PHOTOCOPIABLE © Oxford University Press 2012
The Oxford 3000™ – A Lesson about Crime
WORKSHEET
Activity 4 The next Agatha Christie
Read the story and ll the gaps with a word from the box below. You may need
to change the form of the word to make it t the sentence (for example, make a
noun plural or put a verb into the correct tense).
court crime criminal evidence investigation
lawyer legal ofcer police steal suspect
suspicious victim weapon witness
She closed her book, balancing it on top of the basket next to her on the
park bench and closed her eyes in the warm sunshine. How she wished
she could write something like that – a murder mystery. Surely it couldn’t
be so difcult – after all, she had read so many crime novels, watched so
many lms and detective series on TV...
At rst it would seem like the perfect murder. The 1_______________________ lived
alone and received very few visitors – there were no 2_______________________ to
the 3_______________________ . No one had been seen acting in a 4_______________________
way in the area. The 5_______________________ with which he had been killed had
not been found, but it was clear that he had been dealt a heavy blow. He
was a man who had had many enemies, and so when the 6_______________________
began their 7_______________________ , they had a number of 8_______________________ to
question. However, a brilliant young 9_______________________ , sharp-eyed and
even sharper-witted (based on herself, of course) would nd a vital piece
of 10_______________________ which would lead to the arrest of the murderer.
But would she be able to tell the story convincingly? Did a crime writer
really need a 11_______________________ mind? And she knew very little about
the 12_______________________ system, apart from the 13_______________________ scenes
in those lms. She would have to nd a 14_______________________ to help her
get the details right.
Suddenly sensing a slight movement in the bushes behind her, she
opened her eyes and looked around for her book and basket, but they
were gone – 15_______________________ from under her nose!