Cludia Prat 2n Batxillerat A

PART 1. READING COMPREHENSION. Answer the following questions. Chapter 7. What appeals to Christopher about detective stories? Christopher really likes murder mystery novels, because in them, someone has to work out who the murderer is and catch him. He thinks that they are like a puzzle; if the puzzle is good, sometimes you can even work out the answer before the end of the book. Chapter 11. What effect does the policemans questions have on Christopher and why? How does Christopher try to find safety? The policeman starts asking too many questions and too quickly for Christopher. The words that he is saying start stacking up in his head, annoying him a lot. Too much information comes into his head from the outside world. He tries to find safety by rolling back onto the lawn and pressing his forehead to the ground, making a rare noise (groan). Chapter 13. Why are there no jokes in this book, according to Christopher? Yet why do we often find the novel funny? There are no jokes in the book because Christopher writes it, and he cant tell jokes because he just doesnt understand them. He cant connect different things or ideas, so he finds jokes uncomfortable and confusing. But while reading, sometimes things that for the main character are serious, we find it funny, because are very simple or because Christopher cant understand them, so he explains them in a funny way for us. Chapter 17. Why does Christopher feel calmer even though the police officer says he is under arrest? Because the policeman does what he is supposed to do, according to the films. As we know, Christopher is different, so he finds confortable things that are logical and in order. Its very logical for a policeman to arrest people, because its his or her job. Chapter 19. How are prime numbers like life, according to Christopher? He thinks that prime numbers are like life; they are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your life thinking about them. So for Christopher, life, such as people, is difficult to understand and confusing, as much as prime numbers, that are also strange. Chapter 29. Why does Christopher find people confusing? Why does Christopher find metaphors confusing? Why does Christopher say the word metaphor is confusing? He finds people confusing for many reasons: the most important one is that people do a lot of talking without using any words, with facial expressions such as raising the eyebrows or breathe loudly. He cant understand these expressions, so he has to remember all the meanings of every expression. Another reason is the talks using metaphors; he cant understand them as well, because he finds impossible to relate facts or objects that are not similar and have nothing in common.

Cludia Prat 2n Batxillerat A

Thats why he things metaphors are confusing, and tells they had to be called lies. Chapter 31. Why doesnt Christopher find similes as confusing as metaphors? Chapter 37. Christopher always tells the truth, but this isnt a matter of a belief in what is right and wrong. Why doesnt he ever lie? He doesnt lie because he just cant. If he lies, he does something thats not logical or reasonable, so that makes him feel shaky and scared, because of his awkward personality. He starts thinking in all the things that could have happened that arent true. Chapter 47. How does Christopher explain the link he makes between seeing red cars and having a good day? For Christopher, 4 red cars in a row makes it a Good Day, and 3 red cars in a row makes it a Quite Good Day, and 5 red cars in a row, a Super Good Day. Thats because he likes things to be in a nice order, so he classifies days, in bad ones and good ones (not using the logic, but in another way) Chapter 59. What character qualities does Christopher have that would make him a good detective? Hes observant and sharp-eyed, so he notices of everything, and is capable of taking conclusions from the things he sees, and imagine all the possible answers to one question. Chapter 67. How does Christopher work out who his prime suspect is? First, he makes himself the question of why someone could have killed dog, with three possible answers. After thinking about people that he knows who fitted each answer, he finds one that fits the description perfectly, Mr. Shears. Chapter 83. What does Christopher discover about Mr Shears, from Mrs Alexander? He discovers that his mum and Mr. Shears where dating, and that this probably made his father angry, mostly with Mr. Shears Chapter 101. How is Mr Jeavons wrong about Christophers love of maths? Mr. Jeavons says that Christopher likes maths because it means solving problems, and these problems are difficult, but theres a straightforward answer at the end. But this is wrong because the numbers are sometimes very complicated and not very straightforward at all, and even that, Christopher i s capable to solve them, because he finds it really entertaining and interesting. Chapter 107. What qualities does Christopher admire in Sherlock Holmes? He loves Sherlock Homes because he just believes in reality, not in the supernatural. He also admires in Sherlock the ability of solving mysteries, and finding obvious things that nobody does. Christopher thinks hes extremely intelligent.

Cludia Prat 2n Batxillerat A

Chapter 157. What insights do Christophers mothers letters give us into family life with Christopher? How does the picture weve had so far change? At the start, we deduce that the father of Christopher is a good man, that has suffered a lot and that tries to take care of his son. Even we notice that they arent very closed its not logical at all what we discover after, from Christophers mothers letters. From these letters, we can see that the family was unbalanced and broken before the disappearance of the mother, and that both parents are selfish and just despise the son.

Chapter 229. What is shocking or surprising about Christophers favourite dream? What is understandable about his dream? The dream is weird in a lot of ways: normally death is not a positive thing for anybody, but Christopher is different; no one wants to be alone but him, because he finds nice that everybody has died; in that situation, he can be alone and finally in peace. Even its strange, its logical because of the personality of Christopher; he cant understand people and finds them annoying, so for him, a better world is one in which he can do whatever he wants without having to interact with people and stand them. Chapter 233. What makes Christopher decide he has to go back to Swindon? He realizes he has to take his A level math exam at school, to get an A grade. Thats why he decides to go back to Swindon. For him this test its very important. When his mother says he probably cant take the exam, he gets really nervous.