“Columbo” was my favorite TV series when I was a child, so it sounded
natural when I told my family I decided to be a detective. After years
of hard work, I realize my duties have less to do with the glamour of
Hollywood movies than I thought at the beginning, but it’s still more
challenging and full of emotion than most of the jobs my friends have.
When I arrive at a crime scene my first duty is to pay attention to every
detail and collect proof of what had happened. I have to check the
suspects list and discover if they have any motives to want the person
dead. When I find a clue, I have to use it in order to find a solution to
the crime.
Fortunately, there aren’t many murders where I live, so in most of the
days I investigate bank assaults or house invasions. There aren’t nice
either, but it’s much better to try to catch a thief than an assassin.
COLUMBO is an American crime fiction TV series, starring Peter
Falk as Lieutenant Columbo, a homicide detective with the Los
Angeles Police Department. It was created by William
Link and Richard Levinson. The show popularized the inverted
detective story format. With the exception of a couple of special episodes with
added twists, almost every episode began by showing the commission
of the crime and its perpetrator. As such, there is no “whodunit”
element. The plot mainly revolves around how the perpetrator, whose
identity is known, would finally be exposed, and arrested. The
show's creator once referred to it as a "howcatchem".
Match the words and expressions to their definitions (look up in a dictionary if necessary):
( 2) excitement, adventure, and unusual activity
1. assault
(5 ) stimulating, interesting, and thought-
2. challenging provoking ( 4) the place where a crime has been
3. clue committed
( 8 ) evidence to establish something as true, or to produce belief it is
4. crime scene
true ( 9) a person who is suspected, especially of a crime, offense or the
5. glamour like
6. invasion ( 10) a list of people who are suspected of committing a crime
(3) anything that serves to guide or direct in the solution of a crime,
7. investigate, to
mystery, etc.
8. proof (7) to examine, study, or inquire into systematically; search or examine into
9. suspect the particulars of; examine in detail.
(1) an unlawful physical attack upon another; an attempt or offer to do
10. suspects list
violence to another
11. thief (6 ) the act of breaking into a house or
building (11 ) a person who steals
Complete the sentences with one of the words / expressions
from the previous exercise (make the necessary changes):
1. The detectives couldn’t find any clue to accuse Jimmy.
2. I like this kind of exercises because they’re always so
challenging !
3. Now we have to analyze the crime scene to see if one of them
was elsewhere when the crime was committed.
4. The police officer be carefully the suspect .
5. We need to install window bars to avoid an assault while we
are away.
6. The detective found hair strand on the victim’s clothes, and that’ll be an important
proof to solve the case.
7. Most of the teenagers who want to be models don’t mind about the difficulties they’ll face,
they are fascinated by the job glamour .
8. Let’s check all the suspects list again and see where they were at the time of the murder.
9. The police arrested the thief who stole your jewelry, Ana.
10. The woman passed out during the bank assault .
Answer the questions about the first text:
A. Why wasn’t a surprise for the man’s family when he decided to be a detective?
Because he always liked the detectives tv shows
B. What did he realize about his job?
He realized like a glamour holliwood shows
C. How does he describe it?
He pay attention to all the details in the crime scene
D. What’s his first duty at a crime scene? What does that mean?
Pay attention to all the details and search of proof
E. What does he do next?
Check the suspect list and discovered the motives to the person die
F. What does he do when he finds a clue?
Used it to resolve the crime
G. What does he investigate in most of the days? Why?
Bank assaults or house invasions
Mark true (T) or false (F) according to the second text (be prepared to explain it orally
when it’s false):
A. “Columbo” is a Mexican soap opera. (F )
B. Columbo is a homicide detective. (T )
C. The fictional detective Columbo works in Los Angeles. ( T)
D. The series shows a detective story in inverted format because we already know who the
criminal is since the very beginning. (f)
E. Most of the detective stories don’t have the “whodunit” element. (T )
F. “Whodunit” means “to discover who was killed”. (T )
G. The challenge in this series is how to expose and arrest the criminal. (f )
H. Instead of having a “whodunit” element, the series can be referred as “howdoit”. (F )
