martes, 17 de junio de 2008

An eye for an eye by Jeffrey Archer



An Eye for an Eye
by Jeffrey Archer


Pre-reading Activities

1) What does the title mean? Can you provide any examples to which this
expression can be applied to?

2) Have a look at the following words. Get in groups of 3 and try to make
up a story using them. Bear in mind the title of the story and try to
include this ingredient into it.

The postman hot frying pan blood eye
chopped Bruce Banks blind Mary Banks
Strychnine axe Sir Matthew Roberts

3) Choose the best story

4) How much do you know about crime and the law?
Match the following words and definitions in pairs.


1. Plea of not guilty A) The result or effect of evidence;
the establishment or denial of a fact by evidence.
2. Manslaughter B) A lawyer or group of lawyers giving legal advice and
especially conducting a case in court.
3. Plaintiff C) An emotion, desire, physiological need, or similar
impulse that acts as an incitement to action
4. Counsel D) A suite of rooms, especially one used by lawyers to
consult privately with attorneys or hear cases not
taken into court.
5. Barrister E) The documentary or oral statements and the material
objects admissible as testimony in a court of law.
6. Instructing solicitor F) It refers principally to a British trial lawyer.
7. Chambers G) An attorney who is not a member of the bar and who
may be heard only in the lower courts.
8. Motive H) A defendant's answer to the declaration made by the
plaintiff in a civil action.
9. Evidence I) The party that institutes a suit in a court.
10. Proof J) The unlawful killing of one human being by another
without express or implied intent to do injury.

While-reading activities

1) Role-play in pairs

You are Sir Matthew. You have been given Mary Bank’s case and you will have to act as the defense counsel at trial but you suspect that she is hiding some information from you so you decide to visit her at Holloway Jail on Monday morning at 11 o’clock. You are going to assume the role of the counsel for the prosecution so that she can get used to what it will be like when she gets into the witness box but besides you want to find out whether she’s lying or not.

You are Mary Banks. You are a frail, grey haired woman who looks fifty. You are ready to answer all of Sir Matthew’s questions to prove that you are innocent and that you couldn’t have murdered your husband. Give your own explanation to each of the evidences that the lawyer will put forward and which might incriminate you.


Follow-up activities

1) Go back to the title. How can you interpret it in the light of the events? Is it a
good title? Why? Why not?


2) Solve the following puzzle



A _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _N _

_ _ _ _ E _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ Y _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ E

F_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ O _ _ _ _
_ R _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

A _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ N _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_ _ _ E _
_ _ _ Y _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ E


1. Impervious to pleas, appeals, or reason; stubbornly unyielding.
2. Sightless.
3. A stand or an enclosed area in a courtroom from which a witness presents testimony.
4. A shallow, long-handled pan used for frying food.
5. The distribution by the government of relief payments to the unemployed; welfare.
6. The scientist that interprets or establishes the medical facts in civil or criminal law cases.
7. A hollow or concavity into which a part, such as the eye, fits.
8. One that initiates and carries out a legal action, especially criminal proceedings.
9. Judgment, as by a jury or judge, that a defendant is not guilty of a crime as charged.
10. The unlawful killing of one human being by another without express or implied intent
to do injury.
11. To give concise preparatory instructions, information, or advice to.
12. White crystalline alkaloid substance used as a poison for rodents and other pests.
13. A tool with a bladed, usually heavy head mounted crosswise on a handle, used for felling trees or chopping wood.


3) Write a diary entry for Mary Banks as if you had just returned to your prison cell after
your interview with Sir Matthew. Narrate the events that took place from your
perspective. Include your feelings, impressions and future prospects.

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