1. Read the text and complete it with the phrases given below.
а) away from home
b) best known
с) as а lawyer
d) he had made his home
е) followed bу other children's stories
f) who bесаmе very successful
g) and then wrote down
h) to follow in his father's footsteps
R. L. Stevenson
The name of Robert Lewis Stevenson is familiar to everyone who likes literature. Не was а novelist, poet and essayist ___(1)___at a certain stage in his career.
Stevenson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, оn November 13, 1850. The son of а well-to-do engineer, Stevenson was expected___(2)___. Anyhow young Stevenson felt that engineering was not for him. Не bесаmе а law student in Edinburgh university and soon began writing. In 1875 he qualified ___(3)___. At that time he had already bесоmе а popular writer thanks to his essays published in а number of newspapers and magazines.
Stevenson had а bad health problem, tuberculosis, which made him spend а lot of time ___(4)___in countries with а more suitable mate. In France he met Fanny Osbourne, who bесаmе his wife. Fanny had two children from her first marriage. It was Lloyd, son, for whom Stevenson made uр___(5)___ his famous book “Treasure Island”___(6)___. Among his grown-up books the horror story, "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hуdе" is probably___(7)___.
At the end of his short life the writer and his family moved to one of the islands in the South Pacific where he lived for another six years writing and enjoying the most beautiful and exotic land___(8)___.
КЛЮЧ
1f 2h 3c 4a 5g 6e 7b 8d
carpenter-плотник
sleeve-рукав
wears out-износился
wrist-запястье
bend-сгиб
rub-тереться
2. Read the text
One Saturday morning in autumn, I went to see my friend Sherlock Holmes at his rooms in Baker Street. When I came, I saw that he already had a visitor. That was a very fat old man with very bright red hair and a red face.
“This is very good that you have come, my dear Watson”, with these words Holmes turned to his visitor. “Doctor Watson has helped me in many of my cases, Mr Wilson, and I am sure he will be very useful to us in this case too. Watson, this is Mr Jabez Wilson”. The fat gentleman got up from his chair to greet me.
Holmes saw that I was watching the old man and guessed my thoughts.
“You are trying to be a detective, Watson!” he said. Well, Mr. Wilson’s appearance tells us about his past life. It’s clear that he has been writing a lot recently, and that he has been in China”.
Mr. Wilson was very astonished. "How do you know, Mr. Holmes, all these things? I didn’t tell you about them. You are right that I was a carpenter when I was young. But who told you?"
"Your hands prove it, Mr. Wilson,” Holmes answered. "Your right hand is larger than your left one. You have worked with it, and so it is more developed.”
“But how do you know that I have been writing a lot recently?”
“It is very easy. I looked at your sleeves. Your right sleeve nearly wears out at the wrist, and the left sleeve nearly wears out at the bend of the arm. That means that your left arm and your right wrist have been rubbing on a desk. So you have been writing.”
“And how did you guess about China?”
"There is a tattoo of a pink fish on your right wrist. Only in China they do this kind of tattoos: in fact, I have written a book about them. I also can see a Chinese coin on your watch chain. So it is not difficult to guess that you have been in China”.
Mr. Wilson laughed loudly.
“It is really very easy.”
Put the words from the text into their definitions
develops, sleeve, coins, rub, astonished, carpenter, case
1. A … makes and repairs wooden things, especially parts of a building.
2. When something … , it grows over a period of time, so that it becomes stronger and larger.
3. To be … means to be very surprised.
4. A … is an incident that you are explaining.
5. A … is a part of your shirt, blouse or coat that covers your arm.
6. If you … against a table, you move it back and forward while pressing it against the table.
7. … are metal money.
Ключ
1.carpenter
2.develops
3.astonished
4.case
5.sleeve
6.rub
7.coins
2. Read the texts.
A. On or about 22 April 1564, Mary Arden, the wife of John Shakespeare, gave birth to a son in Stratford-upon-Avon. She had lost two baby girls before that. Now, all through the hot summer, she was afraid of losing her third child because there was a plague in Stratford. Her husband was a member of the town council, so they could not leave the town. By the end of the year, 300 of the population of 1,500 were dead, but fortunately for Mary and for us, her baby William did not die. He grew up, and became the greatest writer in the English language.
B. Mary was about twenty-four when he was born. She was the youngest of four daughters of a farmer near Stratford. Soon after her father died, in 1557, she married John Shakespeare, who was about ten years older. As a young man, John had worked on one of the Ardens’ farms, but he had left the village and moved to Stratford. He learnt how to make gloves and other things from leather, and he became a successful businessman. A year before his marriage, he bought two houses that are now known as Shakespeare’s birthplace. The family lived in one and used the other as their shop.
C. Nobody can explain how ordinary parents produce sons like William Shakespeare. He had three younger brothers and a sister, but none of them did anything very important in life. But William became a good businessman, like his father, and his mother was clearly intelligent. Though she was the youngest daughter, her father had made her responsible for his will when he died and had left her the best property.
D. William’s childhood was probably quite happy. His father’s business was doing well and when William was four years old. John Shakespeare became the leader of the town council. The school that William went to was one of the best in England. From the age of nine or ten, all the lessons were in Latin, and the boys stayed until they were fifteen. William’s last years at school were probably not as happy as the early ones. From 1576, when he was twelve, his father stopped going to council meetings. Perhaps he was ashamed to meet his friends; his business was not going so well.
E. It is unlikely that William thought of being an actor or of writing plays at this time. The theatre was not a profession for gentlemen. Actors were either employed by lords and rich men to entertain them and their guests, or they travelled around the country, performing plays if the council allowed it. Most councils refused permission. Actors did not earn their living just by acting either. They were expected to dance and sing, to tell jokes and perform tricks.
F. There was a great tradition of acting in England, but the actors were not professionals. In big cities groups still performed religious plays on Corpus Christi day (a Catholic celebration) every summer. Shakespeare saw them when he was very young because Coventry, near Stratford, was the last city where they were performed. But Protestants did not celebrate Corpus Christi, and the government thought that the plays kept the old religion alive. They did not punish anyone for performing them. They just asked for the play books to check that there was nothing in them against Protestant beliefs.
G. At that time, the professional theatre was only just beginning and there were very few plays for actors to perform. The first real theatre in London opened in 1576. The owner and builder was James Burbage. Years later, his son Richard became Shakespeare’s close friend and played the hero in all of his greatest successes, from young Romeo to old King Lear. In those days, Richard Burbage the actor was as famous as Shakespeare the dramatist. Their theatre the Globe was most popular in London.
Установите соответствие между заголовками 1-8 и текстами A-G. Используйте каждую цифру только один раз. В задании один заголовок лишний.
Family business
Big luck
Early marriage
Education
Friends and colleagues
Clashes with a new religion
Father's darling
Occupation of no dignity
Read the text and complete it with the phrases given below
R. L. Stevenson
1f 2h 3c 4a 5g 6e 7b 8d
2. Read the text
Put the words from the text into their definitions
1. carpenter
2. develops
3. astonished
4. case
5. sleeve
6. rub
7. coins
368
127 875 
