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When you have completed the Test, please SEND YOUR ANSWERS -

*by EMAIL - ​windsor.elc@virgin.net
​*or by POST (Small Group Courses, Windsor English Language Centre, 147 Slough Road, Datchet, Berkshire, SL3 9AE, England).

With your answers to the Test, please INCLUDE: (1) your name, (2) the dates that you wish to study, (3) your postal address and telephone number, and (4) your email address.

BEFORE you do this Test, make certain that you have 45 minutes available without interruption. Please do NOT use a dictionary. Please do NOT get help from anybody.
Please read the story two or three times and then WRITE FULL ANSWERS to the questions. In your answers, please USE YOUR OWN WORDS as far as possible – try NOT to copy from the story in your answers. The time allowed is 45 minutes.

STORY:
The old lady was glad to be back at the block of flats where she lived. Her shopping had tired her and her bag had grown heavier with every step of the way home. In the lift she was thinking about lunch and a good rest; but when she got out at her own floor, both were forgotten in her sudden discovery that her front door was open. At first she thought that Susan, the woman who came to clean the flat daily, was responsible, but then she remembered that she had gone shopping after Susan had left and she knew that she had locked the front door securely. She walked slowly into the flat and at once noticed that all the room doors were open, yet she was certain that she had shut them before going out. It was as clear as daylight then that burglars had been in the flat while she had been shopping. Her first impulse was to go round all the rooms looking for the thieves, but then she decided that at her age it might be better to have someone with her, so she went to fetch the porter from his office. By this time, her legs were beginning to tremble, so she sat down and accepted a cup of very strong tea, while he telephoned the police. The old lady and the porter then went through the rooms, being careful to touch nothing as they did not want to destroy any fingerprints. Everything was in disorder.
A little later, a policeman arrived. He began by checking the front door: the locks had not been forced which proved that the burglars had either used skeleton keys or entered over the balcony. There was no trace of fingerprints, but the policeman found a dirty red bag that contained jewellery which the old lady said was not hers. So their entry into this flat was not the burglars' first job that day and they must have been disturbed. The policeman advised the old lady not to stay alone in the flat for a few nights. She thought he was being unnecessarily cautious, but since the porter agreed with him, she rang her daughter and asked for her help in what she described as a little spot of bother.


QUESTIONS:

1. Had the old lady's bag really "grown heavier"? What had happened?
2. "...both were forgotten ..." What does this refer to? Who forgot what and why?
3. At first, what did the old lady think Susan had done? Why did she change her mind?
4. Why did the old lady fetch the porter and how did the porter help her?
5. "...the policeman found a dirty red bag... So their entry into this flat (apartment) was not the burglars' (thieves') first job that day and they must have been disturbed." Explain in your own words what the policeman thought the burglars had done that day.
6. "The policeman advised the old lady not to stay alone in the flat for a few nights." What was the old lady's attitude to this advice? Why did she telephone her daughter?



To send your Test answers to the School, see TOP.
CONTACT the School:
By EMAIL - windsor.elc@virgin.net
By TELEPHONE: +44(0) 1753 542907
By POST - write to:
Small Group Courses,
Windsor English Language Centre,
147 Slough Road, Datchet,
Berkshire, SL3 9AE, ENGLAND