Table of Contents
BEST IELTS Academic Reading Test 233
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST 233 – PASSAGE – 3
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST – 233
READING PASSAGE – 3
Murder and Mystery
The eternal appeal of Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie (1890-1976) is the bestselling novelist of all time. The British author produced detective novels and short stories, translated into 103 languages, most notably those that featured the fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. Agatha Christie was not really interested in murder as such. She wanted to write about ‘English murder, which is more about human dynamics than a focus on the act of violence.
Her work has been criticized for showing a reluctance to reveal the blood and gore of the crimes committed in her books and any grief the characters might feel for the dead. The methods she describes for murder have also been accused of being far-fetched and even ridiculous. In reality, it is hardly likely that someone would kill by dropping a millstone through a window onto their victim’s head; or give themselves an alibi by pretending to be a dead body, nor would they plan a murder by shooting themselves in the leg to put the suspicion on another person. Frankly, they are almost silly. But Agatha Christie probably thought they were too, she was known to have a good sense of humour. Why should we assume that she thought these events were credible?
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Raymond Chandler, who was an author contemporary to Christie, criticized her book And Then There Were None with some justification, ‘It is as complete and shameless a bamboozling of the reader as ever was perpetrated. And I won’t go into the mechanism of the crimes, most of which were predicated on pure chance, and some actually impossible. Though none of this can be denied, it is irrelevant. And Then There Were None is Christie’s best-selling novel, with 100 million sales to date, so the improbability of her crimes has hardly inhibited people from reading the book.
The fact that a murder might be a physical near-impossibility does not affect readership, nor is the murder of much importance to the novel. It is basically there to be solved, not viewed as a mirror of real possibilities. For Agatha Christie, solving the mystery does not necessarily come from her detectives examining the crime, but by their observation of the human suspects, how they react and how they relate to one another.
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This idea of the human dynamic is not typically touched on in criticism of Christie’s writing, which normally goes along the lines of that she writes brilliant mysteries that have little insight into either character or emotion. It is claimed that people read her books merely to solve the puzzle; and once that is done, they never pick up the book again. I really do not think this is the case. How can these books continue to sell in their millions when books from other clever detective writers published at the same time as her have disappeared? John Dickson Carr, who created ‘impossible crime’ mysteries, Margery Allingham who wrote brilliant prose, and the witty Dorothy Sayers, all wrote detective fiction that is no longer commonly read. It can hardly be because of Christie’s construction of the puzzle. We all know either the narrator did it, the policeman did it or they all did it. It must be due to something else, something not necessarily within the puzzle, not obvious, but sensed all the same. It is something I just can’t put my finger on.
It is not the murder itself that is important, but the reason why it was done. And that is found by observing the characters. Perhaps it is this quality of Christie’s characters that populate the tight but predictable plots that makes her work pass the test of time. Author P.D. James, whose book A Certain Justice is based on the plot of Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, commented that the reader gets the sense that there is more in her stories than is evident. Both books revolve around legality versus justice, a question which is unanswerable.
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Usually, detective books demand answers to all their questions. If a child murderer has escaped prosecution, is it right for family and friends to exact justice? In A Certain Justice, James has expanded this idea into an excellent, realistic novel wherein the solution of the crime plays a minor part. In Orient Express the entire story is based on the solution and the crime, and the theme of legality versus justice is not overtly apparent, yet it is the very bones of the book. The Orient Express solution is that ‘they all did it’, and no other solution could be possible as she brilliantly spreads the blame over almost every character in the story. The final pages that contain the solution of an Agatha Christie mystery are intensely satisfying for the reader, possibly because they not only solve the crime, but resolve the relationships of the characters themselves.
Christie once said, ‘Very few of us are what we seem, and the kind of character revelation she has at the end of her books so well illustrates this. Five Little Pigs is about a painter who pretends to fall in love with his model so he is able to finish the painting. The plot of this book is almost completely character based, and though Poirot does solve the mystery, as he is possession of only circumstantial evidence he is unable to do more than point the finger at Elsa, the artist’s model. She leaves in a car without confessing to the crime. The ending though, is somehow still satisfying. Though the characterization may seem simplistic, it is surprisingly revealing. Christie’s critics might even call it stereotyping. This may be the case, but she uses character stereotypes to mislead, not to reveal, because she knows that people believe in them.
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Questions 27-30
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
27. In the first paragraph the writer believes that Christie
A. knew her plots were improbable.
B. was obsessed with murder.
C. showed pity for the dead.
D. wanted to write realistic storylines.
28. The writer asserts that Christie’s detectives solved mysteries through
A. examining the scene of the crime.
B. balancing probabilities.
C. finding clues from the murder weapon.
D. paying attention to people.
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29. The writer does not agree with the common idea that Christie’s books
A. are often about human interaction.
B. are excellent crime stories.
C. are lacking in realistic portrayals of people.
D. are full of feeling.
30. The writer mentions other authors from the time Christie was writing to
A. illustrate that they were better writers.
B. observe that their books no longer sell.
C. compare them with Christie’s style.
D. show that they were never popular.
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Questions 31-34
Look at the following statements (Questions 31-34) and the list of people.
Match each statement with the opinion of the people, A, B, C, D or E.
Write the correct letter, A, B, C, D or E in boxes 31-34 on your answer sheet.
31. The books offer something extra than what is first seen.
32. The plot of the book is misleading and unconvincing.
33. Not many people really are how they appear.
34. The feeling you get from the way the plot is revealed is difficult to put into words.
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List of people
A. Raymond Chandler
B. The writer
C. John Dickson Carr
D. P.D. James
E. Agatha Christie
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Questions 35-40
Choose NO MORE THAN ONE WORD from the passage for each answer.
35. In Christie’s books the motive for the crime can be uncovered through studying the …………… .
36. P.D. James and Christie both wrote a book with a similar …………… .
37. In P.D. James A Certain Justice the explanation of the murder is of …………… importance.
38. The …………… to the crime in Murder on the Orient Express is that all the characters were guilty.
39. In Five Little Pigs Inspector Poirot does not have enough …………… to charge his suspect with murder.
40. By adopting …………… Christie is able to trick the reader into misunderstanding the characters.
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ANSWERS ARE BELOW
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ANSWERS
27. A
28. D
29. C
30. B
31. D
32. A
33. E
34. B
35. CHARACTERS
36. PLOT
37. MINOR
38. SOLUTION
39. EVIDENCE
40. STEREOTYPES
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