The Mysterious Island - English Center

Answer keys LEVEL 2 

The Mysterious Island 

Book key 

1 a captain, master, pirate, prince, prisoner 

b Open answers 

2 Open answers 

3 a prisoners b north c over d small e master 

f eggs g Top h long i shoes 

4 a The balloon starts to go down. 

b He works for a newspaper. 

c It is very small. There is no water or trees. 

d They have one match. 

e They eat eggs and fish. 

f He has to put more wood on the fire. 

g He is very weak. 

h Somebody carries Cyrus to a cave in the mountains. 

There are signs of a man’s shoes in the wet ground, 

but they are not the shoes of the four men or the 

boy. 

5–6 Open answers 

7 a 9 b 2 c 4 d 7 e 1 f 3 g 8 h 6 i 5 

8 a Pencroft b Herbert c Cyrus d Cyrus 

e Pencroft and Spillet f Herbert and Nab 

g Cyrus h Spillet i Pencroft j Nab 

9 a They kill birds with it. 

b They light fires with them. 

c They make lights from them. 

d They climb up the rock wall on ropes to the cave. 


12 a 7 b 3 c 7 d 7 e 7 f 3 g 3 h 7 

13 a They have to watch for ships. 

b He doesn’t want the pirates to see the cave. 

c He wants to know about the ship and the pirates’ 

plans. 

d They don’t know that every pirate went down with 

the ship. 

e He can hear somebody on the island. 

14 a They use their big guns. 

b A torpedo hits the ship. Then a big wave breaks it 

into two halves. 

c They take clothes, shoes, guns and food. 

d He finds something from a torpedo. 

e He wants them to visit him. 


16 a yes b yes c no d yes e no f yes g no 

h yes i yes j no k no l yes 

17 a Who …? Pencroft 

b Who …? Captain Nemo 

c Why …? Cyrus knows his name. 

PENGUIN READERS 

Teacher Support Programme 

d Why …? They are good people and they work hard. 

e What …? Nautilus (a submarine) 

f How …? Sixty 

g Why …? The mouth of the cave fell in. 

h What …? They send it to the bottom of the cave. 

i Why …? The island is not on any maps. 

j Who …? Herbert 


Discussion activities key 


4 Suggested answer: 

They took a balloon because they were prisoners in 

Virginia and they wanted to get away from Richmond. 

They had to throw out bags and other things because the 

balloon was going down. Open answers. 


In Chapter 3 the men and the boy find Cyrus in a cave 

half a mile from the sea. Cyrus can’t remember how he 

got there because he swam to land and he was weak and 

tired. There are signs of a man’s shoes in one place of the 

cave, but nobody is wearing shoes and Cyrus’s shoes are at 

sea. 



March 5th, 1865. I am not in Richmond, Virginia now, 

but on an island in the Pacific Ocean with two men and 

a boy. The other man, Cyrus, and his dog fell into the sea 

and we can’t find them. Today I climbed up high and 

looked at the island, but I couldn’t see any sign of life. 

And there is no sign of Cyrus or his dog on the island. We 

are all very sad. 



Matches, clothes, shoes, plates, cups, etc. 



One night there was a great wind and heavy rain. Great 

waves washed onto the land and the cave on the beach 

was wet, the floor was wet and their beds and fireplace 

were not there. They had to move higher up before the 

wind came back. 

12 Suggested answers: 

‘We’ll make bows.’ Pencroft said this because they wanted 

to catch birds and they had no guns. 

‘Is this really happening?’ Pencroft said this because they 

found a box on the beach full of things. This was very 

mysterious: a heavy box couldn’t come from the sea. 

c Pearson Education Limited 2008 The Mysterious Island - Answer keys of 3



‘I’ll try to break more away.’ Pencroft said this because 

they were in the cave in the rock wall and it was dark. 

At the end of the cave the rock is thinner and they could 

make windows if they broke more rocks away. 

‘We’ll have to sleep here another night.’ Cyrus said this 

because they stayed one night at the bottom of the wall 

and then, the second night, it was dark when they came 

out of the cave in the wall. 

‘We’ll always have to have food for three or four days 

in the cave.’ Spillet said this because there will be times 

when they can’t go out of the cave for food. 


Pencroft used a knife to make bows, to cut the ropes 

round the box Herbert found on the beach. 


a The men used bows to catch birds. 

b To look at the island, to find signs of life. 

c They found everything Spillet wrote in his notebook: 

things which helped them to cook, fish, write, fight 

and build. 

d They lit branches. 

e They used ropes. 



Pencroft: Oh, I swam to the ship. 

Cyrus: What did you see? 

Pencroft: I couldn’t see much from the water. So I waited 

Cyrus: What did you do then? 

Pencroft: When they were asleep, I climbed on the ship 

Spillet: How many men were there? 

Pencroft: Fifty men, I think. They have guns. Big guns. 

Cyrus: We will wait and see. 


July 2nd: Yesterday evening, a pirate ship came near 

the island. They stayed the night. Pencroft swam to the 

ship. He saw fifty men and guns! At night, there was a 

very loud noise. Their guns hit the rocks first. Then they 

hit our cave house. We were afraid and waited. Then, a 

big wall of water hit the ship. We looked out of the cave 

window and saw the ship go down. 



20 We went to India because the Indians were fighting the 

British there. They wanted to help their country. They 

fought hard. Nobody helped them and many died. Some 

left the country. But we fought well. We stopped them. We 

won and now they hate us. 




a Captain Nemo’s little boat: they used it to get fish. 

b maps: the British ship that found them was looking for 

new islands to make new maps. 

c smoke: the ship saw the smoke and came to the island. 

d families: Cyrus and Spillet wanted to marry and have 

families. Herbert wanted to see his family again. 

e stories: Spillet wanted to tell the world his story on the 

island. Pencroft knew one or two new stories. 

Activity worksheets key 

1 a; b; e; f 

2 a Herbert b Cyrus c Spillet d Nab 

e Pencroft 

3 a The balloon was going down. 

b There was water and food there. 

c He was sad because he couldn’t find his master/ 

Cyrus. 

d He climbed to the highest place of the island. 

e He had to watch the fire and put more wood into 

it. It couldn’t go out because they had no matches. 

4 a They wanted to get away from Richmond, Virginia, 

and go North. 

b (They threw out) everything: guns, food, water, 

money. 

c (They found) a cave (and fish). 

5 The four men and the boy THOUGHT of things 

for their life on the island and Spillet WROTE them 

down in his notebook. One day, they FOUND a 

big box on the beach. They LOOKED into the box: 

everything from Spillet’s notebook was there. They 

thought this was very mysterious. Who PUT the 

things into the box? 

6 Herbert was a quick learner. He learned to make 

ROPES and catch FISH. He learned to BUILD with 

WOOD. Spillet helped him to read and WRITE. 

Cyrus taught him the story of AMERICA. 

7 a 3 

b 7. Top barked loudly because there was an opening 

in the floor of the cave. 

c 3 

8 Mystery # 1 Something carries Cyrus from the beach 

to the cave. 

Mystery # 2 A big box with a lot of things. 

Mystery # 3 Great wall of water breaks the pirate 

ship. 

Mystery # 4 A bottle to help Herbert. 

Mystery # 5 A strong white light lit a strange object 

in the water. 

c Pearson Education Limited 2008 The Mysterious Island - Answer keys 2 of 3



9 1 c 2 e 3 f 4 a 5 b 6 d 

10 The pirates wanted … 

b to have a good time with the women on the 

ships. 

Pencroft wanted … 

b to know how many pirates there were on the 

c3 

ship. 

Cyrus wanted … 

c3 

a to know what really happened to the ship. 

11 a Pencroft to his friends 

b Cyrus to his friends 

c Spillet to Herbert 

d Cyrus to Nab 

e Cyrus to Top 

12 Nemo: Do you know my name? 

Cyrus: Where are you from/Where do you come 

from? 

Cyrus: Did you fight the British/for your country? 

Cyrus: Why did you bring your submarine/the 

Nautilus here/to this island? 

Cyrus: What do you want us to do for you? 

13 a 7. He was born in India and studied in Europe. 

b 3 

c 3 

d 7. His real name is Prince Dakkar. 

e 3 

14 a Cyrus 

b Spillet 

c Nab 

d Herbert 

e Pencroft 

f Nemo 

c3 

15 1 b 2 c 3 b 




Progress test key 

1 a 2 b 5 c 4 d 6 e 3 f 1 

2 a 7. ONE man always stayed and watched the fire. 

b 3 

c 7. The sun shone and the men and the boy enjoyed 

the colours of the PACIFIC. 

d 7. The water was WARM: there were fish at the 

bottom. 

e 3 

3 a ropes 

b beds, chairs and tables 

c fireplace 

d shelves 

e windows 

4 a Because the pirates were near the cave. / Because 

there were pirates on the island. 

b Because the sea was high and they couldn’t swim to 

the ship. 

c Because they wanted to take many things: clothes, 

shoes, guns, food. 

d Because there was a bottle on the table. 

e Because he was ill / weak / dying. 

5 a between his teeth 

b the most famous and dangerous 

c the women on ships and on the quiet Pacific islands 

d inside the ship 

e food, clothes and guns 

6 ‘The Nautilus will never go to sea again because the 

mouth of the cave fell in when the great wind came. 

I am weak. I am dying. I will die in two or three days 

TODAY OR TOMORROW. When I am dead, leave 

the Nautilus and take this box with you. You will be 

rich one day. TAKE Leave the boat here WITH YOU. 

When you leave, open the white door and the wind 

WATER will come in. The Nautilus will go down and 

I want to leave it GO DOWN WITH IT. Now, please, 

have tea DINNER with me before I die.’ 

c Pearson Education Limited 2008 The Mysterious Island - Answer keys 3 of 3

The Mysterious Island - English Center

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