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Listen to Detective Smart and read how he solved the sailing boat mystery. Tapescript It was Saturday 21st July at five past four in the afternoon. I was walking with my dog on Paradise Beach while my wife was visiting her mother. I was throwing a stick to my dog when I heard a scream. A woman, Mary Simpson, was running out of the water. She was waving at me and shouting, "murder, murder!" I asked the witness why she was shouting and she pointed at a big sailing boat. The sailing boat was floating in the water and people were swimming near it. Well, I thought they were swimming! I jumped into a small boat with my dog and rowed out to the sailing boat. There were seven victims in the water - three men and four women. They were wearing swimsuits, but they weren't swimming. They were all dead. I rowed round the sailing boat and looked at it from every side. It wasn't moving. It looked normal but I solved the problem quickly. The Past Continuous describes unfinished actions in the past and the Past Simple describes finished actions which interrupt the unfinished action. Examples: - I was watching TV when she called. - When the phone rang, she was writing a letter. - While we were having the picnic, it started to rain. - What were you doing when the earthquake started? - I was listening to my iPod, so I didn't hear the fire alarm. - While John was sleeping last night, someone stole his car. - Sammy was waiting for us when we got off the plane. - While I was writing the email, the computer suddenly went off. - A: What were you doing when you broke your leg?    B: I was snowboarding.

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Listen to the next part of the story.

Look at the pictures in exercise 5, page 57, and listen to the end of the story. Tapescript At half past eight that night, I was walking to the Playmaster Games office. Jason was waiting for me at Joe's Café. I found an open window and climbed in. I had a map of the offices and by quarter to nine I was searching the woman's office. I looked at the papers on her desk, then I looked in the drawers. The letters weren't there. I was leaving the room, but suddenly I had an idea. "Maybe she put the letters in her CD boxes." There were some boxes next to her computer and I opened them. In the second box there were two letters from the American Cigarette Company. I took the letters and left the office. Then I found the open window and climbed out. I was just in time! Two people were arriving at the offices - a man and a woman. I went to the café and gave the letters to Jason. At ten o'clock Jason and I were showing the letters to the police. The chief of police was on the 12 o'clock news. They were looking for the man and woman, he explained. They were also investigating the manager of the American Cigarette Company. I smiled and went to bed.

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Vocabulary There are a lot of story types and famous titles I think you all know: fairy tales "Cinderella", adventure "Treasure Island", romance "Gone with the Wind", mystery "Sherlock Holmes", science fiction "2001, A Space Odyssey" or ghost stories "A Christmas Carol". In this unit we'll read a mystery story, we'll try to solve the case of seven dead swimmers and we'll also write a story about a strange day that happened to Kylie. Let's start with a list of useful words that you'll find in the unit: adventure ladder science fiction advertisement murder scream crime mystery (to) solve dead police report (to) trust fairy tale romance victim (to) float (to) row witness ghost story sailing boat

Here's a story by Russell Barnes, aged 13, from Canada. The story is about detective Gold. He was at home and he wasn't happy. Suddenly some words started to appear on his computer screen. This was unusual because he wasn't using the keyboard. The message asked him to follow the instructions.

Did the detective follow the instructions? Yes, he did. At ten o'clock the next morning he was standing outside joe's Café.

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Corrected version of the text of exercise 2, page 52 Last weekend was my birthday. It was great fun. On Saturday I went shopping with my parents and they bought me some new clothes. The best thing was a blue T-shirt. In the evening some of my friends came to my house and we watched videos. At eleven o'clock my mum asked my friends to go home because my dad wanted to go to bed.

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Link 1. Past simple tense Link 2. Past simple tense Link 3. Past simple questions Link 4. Irregular verbs Link 5 Simple past gap-fill Link 6 Simple past negative Link 7 Simple past sentences

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Text 1

Complete the text. Use the past simple form of the verbs in the box. be become die find leave live make move visit Charlie Chaplin, the famous actor and film director, was born in London in 1889. His parents (1) werebecamediedfoundleftlivedmademovedvisited singers. Chaplin (2) werebecamediedfoundleftlivedmademovedvisited school when he was only ten years old and (3) werebecamediedfoundleftlivedmademovedvisited an actor. Chaplin (4) werebecamediedfoundleftlivedmademovedvisited the USA in 1913 and (5) werebecamediedfoundleftlivedmademovedvisited a job at a film studio. In 1914 he (6) werebecamediedfoundleftlivedmademovedvisited 35 films! He (7) werebecamediedfoundleftlivedmademovedvisited there until 1952, then he (8) werebecamediedfoundleftlivedmademovedvisited to Switzerland. He (9) werebecamediedfoundleftlivedmademovedvisited in Vevey in 1977 at the age of 88.

Text 2

Complete with the verbs in the past tense. Then check your answers. Yesterday afternoon it (be)1 was very cold so we (decide)2 decided to stay at home. my mother (make)3 made a delicious cake and we (eat)4 ate it for tea. After tea my sister (want)5 wanted to watch TV but our father (say)6 said that we (have)7 had to read a book. We ((read)8 read until dinner time. We (not be)9 weren't very hungry, so we just (have)10 had a sandwich and (drink)11 drank some juice. After that we (watch)12 watched a little TV and then we (brush)13 brushed our teeth and (go)14 went to bed.

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Do you like reading? Books, comics, cartoons, magazines, newspapers, blogs? I usually read the newspaper:the headlines, the opinions and the weather forecast. Spanish newspapers have got good reporters. I like to read the newspaper to know what is happening in the world. Vocabulary related to newspapers: headlines titulares cartoons viñetas column columna sections secciones reporter periodista forecast el tiempo ads anuncios gossip cotilleo publisher editor editor redactor

Telepathy is the ability to send thoughts or ideas from one person to another without using speech or writing. Do you believe in telepathy? On page 50 there is a strange story: Victor Samson worked for a newspaper. One day he watched an active volcano in a dream. The lava destroyed a village and a lot of people died. He wrote the story and his publisher published the story in the newspaper by mistake. Some weeks later, the dream came true. Now read and listen to the story in your book. Vocabulary unusual: poco común erupt: en erupción below: de abajo come true: hacerse realidad mistake: error several: varias ship: barco Past Simple fly - flew: volar fall - fell: caer write - wrote: escribir find - found: encontrar see - saw: ver tell - told: decir bring - brought: traer die - died: morir

Volcano!

On page 51 we practise Expressing and asking about past events. (Expresar y preguntar acontecimientos en el pasado). Remember that we use the auxiliary DID + Subject + Verb to make questions Here are some interesting sites for you to practise. Have fun. Link 1 This is a game. You have to place objects from the past and from the present in the right room. Can you do it in less than 20 seconds? Link 2 Another game about a little red ship. Read the story and then answer the questions. You can win a million dollars!! Link 3 Change each sentence into a yes/no question in the past tense. Link 4 Change each sentence into a wh- question in the past tense. Link 5, Link 6, and Link 7: three games of memory practising irregular verbs.

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