Darmowe konto pozwoli wrócić do niego później.

home to darkness he had left on the light over the stairs to the flat. Through the glass

in the door it cast a rectangle of paleness onto the wet pavement, and it was while I was

standing in that rectangle, about to turn the key, that I first saw the letter. Another white

rectangle, lying just at my feet. I couldn’t miss it.

I took the letter, went inside and put the shop key in its usual place behind Bailey’s

Geometry. Poor Bailey. No one has wanted his fat gray book for thirty years.

Sometimes I wonder what he makes of his role as guardian of the bookshop keys. I don’t

suppose it’s the destiny he had in mind for the masterwork that he spent two decades writing.

A letter. For me. That was something of an event. The crisp-cornered envelope, puffed up

with its thickly folded contents, was addressed in a hand that must have given the postman

a certain amount of trouble. The style of the writing was old-fashioned, with its decorative

capitals and curly flourishes, and my first impression was that it had been written by a child.

The letters seemed untrained. Their uneven strokes either faded into nothing or were heavily

marked on the paper. There was no sense of flow in the letters that spelled out my name.

Each had been undertaken separately – M A R G A R E T L E A – as a new and daunting

enterprise. But I knew no children. That is when I thought – it is the hand of an invalid.

It gave me a queer feeling. Yesterday or the day before, while I had been going about

my business, some unknown person had gone to the trouble of marking my name onto this

envelope. Who was it who had had his mind’s eye on me while I hadn’t suspected a thing?

Still in my coat and hat, I sank onto the stair to read the letter. I never read anything

without making sure I am in a secure position. I have been like this ever since the age

of seven when, sitting on a high wall and reading The Water Babies, I was so seduced

by the descriptions of underwater life that I unconsciously relaxed my muscles. Instead

of being held buoyant by the water that so vividly surrounded me in my mind, I plummeted

to the ground and passed out for a moment. I can still feel the scar under my fringe now.

I opened the letter and pulled out a sheaf of half a dozen pages, all written in the same

laborious script.

adapted from The-Thirteenth-Tale by Diane Setterfield

6.1. When the narrator arrived home, she discovered that

A. her father had turned off all the lights.

B. the key was cleverly hidden behind a thick book.

C. somebody had left something for her by the door.

D. Bailey’s Geometry had been moved to a different place.

6.2. In the third paragraph, the narrator

A. draws a conclusion based on somebody’s handwriting.

B. summarises the content of the letter she received.

C. identifies the author of the letter as an experienced writer.

D. praises the author of the letter for their style.

6.3. When the narrator was seven years old, she

A. nearly drowned in a river.

B. lost consciousness after a fall.

C. strained her muscles too much.

D. suffered a serious brain injury.

Tekst 2.

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE’S LETTER IN ENGLISH

An illuminating letter written by Napoleon in English, which fetched 325,000 euro at auction,

offers a window into the mind of the French emperor, struggling with the syntax

of the language of enemy Britain.

It’s one of three such English-language letters by Napoleon in the world, according

to the auction organizers. After fierce bidding which included a number of English collectors,

it was bought by the Museum of Letters and Manuscripts in Paris. The selling price – five

times what had been predicted – suggests the document’s historic value. It’s evident from the

letter that Napoleon, who had famously dismissed England as a nation of shopkeepers,

decided to learn the language of Shakespeare late in life.

Napoleon wrote the letter while detained by the British on the remote island of Saint

Helen’s. The standard-sized sheet of paper is a homework exercise Napoleon sent

to an English teacher for correction in 1816. In a moment of surprising humility,

Napoleon asks his teacher in the letter to indulge him and correct his mistakes. If you ever

look at the copy, you will notice there is plenty of room for corrections.

The auction house president, Jean-Pierre Osenat, says “My view is that Napoleon had

a great admiration for England. The English have the wrong idea: he didn’t hate them, he was

just a military man, and the French interests were different to the English.”

“It seems that vanity, too, may have played a role,” adds Osenat with a wry smile,

“Napoleon was always worried about his image. Though at the time he was stranded

on the South Atlantic Ocean island, he probably still cared about what people thought,

so he wanted to read what was said about him in the English press”.

Whatever the reason and despite Napoleon’s best efforts, the letter shows he knew he still

had some way to go in mastering the language.

www.huffingtonpost.com

6.4. The letter which Napoleon wrote

A. was purchased for less money than expected.

B. will soon be displayed by an English collector.

C. points to his problems with accuracy in English.

D. indicates that Napoleon felt superior to his teacher.

6.5. Which of the following is stated in the text as a fact

A. In the letter Napoleon refers to the English as a nation of shopkeepers.

, not an opinion?

B. The letter proves that Napoleon started to learn English out of vanity.

C. In the letter Napoleon shows his secret admiration for England.

D. The letter was written when Napoleon was held captive.

6.4.

C

6.5.

3.1. R Zdający oddziela fakty od opinii.

D