Мы продолжаем литературный квест «Открой тайны Агаты Кристи». Напоминаем, что приурочен он к 130-летию со дня рождения английской писательницы, «королевы детектива» и автора многочисленных бестселлеров. Сегодня вашему вниманию предлагается задание № 2 «Creative writing» - ревю творческих эссе.

Предмет обсуждения - загадочный факт из биографии английской писательницы Агаты Кристи. Участникам конкурса необходимо показать не только хорошую языковую подготовку, но и умение интерпретировать небольшой по объему документальный текст, выразить собственное мнение и аргументированно доказать свою точку зрения.

С целью помочь вам преодолеть «боязнь чистого листа», когда даже опытных писателей в начале написания произведения охватывает страх или нерешительность, мы несколько облегчили задачу: вам не придется придумывать тему эссе. Все, что нужно, это внимательно прочитать предлагаемый текст и письменно дать развернутые ответы с элементами рассуждения на вопросы к нему.

Однако, следует учесть общие рекомендации к структуре эссе. Прежде всего, работа должна содержать вводную часть (Введение), которая дает ясное представление, о чем пойдет речь. Можно начать так: this essay deals with..., this assignment will examine..., this essay will consider … В Основной части следует раскрыть каждый из предложенных аргументов, а Заключение должно подводить итог высказанным идеям.

Работу объемом 150 - 200 слов на английском языке необходимо прислать нам на e-mail: Адрес электронной почты защищен от спам-ботов. Для просмотра адреса в вашем браузере должен быть включен Javascript..

Agatha Christie (1891 – 1976) is one of the world’s best-known and best-loved authors. Her famous detectives, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, and her brilliantly constructed plots have caught the imagination of readers. Although she lived to an old age and wrote many books, she did not tell much about her personal life.

In December 1926 a very mysterious incident happened: at the height of her success with the first novel, Agatha vanished into thin air for ten days. At that time she was extremely distressed because she had found out that her husband was having an affair with another woman and wanted a divorce. She was sleeping badly, she couldn’t write, and she was eating very little.

On Friday 3^rd December, Agatha told her secretary and companion, Carlo (Miss Charlotte Fisher), that she wanted a day alone. When Carlo returned in the evening, she found that the garage doors were left open and the maids were looking frightened. According to them, Mrs. Christie had come downstairs at about eleven in the evening, had got into her car and had driven off quickly without saying anything to anybody.

Carlo waited anxiously all night but Agatha did not return. Early the next morning the police found Agatha’s car in a ditch with its lights on. There was no trace of Agatha.

A nation-wide hunt for the missing novelist was started. The police was suspicious. Did the servants know anything more? Was Agatha’s husband hiding anything? Newspapers printed wild stories about her disappearance – that she had committed a suicide, that she had been kidnapped, that she had run away with a secret lover…

The mystery ended ten days later when Agatha was found alive and well in Harrogate, a health spa in Yorkshire. Her husband explained to the waiting reporters that she had lost her memory. But to this day, nobody really knows what happened during those missing ten days.

Read and write.

• Do you think that Agatha really lost her memory?
• What do you think happened during those ten days?
• What effect do you think her disappearance had on her marriage?