When war broke out in Europe in 1939, Lilian Rolfe was living in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. As she watched events unfold thousands of miles away in Europe, she became increasingly fructrated. She badly wanted to be part of the war effort and so, armed with nothing more than her courage, her love of France and her ability to speak fluent French, she embarked on the long voyage to London with one aim in mind: to join the Women’s Air Force.

This she did in 1943, but it was not long before Lilian’s linguistic talents led her to the Special Operations Executives, where she was trained for the dangerous life of a wireless operator, working in the midst of the German occupying forces in France. Lilian had been born to British parents in France in 1914 and it was to the town of Montargis just 60 miles from her birthplace that Lilian or Nadine as she was now called arrived by parashute in May 1944 with a tiny radio transmitter strapped to her body. She spent two dangerous months in the heart of occupied France, moving from one hiding place to the next, sending and receiving coded messages between the Resistance forces and London, risking torture if captured. Her job was to maintain vital radio links that informed her French colleagues when arms and supplies were being delivered – and this allowed the Resistance to continue their fight against the invaders.

On 3 July 1944 she was captured and held in series of prisons in France and Germany. Despite the eight months of continuous interrogation, Lilian refused to reveal any information that might have helped the enemy to put her colleagues and friends in danger.

Her story ended on 5 February 1945 when she was shot. After her death, Lilian Rolfe was awarded the highest French medal, the Croix de Guerre, in January 1946, and today in Montargis, there is a street that is named after her in order of the sacrifices she made to save its people.

Odette Hallowes’ life as a spy began because of a simple mistake. She replied to an official advertisement asking for photographs of the British coast, to be used for security purposes, and at the same time Odette sent a letter offering her assistance – but she accidentally sent her letter to the wrong government department. It was not long before she found herself being interviewed for the job of a secret agent, and then working undercover in France.

Born near Paris in 1912, Odette Hallowes became a British citizen when she married an Englishman in 1931. Although she had three young daughters at school in England, Odette felt compelled to go and fight for France.

In October 1942 she arrived on the French Mediterranean coast travelling by boat from Gibraltar and using the name Lize. Within a few days, the Germans invaded the southern part of France, so instead of travelling North, Odette stayed in Cannes, working as a courier along the French Riviera, carrying messages to SOE agents in Marseilles and finding houses where her commanding officer could operate his radio transmitter safely.

She worked with great courage until April 1943, when the unthinkable happened: she was betrayed by a man she trusted and both she and her commanding officer were captured by the enemy. On the long journey to prison in Paris, the two of them put a plan together. They agreed to pretend to be married and , despite much evidence to the contrary, their captors were eventually persuaded that Odette’s husband had only come to France on her insistance and had no involvement in the French resistance. She was interogated 14 times but she stuck to the story the whole time drawing attention away from the commanding officer and onto herself.

The germans were sure that Odette was in possession of the grear deal of valuable information. She alone knew where the wireless operators and the English officers she had worked with were. For the next two years she was tortured to try to extract a confession but without success. When she was moved to the concentration camp, she was denied food for a week and then locked in a cell where the only sounds to be heard were the screams of other prisoners – one of them was Lilian Rolfe. Odette revealed nothing. Her silence not only saved the lives of many people but it allowed them to continue their vital work in the French resistance, and in 1945, a few months after the Allies invaded France, Odette Hallowes escaped from the camp. She hijacked a German car and held a German officer at gunpoint until he delivered her safely to the Americans.

Unlike many of her colleagues in the SOE, Odette Hallowes survived to see the end of the war and her beloved France made free again. She was awarded an MBE and the george Cross in recognition of her bravery, endurance and self-sacrifice. She died in 1995 at the age of 83.

1. 
   Tick the correct boxes:
   

2. 
   Mark the sentences True or False:
   

1. 
   Lilian’s job was to maintain the deliveries of arms to the French Resistance.
   
2. 
   Lilian was interrogated for eight months and gave the enemy some important information.
   
3. 
   Odette delivered messages in France and found houses where she could use her radio.
   
4. 
   When Odette and the officer arrived at the prison they put a plan together.
   

Imagine you are a student at a college. Write a report for the principal of your college on the reasons why students sometimes suffer from stress on their courses. Describe activities that tend to cause the most anxiety and the signs of pressure that students most commonly show. Also include a proposal on what the college could do to help students who suffer from stress.

Write your report. (160-180 words)
Критерий D Speaking (Говорение)

Задание 3

Look at the photos and compare them. Which would you choose to define peace? Why?

Work with a partner. Choose one of the pictures and prepare to talk for about 2 minutes. Swap roles and choose a different picture. Think about:

-What is in the picture?

- What does it make you think of?

- Do you like it or dislike and why?

8. Lilian, Odette

Учащийся не в полной мере владеет языковыми компетенциями, допуская ошибки в использовании изученных грамматических конструкций. Большинство предложений не содержит грамматических и орфографических ошибок.