• Agatha Christie was probably the most successful writer in history. She wrote 78 crime novels, six romantic novels, 150 short stories, and 19 plays. That repre sents two billion books sold: more than William Shakespeare! Her books have been translated into 103 languages, and her two most famous creations, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, solved hundreds of crimes.

• Agatha Christie became a writer by acci dent. She was bored when her first husband was away in the First World War. Agatha was working in a hospital as a nurse. (It is there that she learned all the information about poisons that she used in her books.) She decided to write a novel to pass the time. She chose a detective novel because she loved reading them.

Hercule Poirot became one of the most popular private detectives since Sherlock Holmes. He is the hero of 43 Christie's crime stories. This eccentric man with the egg-shaped head and the passion for order amazes everyone by his powerful intellect and his brilliant solutions to the most com plicated crimes. He is small and round and is always elegantly dressed. As Sherlock Holmes has Watson, in the early stories, Poirot has his assistant Captain Hastings. Of course, he is not as intelligent as Poirot, who is always encouraging Hastings to use his 'little grey cells'. Christie soon became bored with Poirot, but she had to continue writing stories about him because her readers loved him. So, during the Second World War, she wrote a book called Curtain, in which Poirot dies. But she didn't publish it until 1975.

• Miss Jane Marple is another AgathaChristie's creation. She is the heroine of 18 of the novelist's later books.

• . Miss Marple is quite old, unmarried and lives in the typical English village of St Mary Mead. One thing which isn't typical about the village is the number of murders! When there is a murder, Miss Marple investigates. She is not a professional detective, but she has a wonderful power of observation.

• One day Agatha Christie mysteriously disappeared. It happened in 1926.

• A nation-wide search for the missing writer was started. Newspapers published wild stories about her disappearance — that she had been kidnapped, that she had been murdered, that she had run away with a secret lover...

• Eleven days later the mystery was solved. Agatha Christie was found alive in a health spa in Yorkshire... But to this day, nobody knows what really happened in December, 1926.

• Agatha Christie died in 1976, but her stories are still immensely popular.

TEN LITTLE INDIANS.

DEATH ON THE NILE

THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY

Whose translation is the best?Whose translation is the best?• It was a week later. Beneath our feet was the

golden sand of the desert. The hot sun poured down overhead. Poirot, the picture of misery, wilted by my side. The little man was not a good traveler. Our four days' voyage from Marseilles'" had been one long agony to him. He had landed at Alexandria* the wraith of his former self, even his usual neatness had deserted him. We had arrived in Cairo and had driven out at once to the Mena House Hotel, right in the shadow of the Pyramids.

• The charm of Egypt had laid hold of me. Not so Poirot. Dressed precisely the same, as in London, he carried a small clothes-brush in his pocket and waged an unceasing war on the dust which accumulated on his dark apparel.

• " And my boots," he wailed. "Regard them, Hastings. My boots, of'the neat patent leather, usually so smart and shining. See, the sand is inside them, which is painful, and outside them, which outrages the eyesight. Also the heat, it causes my moustaches to become limp—but limp!"

• "Look at the Sphinx,"* I urged. "Even I can feel the mystery and the charm it exhales,"

• Poirot looked at it discontentedly.• "It has not the air happy,"* he declared.

• Это было неделей позже. Под нашими футами было золотым песком пустыни. Горячее солнце лилось вниз наверху. Пуаро, Изображение несчастья, вяло моей стороной. Небольшой человек был не хорошим путешественником. Наше четырех дневное путешествие из Марселя'" было один длинная агония ему. Он приземлился в Александрии* привидение своего последний само, даже его обычная аккуратность покинула ее. Мы прибыли в Каир и поехали от до Отеля Дома Мена, непосредственно в тени Пирамид.

• Обаяние Египта положило хранилище меня. Так Не Пуаро Одетое точно тот же, как в Лондоне, он понес небольшую одежную щетку в своем кармане и вел непрерывную войну в пыли, которая накапливалась в его темной одежде.

• " И мои ботинки," он завопил. "Считать он, Гастингс. Мои ботинки, ' хорошей лакированной кожи обычно такое умное и сияющее. Смотри, песок - в них, который болезненный, и внешний он, который возмущает зрение. Также тепло, это вызывает мои ус, чтобы становиться хромать-но хромать!"

• "Взгляд на Сфинкса,"* Я понудил. "Даже Я могу почувствовать тайну и обаяние, которые он выдыхает," Пуаро смотрел на это недовольно. "Это имеет не воздушный счастливый "* он объявил.

Do you like reading? Here’s a game to test your literary knowledge. Next to each author’s name write the name of his book. The pink letters make a message.

Romeo and Juliet

Eugene Onegin

Oliver Twist

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

The last of the Mohikans

Around the World in Eighty Days

Peter Pen

Don Quixote

War and Peace

Robinson Crusoe

Treasure Island

The Hobbit

The Gold Bug

The Picture of Dorian Gray

My favourite booksMy favourite books

Some Good Some Good AdviceAdvice

1.1. Love books. Books are our best Love books. Books are our best friends. friends.

2.2. Wash your hands before you begin Wash your hands before you begin to read.to read.

3.3. Never read when you are eating.Never read when you are eating.

4.4. Do not read books in bed. It is bad Do not read books in bed. It is bad for your eyes.for your eyes.

5.5. Do not make marks on the pages Do not make marks on the pages of a library book with a pen or a of a library book with a pen or a pencil.pencil.

6.6. Do not make dogs ears in your Do not make dogs ears in your book.book.

7.7. Do not tear the pages of a book .Do not tear the pages of a book .

8.8. Take your books back to the Take your books back to the library in time.library in time.

the other had a clean face. The sister with the clean face went and washed her face but the girl with the dirty face didn’t wash herself.

Can you explain why?

Riddles.• Which month has 28 days ?• They all have 28 days.

• How many birthdays does the average person have?• Only one.

• What is it that you must keep after you have given it to someone else?

• Your word.

• What is the end of everything?• Letter G.

• What is found in the very center of both America and Australia?• The letter R.

• What relatives are dependent on you?• Your aunts,uncles,and cousins. They all need U.

• What part of London is in France?• The letter N

• How can you make five less if you add one to it?• Add 1 before V and you will get IV.

• How many sides has a circle?• Two :outside and inside.

• What must you add to nine to make it six? • S IX/