BERLIN EXPRESS
by Michael Austen
Assignments
Before Reading
1
Look at the back
cover of your book.
What do you think the word
‘express’ means here? Choose from:
A a criminal
B a text message
C a train
2
Berlin Express is a book title with the name of a city in it.
Try and find 5 more titles of books, films, or songs with the name of a
city or country in them.
While Reading
Chapter 1 The past and the future
1
What seemed to be the
reason why Akiko had broken up with Hiro?
2 What is an InterRail
ticket?
3 A Where would you go if you had such a ticket?
B Explain why you would go there
4 Who
did Yuki turn out to be?
5
Why did Akiko do as
if he studied his map of Europe?
Chapter
2 A meeting with a shark
1
The train to Berlin was waiting on
platform two. Have you ever heard of the curious
platform number below? If
so, write down where you know it from.
2
The man with the
silvery hair had a ‘toothy smile’? What do you think this means?
3
Hiro thought the man
looked like a shark. Why do you think this was?
4 The man’s perfect
fingernails and his clean look made Hiro wonder if he was a dentist.
Look at the list of
professions below and match them with the descriptions of their appearances.
|
profession
|
|
appearance
|
A
|
mineworker
|
I
|
pretty, but often too thin
|
B
|
ski instructor
|
II
|
strong, broad-shouldered
|
C
|
professor
|
III
|
sun-tanned; athletic
|
D
|
bouncer
|
IV
|
stern-faced, in England sometimes wearing a wig
|
E
|
judge
|
V
|
sooty-faced and dirty-handed
|
F
|
model
|
VI
|
absent-minded; unkempt, grey-haired
|
5 What surprised Hiro after
the train had braked sharply?
6 What did the light over the
toilet door mean?
7 A Write down in a complete English sentence what meant to say.
B Explain
in English: what does the word fee
mean?
A Meet me at
…
|
B Fee means …….
|
8 What had happened to the two phones?
Chapter 3 An amusing mistake
1
What did Hiro do
after he had read the man’s message once more?
2
Fill in the gaps
about M’s message to ‘the Shark’.
Hiro knew that the word assignment meant …………………………….. (A), but he thought
that it might mean …………………………….… (B) here.
|
3
When the Shark came
back, Hiro felt relaxed. However, he suddenly realised that he
had made a mistake to feel
safe. What was the mistake?
4
How did the Shark
react when Hiro told him what he had done? Circle A, B, C, or D.
A
|
He was furious.
|
B
|
He was relaxed.
|
C
|
He was annoyed.
|
D
|
He was surprised.
|
5
The mix-up had
happened because Hiro and the Shark had the same type of phone,
only the screensavers were different.
Now write down what you use as
a screensaver on your phone.
Chapter 4 A helping hand
1
Why did Hiro not want
Erik Björnson to know where he was staying in Berlin?
2
Hiro was sweating
because he had been telling lies to the man. What two lies?
3
What made Hiro so
suspicious all the time?
4
Who could have helped
Hiro to get rid of Björnson?
5
Why did Hiro think
Björnson had led him towards the end of the platform?
Chapter 5 A difficult decision
1 Why do you think the Shark said, ‘Take great care, young man. Leave Berlin alive – not
in a
coffin’?
2 Who was
Herr Albert?
3 Why did Hiro decide not to leave Berlin the next day?
Give 3 reasons.
4 Why
did Hiro not phone Akiko for advice?
5 Hiro had some cereal for breakfast.
A
What are cereals?
B
What is your favourite cereal?
Chapter 6 A visit to the police station
1
Why did Hiro wish his
camera had been stolen?
2
What went wrong when
Hiro met the first police officer?
3
What went wrong in
speaking to the second police officer?
4
What made Hiro think
that the third police officer was a detective?
5
What did Hiro think
was the equipment that Björnson was going to collect?
6
The detective heard
Hiro’s story and thought he had been imagining things.
What did he think was the
reason for Hiro’s behaviour?
Chapter 7 Painful thoughts
1
How had 13-year-old
Hiro been wrong about the car on a snowy day?
2
A Hiro had dialled 110, the Japanese emergency number.
Try and match the emergency numbers below with countries
they belong to.
Choose from: Australia,
The Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States.
|
emergency number
|
country
|
I
|
112
|
|
II
|
911
|
|
III
|
999
|
|
IV
|
000
|
|
B What three emergency services do you know?
3
Why did Hiro delete
Akiko’s text messages from his phone?
4
Why did Hiro pick up
his guidebook?
5
Why did Hiro want to
go to the Brandenburg Gate after reading about it in his
guidebook?
6
Do you think Hiro
will be at the Brandenburg Gate in time? Explain your answer.
Chapter 8 A little bit of sightseeing
1 Why did Hiro join the coach
load of Japanese tourists?
2 Who did Hiro see standing
among the columns of the Brandenburg Gate?
3 What made Hiro jump?
4 What happened just before
Hiro was entering the underground station?
Chapter 9 The safe house
1
Who did Karl Meier
say he was?
2
Draw the driver’s
face, showing a striking characteristic.
3 When did Hiro first doubt the men’s true identities?
4 What
was the safe house used for, according to Karl Meier?
5 How
did Karl Meier say they knew about Hiro’s visit to the police station?
6 A What
did Hiro think the men wanted to know from him?
B Why
had the Shark not come to ask the questions himself?
Chapter 10 Escape!
1
Why did Hiro run
upstairs instead of downstairs after his escape?
2
Why did Hiro carry
his shoes in his hands?
3
Why had one of the
men banged the door to the fire escape shut?
4
Who did Hiro thank
for his escape?
Chapter 11 The eye of the storm
1
Explain why being in
the cinema was like being in the eye of a storm for Hiro.
2
Why did Hiro choose
to sit in the back row?
3
What did Hiro think
was going on? Fill in the blanks.
He thought that the Shark was an ……………………………. (A), who was to kill
someone in
…………………….. (B) 319 of the ………………………………………… (C). He also thought
……………………………. (D) and ………………………………….. (E) had met at the
…………..……………………….. (F). The two men had seen Hiro there and had
followed him
to find out if he had told ………………………………. (G) about the intended
murder.
If so, the Shark might have to …………………………. (H) the assassination.
|
4
Do you think Hiro
liked the film he was watching? Explain your answer.
5
In Germany Hollywood films
are not subtitled but dubbed. This means that the actors
speak German instead of English.
Try to match these German
titles with their original English ones in the list below.
|
German title
|
|
English title
|
A
|
Krieg der Sterne
|
I
|
A Bug's Life
|
B
|
Meine Lieder, meine Träume
|
II
|
Pet Cemetery
|
C
|
Das große Krabbeln
|
III
|
Cinderella
|
D
|
Der Staatsfeind Nr. 1
|
IV
|
Shark Tale
|
E
|
Friedhof der
Kuscheltiere
|
V
|
Star Wars
|
F
|
Aschenputtel
|
VI
|
From Russia
With Love
|
G
|
Grosse Haie - Kleine Fische
|
VII
|
The Sound of Music
|
H
|
Liebesgrüße aus Moskau
|
VIII
|
Enemy of the State
|
A =
|
B =
|
C =
|
D =
|
E =
|
F =
|
G =
|
H =
|
Chapter 12 A voice in the ear
1
Walking towards the U-Bahn
Hiro told himself that his grandfather would not be
disappointed in him if he left Berlin the following
morning. Do you think Hiro is right?
(The answer to this question can be
found in Chapter 11.)
2 A Whose
was the voice Hiro heard on the U-Bahn?
B What
did this voice say?
3 Did
Hiro like the Brandenburg Gate by night? Explain your answer.
4 Write
down 3 words and/or sentences from this chapter to show that the Hotel Adlon
was a very luxurious one.
5 Why
was it not very likely that the receptionist would believe Hiro?
Chapter 13 Last hope!
1
Why did Hiro almost
feel like a prisoner in a cell when he was in the hotel office?
2
Why did Hiro find it
difficult to tell his story slowly and calmly?
3
What did the manager
check over the phone?
4
What did Hiro try to make
clear to the manager after he had asked Hiro if he felt less
worried?
5
How did the manager
react to what Hiro said?
6
How had Hiro recognised the Shark when he entered the
hotel?
Chapter 14 Inside the Hotel Adlon
1
Why did Hiro run away
from the hotel entrance?
2
How did Hiro get back
into the hotel?
3
Hiro saw a sign which
said ‘deliveries’. He saw a van that was carrying fruit and
vegetables. What other sort of hotel
deliveries can you think of? Write down four.
4
What did Hiro do in
the room that led off the corridor?
5 Why did he carry so many of the food cans?
6 A What
did Hiro pick up when he was near the lift?
B Why
did he do this?
7
‰
|
|
A Explain
in English what you see on the left.
|
ˆ
|
|
|
‡
|
|
|
†
|
|
|
…
|
|
B Why is the number three different from
the others?
|
„
|
|
|
Ž
|
|
|
‚
|
|
|
|
|
C What do the (English) letters GF mean?
|
GF
|
|
|
-
|
|
-‚
|
|
Chapter 15 A little bit of Schubert
1 Fill in the blanks
325 - 327
- 329 are
……………………………………….numbers.
|
326 - 328
- 330 are
……………………………………….numbers.
|
2 Why did the
man from room 320 find it strange that Hiro did not speak German?
3 Why
did Hiro use the name Schmidt?
4 Who did the man from room 320 say he was?
5 At what moment did the man start to believe
Hiro’s story?
6 How did Hiro come by the man’s telephone
number?
Chapter 16 A visit from the priest
1
Describe in some
detail the two persons (apart from Schubert) that Hiro saw when he
looked through the eyehole.
2
Why did Hiro open the
door of his room?
3
A What
caused the two dull sounds, dumf! dumf! ?
B What
was their result?
C Why
had the Shark needed the boy?
4
What horrifying
choice did the Shark offer Hiro?
5
Why did Hiro put his
hands in his pocket?
6
How did Hiro try to
win time for himself?
7
Finish Hiro’s
sentence: ‘I want you to tell her …………..’
Chapter 17 A surprise visitor
1
Why did the Shark not
shoot Hiro there and then?
2
What almost caused
Hiro to be sick?
3
‘Sorry to come in without knocking,’ Schubert had said. How had
he come in?
4
Why did the Shark
say, ‘I wish I had chosen another seat on
the train.’?
Chapter 18 A note of thanks
1
What had Hiro been
doing at the Home Security office that morning?
2
Why did Schubert put
on the blue emergency light on the roof of his BMW?
3
Who is Karl-Hendrik
Johansen?
4
What had been the
purpose of the meeting at the Brandenburg Gate?
5
Hiro and Schubert
were having a plate of seafood. What sort of fish and shellfish food
would you usually find on such a plate?
6
A Who
was Mr Schmidt?
B Why
was there only one bodyguard to protect him?
7
Look at the last page
of Chapter 16 again. The Shark said, ’How
romantic! Now I am
bringing two lovers
together in death!’.
Who were these two lovers?
8
What did Hiro get as
a reward for what he had done?
Chapter 19 A friendly word of advice
1
Why did Schubert say,
‘Hey, did I say something wrong? ’?
2
What would you do with the money if you were in
Hiro’s position?
3
What had probably
been the real reason for Akiko to break up with Hiro?
4
Why did Schubert
order Hiro to get out of the car?
After Reading
1 Write out the telephone
conversation between Hiro and Akiko in which:
Akiko
does not react too well at first and gives her reasons to be angry, Hiro apologises, briefly explains what has happened to him in Berlin and suggests to get
back together again.
Think
of something for Hiro to suggest doing together with Akiko which she is glad to accept. End the conversation on a
happy note.
2 Below are the Japanese words
that were used in Berlin Express.
Explain in English what these words mean.
|
Japanese
|
English
|
A
|
Shinkansen
|
|
B
|
Arigato
|
|
C
|
Sayonara
|
|
D
|
Hara-kiri
|
|
E
|
Itadakimasu
|
|
F
|
Samurai
|
|
