Present Simple and Present Continuos

We use present simple for routines/habits and facts that dont change.

We often email each other          I come from Ireland

Time expressions: never, often, usually, sometimes, always, regularly

We use present continuos for things happening now, temporary situations and change and development.

He is playing the drums now.      He is staying with us at the moment.

We are getting quite popular these days.

Time expressions: at the moment, these days, now,this term/year

Assassination of John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time (18:30 UTC) on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas. Kennedy was fatally shot while traveling with his wife Jacqueline, Texas governor John Connally, and the latter's wife, Nellie, in a Presidential motorcade.

The ten-month investigation of the Warren Commission of 1963–1964 concluded that the President was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald acting alone and that Jack Ruby acted alone when he killed Oswald before he could stand trial. These conclusions were initially supported by the American public; however, polls conducted from 1966 to 2004 found that as many as 80 percent of Americans have suspected that there was a plot or cover-up.

Contrary to the Warren Commission, the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) in 1979 concluded that President John F. Kennedy was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy. The HSCA found both the original FBI investigation and the Warren Commission Report to be seriously flawed. While agreeing with the Commission that Oswald fired all the shots which caused the wounds to Kennedy and Governor Connally, it stated that there were at least four shots fired and that there was a "high probability" that two gunmen fired at the President. No gunmen or groups involved in the conspiracy were identified by the committee, but the CIA, Soviet Union, organized crime and several other groups were said to be not involved, based on available evidence. The assassination is still the subject of widespread debate and has spawned numerous conspiracy theoriesand alternative scenarios.

Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of Boscombe Pool

About the author

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) was born in

Edinburgh, Scotland, of an artistic Irish Catholic family,

attended strict Catholic schools, and went on to train as

a doctor at Edinburgh University. It was there that he

published his first short story, before serving for seven

months in the Arctic as a student doctor on a ship. His life

was always to be a mixture of literature and adventure.

After 1882, Conan Doyle published many stories while

working as a doctor in Portsmouth, England. However,

he did not invent Sherlock Holmes until he wrote A Study

in Scarlet, his first full-length book, in 1887. A Study in

Scarlet did not attract a large readership but its reception

was good enough for Conan Doyle to publish a second

Holmes novel, The Sign of the Four (1889). This time the

story was published in a magazine. Conan Doyle started

writing short stories for magazine publications, and that

really made Sherlock Holmes and Conan Doyle famous.

Soon Conan Doyle gave up work as a doctor and became

a professional writer.

Conan Doyle now began to publish other stories of

adventure, and invented many other characters. Conan

Doyle tried several times to stop writing Holmes stories,

to free himself for new ideas – but each time he tried the

public begged him to bring the great detective back.

Conan Doyle was an active man all his life, and was

never content simply to write. In 1900 he went to

southern Africa to help the British forces in the Boer War

(1899–1902). He had a strong belief in justice and fought

for many people who were wrongly convicted of crimes.

This and the extraordinary success of his books made him

a popular public figure in his time.

Conan Doyle died in Sussex, England, at the age of

seventy-one. He is recognised now as one of the greatest

story-tellers of his age.

Summary

The story takes the great detective Sherlock Holmes to the

west of England, where he and his friend Doctor Watson

investigate a murder case.

Pages 1–10

On the train to the west of England, Holmes asked

Watson to listen to all the facts that he knows about

the Boscombe Pool mystery. The police are certain that

eighteen-year-old James McCarthy has killed his father,

Charles. Holmes is not so sure.

Pages 11–15

They arrive at Ross, near Boscombe Valley, and meet

Detective Lestrade. McCarthy’s neighbour Miss Turner

comes to tell Holmes that James is innocent. Holmes and

Lestrade go off to see James in prison. Watson stays at the

hotel wondering about the mystery.

Pages 17–26

Next day, Holmes, Watson and Lestrade go to Boscombe

Pool, where Charles was murdered. With his powers of

reasoning and observation, Holmes realises who the real

murderer is.

Pages 26–29

Holmes describes the real murderer to Lestrade, but

Lestrade simply doesn’t believe it. Later, Holmes explains

to Watson the things that enabled Holmes to solve the

mystery. Watson realises who the murderer is.

Pages 29–37

Mr Turner, Miss Turner’s father, comes to Holmes’s hotel

to see him as Holmes arranged earlier. He tells the story

of his secret past and how it has ended up as a murder

case. Holmes decides that the secrets should be kept unless

young James’s life is in danger.

Success pre-intermediate

Books and material

• Success pre-intermediate(students' book-workbook)
• The face on the screen
• Sherlock Holmes and the mystery of boscombe pool (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
• Kennedy Assassination
• Patty and the terrorist trap