Name: / 20

THE SKELETON IN THE CUPBOARD by T. WILMOT

Read Part 1 from line 1 to line 32 and answer the questions to help you understand the situation better.

A. The main information you learn in the passage:

1. The narrator and the girl 2. The girl
a. are having an affair. a. owns an MG car.
b. meet for lunch in the park. b. is looking for the owner of an MG car.
c. discuss car registrations. c. wants to buy an MG car.

3. This a. worries the narrator.

b. surprises the narrator.
c. amuses the narrator.

B. A few facts: what do you learn about the man and the girl in this passage?

The man The girl

Name

Age

Profession

C. Using the context and word formation, translate the following words.
1. a fillip l.15: _______________________________________________
2. keep records l.24: _____________________________________________
3. a twinge of unease l.26: ________________________________________
4. enquirer l.31: _______________________________

Read Part 2 down to line 84 and answer the questions to help you understand the situation better.

A. What do you learn about the girl?

1. Where does she live? __________________________________________________________________
2. What is she doing now? ________________________________________________________________
3. What does she know about the person she is looking for? _____________________________________
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B. The man’s reaction to what she says: list all the expressions showing his growing worry.
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C. Now, anticipate: How can you explain the man’s reaction? Imagine what could have happened earlier in his life.
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D. The vocabulary of detection

1. Find the words which, in the text, correspond to the following meanings. (this is the order in which they appear.)
a. trying to find someone: ___________________________________________
b. police research: ____________________________________
c. information you gather to find someone: ____________________________
d. to discover something: ____________________________
e. signs, elements that help you solve a problem: _____________________________

2. Using the context and word formation, translate the following words or expressions:
a. stride l.33: ___________________________
b. overcast l.36: _________________________
c. pal of mine l.43: ______________________________
d. prying into l.59: ____________________________________
e. deprecating l.73: _________________________
f. dishy l.78: _____________________________________

Read Part 3 down to line 202 and answer the questions to help you understand the situation better.

A. 1. The events of twenty years ago:

What?
Where?
When?
Why?

2. The man’s reaction then?

What ?

Why?

B. 1.The girl’s investigations: what new information has she learnt?

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2. What information do you think she gets from the Evening Gazette?
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C. What is the role of the man from the parks department in the story? Is the reader really interested in him?
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D. 1. What is the main character’s first name? _____________________________________

2. a. Pick out details that reveal his feelings. (at least 2 elements)
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b. Sum up in one sentence how he feels: ___________________________________________________________

Read Part 4 down to line 232 and answer the questions to help you understand the situation better.

A. How does the man come to understand what the girl has now found out?
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B. Why does he first feel relieved, then more worried than ever?
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C. Concentrate on the last four lines of the passage. Imagine what is going on in the man’s mind?
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Read Part 5 down to line 261 and answer the questions to help you understand the situation better.

A. Sum up what happens.

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B. Why do you think he gives the girl his own name?

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Read Part 6 down to the end and answer the questions to help you understand the situation better.

A. Who is the main character in this passage? Connection with the man?
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B. Read the extracts from the letter and guess what Margaret’s “skeleton in the cupboard” is. (Who is the letter
from? What does it say?)
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C. Interpret the final twist. Explain the misunderstanding.

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