Section 3 grammar. We analyze the Unified State Examination in English: section “Grammar”
A. Safe solutions are still needed.
B. International efforts to stop pollution.
C. Science for nature protection.
D. Set to protect nature.
E. Air pollution in the chain of global destruction.
F. We are all elements of the global ecosystem.
1. People have lived on our planet for many years. We may live on different continents and in different countries., but we all depend on our planet., on the sun, on animals and plants around us. We must take care of Earth but not destroy wildlife. Many species of animals and birds are disappearing nowadays. We cut down trees to make furniture, but we forget that people can"t live without trees and plants. Every little creature or thing on Earth plays its own part and makes our home unique.
2. One of the biggest eco problems is pollution.The main reason of pollution is rubbish. Most of our rubbish goes to big holes in the ground, called "dumps". But dumps are very dangerous for our life, because they are full of rats, which can carry infections away from dumps. Another way to get rid of rubbish is to burn it. But the fires make poisons, which go into the air and pollute it. This is the problem scientists should get interested in. Such researches are worth spending money on.
3. The Royal Society for the prevention of cruelty to animals (the RSPCA) tries to protect animals from bad use. It operates big nation campaigns aimed at lost pets and circus animals. The World Wildlife Fund (The WWF) rescued several species of animals, mammals as well as birds. These organizations also helped to create more than 250 National parks. Greenpeace began its work 20 years ago from saving whales. And now Greenpeace is a world-famous organization, which saves plants, animals and people.
4. Every year the world industry pollutes the atmosphere with about 1000 million tons of dust and harmful substances. Many cities suffer from smog. Vast forests are cut down and burn in fire. Their disappearance upsets the oxygen balance. As a result, some rare species of animals, birds. fish and plants disappear forever, a number of lakes and rivers dry up. The pollution of air and the world destruction of the ozone layer is the result of man's careless interaction with nature, a sign of ecological crises.
5. Numerous conferences have been held to discuss questions of ecologically poor regions including the Aral Sea, the South Urals, Kuzbass, Donbass, Semipalatsinsk and Chernobyl. An international environmental research center has been set up on Lake Baikal. Scientists are also doing much to preserve the environment. But these are only the initial steps that must be carried forward to protect not only for the sake of the present but for the future generations.
Litter is garbage – like food, paper and cans – on the ground or in the street. Where many people
live together, litter is a problem. People don't always put their garbage in the bins. It's easier to
drop a paper than to find a bin for it. But litter is ugly. It makes the city look dirty, and it spoils
The wind blows papers far away. Often they are difficult to catch. When they blow against a
fence, they stay there. This fence is a wall of garbage.
Litter is a health problem, too. Food and garbage attract animals, which sometimes carry disease.
Some people want to control litter. They never throw litter themselves, and sometimes they work
together in groups to clean up the city. In most places litter is against the law. The law punishes
people who throw garbage in the streets. They usually pay a fine, and occasionally they go to
Two famous sayings in the United States are: “Don’t be a litterbug!” and “Every litter bit hurts!”
| 10. |
Litter is a problem among people.
| 11. |
There are special bins for different garbage in the streets.
1) true 2) false 3) not stated
| 12. |
Papers are easy to catch.
1) true 2) false 3) not stated
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| The famous writer ________ his poem in 1947. | WRITE | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| The old man ________ at his garden at 3 o`clock yesterday. | WORK | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| They ________ home by 4 o`clock yesterday. | COME | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| He ________ the text before the film began. | TRANSLATE | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| She ________ computer games the whole evening yesterday. | PLAY | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Class Option 1
Section 2. Reading
B2 Match headers 1 - 8 and texts A - G. Record your answers in the table. Use every figure just one time. There is one extra heading in the task.
The secret of successful small talk
1. Pay compliments.
2. Start with the obvious things.
3. Ask about their personal problems.
4. Turn the attention to others.
5. Avoid difficult themes.
6. It's not so difficult.
7. Pay attention.
8. Use friendly body language.
A. You're at a cocktail party. There are lots of people there but there’s nobody that you know. What do you do? The good conversationalist would choose to walk up to someone and introduce yourself. We all know people like that - people who can talk to anyone about anything. How do they do it? Well, the good news is that the re is no great secret to small talk. There are just some simple techniques that anyone can use to start a conversation and keep it going.
B. In the film Annie Hall Diane Keaton and Woody Allen have just met and they want to impress each other. While they are talking their inner thought appear in sub-title on the screen. ‘Listen to me—what a jerk.’ he probably thinks I’m stupid.’ Thoughts like these kill a conversation. So don’t try to impress other people. Just relax and be yourself. When you talk to someone you show that you are interested in them. So you don’t have to talk about deeply important things. Just talk about simple things like the weather or a television program that you saw.
C. TV journalist Barbara Walters recalls that when she was younger she met the author, Truman Capote. She wanted to tell him that she liked his book. However, she thought that he must be tired of hearing that, so she just mumbled ‘How do you do?’ and turned away. She forgot that everyone likes to receive a compliment and it’s an easy way into a conversation, especially if you follow it up with a question: ‘I really liked your book. How long did it take you to write it?’ or ‘That’s a nice jacket. Where did you buy it?’
D. Your face and your body can communicate much more than your words. If you stand with your arms folded or if you keep looking around the room, the conversation will quickly end because you will look uninterested. Instead, you should make eye contact; keep an open posture and smile. If you send out friendly messages, you will get friendly messages back.
E. A Victorian lady once compared the two British prime ministers, Gladstone and Disraeli. ’When you speak to Mr Gladstone’, she said, ’you think he is the most interesting man in the world. But when you speak to Mr Disraeli, you feel that you are the most interesting woman in the world.’ People like to talk about themselves and they will think you are fascinating if you ask questions that allow them to do so.
E But people often don’t listen properly. They are too busy thinking about the next thing that they themselves want to say. Good conversationalists listen carefully and they show that they are listening, too. They ask questions, nod their head in agreement or say things like 'Oh that sounds exciting'.
F. There are some topics that you should avoid. Don’t ask people about personal problems, money or religion. It’s also a good idea to avoid the kind of statements that say ‘I’m right. You're wrong. It’s all right to express your opinions but soften your comments with expressions such as ‘I’m afraid I have to disagree with you there’. So, there is no secret to successful small talk. Just follow these simple rules and you’ll soon find that you can hold a pleasant conversation with anyone about anything.
| A | IN | WITH | D | E | F | G |
AT 3 Read the text and fill in the blanks A - G parts of sentences indicated by numbers1 - 7. One of the parts in the list 1 - 7 is extra. Enter the number indicating the corresponding part of the sentence into the table.
August 1997
I will never forget what I was doing when I heard about the death of Princess Diana. It was Sunday morning and A __________. I got up and made myself a cup of coffee. It was about ten past seven. At that time there is usually some farming news on the radio. On Sundays there are also religious programs. I don’t usually listen to the radio early on Sunday mornings but I switched it on.
A woman in the studio was asking questions and a man was answering them by telephone. The man said: 'We must think about the children at this tragic time.' Tragic? What was he thinking about? IN __________ and a few seconds later the woman said: ‘We have changed this morning’s programs to bring you news of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.’ I felt a terrible shock and WITH _________. That morning I telephoned about 25 people but D_________.. We didn't know what to do. Eventually my sister and I decided to go to Kensington Palace, where Diana lived.
E __________, there were about a thousand of people there. Some of them were putting flowers at the palace gates. Others were standing quietly in Kensington Gardens. A lot of people were crying and hugging each other. There were a lot of journalists and photographers. My sister was very angry F __________. ‘Go away!’ she shouted at one of them. 'This is all your fault!'
1. when we arrived
2. I listen more carefully
3. when she saw them
4. I couldn't sleep
5. everyone was in deep shock
6. I was doing nothing
7. I couldn't believe it
| A | IN | WITH | D | E | F |
Section 3. Grammar and vocabulary
Read the text below. Transform, if necessary, the words printed in capital letters at the end of the lines indicated by numbers B4 - B10 so that they grammatically correspond to the content of the text. Fill in the blanks with the given words. Each pass corresponds to a separate task from the group B4 - B10.
AT 4’Cars cause pollution and should _______ from BAN
Centers city centers.’ What do you think? In the past,
people traveled by horse and so city
B5 centers ________for cars. They were built for rid- NOT DESIGN
ers and pedestrians. The question now is: should
we adapt them for cars or should we make city
centers car-free zones? Cars cause lead pollu-
tion and thousands of children have asthma or
suffer brain damage. Cars also cause
B6 noise pollution and can stop people ________. SLEEP
AT 7 People ________ every day on the roads in car ac- KILL
incidents and also in road rage incidents where
drivers attack other drivers. It's awful! So why
do we have cars? For getting around, of course,
and to make it easy to get from one place to an-
other. They carry as much luggage as we want
AT 8 and are ________ than public transport. FAST
B9 If we banned cars from city centres, we ________ NEED
big car parks and then free public transport to
our destination. People might walk more and be
B10 In the future who ________ what will happen? Sci-KNOW
ence may solve the problem. We may have elec-
tric or solar-powered cars that know where they
are going. Things will certainly be different.
Read the text below. Form words with the same root from the words printed in capital letters at the end of the lines marked with numbers B11 - B16 so that they grammatically and lexically correspond to the content of the text. Fill in the blanks with the given words. Each pass corresponds to a separate task from the group B11 - B16.
B11 The film “Titanic” made in the US in 1997 EXPENSIVE
the _______ film ever made at almost $250
million. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate
Winslet, it was directed by James Cameron
and won 11 Oscars, including the Oscar for the best film.
B12 Why is the film so ________? Miranda, aged 13, SUCCESS
has seen the film three times and now has the
video. ’I almost know the script by heart,’ she
says, 'and I still have tears in my eyes at the end.
B13 It makes a big ________ to me to think that it’s a DIFFER
true story. It really happened.’
B14 Her mother is by the research. 'James PRESS
Cameron spent an enormous amount of time
and money to get everything just right and ex-
actly as it was on the real Titanic. It's a great
story and there’s never a dull moment in the
film.’ George agrees that the special effects
B15 are ________ , but says, ’I didn’t much like the CREDENT
B16 and some parts were rather _________.It was long PREDICT
too - so I don’t think I’ll see it again.’
Read the text with gaps marked A22 - A28. These numbers correspond to tasks A22 - A28, which presents possible answers. Circle the number of the answer option you selected.
The price of fame
Charlotte Church looks like a normal teenager but she is far from average. She has an amazing voice. Her fans stand in queues for hours to get tickets for her concerts and she is often on television. Charlotte's singing A22 _________ began when she performed on a TV show at the a ge of 11. The head of record company was so impressed by her voice that he A23 _________ her up on the spot. Her first album rose to number one in the charts.
Charlotte still attends school in her home town when she can. A24 _______, she is often away on tour for weeks at a time. She doesn’t miss out on lessons, though, because she takes her own tutor with her! She spends three hours every morning with him. Her exam results in all the |A25 __________ she studies are impressive.
But how does she A26 ___________ with this unusual way of life? She A27 ________
that she has the same friends as before. That way be true but she can no longer go into town with them because everyone stops her in the street to ask for her autograph. It seems that, like most stars, she must learn to A27 _________ these restrictions and the lack of privacy. It’s the price of fame!
| A22 | 1) profession | 2) job | 3) labor | 4) career |
| A23 | 1) signed | 2) wrote | 3)made | 4) picked |
| A24 | 1)Although | 2) While | 3) For | 4) However |
| A25 | 1) titles | 2) materials | 3)subjects | 4) lessons |
| A26 | 1) cope | 2)adjust | 3)bear | 4) tolerate |
| A27 | 1) denies | 2) refuses | 3) insists | 4)complains |
| A28 | 1) look down on | 2) make do with | 3) put up with 4) run out of |
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Let's consider the next section of the Unified State Exam - Grammar and Vocabulary, which is the most voluminous in terms of material covered and labor-intensive to prepare. Today we’ll start with the first part – tasks 19 – 25, testing your knowledge of grammar.
general information
The “Grammar and Vocabulary” section of the Unified State Exam differs from a similar section only in the presence of a third task on knowledge of lexical units and combinability. The first is on grammar, the second is on word formation and the third is on general knowledge lexical part of the language being studied.
The “Grammar” part, if done correctly, will give you 7 points.
After a certain workout, the entire section will require not the prescribed 30 minutes, but 20 minutes, which can save time for the rest of the exam. And for the “Grammar” part – about 7 minutes.
Tasks 19 – 25
The first tasks in this section test all grammatical knowledge acquired or not acquired over 11 years of schooling. No life hack will help here if the student is stupid and lazy and knows little about this very grammar. Why, even if he knows, but forgot under the influence of stress/sleepless night/parting with the love of his life, the possibility of guessing the correct option is practically zero, because these very options are not here, you need to enter them yourself. And even if you were lucky and guessed the correct grammatical form, but wrote it incorrectly, you still won’t see the coveted point.
To make this overwhelming task easier, at the training stage I propose the following scheme (also in the form of a table below):
- If in front of us noun:
1) The most likely thing is to form a plural form from it (learn all the exceptions, such as foot - feet, and if the plural is formed according to the general rule, then be careful - does the final y change to i, does f change to v , is -es added instead of the usual -s).
Example: Machu Picchu, often called “The Lost City of the Incas”, is probably the most famous symbol of the Incan Empire. Machu Picchu is located 7,875 _______ FOOT ________ above sea level in Peru. (correct answer is FEET)
2) Less likely is the possessive form of a noun (like world - world’s). This case is easy to recognize - after the omission there will be another noun.
Example: This was my ____FRIEND_____ worst habit. (correct answer – FRIEND”S) - If you see pronoun(for example, I), put it in the objective case (me) or possessive (my or mine). A reflexive form is also possible – myself. In the sentence below, there is a noun after the gap (hereinafter, the example pictures are from the demo version of the 2016 exam), so the only option here is the possessive case, which is placed before the noun.
The demonstrative pronoun (this, that) must be placed in the plural. h. (these, those respectively). Indefinite pronouns (some, any, no, every and their derivatives) are less common in tests, but the codifier warns that they may come across.
- WITH numerals everything is magically simple - we transform quantitative into ordinal, remembering all the subtleties of correct spelling (for example, one – first).
Example: My ___TWO_____ thought was that I had mistaken the number of the house. (The correct answer is SECOND) - Adjective or adverb put it in some degree of comparison. A small life hack - if the gap is preceded by than or the construction the... the... (for example, the better you prepare, the better mark you have), it is comparative, and if the, then it is superlative. Here you need to remember that there is no need to write the a second time, only the superlative form itself.
Example: The ______ BAD _________ moment was when I remembered that I had recently asked staff members to give me their home numbers. (The correct answer is WORST)
Attention! In this task, students continually strive to turn an adjective into an adverb or add a negative prefix to the front. Please note that this can only be done in the next task. - But with verbs you'll have to work hard (that's why the table below is so confusing). And first, understand whether we have a personal form (one that changes over time) or an impersonal one (active or passive participle, infinitive or gerund).
1) Find out impersonal form easy - the sentence already has a predicate, expressed in the personal form of the verb, that is, our gap is not in the place of the predicate, but in another place in the sentence, ideally if there is a comma in front of it, which clearly hints at something different from the predicate.
Let's look at an example from the 2017 demo, the first two tasks. There is a comma before the gap in task 19, clearly hinting at a phrase that complements the main sentence “The name Alaska comes from the Aleut word alaxsxaq.” All that remains is to understand whether the clarifying phrase has an active or passive meaning. Since the word itself means something, we draw a conclusion about the active meaning of the participle and write meaning.
In task 20, the clarifying phrase is also separated by a comma. When translated, its passive meaning becomes clear, the word did not form itself, it was formed, so we add the passive ending -ed to the verb form.
The same grammatical phenomenon occurs in task 22. But here everything is made easier by the semantics of the word locate. After working through the nth number of examples, it becomes obvious that when you see the word locate you need to wait for a passive meaning - either this is a personal passive form of the verb, or a participle with a passive meaning located:
2) If in a sentence the gap comes after the subject, and the predicate is missing, we definitely have personal form.
As with the participle, we decide whether it is an active voice or a passive one (by translating the sentence) and then think about what tense to put it in. The same sentence (or previous ones) may contain clue words. If they are not there, we look at the proposal itself and what surrounds it.
Let's look again at the 2017 demo. We can understand that we see the personal form of the verb in tasks 21 and 23 by finding the subject - it stands right before the gap, which in task 21 and structure in task 22. In the first case, to understand the passive nature of the verb, we will need a translation, in the second case - The preposition by is used, in most cases indicating the passive.
Having avoided all the pitfalls, you should not make mistakes in spelling by learning the rules of spelling and irregular verbs. In task 24, for example, we see the personal form of the verb (in place of the predicate), we understand that it is in the active voice (the participants themselves win the competition), we determine the tense - the past, because all the sentences surrounding it are in the past tense, and according to According to the rule of tense coordination, we know that next to Past, as a rule, there is Past or Future-in-the-Past. Since this sentence does not have specific indicators of time, and it simply denotes an event in the past, we choose Past Simple.
You also need to be able to recognize sentences conditions(and constructions with I wish) or coordination of times in indirect speech, which can also be found here.
Example: One day I decided to ask him why he always chose this type while driving. “Well, sister,” he reluctantly replied, “to be frank, it’s mainly so you can’t sing along.” He added that he _______LISTEN___________ to anything else if only I promised not to sing along. (The correct answer is WOULD LISTEN, agreement of tenses in indirect speech)
I understand that the entire scheme for completing the task seems confusing and raises doubts, but after about two months of working on it, the student remembers everything and begins to reason independently.
Please note how to fill out the form for this assignment - all in capital letters and without spaces. If the answer contains apostrophe, for example – didn’t like, then he recorded in a separate cell. In general, Ms. Verbitskaya advises avoiding apostrophes in favor of the full form - did not like, because “the computer may not count them.”
There will be no life hacks here, because if you don’t prepare for this part of the exam, it will be impossible to guess and logically calculate something. It is better to start preparing for tasks 19 – 25 a year before the exam, distributing all the topics and repeating them a month or two before the exam. I follow this scheme in mine.
A few general ones advice on implementation:
- Read the ENTIRE text, because the clue about the grammatical form may not be in this particular sentence, but in the previous one. Or the next one.
- If you have correctly identified the form, take care to write it correctly. If the spelling is clumsy, it will not be taken into account.
- Check again.
- If you don’t understand, write at least something, you never know.
Tutorials
I cannot make you happy and tell you - here are 2-3 books, everything you need to prepare is in them.
To prepare for tasks 19-25, you will have to study the codifier yourself and choose the appropriate ones grammar topics for studying. I use the following tools in preparation:
Once I was traveling in Italy. It was a lovely day. I wandered along the street until I came upon some
parasol-shaded tables which seemed to very nice. I settled and opened my book. I
| B5 |
It was taking a long time for the waiter to arrive, but I was in no hurry. I was sure that the waiter soon. COME
| B6 |
But finally, becoming impatient, I turned to signal for service and saw the neon sign. That was the
moment... I discovered that I was sitting outside a store selling garden furniture. BAD
The Great Wall of China
| B7 |
The Great Wall of China runs for 6,700 kilometers from east to west of China. It is one of the GREAT
wonders of the world.
| B8 |
The Great Wall the country form different aggressors. BUILD
| B9 |
The construction of the Wall in order to protect in the 6th century BC and lasted until the 16th century AD. BEGIN
UK: Conservation and Environment
| B11 |
Going for a walk is the most popular leisure activity in Britain. Despite its high density and POPULATE
widespread urbanization, the UK has many unspoilt rural and coastal areas.
| B12 |
Twelve National Parks are freely accessible to the public and were created to conserve the beauty, NATURE
wildlife and cultural heritage they contain.
| B13 |
Most of the land in National Parks is privately owned, but administered by an independent National Park Authority which
works to balance the expectations of with the need to conserve these open spaces for future generations. VISIT
| B14 |
The UK also works to improve the global environment and has taken global warming ever since SERIOUS
scientists discovered the hole in the ozone layer.
| B15 |
In 1997, the UK subscribed to the Kyoto Protocol binding developed countries to reduce emissions of the six main
greenhouse gases The Protocol declares environmental PROTECT
It wasn’t unusual for Amos to go to Deravenels on Saturday, even though the offices were closed over the weekend. He A22 to go to tidy up his paperwork and do other small jobs he couldn’t attend to during the week.
But on this Saturday morning he had a specific purpose when he arrived at the grand old building on the Strand. The uniformed doorman A23 Amos close his umbrella and take off his raincoat. Then he touched his cap and said, “Good morning, Mr. Finnister"
Amos had come to the office to A24 a few telephone calls. His first call was to the Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel, where he quickly discovered the records office was not open on weekends. He then dialed Ravenscar and was put through to Edward Deravenel.
“Good morning, Amos,” Edward said. “I’m assuming you have some news for me.” Amos then relayed all the information he had gathered the night before.
“Well done, Amos!” Edward exclaimed. “Thank you for going into all this you. My wife will be happy as A25 I knew I could depend A26 I am to know everything; it’s been such a mystery all these years. To A27 the truth, I think that Grace Rose should also know what happened to her mother. It will finally put her mind at rest.”
“I agree, sir. I will telephone you on Monday.” Amos walked home, A28 no attention to the heavy rain. He felt happy.
| A22 |
1) held 2) took 3) used 4) kept
| A23 |
1) looked 2) gazed 3) stared 4) watched
| A24 |
1) take 2) do 3) make 4) give
| A25 |
1) worry 2) trouble 3) bother 4) mess
B1
- I prefer watching films at the cinema.
- I’m not keen on films with special effects.
- I have seen several very good films recently.
- I usually trust my friends’ opinions of films.
- Watching films at home seems more fun to me.
- I am not influenced by film reviews in newspapers.
- Cinemas are too expensive for me these days.
A1
The Friends of Fisher Park is a group of 25 children.
A2
The local council is planning to build some flats where the park is now.
1) True 2) False 3) Not stated
A3
The man thinks local children need a place to play.
1) True 2) False 3) Not stated
A4
The group has just sent a letter to every councilor.
1) True 2) False 3) Not stated
A5
There are council elections every two years.
1) True 2) False 3) Not stated
A6
The man has decided that he wants to be on the local council.
1) True 2) False 3) Not stated
A7
The council will make its decision about the park next month.
1) True 2) False 3) Not stated
A8
You will hear a news report about a fire. What was its probable cause?
- a person
- lightning
- faulty electrical wiring
A9
You will hear a politician talking about her career. When did she become interested in politics?
- at school
- at university
- at work
A10
You will hear a man talking about his house. What is he going to build next?
- an extension to the living room
- a swimming pool
- a garage
A11
You will hear a nurse talking to a patient. What does he want the patient to do?
- get out of bed
- eat her lunch
- take her tablets
A12
You will hear a woman talking about a lot of money. How did she get it?
- She won the national lottery.
- She entered a competition in a magazine.
- She inherited it from a relative.
A13
You will hear a singer talking about his next album. What inspired him to write the songs on the album?
- his success
- a relationship
- his recent tour
A14
You will hear a woman talking about moving to another country. What did she find difficult?
- getting a job
- learning the language
- meeting new people
- UNUSUAL RELATIONSHIPS
- SIMILAR CHARACTERISTICS
- DIFFICULT PERIODS
- TWO TYPES
- IMPORTANT MOMENTS
- MISTAKEN BELIEFS
- MANY RESPONSIBILITIES
- HOME ALONE
1. In Britain, most families are "nuclear families". This means that the family consists of the parents and children. Of course, there are uncles and aunts and grandparents too, but they don’t have much to do with raising the children and often live a long way away. In many other countries, the extended family" is more common. With the extended family, uncles, aunts and grandparents live much closer to the parents and children - sometimes even in the same building - and everyone in the family has a much closer relationship.
2. Most teenagers say at some point: “When I’m a parent, I’m going to give my children much more freedom than I have now.” When they do actually become parents however, they soon realize that giving a child or teenager lots of freedom is not always the best thing to do. Many parents end up hearing their children saying to them exactly the same things they said to their parents when they were young.
3. What does bringing up a child involve? Giving a child love and making a child feel safe in their environment are extremely important. So is providing food and warmth. Parents also have a duty to teach their children the difference between right and wrong, and to make sure their children get a good education. Some parents believe that their role is also to teach children about the importance of things such as family, religion and society.
4. The English phrases "a chip off the old block" and like father, like son" (or "like mother, like daughter") are used to show the similarities between a parent and their child. These might be similarities in terms of appearance, behavior or interests. For example, if a dad loves watching cricket and his son Eric becomes interested in cricket too, you might say, "Eric's a chip off the old block, isn't he?"
5. "Latchkey kids" are a major problem in many countries, including Britain and the USA. These are children whose parents are still at work when they come home from school, so there is no one at home to look after them. Their parents aren’t there to help them with their homework, and some of them spend hours on their own before their parents return.
6. The idea of "quality time" is based on an understanding that the amount of time a parent spends with their child is not the only important thing. What is also important is what they do together during that time. Ten minutes of discussing problems that a teenager is facing may be much more valuable than two hours of watching a movie together in silence.
7. Families work well when things are going well, but the real test of a family comes at times of stress. Perhaps Mum has been working too hard, or perhaps young Amy is taking exams at school. These are times when all families can find themselves fighting instead of helping each other. When a family is going through a crisis like this, it can often help to talk to someone outside the family. It could either be an expert, such as a family counselor, or a trusted family friend.
The Eden Project, near St Austell in Cornwall, is not just one of the area’s major tourist attractions. Over a million people visit the Eden Project each year. It is now one of the most popular attractions in the whole of the UK, 1 ___.
Tim Smit was the person responsible for turning the Eden Project from a dream into a reality. Built on the site of an old china clay quarry, the Eden Project currently consists of two "biomes" and a Visitor Centre, 2 ___.
Each biome is an enormous greenhouse. And they are enormous! The Humid Tropics biome, which contains plants and trees from tropical countries, is 100 meters wide, 200 meters long and 55 meters high. The second biome, which is called the Warm Temperate biome, is slightly smaller. Visitors walk through the biomes 3 ___.
The biomes also contain sculptures, waterfalls and birds and insects from the same environments that the plants come from. Information is given about each plant 4 ___.
The latest addition to the Eden Project is the Core. This building contains classrooms and exhibition spaces where visitors learn more about the environment. The design of the building matches the philosophy of the Eden Project, 5 ___.
The Eden Project has appeared in films and is used as a venue for other forms of entertainment, 6 ___
- despite being fairly new
- using shapes from nature
- including concerts and plays
- whereas there are no plans for other biomes
- so visitors understand the display
- which includes a cafe and gift shops
- looking at the thousands of plants and trees
Damian would never have called himself a bully. A victim of bullying himself on the occasion, if he’d thought for one second that he was bullying his classmates, he would have been devastated. The idea that he bullied his friends had never even entered his head. But now he was having to face up to the fact that perhaps in certain ways he was a bully.
It had all started in the mid-morning break, when Damian and a couple of his friends were discussing what to do about Frank Rice. Frank Rice was a bully and the whole school knew it. The question was, should they tell a member of staff the next time Frank picked on one of them? Damian thought they should. Chris and Will thought that they shouldn't. As they were arguing, Damian said: "We've got to do something. He’s making people’s lives a misery. It can’t go on like this." There was silence when Chris replied: "Well, he’s not the only one, you know. You should take a look in the mirror, Damian, before accusing other people. You're not perfect, you know."
Damian was so shocked, he didn’t know how to reply. He didn't know where to begin. Finally, he managed to ask: “What on earth do you mean? You’re not suggesting I’m a bully, are you? How am I like Frank Rice?”
Will explained. "No, you're not like Frank Rice at all. Chris didn't mean that. You don't hit people, you don't want to be horrible and nasty. You're usually just trying to be funny, but sometimes the things you say do hurt people. Quite often, in fact."Give me an example," said Damian.
“Well, take yesterday, for example,” said Will, “when we were in the changing room after football. You kept saying how Chris was such a terrible goalie, you seriously wondered if he’d been bribed by the other team.”
T was only joking!" protested Damian. "You know that, Chris, don’t you? I was only tempting."
"That's exactly the point," said Will. "You were tempting Chris. And you do that a lot. It’s not very nice, you know. I could see that Chris was upset, even if you didn’t notice."
"Were you, Chris?"
"Well, I can’t say I enjoyed it, to be honest. And Will’s right. You do seem to do it a lot."
The bell rang, and they went off to class. Damian found it hard to concentrate for the rest of the morning. The conversation he'd had with Will and Chris kept coming back to haunt him. Was he a bully? If he was, he certainly didn’t mean to be. But there was no escaping the fact that two very good friends of his thought that his comments often hurt them.
At lunch, Damian, as usual, sat next to Chris and Will. "Guys, I've been thinking about what we were talking about earlier and I think you're right. I just want to say that I'm really, really sorry. You're my best friends, and I'd never do anything to hurt you on purpose. I can see that I do sometimes say things that would upset you, and I'm going to make a real effort not to do that from now Still friends?"
"Of course we are, Damian," said Chris. "But thanks" "No problem," said Will.
In the changing room that afternoon after football practice, Damian, Chris and Will were discussing the game. Will had fallen over the ball at one point, and Damian was just about to make a joke about it when he stopped himself. Am I allowed to say something like that?" he thought to himself. "We are friends. We've got to be able to joke with each other. Or is it too nasty?" Damian decided not to say anything on this occasion, but he began to realize that keeping his promise to Chris and Will would not be as easy as he’d thought.
A15
From the first paragraph we learn that Damian has
- sometimes been bullied by other people.
- never thought about bullying before.
- briefly considered bullying his classmates.
- only been bullied once in his life.
A16
The boys disagree about whether
- Frank will bully them again in the future.
- they should have told a teacher about Frank.
- Frank is making people feel very miserable.
- to tell a teacher if Frank bullies them again.
A17
When Chris tells Damian to "take a look in the mirror", he means Damian should
- look at what Frank has done to him.
- take more care with his appearance.
- think about his own behavior.
- remember that no one is perfect.
A18
Will's explanation to Damian suggests that Frank Rice
- never tries to make people laugh.
- sometimes uses physical violence.
- doesn't want to be nasty either.
- only uses language to hurt people.
A19
The example from the previous day that Will gives shows that
- Will thinks it is extremely funny when Damian teases Chris.
- Damian only teases Chris and never makes jokes about Will.
- Damian's jokes about Chris and Will can sometimes be cruel.
- Chris gets more upset by Damian’s comments than Will does.
A20
Damian finds it difficult to concentrate in class because he
- is angry his friends have accused him of being a bully.
- believes he will never be friends with Chris and Will again.
- is continually looked at by Will and Chris during the lessons.
- can’t stop thinking about what he’s been accused of.
A21
In the changing room, Damian understands that
- it is difficult to balance making jokes with being nice.
- he has already broken his promise to Chris and Will.
- keeping his promise is the most important thing to him.
- stopping himself from saying nasty things will be impossible.
| A15 | A16 | A17 | A18 | A19 | A20 | A21 |
Upon completion of tasks B2, VZ and A15-A21, DO NOT FORGET TO TRANSFER YOUR ANSWERS TO ANSWER FORM No. 1
PLEASE NOTE that the answers to tasks B2, V3 and A15-A21 are located in different parts of the form.
Section 3. Grammar and vocabulary
Alexander Fleming
Have you heard of penicillin? It’s a type of medicine that
Q4 ___KILL___
bacteria. Bacteria can cause infections.
Q5 ___DIE___
in the past because of them.
A doctor from Scotland called Alexander Fleming discovered antibiotics. Fleming
Q6 ___STUDY___
medicine at St Mary's Hospital in London.
During the First World War, he worked in a hospital in France,
Q7 ___HELP___
the soldiers who had been hurt.
After the war, he
Q8 ___MAKE___
an important discovery. He discovered a way to kill bacteria.
At the time, however, other doctors
Q9 ___NOT UNDERSTAND___
how important Fleming's discovery was. Because of this, he stopped doing his experiments.
Q10 ___TAKE___
several years for scientists to realize that Fleming had found a way to save millions of lives.
Harry Houdini is said to be the greatest magician of all time.
He started doing his magic show professionally in the USA in 1891. In 1893, he met a fellow
B11 ___PERFORM___
called Bess Rahner. They married three weeks later and, for the rest of Houdini’s career, Bess worked as his
B12 ___ASSIST ___
Houdini mainly concentrated on card tricks at the
Q13 ___BEGIN___
of his career. It was his incredible escape acts, though, that brought him fame and great wealth.
In 1904, after a four-year
B14 ___EUROPE___
tour, Houdini returned to the States with cause for
B15 ___CELEBRATE___
He had become a major star in the entertainment world and audiences couldn’t get enough of his
B16 ___DRAMA___
and exciting act. Houdini carried on thrilling audiences until his death in 1926, at the age of 52.
"Jane, will you marry me?"
It was not the most romantic of settings. Graham and Jane were in the supermarket, and Jane was in the middle of pointing out to Graham that the supermarket"s own
A22 ___
of soup was exactly the same as the more famous, but more expensive, soup next to it.
"don't be silly, Graham," was Jane's reply.
I'm not being silly. I'm deadly serious." To
A23 ___
it, Graham got down on one knee.
"Graham, people are looking. Get up!"
"Not until you give me an answer," said Graham, beginning to get annoyed.
"All right. The answer's no."
Graham paused. "No?" he finally said. "No? Why not? Give me one good
A24 ___
"He began to feel slightly uncomfortable - physically and emotionally.
"I can't believe we're having this conversation here," said Jane. "Let's just finish the shopping and go home." “I’m not going anywhere until you’ve explained to me why we shouldn’t get married. We love each other!”
"Of course we do," said Jane,
A25 ___
if she was talking to a young child, "but that doesn’t mean we should get married, does it? You get married when you want to settle
A26 ___
and make a life together. I only met you three months ago. Ask me again in a year or two, if we’re still going
A27 ___
"If... if," stammered Graham. "You think we might not be?"
"Graham!" said Jane. "You're being ridiculous! Now, let's not talk about it again.
A28 ___
me a packet of spaghetti, would you?"
Graham handed Jane the spaghetti. "So, you"ll think about it, then?" he asked eventually. Jane rolled her eyes, let out a deep sigh, and pushed the trolley over to the breakfast cereals.
- product
- brand
- style
- present
- exhibit
- reveal
- prove
- thought
- sense
- reason
- cause
- Deliver
- Donate
- Forward
| A22 | A23 | A24 | A25 | A26 | A27 | A28 |
Upon completion of tasks B4-B16, A22-A28, DO NOT FORGET TO TRANSFER YOUR ANSWERS TO ANSWER FORM No. 1
PLEASE NOTE that the answers to tasks B4-B16, A22-A28 are located in different parts of the form. When transferring answers in task B4-B16, letters are written without spaces or punctuation marks.
Section 4. Letter
| For answers to tasks Cl, C2, use ANSWER FORM No. 2. When completing tasks C1 and C2, pay special attention to the fact that your answers will be assessed only based on the entries made in ANSWER FORM No. 2. No notes from the draft will be taken into account by the expert. Please also pay attention to the need to comply with the specified amount of text. Texts of insufficient length, as well as part of the text exceeding the required volume, are not evaluated. When filling out ANSWER FORM No. 2, you first indicate the task number Cl, C2, and then write your answer. If one side of the form is not enough, you can use the other side of the form |
C1
You have 20 minutes to do this task.
You have received a letter from your English-speaking pen friend Rebecca, who writes:
| My parents often get annoyed with me because I spend a lot of time on the phone talking to my friends. How can I explain to my parents that my friends are very important to me? How can I stay in touch with my friends if I don’t use the phone? What can I do about the situation? By the way, a new shopping center has opened in our town! |
Write a letter to Rebecca. In your letter:
- answer her questions
- ask 3 questions about the new shopping center
Write 100-140 words. Remember the rules of letter writing.
C2
You have 40 minutes to do this task. Comment on the following statement.
Technology is an important part of our lives. We use computers and other electronic equipment at work and in the home. However, some people believe we rely too much on machines, and that the more technology improves, the lazier and weaker humans will become.
What can you say for and against future technological developments?
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.
Section 5. Speaking
Tests for the examinee
C3
Task 1 (3—3.5 minutes)
Give a 2-minute talk on your best friend.
Remember to say:
- what your best friend looks like
- why do you like him/her
- when and how you met
- what you have in common with him/her
You have to talk for 1.5—2 minutes. The examiner will listen until you have finished. Then he/she will ask you some questions.
C4
Task 2 (3—4 minutes)
You are on holiday with a friend and it is your final day. You have time to see one more tourist attraction before leaving. You and your friend are discussing what to go and see. You can go:
- to an art gallery
- to a funfair
- to a castle
- to a beach
You begin the conversation. The examiner will play the part of your friend.
Remember to:
- discuss all the options
- be polite
- take an active part in the conversation
- come up with ideas
- give good reasons
- find out your friend’s attitudes and take them into account
- invite your friend to come up with suggestions
- come to an agreement
Texts for listening
B1
Speaker 1: I suppose I watch several films a week, whether that’s at the cinema, on TV or getting a DVD from the local video store. What have I seen in the past few days? The latest Star Wars movie. That was fantastic! The effects were brilliant! A comedy with Hugh Grant. He's so funny. I just laughed and laughed. Oh, and a movie I’ve wanted to see for a long time, Cinema Paradiso. It was incredible. Really moving. I cried for the last hour!
Speaker 2: I’d much rather watch a romantic comedy, say, something with Hugh Grant in it, or a movie like Cinema Paradiso than a big-budget blockbuster like Star Wars or War of the Worlds. I mean, they just use computers to create the effects, don’t they? I’d much rather see a film with good acting and a good script than loads of explosions or computer-generated aliens.
Speaker 3: I love films. I can watch anything, really. doesn’t matter if it’s just full of special effects or it’s a really simple drama. I go to the cinema quite often, but I’d never decide to see a film on the basis of what it said in the paper. That’s just one person’s opinion, isn’t it? And reviewers look at films differently to the rest of us, anyway. No, if I like the sound of the title, or if I know any of the actors in it, I"ll probably risk it.
Speaker 4: Well, I do like going to the cinema, but it’s not as cheap as it used to be. If we took the kids, by the time we bought some popcorn and had a drink, it’s about £50. That’s a lot of money for a couple of hours of some special effects. It’s a shame, though, because the kids really do enjoy seeing a film in the cinema. Makes it more of an event. It's just not worth it financially, though.
Speaker 5: Well, we do watch quite a lot of movies at home. We watched the latest Star Wars film only the other night on DVD. Great effects, by the way. But the problem with watching films at home is that there’s too many distractions. People talk and the phone rings. That kind of thing. When you actually see a film on the big screen, you get so much more involved with what's happening. It's strange - there's more people around you, but you can actually concentrate more.
Speaker 6: There are just so many films on these days that it’s not always easy to decide what you want to see. Reviews in magazines or online can be useful, but I usually want to ask people I know what they think of the films. They know what I like, and they usually have a good idea of whether I’d like a film or not. Sometimes they get it wrong, but not often.
A1-A7
Journalist: Hello, I’m looking for John Stapleton.
Journalist: Oh, hi. My name's Janice Short. I’m a reporter with the Pennington Evening News. I wonder if I could ask you a few questions.
Man: About the council’s plan to close the park?
Journalist: That's right, yes.
Man: Fantastic. We need all the publicity we can get.
Journalist: So, who exactly is "we"?
Man: Well, we’re just a group of people who live round here, really. Most of us have children. There’s about twenty-five of us, I’d say, who are actively involved. We're calling ourselves the Friends of Fisher Park.
Journalist: And what exactly do you hope to achieve, Mr Stapleton?
Man: It’s very simple. We want to stop the council from destroying the park to build a block of flats.
Journalist: You do accept, though, that we really do need some new, cheap accommodation in the town centre?
Man: Oh yes. We do recognize there’s a problem, and that land is in short supply. But to destroy the only green area for miles around. Well, it’s a disgrace. Kids can't play in the streets anymore, obviously. We've got to give them somewhere to be able to run around. The park’s been that place for over fifty years, and we won’t give it up without afight.
Journalist: Do you think you’ve got a chance of winning?
Man: I do, yes. The people are all on our side, you know.
We’ve got a letter which we’re going to send to every councilor next week. It's got over two thousand signatures on it.
Journalist: But will the council listen to you?
Man: Well, it’s council elections in about six months. If they don"t, I think they"ll find that a lot of people don’t vote for them. They're supposed to represent us, aren't they? If they don"t, why should we vote for them?
Journalist: Are you considering standing for a council position in the next election, then?
Man: I haven’t made my mind up yet, to be honest. It's a possibility, though.
Journalist: So, you’ve got the letter. What happens next?
Man: Well, the council meets on the 24th of this month to make a final decision. We"ll all be at the meeting, of course. And I hope lots of other people will be too. The more people we can get there, the more pressure there"ll be on the council to change their mind.
Journalist: Well, good luck. Thanks for your time.
Man: My pleasure!
A8-A14
Man: And in local news, police have announced today that initial reports that the fire at Johnson’s Hardware Store, on the Dagenham Road, was caused by a lightning strike were unfounded. Investigators have also ruled out faulty electrical wiring and police are now searching for a woman who was seen at the building just minutes before the fire started.
Woman: Well, I did an A level at school in politics and economics, and I actually did very well in the exam, but my heart really wasn’t in the subject at that point. It was when I was working as a reporter for a local newspaper that I finally decided to go into politics as a career, but I suppose my love for politics really began when I got involved with the Student Union while I was doing my law degree.
Man: You can just see the new extension to the living room over there through the trees. We're going to decorate it next week, so hopefully it"ll be ready for Christmas, as will the garage, of course, which we're starting work on next Monday. Where we're standing right now will hopefully be an outdoor swimming pool before too long, but we"ll have to save up a bit first!
Man: Come on, Mrs Jacobs. You know what the doctor said. You have to take these pills as soon as you’ve had lunch. As you’re not going to finish your dessert, that means it’s time. Yes, you can get out of bed in a short while, but just pop these into your mouth first. With some juice, that's right.
Woman: You hear about people winning millions in the lottery, don’t you? But you always think something like that will never happen to you. Well, it has to me! When my great aunt died a few years ago, she did leave me some money in her will, but it wasn’t much and it certainly wasn’t life-changing. With this, though, I can quit my job and live in luxury for the rest of my life. I’d like to thank all of you at People magazine. I’m just so glad I sent off the answers to those three questions you printed!
Man: Yeah, the new album comes out next week. It’s called Variations, and I think it’s quite different to my last album. A lot of the songs on that were to do with dealing with being successful, as lots of second albums are, I suppose. But while I was on tour recently I, er,fell in love, actually, and I think that’s what’s motivated me to write these twelve tracks.
Woman: Oh yes, I’ve been here a long time. Over ten years. When I first arrived, I couldn’t speak the language at all. Not a word! I picked it up relatively quickly, though. Well, I made a real effort to meet people, you see, and really tried not to speak to them in English. And as it took months and months for me to find work, I had a lot of time on my hands to get to grips with the tongue.
Examiner-interlocutor card
Warm-up
- How much free time do you have each week?
- What do you like doing in your free time?
- Do you spend more time with your family or friends?
Interlocutor card C3
Task 1 (3—3.5 minutes)
Let the student talk for 1.5—2 minutes.
Ask only those questions which the student has not covered while giving a talk.
- What does your best friend look like?
- Why do you like him/her?
- When and how did you meet?
- What do you have in common with him/her?
All of these ideas must be covered.
Finally, you must ask each student the following questions:
- Is it important to have a best friend? Why?
- Why do people sometimes argue with their friends?
Interlocutor card C4
Task 2 (3—4 minutes)
You and the student are discussing which tourist attraction to visit on the final day of your holiday together.
These are your ideas about each option:
| - | + | |
|---|---|---|
| art gallery |
|
|
| funfair |
|
|
| castle |
|
|
| beach |
|
|
Note: Make sure all the options have been discussed.
When discussing each option, first use the information that is contrary to what the student says. You may choose to make use of some ideas only.
Do not speak first all the time, but ask the student what he/she thinks about the options.
Invite the student to come up with his/her suggestions, especially if he/she readily agrees with the things you say.
If the student says all the time,"What do you think about it?" without expressing his/her own opinion, say: "Sorry, I don’t know." or "I'm not sure. How do you feel about it?"
Skills to be tested
The student is expected to demonstrate her / his ability to:
- initiate and maintain conversation:
- explain the situation
- come up with suggestions
- give good reasons
- find out the partner’s attitudes
— invite the partner to come up with suggestions
— agree or disagree with her / his partner’s opinion - reach an agreement by taking into account the partner’s attitudes.
Answers
| Exercise | Answers |
|---|---|
| B1 | 1C 2B 3F 4G 5A 6D |
| A1-7 | A1:2 A2:1 A3:1 A4:2 A5:3 A6:2 A7:2 |
| A8-14 | A8:1 A9:2 A10:3 A11:3 A12:2 A13:2 A14:1 |
| B2 | 1D 2F 3G 4B 5H 6E 7C |
| B3 | 1:A 2:F 3:G 4:E 5:B 6:C |
| A15-21 | A15:1 A16:4 A17:3 A18:2 A19:3 A20:4 A21:1 |
| B4-10 | B4:kills B5:died / had died B6:studied B7:helping B8:made B9:did not / didn’t understand B10:took |
| B11-16 | B11:performer B12:assistant B13:beginning B14:European B15:celebration B16:dramatic |
| A22-28 | A22:3 A23:4 A24:3 A25:1 A26:1 A27:3 A28:2 |
(Copyright © 2009 Macmillan Publishers Ltd)
Notes on the stones. Lev Shlosberg. Notes on stones Main works of Vsevolod Petrovich Smirnov
When was the Russian Caucasus exercise announced?
Events of the Russian-Japanese War in the initial period