Preface

He fried to turn over, as if he could get away from her, but his broken legs and drugged body refused to obey. Annie poured some of the liquid on to his left ankle and some more onto the blade of the axe¹. 'There won't be much pain, Paul. It won't be bad.' It's no good screaming - no one can hear. And if you think things arc as bad as they can get, just listen to the 'morse'. Paul Sheldon is a world-famous writer. On his way to deliver the typewritten pages of his latest book, he has an accident on a snow-covered road. When he wakes up, he's in bed . . . But it's not a hospital bed. And though the woman who saved him is one of his greatest admirers, she's also dangerously insane. And in her lonely country house, she has Paul, his legs badly broken and in extreme pain, completely in her power. When she learns what he has just done to Misery² Chastain, her favourite character from his books, Paul knows he's in trouble, deep trouble. The one thing you don't do with Annic Wilkes is make her angry. She knows how to cause pain. The only question is, how much can a man stand? Stephen King is probably the most popular author now writing. There are over 150 million copies of his novels in print and he makes $2 million a month from his books and the films of his books. He was born in 1947 in Portland, Maine, USA and became a full-time³ writer after his first novel, Carrie (1973), was sold for $400,000. Many of King's books have been made into films. The screen version of Misery was one of the most popular films of 1990. Kathy Bates won an Oscar for playing Annie Wilkes. James Caan played Paul Sheldon. You tan also read Stephen King's The breathing Method and The Body in Penguin⁴ Readers.

To the teacher:

In addition to all the language forms of Levels One to Five, which are used again at this level of the series, the main verb forms and tenses used at Level Six are:

. future perfect verbs, passives with continuous or perfect aspects and the 'third' conditional⁵ with continuous forms

. modal verbs: needn't and needn't have (to express absence of necessity), would (to describe habitual⁶ past actions), should and should have (to express probability or failed expectation), may have and might have (to express possibility) could have and Would have (to express past, unfulfilled possibility or likelihood).

Also used are:

. non-defining relative clauses.

Specific attention is paid to vocabulary development in the Vocabulary Work exercises at the end of the book. These exercises are aimed at training students to enlarge their vocabulary systematically⁷ through intelligent reading and effective use of a dictionary.

To the student:

Dictionary Words:

. As you read this book, you will find that some words are in darker black ink than the others on the page. Look them up in your dictionary, if you do not already know them, or try to guess the meaning of the words first, and then look them up later, to check.

1 axe   

n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减

参考例句：

• Be careful with that sharp axe.那把斧子很锋利，你要当心。
• The edge of this axe has turned.这把斧子卷了刃了。

2 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

3 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

4 penguin   

n.企鹅

参考例句：

• The penguin is a flightless bird.企鹅是一种不会飞的鸟。
• He walked with an awkward gait like a penguin.他走路的步子难看得就像企鹅。

5 conditional   

adj.条件的，带有条件的

参考例句：

• My agreement is conditional on your help.你肯帮助我才同意。
• There are two forms of most-favored-nation treatment:conditional and unconditional.最惠国待遇有两种形式:有条件的和无条件的。

6 habitual   

adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的

参考例句：

• He is a habitual criminal.他是一个惯犯。
• They are habitual visitors to our house.他们是我家的常客。

7 systematically   

adv.有系统地

参考例句：

• This government has systematically run down public services since it took office.这一屆政府自上台以来系统地削减了公共服务。
• The rainforest is being systematically destroyed.雨林正被系统地毀灭。