A friend of my brother called Andrew was going
to spend Christmas with his girlfriend and her
parents. Now, he hadn’t met her parents before,
so you imagine how really nervous he was.
Anyway, he was going to drive to their house in
Guilford from the north and the plan was that he
was going to arrive very late on the Christmas
Eve. So his girlfriend said that she would leave
the back door open so that he wouldn’t have to
ring the bell and wake up the people in the
house. Andrew promised to do as she had told
him.
Anyway, what happened was that he arrived at
the house at about two o’clock, two o’clock in
the morning. His girlfriend lived in number 31
Forest Avenue, but the street lights were off and
it was too dark to read the numbers on the front
door. Finally he managed to see number 29 on
the houses and worked out of that number 31
must be next to number 29. He stopped and went
round to the back of the house as it had been
arranged. To his disappointment the back door
was locked. He hesitated for a moment but
decided not to ring the bell. Luckily he noticed
that one of the windows was open. He was able
to climb through the window and open the back
door in order to get his things into the house.
After the drive he was very tired and hungry, so
he went to the kitchen and helped himself to
some food from the fridge. He took a can of beer
and went quietly upstairs, not wanting to wake
anyone up. And the first door he opened was the
guest room. So, naturally enough, he got
undressed and went to sleep.
The next morning, Christmas Day, he woke up
quite late as he had gone to bed so late the
previous day. He put on his dressing gown and
went down to say hello to his girlfriend, meet her
parents, have breakfast and give them all their
presents. Now, he opened the kitchen door and
stood there with his arms full of wrapped
presents calling out, “Merry Christmas, everyone!”
But there was no one in that room that he knew.
There was a man and a woman and two little
kids sitting at the kitchen table staring at him
with their mouths open wide in astonishment. It
turned out that he was at number 27 Forest
Avenue.
I. Mark the correct continuation of the sentences
(3 points)
1. According to the plan,
a) Andrew’s girlfriend was to leave a window
open
b) ) Andrew was to get in through the back door
c) Andrew’s girlfriend was to wait for him at the
back door
2. Andrew was able to get his things into the
house
a) through the window
b) through the back door
c) through the front door
3. Before going to sleep Andrew
a) ate all the food in the fridge
b) had some food in the kitchen
c) put his cans of beer into the fridge
II. Complete the sentences according to the text
(8 points)
1. Andrew arrived at the house at ______.
2. When Andrew found the back door was locked,
he hesitated for a moment but decided not to
______.
3. And _______ was the guest room.
4. He opened the kitchen door and ______ calling
out “Merry Christmas, everyone!”
III. Answer the questions (9 points)
1. Why did Andrew feel nervous before his visit to
his girlfriend’s house?
2. How did Andrew work out which house he
needed?
3. How did Andrew get inside the house?