LEVEL 4 The Thirty-Nine Steps < Answer Key >
Chapter 1
Preview Questions
1. I think thirty-nine steps means thirty-nine ways of doing something.
2. Yes, I think Thirty-Nine Steps is an interesting title for a story.
No, I don’t think Thirty-Nine Steps is an interesting title for a story.
3. I think this man died in a very strange way.
Review Questions
1. Scudder said that he was dead because he wanted the men who were trying to kill him to think that he was dead.
2. Paddock was Richard Hannay’s servant.
3. The man that Scudder feared the most was a very rich and cruel man.
Chapter 2
Preview Questions
1. I think Hannay should call the police and report Scudder’s murder.
2. I think the police will blame Hannay for murdering Scudder.
3. I think the man that Scudder feared the most murdered him.
Review Questions
1. If Hannay told the police about Scudder they would think that he was the one who murdered him.
2. Hannay found Scudder’s little black notebook in the cereal box.
3. The milkman gave Hannay his uniform after Hannay gave him twenty-five pounds.
Chapter 3
Preview Questions
1. I think the police will arrest Hannay for the murder of Scudder.
2. Yes, I think Hannay will be safe on the train.
No, I don’t think Hannay will be safe on the train.
3. Yes, I think Hannay will meet other people on the train.
No, I don’t think Hannay will meet anyone else on the train.
Review Questions
1. Hannay couldn’t read Scudder’s notebook when he first found it because it was written in a secret code.
2. When Hannay jumped off the train a man yelled ‘suicide!’ which brought a lot of attention to Hannay and made his departure very public.
3. The landlord told the two men that Hannay was there but had left that morning on a new motorcycle. Chapter 4
Preview Questions
1. Yes, I think it was a good idea for Hannay to steal the car.
No, I don’t think it was a good idea for Hannay to steal the car.
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2. Yes, I think the information in Scudder’s notebook will help Hannay.
3. As Hannay tries to hide from the police, he will face hunger, shelter, and money problems.
Review Questions
1. The 15th of June was an important day because it was the day that an important French officer called Royer was coming to London.
2. Hannay met Sir Harry when he was about to crash into his car. Luckily, Hannay saved himself and met the driver of the other car, who was Sir Harry.
3. Sir Walter Bullivant is a friend of Sir Harry’s uncle. He will help by meeting Hannay in June and possibly helping him with his situation.
Chapter 5
Preview Questions
1. Yes, I think Sir Harry will do what he says he will do.
No, I don’t think Sir Harry will do what he says he will do.
2. Yes, I think Hannay will get to meet Sir Walter Bullivant.
No, I don’t think Hannay will get to meet Sir Walter Bullivant.
3. Yes, I think Hannay’s enemies will find him.
No, I don’t think Hannay’s enemies will find him.
Review Questions
1. Hannay threw his bicycle in a pond because he knew that the men looking for him knew he had a bicycle.
2. Hannay pretended that he was a road worker so that the men looking for him wouldn’t recognize him.
3. Hannay didn’t like Jopley because he thought Jopley was one of those men that make money from rich young men and old ladies.
Chapter 6
Preview Questions
1. Yes, I think Jopley will tell the police what happened.
No, I don’t think Jopley will tell the police what happened.
2. Yes, I think Hannay will get caught.
No, I don’t think Hannay will get caught.
3. Now that Hannay doesn’t have the notebook anymore, I think he will try to figure out a new way to stop the men on the 15th of June.
Review Questions
1. Hannay got the police to run the wrong way by getting them to follow him and then running the opposite way when they couldn’t see him anymore.
2. The bald man in the house was Hannay’s enemy.
3. No, the bald man doesn’t believe Hannay’s story.
Chapter 7
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Preview Questions
1. When the bald man returns, I think he will try to get Hannay to tell him Scudder’s plan for the 15th of June.
2. Yes, I think Hannay will get out of the storeroom.
No, I don’t think Hannay will get out of the storeroom.
3. I think a way out of the house might be in the storeroom.
Review Questions
1. No, the police did not catch Hannay.
2. Hannay found wire, detonators, fuses, and powder in the storeroom. He used these things to make an explosive and escape from the storeroom.
3. After Hannay escaped he hid in a mill and then he hid on the ledge of an old stone birdhouse.
Chapter 8
Preview Questions
1. I think Hannay feels tired, hungry, worried and scared.
2. Yes, I think Hannay will get better.
No, I don’t think Hannay will get better.
3. Yes, I think he will meet someone that will help him.
No, I don’t think he will meet someone that will help him.
Review Questions
1. Hannay got a blanket from a shepherd’s wife.
2. Hannay knew that the man on the bridge was Sir Walter because he whistled a tune and Sir Walter whistled back the same one.
3. The police had stopped hunting Hannay because Sir Walter told them that Hannay did not murder Scudder.
Chapter 9
Preview Questions
1. Sir Walter may now try to do whatever he can for Hannay now that he knows Scudder was right.
2. Yes, Hannay has done everything he needs to do to stop the Black Stone.
No, Hannay has not done everything he needs to do to stop the Black Stone.
3. If I saw someone who was wanted for murder I would call the police.
Review Questions
1. Only five men knew that Royer was coming to visit England.
2. When Jopley saw Hannay on the street he called him a murderer and told some others to not let him escape.
3. Hannay knew that the man who left the house was not the First Sea Lord because he recognized him and he called the First Sea Lord’s house to find out that he was in bed.
Chapter 10
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Preview Questions
1. Yes, the men from the government will believe that it was not the First Sea Lord.
No, the men from the government will not believe that it was not the First Sea Lord.
2. Yes, I think the enemy has learned all the positions of the ships.
No, I don’t think the enemy has learned all the positions of the ships.
3. Yes, the Navy can change the position of their ships.
Review Questions
1. Royer said that they would not have time to change the plans for his country.
2. No, Hannay did not think the police would find the men who matched the descriptions because the men were very good at disguises.
3. Rich people who had holiday houses lived at the Ruff.
Chapter 11
Preview Questions
1. Yes, Hannay will find a house with thirty-nine steps down to the beach.
No, Hannay will not find a house with thirty-nine steps down to the beach.
2. Yes, Hannay will find the three men of the Black Stone.
No, Hannay will not find the three men of the Black Stone.
3. Yes, I have pretended to be someone else. It was/wasn’t easy.
No, I have never pretended to be someone else.
Review Questions
1. Trafalgar Lodge was the name of the house with the thirty-nine steps.
2. Two of the men were playing tennis, and the other man had been playing golf.
3. No, the men did not do anything to make Hannay suspicious.
Chapter 12
Preview Questions
1. Yes, I think Hannay has the right house.
No, I don’t think Hannay has the right house.
2. I think Hannay will explain that he knows who they are when the men open the door.
3. Yes, I think the men inside the house are dangerous.
No, I don’t think the men inside the house are dangerous.
Review Questions
1. When Hannay said he was going to arrest the men, they just laughed and told Hannay that he had made a mistake.
2. The old man tapped his fingers against his leg which helped Hannay to recognize him.
3. The old man offered Hannay some money as a guarantee that his ‘nephew’ would return the next day.
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LEVEL 4 The Thirty-Nine Steps < Summaries >
Chapter 1
Richard Hannay was bored, but this changed when a man called Scudder comes to his flat and asked for his help. Scudder was a spy and his enemies were trying to kill him because of the things he knew. He told Hannay that he had pretended to kill himself and now he needed to hide. Hannay agreed to help him, but a few days later found Scudder murdered in his flat.
Chapter 2
Hannay realized the police would think he murdered Scudder. He also thought that Scudder’s enemies would want to kill him. He escaped from his flat by disguising himself as a milkman. Then he got on a train.
Chapter 3
Hannay traveled north on the train. He got off at a small station and walked to another station further along the line and caught a train going back again. He jumped off the train when it stopped, but a dog barked at him and everyone saw him leave. He walked to the top of a hill, but he saw a small plane and worried that he could not hide from the enemy there. He went to a hotel and talked to the hotel owner who agreed to help him. Two men came to the hotel looking for Hannay but the owner told them he had gone. The next morning they returned, but Hannay stole their car and drove off.
Chapter 4
Hannay read the real story in Scudder’s notebook. He drove through a village and was almost stopped by the police. He tried to find a remote area where he could hide the car, but had an accident and the car went over a cliff. The driver of the other car helped him and gave him food. His name was Sir Harry. Hannay decided to help Sir Harry by giving a speech at a political meeting. Sir Harry wrote to his friend, Sir Walter, and told him that Hannay would come to visit him and tell him important news. Hannay went up into the hills on a bicycle.
Chapter 5
Hannay realized that the Black Stone men knew where he was, but he had nowhere to hide. He saw a road worker and took his place and did his job. Three men from the Black Stone talked to him, but they thought
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he was a road worker. He escaped from the hills by stealing another car and driving to a more remote part of the hills.
Chapter 6
Hannay slept under a rock and woke to find the police searching for him. He managed to escape from them and walked into a house. The house, however, belonged to the Black Stone, and they locked him up in a storeroom.
Chapter 7
Hannay was locked in the storeroom where he finds explosives and blew a hole in the wall. He escaped and hid in a mill and then in a bird house. The Black Stone men couldn’t find him. He hid there most of the day and left that night.
Chapter 8
Hannay went back to the road worker’s house to get his clothes and the black notebook. Turnbull looked after him while he recovered from the explosion. When he was better, Hannay went to Artinswell to find Sir Walter and tell him about the plot revealed in the black notebook. He found Sir Walter and had dinner with him.
Chapter 9
Sir Walter changed the date of the important meeting with Royer, and Hannay took a walk in London. He felt that there was more for him to do, but he didn’t know what it was. Jopley saw him and tried to stop him. Hannay hit Jopley, and a policeman tried to arrest him. He ran to Sir Walter’s house and got in. He saw a man who said he was the First Sea Lord, but Hannay realized that it was a member of the Black Stone in disguise. He told Sir Walter about it.
Chapter 10
The men from the government were surprised to learn that the man who sat in their meeting was not the First Sea Lord, but they began to make plans to save the navy. Using the information in Scudder’s notebook and their own knowledge, they decided that the Black Stone were hiding near the coast in a house with thirty-nine steps down to the beach. They thought this would be at Bradgate, and Hannay went there with a police officer.
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Chapter 11
Hannay found the house with the thirty-nine steps and saw some men who lived in it. Everything looked very normal. He and the police officer went out on a boat to visit a small yacht and found that it had a German captain. They went back and watched the house. As high tide neared, Hannay went to the front door of the house and rang the bell.
Chapter 12
The men in the house almost convinced Hannay that they were just normal English people. But then he noticed that one of them tapped his fingers in a certain way and moved his eyes like a bird’s eyes. He called the police and they arrested the men and captured the boat. Three weeks later, war began.
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