In 1608 an Englishman whose name was Thomas Coryate visited Italy. He liked the country and noted down every interesting thing he found. But there was one thing which he found more interesting than the others. In his diary Thomas wrote, “When the Italians eat meat, they use small forks. They don’t eat with hands because, as they say , do not always have clean hands”. Before leaving for England, Thomas Coryate bought a few forks.

At home Thomas gave a dinner party to show the invention to his friends. When the servant brought the steak, he took out a fork and began to eat like they did in Italy.

Everybody looked at him in surprise. When he told his friends what it was, they all wanted to take a good look at the strange thing. All his friends said that the Italians were very strange people because the fork was very inconvenient.

Thomas Coryate tried to prove the opposite. He said it was not nice to eat with one’s fingers because they were not always clean.

Everybody got angry at that . Did Mr. Coryate think that people inEngland always had dirty hands? And weren’t the ten fingers they had enough for them?

Thomas Coryate wanted to show that it was very easy to use the fork. But the first piece of meat he took with the fork fell to the floor. His friends began to laugh and he had to take the fork away.

Only fifty years later people in England began to use forks.
2. Answer the questions (письменно дайте ответы на вопросы):

1. Why did the Italians eat with the forks?

2. What did he give at home to show the invention of the Italians?

3. Why did his friends begin to laugh?

4. When did people in England begin to use forks?

Durrring the First World War Agatha worked at a hospital, and that experience was useful later on when she started writing detective stories. Her first book waspublished in 1920. It was The Mysterious Affair at Styles, and was met by the reading public withinterest. But Agatha's really great pbpularity came 1926, when she published her masterpiece, The Murder of Roger Achroydz.lrr the same year, 1926, Agatha surprised the public by suddenly disappearing for a few days after her husband wanted a divorce. She was soon found to be staying in a hotel under an assumed name. Her disapearance is still a mystery!After the divorce she married a British archaeologist, Max Mallowana. This marriage proved to be a happy one. Agatha wanted to stop using her former husband's name. But her publishers said that it would not be wise because the name of Agatha Christie had already become well known to the public. So she remained Agatha Christie to her readers for the rest of her life. Agatha Christie wrote nearly seventy novels in her career, and more than a hundred short stories.Her most famous characters are Hercule Poirots and Miss Marple. Hercule Poirot first appeared in 1920. Poirot has become a legend all over the world: the huge moustache, the egg-shaped head, his high opinion of himself, and his great ability to solve complicated mysteries thanks to his knowledge of human psycology Miss Marple is an English spinster and lives in the English village of St. Mary Mead. She does not look like a detective at all, but always succeeds where the police have failed. Instead of using a magnifying glass looking for clues, she uses her instinct and knowedge of human nature. As Miss Marple herself once said, "Human Nature is the same everywhere",In March 1962 a UNESCO report stated that Agatha Christie was now the most widely read British author in the world, with Shakespeare coming second. 

Agatha Christie was born in Devon, England in 1890 as the daughter of a British army captain. During the First World War she worked in a hospital as a nurse. Later on she got a job in a pharmacy. This influenced many of her crime stories because some of her victims were poisoned.Agatha Christie was married twice and especially her second husband travelled a lot with her. Some of her novels, like "Death on the Nile" were set in the Middle East. "Murder on the Orient Express" was written in Istanbul.At the beginning of the 1970s Agatha Christie became ill, but she went on writing. When she died in 1976 she had written over 60 novels, 150 short stories and 16 plays. Her stage play "The Mousetrap" is the longest running play in history. It was first performed in 1952 and after a record 23,000 performances it is still running today.Many of Christie's books and short stories have been turned into successful movies

Агата Кристи родилась в Девоне, Англия в 1890 году, как дочь британского армейского капитана. Во время Первой мировой войны она работала в больнице медсестрой. Позже она получила работу в аптеку. Это влияние на многие ее криминальных историй, потому что некоторые из ее жертв были poisoned.Agatha Christie была жената дважды и особенно ее второй муж много путешествовал с ней. Некоторые из ее романов, как "Смерть на Ниле" были установлены на Ближнем Востоке. "Убийство в Восточном экспрессе" был написан вначале. At начало 1970-х годов Агаты Кристи заболел, но она писать. Когда она умерла в 1976 году она написала более 60 романов, 150 рассказов и 16 пьес. Ее пьеса "Мышеловка" является самым продолжительным игра в истории. Она была впервые исполнена в 1952 году и после записи 23000 выступлений он по-прежнему работает today.Many книг Кристи и рассказов были превращены в успешных фильмов