sentence held his attention.

8. The ex-Inspector depended on his fiend Haydock for help.

9. Mrs. Merrowdene was rather a fine-looking woman and had beautiful green eyes.

10. Mrs. Merrowdene explained that their maid had been out at the Fete.

11. Mary’s business to remove things from the laboratory.

12. At the last moment Mrs. Merrowdene with a shudder quickly poured the tea into a pot containing a fern.

Task 11. Who and under what circumstances said the following?

1. “Anthony turned out to be and arsenic eater, so they acquitted her”.

2. “And he will certainly not know it from me”.

3. Give a murderer time and lack of suspicion and he’ll commit another murder.

4. “I made some rather unwise investments. As a result my income has diminished”.

5. “You must be very, very careful”.

6. “I thought it was you, Mrs. Anthony – I mean Mrs Merrowdene”.

7. “Won’t you come back and have a quiet cup of tea”.

8. “George – it’s too bad of you. You’ve been taking these bowls again”.

9. “I’m sorry, dear. They’re such a convenient size. The ones I ordered haven’t come”.

10. “I know what you mean”.

11. “To your long life and that of your husband!”

12. “You made a mistake, Mr Evans. You thought I wanted to kill George. How stupid of you – how very stupid”.

1. Is it good to butt into other people’s affairs?

2. Can a murderer be content with one crime?

3. Criminal and victim. Can you tell by their appearance who is who? Use the characters of the story you’ve just read as examples.

4. Is Mrs. Merrowdene a criminal or a victim? Give your reasons.

5. What would have happened if Inspector Evans turned to the police instead of investigating the case himself?

Task 12. Write a 5-sentence short summary of the story.

Task 13. Choose one of the following for home-assignment.

a. Make a “WANTED poster on the criminal of the story.

b. Write a letter to one of the characters.

c. Write a poem about the story.

d. Have an interview with Captain Haydock. Record it.

by WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM

William Somerset Maugham was born in 1874. He originally qualified as a surgeon but soon became a full-time writer of plays, short stories, and novels. In both world wars he served as a British Intelligence agent, and travelled widely in the South Seas and the Far East, incorporating many of his experiences into his stories. He was a master storyteller and is still one of the most popular English authors of the twentieth century. Among his most famous novels are Of Human Bondage, The Moon and Sixpence, Cakes and Ale, and The Razor's Edge. He died in 1965.

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