Test 2 (time: 50 minutes) 80 marks

Reading

Read the text. Then do Exercises A and B.

The Great Train Robbery

0 d

On 8 August 1963, a group of British men successfully committed one of the most famous robberies in history: the robbery of a mail train carrying cash from Glasgow to London. The robbers stole £2.3 million, which at today’s values is £40 million or $74 million!

1 ____

The gang had about 15 members, each with a different ‘talent’ which was used in the robbery. Some of the men gathered information from relatives or friends who worked on the trains; some shopped for the necessary clothing, transport and equipment; some found a place where the gang could hide after the robbery; some carried out the actual robbery. One man was responsible for planning the robbery and for making sure that everything was done properly.

2  ____

The robbers had learnt that mail trains carried large amounts of cash and valuables. They wanted to stop and rob a train at a place which would not attract attention from people who lived in the area. They bought and wore railway workers’ clothing so that they could move around the train yards and tracks without a problem. They even managed to make their own red signal lights to stop the train.

3 ____

The night of the robbery, their plan seemed to work perfectly at first. They chose a place not too far from London and turned on their red signal lights so that the train driver would stop the train. Members of the gang dressed in workers’ clothing climbed onto the train. They tied up the train crew, but knocked out and seriously injured the train driver, who tried to fight them.

4 ____

The gang carried the bags of money to their truck and drove to the old farm they had arranged to stay at. But they didn’t stay at the farm for very long – they knew the police were after them and tried to leave England.

5 ____

The police were able to identify the men through fingerprints they found at the empty farm hideout. Thirteen of the robbers were caught and sentenced to thirty years in prison each. Two of them escaped and went to other countries like Brazil, Mexico and Canada. But the police, led by Detective Chief Superintendent Jack Slipper of Scotland Yard (called ‘Slipper of the Yard’) continued to look for them and eventually brought them to justice.

A Match each heading a-f with a paragraph. [5 points]

a On the run

b The men behind the crime

c Justice is served

d The crime of the century

e Good planning

f What happened that night

B Number these events in the correct order. [5 points]

a A group of criminals decided to rob a train. 1

b Some of the men escaped, but the police found them and brought them back. ____

c The gang followed a plan to rob the train. ____

d The police found the gang’s hideout and identified who they were. ____

e Members of the gang collected information about the trains. ____

f They tried to leave the country. ____

Vocabulary

C Choose the correct answer. [6 points]

0 The suspect denied committing / solving a crime.

1 My sister didn’t know it was illegal to search / download songs from the Internet.

2 The criminals hijacked / robbed a plane to escape.

3 The man was accused of burgling / stealing a house.

4 The woman was arrested for robbing / stealing from a shop.

5 I witnessed / looked at an accident on my way to school.

6 The police solved / committed the crime and arrested the criminal.

D Complete with the correct form of the word in brackets. [6 points]

0 His punishment was ten years in prison. (punish)

1 The _________ was planned by someone who worked at the bank. (rob)

2 The police identified the _________ through her fingerprints. (theft)

3 Someone had tried to _________ my house last night, but my dog scared them away. (burglar)

4 The judge told the shoplifter that _________ didn’t pay. (criminal)

5 It’s amazing how quickly the detectives found the _________ . (murder)

6 The _________ admitted taking the CD. (shoplifting)

E Choose the correct answer. [6 points]

0 Tim hasn’t got the ____ to be a criminal.

a figure  b guts  c witness

1 The prices they charge are a real ____ .

a rip-off  b fine  c forgery

2  I don’t have money to pay a lawyer – I’m ____ !

a guilty  b broke  c illegal

3 Anna likes to ____ about people when they’re not there.

a insult b gossip  c embarrass

4 The thief ____ that he had stolen the car.

a denied  b witnessed  c refused

5 The shoplifter ____ to answer the questions.

a admitted  b denied  c refused

6 It wasn’t my ____ that the house was burgled – I locked the door!

a mistake  b fault  c option

F Complete the dialogue with one word in each gap. [6 points]

Interviewer: Police Officer Jones, would you please tell us how your men caught and arrested the famous bank 0) robber, Mugsy McCoy?

Jones: Well, as you know, Mugsy has been on the 1) _________ for two weeks, ever since he robbed the National Bank. My best men have been working on the

2) _________ night and day, so we knew we would get him.

Interviewer: Yes, and I’ve heard that this isn’t the first time Mugsy has broken the

3) _________ . Is that right?

Jones: Yes. Two years ago he’d unsuccessfully tried to hold 4) _________ the same bank. He was in prison for that, but escaped – that’s why my men wanted to put him back 5) _________ bars, where he belongs. People have to know that they can’t get

6) _________ with crime in this town!

Grammar

G Choose the correct answer. [6 points]

0 I saw / have seen a robbery yesterday!

1 She hasn’t called / didn’t call the police yet.

2 The prisoners escaped / have escaped two weeks ago.

3 I have already seen / already saw that film.

4 Mary has lived / lived in London for ten years and then she moved to Manchester.

5 Tom and Jack visited / have visited the Crime Museum last month.

6 Jessica has known / knew Anne since they were at school together.

H Complete with the past simple, present perfect simple or present perfect continuous form of the verb in brackets. [12 points]

Criminal or victim?

The Police Chief 0) has announced (announce) that they 1) ______________ (arrest) the criminal they call the ‘Car Park Thief’. They were surprised to find out that the thief, who 2) ______________ (steal) money for the last month from the machines that sell tickets for the car park, 3) ______________ (be) a young mother of two children, Nancy Lane. Nancy made this statement to the judge: ‘I am not the criminal – unemployment is!  I 4) ______________ (lose) my job six months ago and, although I 5) ______________ (look) for work since then, I still 6) ______________ (not find) a job. I didn’t have any money to buy food for my children – what other option did I have but to steal?’

I Put the words in the correct order to make questions. [8 points]

0 caught / the / have / robbers / yet / police / the

Have the police caught the robbers yet ?

1 downloaded / songs / so / have / many / they / how / far

__________________________________________ ?

2 to / she / police / the / been / yet / has

__________________________________________ ?

3 long / has / how / crying / been / Jane

__________________________________________ ?

4 hear / you / robbery / about / did / the

__________________________________________ ?

5 witness / were / the / crime / to / you / a

__________________________________________ ?

Writing

J Imagine that you have witnessed two people stealing a mobile phone from a shop. Write an e-mail (120-150 words) to your friend telling him/her about it. [20 points]

Give information about:

• the scene of the crime
• the time
• descriptions of the shoplifters (age, appearance, clothes, etc)
• what happened