Экзамен ч. 4

№ 16

I. 1. Read the extract and say in 2—3 sentences what it is about.

MR WEMMICK’S “CASTLE”

Wemmick’s house was a little wooden cottage in the middle of a large garden. The top of the house had been built and painted like a battery loaded with guns. I said I really liked it. I think Wemmick’s house was the tiniest I had ever seen. It had very few windows and the door was almost too small to get in.

‘Look,’ said Wemmick, ‘after I have crossed this bridge, I raise it so that nobody can enter the Castle.’

The ‘bridge’ was a plank¹ and it crossed a gap about four feet² wide and two feet deep. But I enjoyed seeing the smile on Wemmick’s face and the pride with which he raised his bridge. The gun on the roof of the house, he told me, was fired every night at nine o’clock. I later heard it. Immediately, it made an impressive sound.

‘At the back,’ he said, ‘there are chickens, ducks, geese, and rabbits. I’ve also got my own little vegetable garden and I grow cucumbers. Wait until supper and you’ll see for yourself what kind of salad I can make. If the Castle is ever attacked, I will be able to survive for quite a while,’ he said with a smile, but at the same time seriously.

Then Wemmick showed me his collection of curiosities. They were mostly to do with being on the wrong side of the law: a pen with which a famous forgery³ had been committed, some locks of hair, several manuscript confessions written from prison.

‘I am my own engineer, my own carpenter, my own plumber and my own gardener. I am my own Jack of all Trades⁴,’ said Wemmick, receiving my compliments. Wemmick told me that it had taken many years to bring his property to this state of perfection.

‘Is it your own, Mr. Wemmick?’

‘Oh yes, I have got a hold of it a bit at a time. I have absolute ownership now. You know, the office is one thing, and private life is another. When I go to the office, I leave the Castle behind me, and when I come to the Castle, I leave the office behind me. If you don’t mind, I’d like you to do the same. I don’t want to talk about my home in a professional manner’.

¹ plank [plæŋk] брус, доска

² feet [fiːt] — мн. ч. от foot — мера длины, равная 30,48 см

³ а forgery [ˈfɒdʒərɪ] подделка документа

⁴ Jack of all Trades мастер на все руки

2. ‘An Englishman’s home is his castle’. Read aloud the extract which proves this idea.

3. What do we understand about Wemmick’s home life?

4. Why does Wemmick call himself Jack of all Trades?

II. Listen to a part of the interview with a thirteen-year old writer, Sally Myers, and answer the questions below.

1. What made Sally write the book?

2. What did Sally’s Dad think about the book?

3. How did Sally’s life change after publishing the book?

III. Let’s talk about tourism.

№ 17

I. 1. Read the article and say in 2—3 sentences what it is about.

MOTHER TERESA

Mother Teresa was a simple nun¹. She never wanted to be famous, but everyone in the world knows who she is.

Mother Teresa was born in 1910 in what is now Macedonia². She was the youngest of three children. Agnes’³ father died when she was a child. Her mother made dresses to support the family. Agnes’ mother also liked to do charity work, such as visiting the sick. Agnes often went with her, and she enjoyed helping these people.

Even as a child, Agnes wanted to be a nun. When she was 18 years old, she joined a group of nuns in India. There, she chose the name Teresa. Then she went to Calcutta to work at St. Mary’s School, in a convent⁴. Sister Teresa worked there for 20 years and eventually became the principal.

One day in 1946 Sister Teresa was riding on a train to Darjeeling⁵. She looked out of the window and saw dirty children wearing rags and sleeping in doorways. Sick and dying people were lying on dirty streets. At that moment, she believed God sent her a message. She decided to go to work with the poor.

Two years later, Sister Teresa left the convent and opened a school for the kids from poor families. Though at the very beginning the school had no roof, no walls, and no chairs, later it became well­known all around India. In 1948, Sister Teresa started her own group of nuns. They were called the Missionaries of Charity. The nuns lived in the slums⁶ with people who were poor, dirty, and sick. It was hard work and the days were long. But many young nuns came from around the world to join Mother Teresa.

Later, she started homes for children without families. She also started clinics. Over the years, news of her work spread around the world. Many people sent her donations of money, others came to work with her. By 1990 the Missionaries of Charity were working in 400 centres around the world.

Mother Teresa got the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. But she always said her greatest reward was helping people. Her message to the world was: ‘We can do no great things — only small things with great love’.

¹ a nun [nʌn] монахиня

² Macedonia [ˌmæsəˈdəʊnɪə] Македония

³Agnes [ˈæɡnɪs] Агнес

⁴ a convent [ˈkɒnv(ə)nt] монастырь

⁵ Darjeeling [daːˈdʒiːlɪŋ] Дарджилинг (город)

⁶ slums трущобы

2. The author writes about Mother Teresa’s family. Read aloud the extract which says about it.

3. Why did Mother Teresa decide to devote her life to people in need?

4. What did Mother Teresa do for people?

II. Listen to the interview and answer the questions below.

1. What does Jackie want to become?

2. Why has she chosen this profession?

3. Why is it important for students to do sport at school?

III. Let’s talk about accommodation.

№ 18

I. 1. Read the article and say in 2—3 sentences what it is about.

The most mystique¹ picture

Every hour about 1,500 people visit the Louvre Museum in Paris with the specific intention of seeing one particular painting: the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. Most of these visitors look at the painting for about three minutes before they walk back to the tourist buses outside.

Leonardo loved the painting very much and people say that he took it everywhere with him. The painting was originally ordered by a rich businessman in Florence, who wanted a portrait of his wife, Lisa. Leonardo began the painting in 1503 and he finished it about three or four years later. The fact that Leonardo wanted to keep the painting himself, adds to the Mona Lisa’s mystique.

Mona Lisa’s mysterious smile has fascinated everyone who has ever seen the painting. In his Lives of the Artists, written just a few years after Leonardo’s death, Giorgio Vasari wrote, ‘While painting Mona Lisa Leonardo employed singers and musicians to keep her happy and so avoid the sadness that painters usually give to portraits. As a result, there was a smile that seemed divine² rather than human; and those who saw it were amazed to find how alive and real it appeared.’

Modern art critics also emphasise how the portrait seems alive and real. ‘She is like a living person,’ writes art historian E.H. Gombrich, ‘She seems to change before our eyes. Even in photographs we can experience this strange effect. Sometimes she seems to be looking down on us, and sometimes we can detect sadness in her smile. All this sounds rather mysterious, and it is; that is so often the effect of a great work of art.’

The Mona Lisa is certainly a masterpiece, a magnificent work of art, but it is also a part of modern popular culture. Her image appears on plates, T­shirts, mouse pads and in advertisements. Perhaps for this reason, officials at the Louvre Museum placed the painting in a specially built area in a room with other great 16th century Italian paintings. In this way, visitors have a better chance to appreciate the painting as a work of art rather than as a tourist attraction.

¹ mystique [mɪˈstiːk] таинственный

² divine [dɪˈvaɪn] божественный

2. Why is Mona Lisa smiling? Read aloud the extract which says about it.

3. What makes the Mona Lisa so special?

4. Why is the painting displayed in an exceptional way?

II. Listen to the conversation between two friends and answer the questions below.

1. What does Christian want to become?

2. Why does Kate need to learn English?

3. What piece of advice does Christian give to his friend?

III. Let’s talk about your family.

№ 19

I. 1. Read the book review and say in 2—3 sentences what it is about.

Book Review

The Guinness Books of World Records¹ have certainly changed a lot in the last 60 years. The first Guinness Book was published in August 1955 in London, in Britain. Most editions were small paperbacks printed in black­and­white and contained more text than photographs. Now, there are colour pictures on every page — and the book also includes 3­D images.

This fascinating collection of records is divided into chapters on Space, The Living Planet, Being Human, Human Achievements, Spirit of Adventure, Modern Life, Science & Engineering, Entertainment, Sports, and the Gazetteer².

Here you will see and read about extremes: for example, the world’s tallest, oldest, shortest, and tiniest — people, plants, animals, buildings. Some have set records for pulling buses, kissing, swimming, ironing clothes, running, and for having the longest legs, the smallest waist, etc.

Some images are a bit strange to look at for too long — check out the woman with the longest fingernails in the world. Also, one man had 14 operations to make himself look like a cat.

There’s a wide range of amazing facts contained on these pages. What is the world’s most expensive hamburger? — It is available in a New York restaurant for $120. Who had the most hit singles on the US music charts? — Elvis Presley, of course, with 151 between 1956 and 2003 (and he died in 1977!). One of the most colourful sections shows records related to space, including some fantastic photographs of Jupiter. Take a look at the top movies such as the first summer blockbuster of all time, the first movie with Dolby sound, and the first to be more expensive than $100 million.

As always, there’s a helpful index in the back of the book, in which you can find subjects of interest in alphabetical order.

Please note that some stunts³ in this book would be quite dangerous — or at least terribly painful — for you to attempt to meet or beat them. Therefore, please don’t attempt to set any world records that would cause risk to you or to others!

¹ the Guinness [ˈɡɪnɪs] Books of World Records [ˈrekɔ:dz] Книга рекордов Гиннесса

² Gazetteer [ˌɡæzəˈtɪə] географический справочник

³ a stunt [stʌnt] опасный трюк

2. The author describes how The Guinness Books of World Records changed with time. Find this extract and read it aloud.

3. What information will you find in this book?

4. Why can this book be interesting for the reader?

II. Listen to the young man describing where he lived and answer the questions below.

1. Why did the man’s family have to rent a flat for about a year?

2. What was their flat in the capital like?

3. How many people is he sharing the flat with at present?

III. Let’s talk about your future career.

№ 20

I. 1. Read the article and say in 2—3 sentences what it is about.

ARE YOU READY TO BE INDEPENDENT?

Angela Rowlands recently tested her teenage children’s ability to do basic household jobs in the house. When Angela and her husband Ben went to Spain for a few weeks’ holiday on the Costa Brava, their son Mark, aged 18, and daughter Frances, aged 16, stayed at home to look after the house. The parents wanted to see how Mark and Frances would manage in the house on their own.

So when they left the house, they did not tell the children that they had prepared a few tests for them. “We took the plug¹ off the microwave and took out some good light bulbs² and put in light bulbs that did not work. We also made sure that there were other problems in the house: with an Italian coffee machine and one of the taps³ in the bathroom,” says Dr Rowlands.

When Dr Rowlands returned from her holiday, she found, as she had expected, that her children had failed the independence test. Mark and Frances had asked an electrician to change the plug on the microwave and to change the light bulbs. They also paid a specialist for repairing the bathroom tap. When they saw that the coffee maker was broken, they went to buy a new one. They even did not think to look for the missing part in the cupboard.

Dr Rowlands was not surprised by the results of her experiment. “A lot of young people today are not able to solve simple problems in the house,” she says. “They often throw things away when they are broken. This is wrong because it shows that young people do not understand how things work or are made. It can also be very expensive because you have to pay other people to do the work for you.”

But repairing broken things is only part of the problem. A lot of young people cannot cook at all. If there is no ready­made meal in the fridge, or if there is nothing to warm up in the microwave, then there is no food. This can cause health problems.

The truth is that many young people do not want to learn basic household skills as they find them boring. Though, if people want to be prepared for independent life they should learn how to do simple jobs about the house.

¹ a plug [plʌɡ] штепсельная вилка

² a light bulb [ˈlaɪt bʌlb] лампочка

³ a tap [tæp] кран

2. Why did Dr Rowlands decide to test her children? Read aloud the extract which says about it.

3. What did the parents prepare for their children?

4. Do you think the children passed the test? Why do you think so?

II. Listen to Tom speaking about his day off and answer the questions below.

1. How did Tom spend his day off?

2. What went wrong?

3. What made Tom feel frightened?

III. Let’s talk about Belarus.