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DOMINOES THE STRUCTURED APPROACH TO READING IN ENGLISH

LEVEL HEADWORDS

Three 1000

Two 700

One 400

Starter & Quick Starter 250

SHER

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Sherlock Holmes: The Speckled Band

‘Help me,’ says Helen Stoner. ‘My sister died, and now I am going to die too.’

Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson must answer the question of how Julia Stoner died, two years ago. If they cannot, then Helen Stoner will die too. But her house is very strange - and her stepfather, Dr Grimesby Roylott, is very angry and does not want Holmes there.

Who killed Julia, and how? And why did she say ‘the speckled band!’ before she died?

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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Text adaptation by Lesley Thompson Illustrated by Giorgio Bacchin

Dramatized audio available

Word count 3,371

4609050 Sherlock Speckled Band cover.indd 1 11/03/2016 09:53

DOMINOES

3

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), born in Edinburgh, Scotland, is best known as the creator of Sherlock Holmes. He started writing after working as a doctor, and soon became one of the world’s best-known authors. The Sherlock Holmes stories The Blue Diamond, The Emerald Crown, The Norwood Mystery, and The Sign of Four are also available as Dominoes.

Founder Editors: Bill Bowler and Sue Parminter

Text adaptation by Lesley Thompson

Illustrated by Giorgio Bacchin


Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

4609050 S Sherlock Holmes The Speckled Band.indd 1 06/05/2015 07:06

1Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, ox2 6dp, United Kingdom

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries

This edition © Oxford University Press 2015

The moral rights of the author have been asserted

First published in Dominoes 2015 2019 2018 2017 201610 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

No unauthorized photocopyingAll rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the ELT Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above

You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer

Links to third party websites are provided by Oxford in good faith and for information only. Oxford disclaims any responsibility for the materials contained in any third party website referenced in this work

isbn: 978 0 19 460905 0 Book isbn: 978 0 19 463920 0 Book and Audio Pack

Printed in China

This book is printed on paper from certified and well-managed sources

acknowledgements

Illustrations and cover artwork by: Giorgio Bacchin/Beehive Illustration Agency.

The publisher would like to thank the following for permission to reproduce photographs: Alamy Images p.40 (snake/Interpix); Corbis pp.30 (Victorian Gothic English country house/Clay Perry), 40 (spotted porcupinefish/Dave Fleetham/Design Pics); Getty Images pp.31 (young baboon/Tony Karumba), 31 (cheetah running/Gallo Images - Martin Harvey), 40 (blue poison dart frog/Danita Delimont), 40 (blue ringed octopus/Richard Merritt FRPS).


Contents

Before Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iv

Chapter 1 Before Her Wedding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Chapter 2 The Old House . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Chapter 3 Dr Grimesby Roylott . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Chapter 4 The Bedrooms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Chapter 5 Danger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Chapter 6 The Speckled Band . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Project A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Project B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Grammar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

About Dominoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52


A C T I V I T I E SBEFORE READING

1 Match the words and pictures. Use a dictionary to help you.

a prison b marry c inn d lamp

Dr Roylott Sherlock HolmesHelen Stoner Dr Watson

2 What do you think happens in the story? Complete the sentences with the words from Activity 1 in the correct form.

a Dr Roylott an English woman in India.

b He kills somebody and he goes to .

c Holmes and Watson stay at an near Stoke Moran.

d Helen Stoner puts a in her window and Holmes sees it.

1 2

3 4


Doctor, Dr this person helps people when they are ill

servant a person who works for someone rich

marry to make someone your husband or wife

It is 1883 in London and we are at 221B Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes is at home with his good friend, Dr Watson. Mrs Hudson, the servant, comes into the room.

‘Mr Holmes,’ she says, ‘there is a young woman at the door. She wants to see you.’

‘Of course,’ Holmes says.A woman of about thirty walks into the room. Her hair is

beginning to go white and her face is older than her years.‘Please sit down,’ Holmes says. ‘Are you cold? Would you

like a hot drink?’‘I’m not cold,’ the woman answers. ‘I’m tired and I’m

afraid. Oh, Mr Holmes, can you help me? I can’t give you any money now, but in six weeks I marry. After that, I can give you money for your work.’

1. Before Her Wedding

1


stepfather not your father, but married to your mother

poor something you say when you feel sorry for someone

‘It doesn’t matter about that now,’ Holmes smiles. ‘Now sit down and tell me your story.’

‘My name is Helen Stoner and I live with my stepfather. His name is Dr Grimesby Roylott.’

‘Ah yes, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran,’ Holmes says. ‘I know them. They are an old, important family.’

‘They aren’t very important now,’ Helen says. ‘They have the big, old house at Stoke Moran, it’s true, but it needs a lot of work. My stepfather lives on my mother’s money. She is dead, and my poor sister is dead too.’

‘Your sister?’ Holmes asks.‘Yes, my sister Julia.’

2


Calcutta /kælˈkʌtə/robbery taking something that is not yours

prison a place where people must stay when they do something wrong

Holmes thinks for a minute.‘Now I remember the story of that family. Grimesby Roylott

goes to India and he’s an important doctor in Calcutta for

many years. He marries a woman with two young children.

One day, there is a robbery in his house. Roylott is angry with

one of his servants, he hits him and the man dies. Roylott is in

prison in India for a long time. When he comes out, he cannot

work and he goes back to England with his family. His wife dies

when her daughters are two years old. The little girls go to live

with their stepfather at his family’s old house. The family live

happily for some years.

3


‘Miss Stoner, why are you afraid?’ Holmes asks.

‘My stepfather is a different man now, a very unhappy man. He

is always angry and everybody is afraid of him, not only me. His only friends are the gypsies. They sleep near the house. He

sometimes goes away with them for many weeks. When he comes

back, he doesn’t speak for days.

He brings animals from India and he puts them in the garden. A cheetah and a baboon are living there now. Nobody wants to visit us. It’s terrible!’

‘So you are alone with your stepfather,’ Holmes says quietly.

‘Yes, Julia is dead. Dead for two years – and only two weeks before her wedding,’ Helen says sadly. ‘I want to talk to you about her, Mr Holmes. I can’t stop thinking about her death these days. I feel very alone in that big house. My days are long and I can’t sleep at night because I see her poor face!’

Holmes looks carefully at the young woman. ‘Tell me about your sister’s death, Miss Stoner,’ he says.

gypsy somebody who doesn’t live in a house, and travels a lot

animal a living being that moves; a dog or a cat is an animal

terrible very bad; making people afraid

alone with nobody

wedding the day when two people marry

sad not happy

death when someone stops living

Cheetah

Baboon

4


5


A C T I V I T I E SREADING CHECK

Match the people in Chapter 1 with the sentences. You can use some names more than once.

a Mrs Hudson opens the door and speaks to Sherlock Holmes.

b is a young woman but she looks old.

c is a good friend to Sherlock Holmes.

d Helen Stoner is afraid of .

e remembers the story of the Roylott family.

f wants to marry an old friend.

g Helen tells and Dr Watson about Dr Roylott.

WORD WORK

1 Find words from Chapter 1 to match the pictures.

a sad b c

d e f 6


A C T I V I T I E S2 Use the words in the safe to complete the sentences.

a Watson is a doctor .

b Helen says ‘ Julia’ because she feels sorry for her sister.

c The cheetah is a very fast .

d Dr Roylott marries Helen’s mother so he is Helen’s .

e When Julia dies, Helen is at Stoke Moran.

f Julia’s death is a thing for Helen.

g Julia dies only two weeks before her .

GUESS WHAT

What happens in the next chapter? Tick two boxes.

a Helen tells Holmes about her sister’s death.

b Holmes cannot help Helen.

c Helen dies in Watson’s arms.

d Helen feels much better.

wedding

alone

terrible

animal

poor

stepfather

doctor

7


CEFRCambridge Exams IELTS TOEFL iBT TOEIC

Level 3 B1 PET 4.0 57-86 550Level 2 A2–B1 KET-PET 3.0-4.0 – 390Level 1 A1–A2 YLE Flyers/KET 3.0 – 225Starter & Quick Starter

A1 YLE Movers 1.0–2.0 – –

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If you liked this Domino, read these:

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Around the World in Eighty DaysJules Verne‘Today you can go around the world in eighty days,’ says Phileas Fogg. ‘Do it, and I pay you £20,000,’ says his friend Stuart.This is the beginning of one of Jules Verne’s most exciting stories. Phileas Fogg must get back to London by December 21st or lose all his money. With the help of his servant, Passepartout, Fogg travels in many ways – from train to elephant – and has some surprising adventures on the way.


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