Reading in a graph

[NZheadshot]

So my prof gave me a problem in which I need to do some work with graphs. Now I've built an algorithm that should solve the problem, but I don't know how to read a graph into the program. Can someone help me out?

Prof has given me something like this:
Number of vertices: 4
Edge list:
1-2
2-3
3-1
4-3
2-4

Thanks for the help!