Раздел 2. Чтение
B2
Установите соответствие между заголовками A – Н и текстами 1 – 7.
Занесите свои ответы в таблицу. Используйте каждую букву только
один раз. В задании один заголовок лишний.
| A. GLOBAL LANGUAGE B. HOW IT ALL BEGAN C. GREAT BORROWER D. THE LANGUAGE OF COMPUTERS | E. ENGLISH IN OTHER LANGUAGES F. FRENCH INFLUENCE G. CRAZY ENGLISH H. DO YOU SPEAK COCKNEY? |
1. It’s strange that the differences in Britain itself are greater than those between Britain and other English-speaking countries. For a Londoner, it’s easier to understand an American than a Cockney. Cockney has a pronunciation, accent and vocabulary unlike any other dialect. Cockney speech is famous for its rhyming slang. A word is replaced by a phrase or a person’s name which rhymes with it.
2. Other languages absorb English words too, often giving them new forms and meanings. So many Japanese, French, Spanish and Germans mix English words with their mother tongues that the resulting hybrids are called Japlish, Franglais, Spanglish and Denglish, In Japanese, for example, there is a verb Makudonaru, to eat at McDonald’s.
3. Have you ever wondered why the English language has different words for animals and meat? When William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066, French became the official language of the court. The English would look after the animals and cook the meat, still calling the animals pig, sheep and cow. The Normans, when they saw the cooked meat arrive at their table, would use French words – pork, mutton and beef.
4. English is mixing with other languages around the world. It’s probably the biggest borrower. Words newly coined or in vogue in one language are very often added to English as well. There are words from 120 languages in its vocabulary, including Arabic, French, German, Greek, Italian, Russian, Spanish and Turkish. 70 per cent of the English vocabulary are loan words and only 30 per cent of the words are native.
5. Have you ever wondered how many people speak English? It’s around 400 million people. Geographically, English is the most wide-spread language on earth, and it’s second only to Chinese in the number of people who speak it. It’s spoken in the British Isles, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and much of Canada and South Africa. English is also a second language of another 300 million people living in more than 60 countries.
6. In Shakespeare’s time only a few million people spoke English. All of them lived in what is now Great Britain. Through the centuries, as a result of various historical events, English spread throughout the world. There were only 30,000 words in Old English. Modern English has the largest vocabulary in the world – more than 600,000 words.
7. In the English language blackboards can be green or white, and blackberries are green and then red before they are ripe. There is no egg in eggplant, neither mush nor room in mushroom, neither pine nor apple in pineapple, no ham in hamburger. Why is it that a king rules a kingdom but a queen doesn’t rule a queendom? If the plural of tooth is teeth, shouldn’t the plural of booth be beeth? And in what other language can your nose run?
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B3
Прочитайте текст и заполните пропуски 1 – 6 частями предложений,
обозначенными буквами A – G. Одна из частей в списке А – G лишняя.
Занесите букву, обозначающую соответствующую часть предложения, в
таблицу.
Australia
Australia was the last great landmass to be discovered by the Europeans. The continent they eventually discovered had already been inhabited for tens of thousands of years.
Australia is an island continent 1 _______________________ is the result of gradual changes wrought over millions of years.
2 _______________________, Australia is one of the most stable land masses, and for about 100 million years has been free of the forces that have given rise to huge mountain ranges elsewhere.
From the east coast a narrow, fertile strip merges into the greatly eroded Great Dividing Range, 3 _______________________.
The mountains are merely reminders of the mighty range, 4 _______________________. Only in the section straddling the New South Wales border with Victoria and in Tasmania, are they high enough to have winter snow.
West of the range of the country becomes increasingly flat and dry. The endless flatness is broken only by salt lakes, occasional mysterious protuberances and some mountains 5 _______________________. In places the scant vegetation is sufficient to allow some grazing. However, much of the Australian outback is a barren land of harsh stone deserts and dry lakes.
The extreme north of Australia, the Top End, is a tropical area within the monsoon belt. 6 _______________________, it comes in more or less one short, sharp burst. This has prevented the Top End from becoming seriously productive area.
A. that once stood here
B. that is almost continent long
C. whose property is situated to the north of Tasmania
D. whose landscape - much of bleak and inhospitable -
E. whose beauty reminds of the MacDonald Ranges
F. Although its annual rainfall looks adequate on paper
G. Although there is still seismic activity in the eastern highland area
Раздел 3. Грамматика и лексика
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Прочитайте приведённый ниже текст. Преобразуйте, если необходимо,
слова, напечатанные заглавными буквами в конце строк, обозначенных
номерами B4 – B10, так чтобы они грамматически соответствовали
содержанию текста. Заполните пропуски полученными словами.
Каждый пропуск соответствует отдельному заданию из группы
B4 – B10.
Holidays in the USA
B4 What do you know about holidays in the USA? They can be divided into two groups: national and popular holidays. There __________________ ten national holidays in the USA. BE
B5 Independence day is a public holiday. It __________________since July 4, 1776 when the thirteen colonies of America declared Independence from England. For many families this is the most important festival of the year. CELEBRATE
B6 Usually on this day parades and outdoor picnics with friends and families take place. Most houses__________________ with flags and flowers. DECORATE
B7 Thanksgiving is also a national holiday. The __________________ Thanksgiving was observed by the early settlers in Massachusetts in 1629, in gratitude for their successful harvest. ONE
B8 They __________________ wild turkey as one of the main dishes. COOK
B9 Today people invite their relatives and families__________________ near to dinner to celebrate Thanksgiving. LIVE
B10 Most Americans consider Independence Day and Thanksgiving to be the__________________ public holidays of the year. GOOD
Прочитайте приведённый ниже текст. Преобразуйте, если необходимо,
слова, напечатанные заглавными буквами в конце строк, обозначенных
номерами В11 – B16, так чтобы они грамматически и лексически
соответствовали содержанию текста. Заполните пропуски
полученными словами. Каждый пропуск соответствует отдельному
заданию из группы В11 – В16.
EMERGENCY SERVICES
B11 The main emergency telephone number in Britain is 999. The number 999 was chosen because, on the old dial phones, it was considered to be the easiest to dial in __________________ or smoke. DARK
B12 The number 999 calls the fire brigade, the police, the ambulance service, a coastguard rescue service or a mountain rescue party. The first three services are the most __________________used. COMMON
B13 The procedure is to dial the emergency number (the call is free), to tell the __________________which service is needed and to give the address or location where help is needed. OPERATE
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B14 Where a specialized service is required, the call for help is often made to a branch of a voluntary __________________ or charity. ORGANIZE
B15 Their numbers are listed separately in the local telephone directory and include such bodies as Alcoholics Anonymous, the Society for the prevention of ______________ to children, etc. CRUEL
B16 Children who feel that they are in danger from adults can now call the fund Childline, using the number 0800 1111. This fund offers advice and __________________in such cases and operates on a regional basis. FRIEND
Прочитайте текст с пропусками, обозначенными номерами А22 – А28.
Эти номера соответствуют заданиям A22 – A28, в которых
представлены возможные варианты ответов. Обведите номер
выбранного вами варианта ответа.
DANIEL’S VACATION
Daniel sailed out of Southampton on the Queen Mary that evening with his mother waving from the dockside. It was nice to have someone to see him A22 ______, someone who cared about him. Daniel showed his passport to a ship’s officer at the gangplank and walked up into the ship. On deck, a steward looked at his ticket and directed him to his A23 ______. It was small but quite comfortable. He was excited as a child about his first trip abroad. While on board the great liner he wrote a long letter to his parents, which he posted five days later from Fifth Avenue. Early the following morning he purchased a ticket at a A24 ______ agency for a Pullman to Chicago. The train pulled out of Penn station at eight the same night, Daniel having spent a total of six hours in Manhatten where his only other purchase was a guide book of America. He couldn’t A25 ______ thinking about his parents. His parents didn’t know that he was going to Australia. They were sure he was going to spend his holidays in the USA.
Once the express had A26 ______the station, the Pullman carriage was attached to the super Chief which took him all the A27 ______ to San Francisco. Whenever the train pulled into a new station Daniel would leap off, buy a colourful postcard that indicated exactly where he was, fill in the white space with yet more information gained from the guide book before the train started to move. He would then post the filled-in card at the following stop and repeat the process. By the time the express had arrived A28 ______ Oakland station, San Francisco, Daniel had posted twenty-seven different cards back to his parents in the Little Boltons.
A22 1) in 2) off 3) of 4) after
A23 1) room 2) cabin 3) flat 4) place
A24 1) journey 2) trip 3) travel 4) tourist
A25 1) try 2) help 3) do 4) feel
A26 1) achieved 2) arrived 3) entered 4) reached
A27 1) route 2) road 3) way 4) direction
A28 1) in 2) to 3) on 4) at
Раздел 4. Письмо
C1 You have 20 minutes to do this task.
You have received a letter from your English-speaking pen friend Steve who
writes:
… In Great Britain most young people want to become
independent from their parents as soon as possible. Could you
tell me what you and your friends think about not relying on your
parents? Are you ready to leave your family immediately after
you finish school? Is it easy to rent a house or an apartment for
students in Russia?
As for the latest news, I have just returned from a trip to
Scotland…
Write a letter to Steve.
In your letter
- answer his questions
- ask 3 questions about his trip to Scotland
Write 100 – 140 words.
Remember the rules of letter writing.
C2
You have 40 minutes to do this task.
Comment on the following statement.
Some people think that life-long friendship exists only in books and films.
Others believe that it exists in real life.
What is your opinion?
Write 200 – 250 words.
Use the following plan:
- make an introduction (state the problem)
- express your personal opinion and give reasons for it
- give arguments for the other point of view and explain why you don’t
agree with it
- draw a conclusion