Part 1 - Story starts at 8:54
Part 2 - Story starts at 8:05
1) Why did Benjamin decide to go back to the hotel?
'My driving glasses. I can't find them. They must be back in the hotel room.'
2) How did Jessica know Benjamin was staying in the Borromeo Hotel?
She saw the hotel room card. She said: 'Yes, you are. You've got a hotel room card in your hand.
3) Where did Benjamin move to when he left school?
Jessica had got it wrong about Benjamin going to Paris, and he was glad of that. In fact, it had been Madrid. He had studied at a university there, and that's where he had met Carmen.
4) What did Benjamin think the old woman was doing on the stairs?
She was using the stairs because the lifts didn't work: A silly old lady had an accident trying to walk down the stairs in the dark. She shouldn't have been there anyway. It said so on the notice – 'do not use the stairs'.
5) What did Benjamin plan to do with Jessica?
Push her down the hotel stairs: When they reached the fifth floor, he would turn round and push her over the handrail. Problem solved!
6) Why did Benjamin's son, Logan, leave the car at the end of the story?
He wanted to tell his dad he'd found the driving glasses. 'Logan found your driving glasses,' Carmen said. 'In his pocket. He'd been playing with them. He forgot he still had them. He wanted to find you to tell you.
There are two words I will explain so you can better understand the scene on the stairs. In most European hotels with several floors, there are stairs used usually only in emergencies, for example, fire - the fire escape. They are built in a spiral going from one floor to the other from the top to the bottom floors (see picture above). In the middle of this spiral, there is a big drop or space going all the way down – this is called a stairwell.
Stairs have a construction you can hold on to so you don’t fall off them, this is called a handrail.
Copyright © 2024 Practising English
All rights reserved
