EnglishClub

Pre-listening vocabulary

• mystery: a book genre about solving crimes
• detective: a person who investigates crimes
• pseudonym: a fake name
• press: the newspapers
• temporary: lasting for only a short time
• amnesia: a condition that causes a person to forget details of their life

Listening activity

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Gapfill exercise

Agatha Christie was a famous mystery . She was born in Torquay, England in 1890. Throughout her life, Christie published 66 novels, as well as some short stories. Many of them followed Hercule Poirot, Christie’s most famous detective . Christie’s life became especially interesting to the public when she mysteriously in 1926. She was found at a spa 11 days later, where she was staying under a pseudonym. Christie’s later told the press that she’d had temporary amnesia. However, many people believed that there was more to the story. After Christie returned home, she rarely spoke about her disappearance, but she continued to write mystery novels up until her death in 1976. Her stories have since sold over 100 copies.

Comprehension questions

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Discussion/essay questions

1. Do you like to read mystery novels? Why or why not?

Transcript

Agatha Christie was a famous mystery writer. She was born in Torquay, England in 1890. Throughout her life, Christie published 66 novels, as well as some short stories. Many of them followed Hercule Poirot, Christie’s most famous detective character. Christie’s life became especially interesting to the public when she mysteriously disappeared in 1926. She was found at a spa 11 days later, where she was staying under a pseudonym. Christie’s husband later told the press that she’d had temporary amnesia. However, many people believed that there was more to the story. After Christie returned home, she rarely spoke about her disappearance, but she continued to write mystery novels up until her death in 1976. Her stories have since sold over 100 million copies.