Приключения Шерлока Холмса / The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (сборник)

2. Think and say if these statements are right or wrong. Correct the wrong ones, give your reasons.

1. Vincent Spaulding agreed to work for Mr. Wilson for half the wages to learn the business.

2. An American millionaire Ezekiah Hopkins left his enormous fortune to help and propagate red-headed men in London.

3. Mr. Wilson was sure that the whole affair of the Red-Headed League was a fraud and wanted Sherlock Holmes to explain to him what it was all about.

3. Find the following phrases in the text and reproduce situations from the text with them. Give Russian equivalents.

1. as far as (I have heard / I know)

2. used to do smth / didn’t use to do smth

3. to be going on

4. it’s no use (smb’s) doing smth

5. to find oneself in some place

6. to shout at the top of one’s voice

7. to see to smth / to see to it that

8. to turn up

4. Paraphrase the underlined parts of the sentences so as to use the phrases above.

1. As the teacher came into the classroom where all the children were fighting she asked: “What is happening here?”

2. Eliza’s neighbour promised her to take care of her cat while she was away.

3. If such a job comes your way, don’t hesitate to take it.

4. In the past there were high trees opposite my house but there aren’t any left.

5. It’s useless arguing with her. She just won’t listen.

6. I suddenly realized that I had arrived back at the hotel without knowing how I came there.

7. It was so noisy in the night club that we had to shout as loudly as we could to be heard.

5. Complete the sentences with the phrases above in the correct form (one gap for a phrase).

1. When the boys disappeared Aunt Polly was very anxious and made a lot of people look for them. But then the wise heads decided that the boys had gone off on the raft and would soon… at the next town down the river.

2. There’s something that makes her anxious and unhappy. I wonder what it is. – How do you know? – She often sits in front of the fire thinking of something and paying no attention to what… around her.

3… I know, he… be a good sportsman in his younger days, but I’m not sure if he plays any sports now.

4. I’m surprised to see you smoking, you didn’t… smoke.

5… complaining, they won’t do anything about it.

6. After the accident Ben… in hospital.

7. I looked out of the window to see two small boys… I thought they were quarrelling but they were just playing.

II

“Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in low spirits again; for now I was sure that the whole affair must be some great fraud. It seemed very strange that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the Encyclopaedia Britannica. However, in the morning I decided to have a look at it after all, so I bought a bottle of ink, and with a pen and seven sheets of paper, I started off for Fleet Street.

“Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was all right. The table was ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross was there to see that I started work. He told me to start with the letter A, and then he left me; but he came from time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o’clock he said good-bye to me, and locked the door of the office after me.

“This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the manager came in and paid four golden sovereigns for my week’s work. It was the same next week, and the same the week after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I left at two. Usually Mr. Duncan Ross came in the morning, but after a time, he stopped coming in at all. Still, of course, I never left the room for a moment, for I was not sure when he might come, and the position was so good, and suited me so well, that I did not want to risk losing it.

“Eight weeks passed like this, and I had written almost all the letter A, and hoped that I soon might get on to the B.

“This morning I went to my work as usual at ten o’clock, but the door was locked, with a little note on it. Here it is, and you can read for yourself.”

He showed us a piece of paper. It read:

THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE IS DISSOLVED.

October 9, 1890.

Sherlock Holmes and I read this short note and looked at the sad face behind it, and the comical side of the affair was so obvious that we both burst out laughing.

“I cannot see that there is anything very funny,” cried our client. “If you can do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go to another detective.”