1995/02（追試）
1995/02（追試）
Torn Jackson was my school friend, and he and his sister Jenny lived in a tall, old. broken-down house which their parents had bought for practically nothing because it was said w be haunted by a ghost. Rumour had it that a woman had hanged herself by her own hair from the ceiling of the attic room above Tom’s bedroom, and that she kept revisiting the scene of the tragedy.
Toni said he had heard strange noises overhead while he’d been in his bedroom making a model aeroplane. Jenny said it was nonsense and he’d been watching too many Late Night horror Shows on TV, but it gave us an idea for tricking George, a friend of ours. We would invite him to the Jacksons’ one afternoon, get him up to the attic and haunt him there.
We were to tell him we would have tea in the attic, away from the grown-ups, and I was to take him there while the others pretended to be fetching the food from the kitchen. In fact, Tom would go to the cellar where the main switches were, and, at the right moment, would throw the attic into darkness.
Jenny would be hiding in the attic, and when the lights went out she would creep onto a chest of drawers. She would shine an electric torch with green and red filters onto her face, which would thus appear to be floating horribly in midair. What’s more, Jenny had long hair just like the woman in the story. We worked out how long it would take for George and me to reach the attic and sit down with George facing the chest of drawers. After another half-minute, I would make some excuse and go out of the room where I could hold the door shut in case George tried to flee from the terror. We rehearsed our parts carefully.
Eventually the time came for the haunting. “I’ll go and see about some tea,” said Jenny and went off, apparently towards the kitchen, where Mrs. Jackson was making sandwiches and baking cakes. A couple of minutes later, as arranged. Tom suggested that we all go upstairs for our private picnic, and I led George along while Torn slipped off “to help in the kitchen”.
The plan worked perfectly. George and I climbed to the attic and settled down in the appointed positions. Then I wandered out of the room “to see where everyone was”. Just as I closed the door behind me, Tom threw the switch and everything went black. The event was alarming, but I hung onto the door handle and tried to hear what was happening through the keyhole. There was a creak, which suggested that George had jumped to his feet, but he didn’t seem to be moving about, or responding to Jenny, who, by now, must have been starting her torch trick.
Then suddenly and quite unexpectedly there came screams and shrieks and sobbing from inside. I pushed open the door to find out what was going on. At the same instant, the lights came on again and I saw poor George flat on his back on the floor. His face was pale and he was trembling and kept mumbling. “The face… the face… “
“Don’t be stupid, George,” I said, “it’s only Jenny.” As I looked round for Jenny, there was a great noise on the stairs and Mrs. Jackson burst in and shouted angrily, “What’s going on here? We nearly spilt boiling water over ourselves.” And there behind her, white-faced and stunned, straight from the kitchen – where she had been told to stay and help make the tea – was Jenny!
- What were people’s reactions to the stories about the ghost?
① Many people visited the house in order to see the ghost for themselves.
② Many people were unwilling to own the house because of what they had heard.
③ People became afraid to watch TV late at night.
④ Tom’s sister believed her brother had heard unusual sounds. - What was each child supposed to do in carrying out the plan?
① Jenny would go to the kitchen to help her mother make tea.
② The writer was to stay seated with George until Jenny appeared.
③ The writer would be outside the attic door to prevent George from escaping.
④ Torn was to shine a coloured torch onto Jenny’s face to make it look horrible. - How did George’s friends get him to go up to the attic?
① They promised to let him see Jenny disguised as a ghost.
② They promised to show him the ghost that they had told him about.
③ They told him he could have tea there unwatched by the adults.
④ They told him the grown-ups would be serving tea and cakes there. - What happened after the room went dark?
① George tried to open the door but it was locked.
② George saw Jenny’s face in the light of her torch.
③ The writer closed the door and vent downstairs.
④ The writer heard puzzling sounds coming from the room. - Why did George probably get such a shock?
① He heard an alarming noise on the stairs.
② He saw a strange shape in the darkness of the attic.
③ Jenny startled him when she came out of the corner.
④ Jenny suddenly screamed when the ghost appeared.
