THE MILLION POUND BANK NOTE
story -audio - quiz - essay
A SHORT STORY BY MARK TWAIN

Read this fun short story (=nouvelle) by Mark Twain and/or listen to the simplified audio version.

Then try to answer the questions embedded in the text in the slides below next to the paragraph where you can find the corresponding answer.
Cette nouvelle de Mark Twain simplifiée lue en anglais vous permet de réviser le vocabulaire du commerce et les temps du passé en anglais.

Idéale pour étudier en vue du TOEIC tout en se distrayant.

Répondez aux questions intégrées dans le nouvelle pour vous exercer et faites le quiz en ligne sur la nouvelle pour vérifier que vous avez bien retenu le vocabulaire.
What is a bank note?
A bank note is an instrument of commerce. It is a piece of paper that constitutes a promise from a bank to pay sum of money to the person who possesses the note.

Whoever possesses that piece of paper can either obtain the amount of the note or obtain credit based on the value stated (written, indicated) on the letter.

That person is called the bearer (le porteur).

(to bear/bore/born à when were you born? I can’t bear being laughed at).

It is also a bill (un billet de banque).

So a bank note is money. Only it can't be redeemed for cash at the bank by a stranger when only two banknotes in that amount have been issued.

The Million Pound Bank-Note

  1. Find a synonym of shelter

    2. heaven
    haven
    harbor
    sailor

  2. T0 be bound for means:

    3. to go to
    to be on the verge of
    to be on board
    to be lost

  3. How would you translate "to venture" in French?

    4. s'aventurer
    s'éloigner
    se rapprocher
    s'ouvrir

  4. "I was dragging myself" is a sentence conjugated:

    5. in the present simple
    in the past continuous
    in the present continuous
    in the present perfect

  5. Where did the narrator try to pick the pear from?

    6. The road
    The sewer
    The sidewalk
    The gutter

  6. To supplicate is a synonym for

    7. to bet
    to beg
    a beggar
    to implore

  7. A riddle is :

    8. a charade
    a mind-puzzler
    a guess
    a small horse

  8. Why does Henry no longer need a job at the end of the story?

    9. Because Henry kept the bank note
    Because Henry is going to marry Portia
    Because Henry earned his own money by partnering with LLoyd
    Because Henry owns the California gold mine

  9. Brother A is:

    10. Portia's dad
    Portia's uncle
    Portia's brother
    Portia's step-father

  10. When Portia and Henry get married, Brother B is going to become

    11. Portia's dad
    Henry's brother in law
    Henry's father in law
    Portia's grand father
VOCABULARY QUIZ
THE MILLION POUND BANK-NOTE
To go further:

Personal essay TOPICS:
Do you think that story could happen in real life?

Do you believe the outcome of the bet would be different nowadays (=de nos jours)?

Are there things money can't buy?
Mark Twain’s biography

Watch a video about Mark Twain and answer the following questions:
What are the two novels for which Mark Twain is best known?
______________________________________________

_____________________________________________
List of questions on the Million Pound Bank Note

Why does Henry hesitate to grab the pear?

What was the bet between the brothers?

How much money did the brothers bet?


Why was Henry chosen to be the subject of the bet?


What did Henry do first with the money?


What happens when Henry is first given the note?


Why does Henry return to the house?

What happens after Henry realizes he can not return the note to the brothers?

What would Henry get at the end of the 30 days if he still had the note?

How did Miss Langham react when Henry told her the truth about the money? Why?

What happened to the bank note?