Correct tense:
the true story of treasure island
treasure island is one of the best known and most loved children’s adventure stories. it (1) (be) first published in 1883 but remains popular to this day. people (2) (think) that the story was solely the work of stevenson’s imagination, but recent research has uncovered the true origin of this thrilling tale of hidden treasure and bloodthirsty pirates.
treasure island’s author, robert louis stevenson, (3) (be) a scotsman born in edinburgh in 1850. although he (4) (live) abroad for many years, in 1881 he returned to the land of his birth for a holiday. with him (5) (be) his american wife fanny, whom he (6) (meet) five years earlier in france, and his stepchildren from fanny’s first marriage. the location of their holiday was braemar in the rugged scottish highlands.
the family soon settled into a relaxing routine. each morning stevenson (7) (get up) early and take them out for long walks over the hills. they (8) (enjoy) this for several days when the weather suddenly took a turn for the worse. trapped indoors by the heavy rain, robert’s twelve-year-old stepson, lloyd, (9) (become) increasingly bored and restless. desperate to keep the boy amused, robert (10) (get out) some drawing paper and asked the boy to do some painting.
after he (11) (paint) for several hours the boy (12) (return) to his stepfather with a beautiful coloured map of a tropical island. robert noticed that his stepson (13) (draw) a large cross in the middle of the island. “what ‘s that? ” he asked. “that’s the buried treasure,” said the boy. the thirty-one-year old author suddenly had a flash of inspiration. he (14) recently (ask) to contribute stories to a children’s magazine published by his friend w.e. henley and he (15) (begin) to see the germ of an adventure story in the boy’s picture. while the rain (16) (beat down) on the roof of his rented holiday cottage the author (17) (sit down) by the fire to write a story. he would make the hero a twelve-year-old boy, just like his own stepson. but who would be the villain of the piece?
for the last four years henley (18) (publishe) robert’s stories in his magazine, and the two had become good friends. but there was something unusual about henley; as a young man one of his legs (19) (amputate) and he walked around with the aid of an artificial wooden leg. robert (20) always (want) to include such a character in a story and thus long john silver, the pirate with a wooden leg, was born.
so, thanks to a rainy september in scotland, a publisher with a wooden leg, and the inventiveness of a twelve-year-old boy, we have one of the greatest adventure stories on the english language.

viktoria168    3   30.11.2019 22:25    146