Edward D.I039;m no detective. In fact, most of the time I039;m

Edward D.

I'm no detective. In fact, most of the time I'm more of a snow-man, plowing through head-high drifts and 70-mile winds that plague us nine months of the year in the barren area of northern Canada beyond the permafrost line. But when you are living all alone with one other man, 200 miles from the nearest settlement, and one day that only other man is murdered well, that's enough to make a detective out of anybody.

His name was Charles Fuller, and my name is Henry Bowfort. Charlie was a full professor at Boston University when I met him, teaching an advanced course in geology while he worked on a highly technical volume concerning the effects of permafrost on subsurface mineral deposits. I was an assistant in his department, and we struck up a friendship at once, perhaps helped along by the fact that I was newly married to a sparkling blonde named Grace who caught his eye from the very beginning.

Charlie's own wife had divorced him some ten years earlier and vanished into the wilderness of Southern California. The three of us dined together regularly, and a close friendship developed along fairly predictable lines.

Fuller was in the early forties at the time, a good ten years older than Grace and me, and for as long as we'd known him he'd talked often about the project closest to his heart. "Before I'm too old for it," he'd say, "I want to spend a year above the permafrost line."

His opportunity came before any of us thought it would, and one day he announced he would be spending his sabbatical at a research post in northern Canada, near the western shore of Hudson Bay. "I've given a foundation grant for eight months' study," he said. "It's a great opportunity. I'll never have another like it."

"You're going up there alone?" Grace asked.

"Actually, I was hoping I could prevail on your husband to accompany me."

I blinked and must have looked a bit startled. "Eight months in the wilds of nowhere with nothing but snow?"

And Charlie Fuller smiled. "Nothing but snow. How about it, Grace? Could you give him up for eight months?'

"If he wants to go," she answered loyally. She had never tried to stand in the way of anything I'd wanted to do.

We talked about it for a long time that night, but I already knew I was hooked. I was on my way to northern Canada with Charlie Fuller.

The cabin when we reached it by plane and boat and snowmobile was a surprisingly comfortable place, well stocked with enough provisions for a year's stay. We had two-way radio contact with the outside world, plus necessary medical supplies and a bookcase full of reading material, all thoughtfully provided by the foundation that was financing the permafrost study

1. The narrator..
a) liked exotic countries
b) was a sociable person
c) was a risky man
d) was imposed to libe in unusual conditions
2. Charles and Henry..
a) knew each other for long
b) had the same private interests
c) used to travel around the world
d) lived in a small settlement
3. Fuller and Grase..
a) had much in common
b) hated each other
c) were on ftiendly terms
d) did the same research work
4. Charles Fuller makes an impression of a..
a) workaholic
b) purposeful person
c) lady-killer
d) recerved person
5. Fuller decided to go to the northern Canada..
a) to earn money
b) to plow through head-high drifts
c) to continue his research work
d) to accompany his friend
6. Foundation grant..
a) was given to Fuller as a support
b) was given by Fuller to study in Canada
c) was sacrificed by Henry
d) was earned on Hudson Bay
7. Grace..
a) pretended to be faithful
b) tried to catch Fuller's eye
c) was true to her husband
d) could predict the forthcoming events
8. Cabin here means..
a) a small room on boat
b) a s.r. on plane
c) a small place in the outside world
d) a small roughly built house
9. The text primarily discusses..
a) the living conditions of the explorers
b) the relations between three people
c) the narrator's plans for the future
d) the Fuller's professional success