[00:05.20]Lesson 81 1 Reading comprehension
[00:11.55]Read the text fast to find answers to these quesrions.
[00:17.29]1 Who is going to get the money?
[00:21.66]2 Who visited the detective and why?
[00:27.12]A PROBLEM FOR THE DETECTIVE(1)
[00:31.56]J.J.Coal stopped his work on a report,
[00:36.60]put down his cigar and went to the door to greet his new customer.
[00:42.45]A handsome young man of about thirty stepped into the Washington office
[00:48.69] of the famous detective."Good morning,Mr Coal.
[00:54.15]I hear that you are one of the best detectives in the capital.
[00:59.01]Well,I have a problem.""So how can I help you?"asked the detective.
[01:06.27]"My name's Tom Goode,by the way.
[01:10.03]My aunt,Mrs Flower,died three weeks ago.
[01:15.68]Her husband had built up a large business during his lifetime,
[01:21.14]and when he died ten years ago in 1989 he left all his money to his wife."
[01:28.89]"So your aunt was a wealthy woman?""That's right.
[01:34.35]And she's left about $4 million in her will
[01:40.13]to her husband's daughter by his first marriage.
[01:44.88]The young woman's name is Clre Flower.She was born in 1966.
[01:52.82]She left home when she was eighteen
[01:56.77]and has lived in Los Angeles for the past fifteen years.
[02:02.04]She didn't visit her step-mother much,
[02:05.99]though I believe that they used to speak on the phone from time to time.
[02:11.63]None of the family apart from her father and my aunt have seen her since.
[02:17.69]"When my aunt was buried,Clare turned up at the service,
[02:23.05]and afterwards stayed for tea while the family's lawyer
[02:28.61]explained how my aunt's money was to be divided up.
[02:33.57]In fact it all goes to Clare.I was speaking to her about my aunt,
[02:40.65]and mentioned that my aunt had been very sad ever since Klegg did,and said to her,
[02:48.20]'Of course,you know how important Klegg was to her.'
[02:52.96]And Clare said,'Did they use to go out a lot together,
[02:59.30]your know,for meals and to concerts and the cinema?'
[03:04.63]I managed to hide my surprise when I answered,
[03:07.72]because Klegg,you see,was my aunt's pet dog.
[03:13.18]The point is,Clare didn't even seem to know about my aunt's dog Klegg.
[03:21.82]And I know that they wrote to each other and spoke on the phone,
[03:26.68]even if they didn't often see each other."
[03:30.76]"So what do you bwant me to do?"asked the detective.
[03:35.80]"I want you to check out this Clare Flower
[03:40.37]and see that she has the right to get my aun't money,
[03:45.23]because something somewhere smells funny."
[03:50.50]Coal nodded."OK.I can do that.First,I'll need some information about Clare.
[03:59.33]For a start,how old was she when her father married again?"
[04:04.69]"He married my aunt in 1971,so Clare would have been five years old."
[04:12.55]"I see.Maybe there are some things among your aunt's papers,
[04:18.61]like Clare's school reports,old photographs,and so on.
[04:24.78]Can you go through them and give me whatever you find?
[04:29.35]I'll also need a list of all your and her relations'addresses and telephone numbers
[04:36.40]I also need your permission to speak to the family lawyer about this matter."
[04:42.57]Lesson 82 1 Reading comprehension
[04:54.32]Read the text fast to find answers to these questions.
[04:59.89]1 What happens to"Clare,"and why?
[05:05.16]2 Who gets the money in the end?
[05:09.84]A PROBLEM FOR THE DETECTIVE(2)
[05:14.28]Seven weeks later,there was a meeting at the lawyer's office.
[05:19.74]Present at the meeting were Clare Flower,Tom Goode,the lawyer and the detective,
[05:27.50]who was introduced to everyone as the lawyer's assistant.
[05:32.36]There was another unknown man.
[05:36.30]When everyone had taken his/her place,the lawyer spoke as follows.
[05:42.65]"Mrs Flower's house has now been sold.
[05:48.21]It only remains for me to pass all the money that she had to the right person.
[05:54.69]Will Clare Flower please step forward?"
[05:58.84]The young woman stood up and stepped forward.
[06:03.10]"Your name is Clare Flower?""It is."
[06:08.67]"Mrs Flower directed that all the money that belonged to her should come to you.
[06:15.61]Here is a cheque for $4,725,466.
[06:24.89]Please sign here to show that you have received the money."
[06:29.85]Clare took the pen and added her signature,saying"Good.That is all correct."
[06:37.22]"No,it isn't,"said the detective suddenly.He turned to the young lady.
[06:44.30]"You have signed your name'Clare Flower'but that is not your name."
[06:50.15]"Yes,it is,"she said."And who are you,anyway?"
[06:55.22]"My name is J.J.Coal,Private Detective.And this man is a police officer.
[07:02.87]You have tried to get Mrs Flower's money by taking a false name.
[07:08.64]Your name is Hope Darwin,"said the detective.
[07:13.92]Turning to the rest of the group,he continued.
[07:18.18]"You met Clare at university in Los Angeles,
[07:22.72]and later you shared a flat with Clare for five years.
[07:27.58]Then Clate at fell ill after a holiday in Mexico,
[07:32.94]and you knew she was going to die.
[07:37.09]You knew her step-mother was rich and you suddenly had a bright idea.
[07:43.86]If you could pretend to be Clare,you would be able to get the money instead.
[07:50.02]Fortunately,you knew that Clare had not seen any of her family for many years,
[07:56.24]apart from her step-mother.
[07:59.58]It was unlikely that any of them would know the difference between the two of you.
[08:05.64]Perhaps you will explain to this police of ficer why you changed the colour of your hair
[08:12.20]to dark brown two months ago?"
[08:16.14]"I'm allowed to change the colour of my hair,"she said angrily.
[08:22.02]"Yes,but you're not allowed to sign your name Clare Flower
[08:27.66]if your name is Hope Darwin."He turned to the police officer.
[08:33.72]"I watched Hope secretly for a week,and I even paid a visit to her at work.
[08:40.70]I had several photographs of Chare Flower,
[08:45.45]and I picked out one interesting photograph of Clare aged twelve
[08:51.20]in an art class school."
[08:55.17]"Don't tell me that all this is because of a photograph taken when I was twelve.
[09:02.12]A lot of things can change over twenty-one years."
[09:06.98]"Yes,but one thing is most unlikely to change.
[09:12.93]Just now we all watched you sign to show that you had received the cheque.
[09:18.81]You are left-handed,but in this photograph
[09:24.06]you will see that the young girl is painting with her right hand.
[09:29.39]People change,
[09:33.15]but they don't suddenly change from being right-handed to being left-handed."
[09:38.80]When the police officer had taken away Hope Darwin,
[09:43.55]Tom Goode turned to the lawyer.
[09:47.21]"Now we know that Clare Flower is dead,
[09:52.17]does that mean the money will now come to me?
[09:56.32]After all,I am the only one of my aunt's relations still alive."
[10:02.57]He was smiling hopefully.The lawyer was brief and to the point.
[10:09.72]"No.Your aunt did foresee that Ms Flower might die before her.
[10:17.17]She instructed in her will that if that were to happen,
[10:22.63]all the money should go to an organization for helping the blind
[10:28.27]called"Helping Hand".So,to answer your question,you get nothing." |