The Mask of Zorro

It was a typical February storm for southern California. A group of soldiers were sitting in a small inn on one side of Los Angeles town square. The rain was pouring down, and the wind was making a terrible noise. It was quite comfortable inside, and the soldiers were having fun playing cards and drinking wine. “More wine!” shouted Pedro Gonzales. He was the sergeant of the soldiers in the inn. “Devils howl in the wind, and demons are in the raindrops! This is an evil night, isn't it senior?” “It is!” The fat landlord agreed filling the wine mug again. Pedro Gonzales had a terrible temper when his wine mug was empty, and the fat man knew it clearly. “They are saying that this Senior Zorro is abroad again. He has been seen in Los Angeles,” he said. Gonzales threw his mug onto the floor and stood up. Everybody kept silent. “Ah, that Senior Zorro again! Do I have to hear his name all the time? I hate it!” He continued shouting. “Nobody knows his name. Nobody has seen his face. He wears a black mask and cuts the faces of his enemies with his sword marking with the letter Z. Then people call it the Mark of Zorro.” Otto-Classics Graded Readers Series are outstanding classics written by famous writers. The language and vocabulary in the books are controlled and simplified by specialist ELT authors and compilers according to Common European Framework so that they can be easily understood by new learners of English. Depending on the eight levels from A1 to B2+, the longer stories are divided into a number of chapters and every chapter has its own activities. Some of the activities in the books are meant to be done in pairs. You may work with a partner to solve problems and design projects that reflect not only your own thinking but also new ideas you and your mates will discover by working in groups.