In this book the author narrates the adventures of Robinson Crusoe.

1. When I came down from the tree, I saw that the wind and the sea had tossed the ship on land. So I decided to get to the ship. I pulled off my clothes and took the water. When I reached the ship, I saw a small piece of a rope hanging down from the side. I grasped it and got on board. Luckily, I found that all the ships’ provisions were dry. THE RAFT Now I needed a boat to collect the many things, which would be necessary to me. There were several wooden poles on the ship and a spare mast. I threw them overboard and I tied them together at both ends in the form of a raft. Finally, I cut the spare mast into three lengths and added them to the poles. My raft was now ready. I filled three chests with provisions: bread, rice, three Dutch cheeses and a little corn. In this book the author narrates the adventures of Robinson Crusoe. In this passage Robinson was at sea when his ship was stranded on a sand-bank during a storm. All Robinson’s companions died trying to reach the shore of a desert island but he survived and spent his first night up a tree because he was afraid of wild animals. • How did Robinson manage to get on board the ship? Next I looked for some ammunition and arms. There were two guns, two pistols, some cartridges, and two old rusty swords. Finally, I found two barrels of gunpowder and I got them to my raft, with the arms. I also found two saws, an axe, and a hammer. And with this cargo I put to sea. • What did he find there? • What did he do to carry to the shore all the things he needed for his survival? (adapted from Daniel Defoe, The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, 1719)

2. Daniel Defoe was born in London in 1660. His father wanted Daniel to be a priest, but he became a merchant. In 1684 he married Mary Tuffley with whom he had seven children. The author In 1703, Defoe wrote a pamphlet against the Anglican Tories, The Shortest Way with Dissenters, which caused his arrest. Then he was released in exchange for his co-operation as a secret agent. In 1704, Defoe wrote his first book, The Storm, after a hurricane caused the death of 8,000 people and damaged London and Bristol.

3. The author In 1719 he wrote The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, the story of a man shipwrecked alone on an island. The book was based on the memories of Alexander Selkirk, a Scotsman who spent four years on an island in the Pacific Ocean as a punishment for insubordination against the captain of his ship. Several other novels followed, Captain Singleton (1720), MolI Flanders (1722), A Journal of the Plague Year (1722), and Roxana (1724). Title page of the first edition of Daniel Defoe’s The Iife and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, pubIished in 1719 Defoe was one of the first to write stories about believable characters in realistic situations using simple prose. He is considered one of the founders of the English novel. Daniel Defoe died in 1731.