Tina’s scary old flat

My friend Tina told me about the flat where she used to live. It was on the first floor
of an old house in a quiet part of town. The flat had big rooms and a view over a pretty
garden. The sitting room was at the front of the house and it had very big windows. It
was a lovely, light room but it always felt cold, even when the sun was shining brightly.
That wasn’t the only unusual thing about it. Tina said that there were lots of strange
noises in different parts of the flat. She could hear whispers in the kitchen and a man
humming in the sitting room. Tina is a very balanced person and she never felt scared
when she heard the noises. Then an incident took place in July last year.
Tina went out on a sunny morning with her brother, Dave. When they returned, the
flat felt very cold. Dave went to the kitchen to make some coffee and Tina walked into
the sitting room. She saw the back of a man’s head on the sofa opposite the window. ‘I
thought you were making coffee,’ Tina said. Then she heard Dave’s voice from the
kitchen and she screamed. She looked back at the sofa and the man had disappeared.
A month later, Tina was preparing to move to a new flat when she found an old
newspaper. She read an article about a young man who had died suddenly in the flat.

A. Find words or expressions with the same meaning as:

1. Strange: ……………………….. 4. Gone: ………………………….

2. Low quiet voices: …………………….. 5. Getting ready: ……………………
3. Afraid: ………………………..

B. Answer the questions below:

1 What was Tina’s flat like?

2 Why was it strange that the sitting room always felt cold?

3 What noises could Tina hear?

4 Did Tina react very strongly when she heard the noises?

5 In what season did the incident happen?

6 What was the weather like when Tina and Dave went out?

7 When Tina saw the man on the sofa, who did she think he was?

8 What happened just before Tina screamed?

9 What did Tina decide to do after the incident?

10 Who was the man on the sofa?

Answers:

A.

1. Unusual
2. Whispers
3. Scared
4. Disappeared
5. Preparing

B.
1 It was on the first floor of an old house. It had big rooms with a view over the garden.
2 It was strange because the sun came into the room through big windows but the room
was never warm.
3 She could hear whispers and a man humming.
4 No, she didn’t.
5 It took place in the summer.
6 It was sunny.
7 She thought he was Dave / her brother.
8 She heard Dave’s voice.
9 She decided to move to a new flat.
10 He was a ghost / the young man who had died in the flat.