Variant 2

Variant  2

READING

TASK 1

Read the given text. Match the sentences (A-H) to the passages (1-5). There are three sentences you should not use. Write your answers on the separate answer sheet.

( ) (1) Nicole Kidman spoke of the tension on her marriage to Keith Urban yesterday when he went into rehab months after the pair wed. The Oscar winner told of her upset in an interview with Russell Crowe for Oprah Winfrey Show.

( ) (2) Women will earn the same prize money as their male counterparts for the first time at this year’s Wimbledon tournament. In the past Wimbledon officials had argued that the difference in pay was justified by the fact that women play best-of-three set matches while men played best-of-five.

( ) (3) Britain’s first entirely green housing estate complete with wind turbines and rainwater harvesting facilities, is to be built in London’s Docklands. Residents in the zero-carbon development will be able to grow their own food in community greenhouse and power their TV sets with tree branches.

( ) (4) Many of England’s most popular universities may risk incurring government penalty this autumn by recruiting more students than they are allowed. Surry University which has seen a 40% increase in applications is considering ignoring a government cap on the number of students it takes in.

( ) (5) Not all the stars will be dripping with diamonds if campaigners have their way. This year Oscar’s ceremony was supposed to be conflict-free, at least in the jewels department. But the film Blood Diamond, which brought Leonardo Di Caprio a new nomination, gave the industry the perfect excuse to develop a conscience about the true origins of the jewels adorning its actresses. Campaigners protest against the fact that the diamonds are the result of hardworking slavery in the African countries just to shine at the neck, fingers or ears of fancy ladies. It remains to be seen what would happen in the end.

A Rehab hit Marriage

В Universities risk fines

C Sued in London

D Blood and blind at the Oscar’s

E Biggest shoppers

F Equal pay at Wimbledon

G Green estate

H Plane fame

TASK 2

Read the text below. For questions (6-10) choose the correct answer (А, В, C or D). Write your answers on the separate answer sheet.

NAMING COLUMBUS’ DISCOVERY

Christopher Columbus never knew why he failed to find Asia. The reason is easy to understand today. Columbus was thousands of miles from Asia. North and South America and the Pacific Ocean lay between him and Asia. He had reached the shores of two continents that Europeans knew nothing about.

One of the firts people to realize that Columbus had not reached Asia was Amerigo Vespucci. Vespucci was an Italian trader who lived in Spain. He had sold Columbus many of the things Columbus needed for his trips across the ocean.

Vespucci talked several Spanish sailors into taking him along on their westward voyages. On these trips, he became more certain that the land they saw was not part of Asia. Many of the plants and animals he saw were unknown in Asia, Europe and Africa. For that reason, he decided this must be a new continent.

Vespucci wrote much about the new continent. Then a German mapmaker made a new map of the world. In it he included the continent Vespicci had described. The mapmaker named it America in honour of Amerigo Vespucci.

As Europeans learned more about America, they found that it was not one continent but two. They named them North and South America.

Why did people keep coming to the two Americas long after everyone knew they were not part of Asia? Some, like Columbus, were looking for a water route through the Americas to Asia. Others were eager to see if the Americas had treasures too.

6 Christopher Columbus never knew ...

A why he find Asia.

В why he failed to find Asia.

C mathematics.

D Amerigo Vespucci.

7 Columbus was thousands of miles away from Asia ...

A because he wanted to find North and South America.

В so he failed to find any land.

C and he knew that.

D so he did not find the water route he was looking for.

8 Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian trader who ...

A asked Columbus to take him on his trips.

В realized Asia lay westward.

C sold things sailors needed for their trips across the ocean.

D knew all the animals and plants he saw in America.

9 Vespucci wrote a lot about the new continent ...

A but he was never able to visit it.

В and made a new map of the world.

C and finally called it America.

D and described what he had seen.

10 The new continent was named America because ...

A Vespucci knew that the land he saw was not a part of Asia.

В Vespucci was the first to realize that Columbus had not reached Asia.

C Europeans learned more about America.

D the new map of the world made by a German mapmaker included the new continent Vespucci had described.

TASK 3

Read the text. Match each passage (11-16) with the statements (A-H). There are two statements you should not use. Write your answers on the separate answer sheet.

11 Police investigating the murder of a businessman and the disappearance of his family are preparing to examine evidence taken from a remote field where his body was hidden.

A five-day excavation deep in the Devon countryside came to a halt while police continued to hunt two suspects, thought to have fled the country after killing haulage firm boss Amarjit Chohan.

12 A former Special Branch man is being questioned by detectives investigating the leaking of transcripts of telephone conversations between the Prime Minister’s chief of staff and Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness. Police files, a computer and disks were also seized when officers raided a house in Northern Ireland.

13 Detectives are stili trying to identify the body of a woman found on fire at a rural beauty spot.

A post mortem examination was being carried out in the hope of shedding light on the mystery A Sussex Police spokesman said it may take some time for a pathologist to say exactly how the woman died.

14 A four-year-old boy has died in a house fire, police have said.

The youngster’s parents were rescued from the blazing property in Frampton Close, Bransholme, Hull. Neighbours desperately tried to reach the boy but were beaten back by the intense fire and smoke, Humberside Police said.

15 Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Baghdad yesterday demanding US forces quit Iraq. Fearful of looting and enraged at a lack of basic services, the chanting mob carried banners reading ’Leave our country — we want peace’ and ’No Bush — No Saddam. Yes, Yes for Islam’. The huge demo came as it was announced that a Ј400million Iraqi rebuilding contract had been awarded to a multinational with close links to President Bush’s administration.

16 A security guard has died after a bomb in a bag belonging to a man preparing to board a flight to Cairo exploded in Jordan’s international airport.

Officials said the bag exploded at a luggage screening point in the international departures termina: of Queen Alia International Airport in the capital, Amman.

A Mob fury in Baghdad

В Police probe murder field evidence

C Ex-Special Branch man quizzed

D Worker killed in blast at Amman airport

E Boy dies in house blaze

F Police bid to identify burning body

G The Election to the Northern Ireland Assembly

H A valley in the Alps

TASK 4

Read the text below. Choose from (A-H) the one which best fits each space (17-22). There are two choices you do not need to use. Write your answers on the separate answer sheet.

A MISSING CAT

The owner of a missing cat is asking for help. ’My baby has been missing for over a month now, and I want him back so badly’, said Mrs. Brown, a 56-year-old woman. Mrs. Brown lives by herself in a trailer park near Clovis. She said that Clyde, her 7-year-old cat, didn’t come home for dinner more than a month ago. The next morning he didn’t appear for breakfast either. After Clyde missed (17) _________________ , she called the police.

When the policeman asked her (18) _________________, she told him that Clyde had beautiful green eyes, had all his teeth but was missing half of his left ear, and was seven years old and completely white. She then told the officer that Clyde was about a foot high.

A bell went off. ’Is Clyde your child or your pet?’ the officer suspiciously asked. ’Well, he’s my cat, of course’, Mrs. Brown replied. ’Lady, you’re supposed to report missing PERSONS, not missing CATS’, said the irritated policeman. ’Well, who can I report this to?’ she asked. ’You can’t. You have to ask around your neighborhood or put up flyers’, replied the officer.

Mrs. Brown figured that a billboard would work a lot better than an ’8x1 Г piece of paper on a telephone pole. There was (19) _________________ at the end of her street just off the interstate highway. The billboard had a phone number on it. She called that number, and they told her they could blow up (20) _________________ (from Mrs. Brown’s family album) and put it on the billboard for all to see.

’But how can people see it when they whiz by on the interstate?’ she asked. ’Oh, don’t worry, ma’am, they only whiz by between 2 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. The rest of the day, the interstate is so full of commuters that no one moves’. They told her it would cost only $3,000 a month. So she took (21) _________________ out of her savings account and rented the billboard for a month.

The month has passed, but Clyde has not appeared. Because she has almost (22) _________________, Mrs. Brown called the local newspaper to see if anyone could help her rent the billboard for just one more month. She is waiting but, so far, no one has stepped forward.

A the body of a woman

В a picture of Clyde

C no money in savings

D an extra-special lunch

E most of the money

F to describe Clyde

G an unprecedented attack

H an empty billboard

TASK 5

Read and complete the text below. For each of the empty space (23-32) choose the correct answer (А, В, C or D). Write your answers on the separate answer sheet.

WHO ELECTS THE PRESIDENT?

November 7, 2000 is a very special day in the United States. Voters all across the nation are (23) _________________ representatives in local and national races. Some people think that they’re voting for the president of our country too. They’re not! Again, they’re voting for (24) _________________ These representatives are called electors. They are part of a system called the Electoral College.

In most (25) _________________ the electors are chosen on a winner take all basis. That makes it possible for one candidate to win the most electors while getting less popular votes nationally than his (26) _________________.

The electors will (27) _________________ in their respective states and (28) _________________ their votes for president and vice-president on December 18, 2000. The Constitution does not (29) _________________ the electors to vote for the candidates that they are pledged to, but they almost always do. On January 6, 2001, just two weeks before the new president and vice-president take office, the votes will be counted in Congress.

If no one gets a (30) _________________ (more than half) of the electoral votes, at least 270 out of 538, the (31) _________________ will be chosen by Congress. The House of Representatives will choose (one vote per state) the president and the Senate will choose the vice-president. It’s not likely, but we could actually end up with a president from one party and a vice-president from another.

In an extremely close election, all kinds of strange outcomes are (32) _________________. Will the candidate that most voters prefer be the next president? And when will we even know?

	A	В	C	D
23	phoning	asking	wishing	electing
24	president	someone	candidates	representatives
25	village	states	cities	countries
26	mother	election	memory	opponent
27	satisfy	fit	meet	avoid
28	cast	lay	throw	take
29	force	see	remind	popcorn
30	maturity	majority	minority	competence
31	voters	winners	people	guys
32	possible	impossible	good	bad

TASK 6

For each of the empty space (33-42) choose the correct answer (А, В, C or D). Write your answers on the separate answer sheet.

UNCLE FESTER

Last year, Jack Peterson found out that he had come into a small fortune after his uncle Fes­ter (33) _________________ on. His uncle had been a heavy smoker for many years and hadn’t been able to cut down on his smoking. Jack (34) _________________ well with his uncle Fester, and often (35) _________________ on him to see what he (36) _________________. One sum­mer, uncle Fester promised (37) _________________ on his cigarette smoking after having taken 3 months (38) _________________ an extremely bad cough. Jack had look after him those 3 months and, a number of times, he had told off uncle Fester. Then he (39) _________________ with a brilliant idea to make uncle Fester give up his nasty habit. He had the local cancer society telephone uncle Fester. When they called, he told them to (40) _________________ and then put uncle Fester through. They proceeded to make out that they were looking for a volunteer to take onto help (41) _________________ the patients. Well, that frightened uncle Fester and he immediately swore to give up smoking. In fact, uncle Fester (42) _________________ jogging in order to help him feel better. He even began to look down on other smokers (although he couldn’t quite give smoking up himself). One day, as he set off on his morn­ing run, he made out a stand in the distance. A new society had turned up that day looking forpeople willing to bring up young puppies. Uncle Fester immediately went for a cute Dalmatian, and ended up taking on this new responsibility. Now, three years later Jack had come into the “small fortune” which reminded him every day of his wonderful, if not wise, uncle Fester.

	A	В	C	D
33	pass of	had passed on	passing on	has passed on
34	got on	get on	had got on	have got on
35	drop in	had dropped in	dropped in	dropping in
36	to be up to	were up to	have been up to	was up to
37	tu cut on	to cut down	to have cut down	cutting down
38	having got over	have got over	to get over	got over
39	came up	come up	comming up	had come up
40	had help on	hold on	to hold on	held on
41	looking after	look after	looked after	have looked after
42	take up	taken up	took up	had taken up

WRITING

TASK

43. Write a letter to the radio station, applying for a job in the advertising department. List your qualifications for the job in the letter.

Use the plan for this letter.

Dear Sir/Madam

State your reason for writing.

If you are applying for a specific position identify the source of the information (a person, a newspaper...) Describe your educational background and professional experience.

Say you are enclosing your resume and/or supporting material.

Thank them for their consideration. Say you are looking forward to hear from them.

Yours faithfully, (signature)

Write a letter of at least 100 words. Do not write any dates and addresses.