vocabulary about ways of looking

  9  Mystery and imagination

Reading and Use of English

part 5

Multiple choice

1  Do you enjoy reading novels or watching films of mystery and suspense? Why do you think they are so popular?

2  You are going to read an extract from a mystery novel. The scene takes place on 'The Island', not a real island, but a green and rocky headland in St Ives in the south-west of England. Read the extract quite quickly and answer the following questions:

What would you have done if you had been in this situation? Why?

                                                        An unusual find

At  the  end  of  Porthmeor  Beach, Laura climbed the stone steps to the Island and took the path that curved around the edge of it. There were benches dotted along it, and a red plastic box containing a life- rope. Laura had her doubts that the rope would be effective in an emergency. The current that surged up to the black rocks was so brutal that anyone unlucky enough to fall in would be swept out to sea before they had time to draw breath. Laura felt the magnetic pull of the ocean beneath the black cliffs, and goose bumps rose on her arms.

On the north side of the Island, the headland screened out both the town and the beaches. Laura would stop there sometimes and gaze out to sea. If no one was around, she liked to pretend she was alone on a desert island. Today, however, the path had an ee; ie feel. In the short time since Laura had left the house a sea mist had rolled in, obscuring everything except the grey silhouette of the hill topped by St Nicholas's chapel with its twin crosses. The tide was in and violent waves splattered the path. More than once, Laura had to leap to avoid a drenching.

She might have stepped on the bottle if she had not been skirting a puddle. It was an ordinary glass bottle - the kind used for concentrated juice syrups, but the label had been removed and it had been scrubbed clean. It was lying in the centre of the path, almost as if it had been deliberately placed there. Even before she lifted it, Laura could see there was a note in it.

She almost didn't pick it up. The idea of finding a message in a bottle seemed ridiculous, like a joke or something. But curiosity got the better of her. Before she picked it up, she took a good look round in case the person who'd left it there was hanging around to have a laugh. But she was alone.

She bent down and studied the rolled piece of paper through the glass. There was something written on it. Before she removed the lid, she glanced up at the chapel. There was a sudden flash of white, although whether it was someone's shirt or the wing of a gull Laura couldn't tell. For two full minutes she stared upwards, but saw nothing else.

What sort of people put messages in bottles? Pranksters and marooned ancient mariners were the only two categories Laura could think of. Since the bottle was shiny and new and had obviously never been in the sea, old sea dogs could be ruled out. That left a joker with too much time on his or her hands.

The lid twisted off easily. Retrieving the note was trickier. Laura managed it with the aid of a stick. She unrolled the paper, a cream-coloured parchment. There was something old-fashioned about the handwriting, as if the writer had a calligrapher's skills and had used the quill of a feather and a pot of indigo ink. In long, artistic letters were the words: Can I trust you?

Laura looked around again. The path was unusually quiet for this time of the morning. Most days it was teeming with dog walkers. She put down the note while she zipped up her coat and pulled her scarf tighter. The mist had whited out the coastline. Clouds of it rolled across the sea, muffling the sound of the waves.

If she had any sense, she'd toss the bottle into the nearest litter bin, hurry along and forget she ever saw it. But what if? That's what the voice in her head was saying. What if the writer was someone in real danger? What if she was their only lifeline and she ignored them and walked away?

Laura opened her bag and took out a pen. Beneath 70 the question, 'Can I trust you?', she wrote in bright red capitals: YES.

 3   For questions 1-6, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the text.

Reacting to the text

What would you have done if you had found the bottle?

Have you ever found anything unusual, interesting or valuable? What did you do with it?

Vocabulary 1: Ways of looking

1 a  Match the words in hold in sentences 1-3 from the reading with their meanings

 a   c.

1 Laura would stop there sometimes and gaze out to sea.

2 Before she removed the lid, she glanced up at the chapel.

3 For two full minutes she stared upwards, but saw nothing else.

a  have a quick, short look at something

b look somewhere for a long time, especially with interest or admiration

c look directly at something for a long time, e.g. when you are thinking

b Work out the approximate meaning of the words in bold in sentences 1-3.

1 James peered through the keyhole and thought he could see something - or someone - lying on the floor.

2 If you stand on a box, you might glimpse the President as he drives past.

3 He didn't say anything when I turned up late, but he clearly wasn't pleased: he just stood there glaring at me.