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  • Read the article and answer the questions after it, choosing the correct option from the drop-down list.
    Harry Houdini was the entertainment phenomenon. He could escape from chains and padlocks, from ropes and canvas sacks. They put him in a straitjacket and hung him upside down from a skyscraper and he somehow untied himself. They tied him up in a locked packing case and sank him in Liverpool docks. Minutes later he surfaced smiling. They locked him in a zinc-lined Russian prison van and he emerged leaving the doors locked and the locks undamaged. They padlocked him in a milk can full of water and he burst free. They put him in a coffin, screwed down the lid, and buried him and … well, no, he didn’t pop up like a mole, but when they dug him up more than half an hour later, he was still breathing.
    One explanation for his feats of escapism was that Houdini could do unnatural things with his body. Rumour has it that he could dislocate his shoulders to escape from straitjackets, and that he could somehow contract his wrists in order to escape from handcuffs. This is all nonsense. If you ever find yourself in a straitjacket, it’s difficult to imagine anything less helpful than a dislocated shoulder. Contracting your wrist is not only unhelpful but, frankly, impossible because the bones of your wrist are very tightly packed together. The trick of surviving burial and drowning relies on the fact that you can live for short periods on the air in a confined space. The air shifted by an average person in a day would occupy a cube just eight feet square. The build-up of carbon monoxide tends to pollute this supply, but, if you can relax, the air in coffin should keep you going for half an hour or so.
    In other words, there was nothing physically remarkable about Houdini except for his bravery and fitness. His nerve was so cool that he could relax in a coffin six feet underground until they came to dig him up. His fingers were so strong that he could undo a buckle or manipulate keys through the canvas of a mail bag. He made a comprehensive study of locks and was able to hide lock-picks in a way which fooled even the doctors who examined him.
    As an entertainer he combined his strength and intelligence with a lot of trickery. His stage escapes took place behind a curtain with an orchestra playing to disguise the banging and sawing. The milk can in which he was locked had a double lining so that, while the lid was locked onto the rim, the rim was not actually attached to the can. Houdini merely had to stand up to get out. The mail sack he cut open he cut open at the seam and sewed up with similar thread. The bank safe from which he emerged had been secretly worked on by his mechanics for 24 hours before the performance.
    All Houdini’s feats are essentially explicable, although to explain them, even now, is a kind of heresy. Houdini belongs to that band of mythical supermen who, we believe, were capable of miracles and would still be alive today were it not for some piece of bad luck. The fact Houdini died on Halloween – the only day each year set aside to think of all things mysterious – is a fateful coincidence.
    1) Houdini’s burial alive is mentioned in the article to show that
    a) he was not always able to do what he claimed he…
    b) he had overcome his fear of confined spaces.
    c) His tricks sometimes went disastrously wrong.
    d) He was capable of extraordinary feats of survival.
    2) The author suggests that Houdini
    a) had an unusual bone structure.
    b) was not physically abnormal.
    c) was not able to put himself in a trance.
    d) needed less air than most people.
    3) Houdini was able to escape from straitjackets by
    a) turning keys he had concealed.
    b) undoing buckles through the material.
    c) cutting the canvas with hacksaw.
    d) using hidden lock-picks.
    4) Performing his remarkable stunts, Houdini
    a) failed to impress the dudience.
    b) used both his intellect and cunning.
    c) didn’t try to conceal the secret methods behind hi…
    d) had to rely on his supernatural powers.
    5) When Houdini escaped from the milk churn
    a) he was in full sight of the audience.
    b) the role of the orchestra was important.
    c) he made use of the hacksaw to escape.
    d) the container had been worked on beforehand.
    6) According to the article, many people
    a) think that Houdini is still alive today.
    b) do not believe that Houdini ever really existed.
    c) prefer to believe that Houdini had mystical powers.
    d) want to hear he scientific explanations for Houdi…

  • 1) Houdini’s burial alive is mentioned in the article to show that

    b) he had overcome his fear of confined spaces.

    2) The author suggests that Houdini

    b) was not physically abnormal.

    3) Houdini was able to escape from straitjackets by

    d) using hidden lock-picks.
    4) Performing his remarkable stunts, Houdini

    b) used both his intellect and cunning.

    5) When Houdini escaped from the milk churn

    d) the container had been worked on beforehand.
    6) According to the article, many people

    c) prefer to believe that Houdini had mystical powers.

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