Reading
(тесты
по
чтению)
Task 1: Read the text and decide which of the
facts (1-11) are True, False or Not stated.
«Do clothes make the man?»
My brother Bill doesn’t care much about what he wears. His clothes are always clean and nice, but that’s it. However when he was younger clothes were very important to him.
At school he used to be a rapper. That means he listened to rap music and wore very loose clothes. I think he enjoyed shocking his family more than he enjoyed wearing baggy jeans and T-shirts. They were totally unsuitable for a situation when quick action was needed. I know from him that once he had to run away from some bullies and nearly lost his jeans on the way. The huge clumsy trainers added up to the problem.
Another funny story is about his dreadlocks. He longed to have them and they were very expensive to make in a hair studio, but one of his friends was a stylist. She made him dreadlocks for free. He only managed to wear them for a shot time and developed a headache. He also started losing hair. So he had to say “no” to dreadlocks because he did not want to become bald at twenty.
When he was eighteen, he went to the university and worked part-time in a bank. At that time he wanted to look elegant and expensive just like the bank managers, so spent all he earned on clothes. His views changed together with his style. He disapproved of the neighbours who wore rapper clothes just like him in the past. When I asked him about this change, his answer surprised me. “ I grew out of this style. It’s for teenagers and our neighbours are thirty. They have a seven- year old child and he should be in the focus of their attention and not the rap music and night clubs. A person must have age-appropriate tastes.” I listened to him, looked at his posh shirts and ties and smiled to myself.
When Bill started going out wish girls, he used to say, “ I value good looks in girls above all”. After a while he changed his mind. “There should be something behind those blue eyes: some intellect, some ideas and some kindness too.” So you can see that my brother was growing and learning from his own mistakes.
Once he met a professor. The professor was an outstanding scientist and a remarkable person. But his appearance was very plain. He dressed in grey. His grey shirt was wrinkled, his hair was untidy, his eyes looked huge behind the thick glasses. His appearance did not promise much, but the moment he opened his mouth, everybody forgot about his appearance and listened. His sense of humour, witty remarks and knowledge in various areas won everybody’s warm sympathy. He was the soul of every company.
At that time Bill stopped thinking about the way he looked. He concentrated on who he was.
Bill doesn’t care about clothes nowadays.
True False Not stated
Bill’s clothes have always been very elegant.
True False Not stated
Bill used to be very fashionable.
True False Not stated
4.All teenagers grow out of their fashion tastes.
True False Not stated
5.Bill’s rapper clothes helped him run away from some bullies.
True False Not stated
6.Bill’s rapper clothes were very practical.
True False Not stated
7.Bill spent all his money on the dreadlocks.
True False Not stated
8.Bill changed his style when he started working in a bank.
True False Not stated
9.Bill disapproved of his rapper neighbours.
True False Not stated
10.Bill used to choose girls by their looks.
True False Not stated
11. Bill’s university professor became his role model.
True False Not stated
Task 2: Read the text and match its parts (1-3)
with their names (a-d). There is one name
you don’t have to use.
«Who lives long?»
It has always interested people how to make life longer. Some people believe in diets, some in exercise, some in nature. Scientists analysed the factors of a long life. It turns out, that people who live really long and stay in good health, may live in very different climates and on very different diets. There are people who live near the sea, and people who live high in the mountains, people who eat lots of meat and people who are vegetarians, people who drink wine, and who never touch it. But there is one feature that is common for every group of long- livers. It is respect for parents.
But if you think about it, it’s quite logical. Conflicts in the family are the key factors of a ruined nervous system. Our health depends more on our good nerves than on anything else.
When we live in harmony with our parents, children, husbands and wives, there isn’t much to worry about.
Recently they performed a social poll in Bangladesh, one of the poorest countries in the world. Eighty percent of the population called themselves happy. They have big united families, and even poverty does not matter.
It is possible to be poor and happy.
Good food makes our life longer.
Bad for our nervous system.
Good for our health.
Task 3: Read the text and complete it with the
phrases (1-6). There is one phrase you
don’t have to use.
«A diamond ring»
A merry group of friends was sitting on a restaurant terrace. The table was laid for four: two men and two women. The waiter was sent for and soon dinner was served. Everyone was eating fish, and when the dinner was finished, a woman said, “ Diamonds and pearls are …”
A lot of interesting stories were told until an old gentleman, who had been sitting quietly all the time, said “ I’ll tell you a story about fish.” Everybody agreed, so the old gentleman continued, “ When I was a young man, I worked … in New York. At that time I was in love with a pretty girl. Very soon we were engaged. About two months before our wedding I had been suddenly sent to England. I promised to write to my girlfriend because I had … than I planned and I was very upset.
Finally, my work was done and I could go home. I was very happy because I had bought a very expensive diamond ring for my future wife.
On my way to New York I was looking through the morning newspaper, which … by the waiter. In the newspaper it was written that my girl was going to marry another man.
This made me so angry that I threw the ring into the sea.
A few days later when I was in a restaurant in New York, some fish was … . While I was eating, I felt something hard in my mouth. What do you think it was?”
“ The diamond ring !” cried the friends. “No,” said the old gentleman, “ it was a fishbone.”
1…had been brought to me…
2…the doctor has been sent for…
3…to stay in England longer…
4…in a large company…
5…brought to the table..
6…often found inside fish…
Task 4: Read the text and complete the sentences
after it with a), b) or c).
«Telephone»
February 14, 1876 was a day that changed the history of communication forever. On that day a tall Scotsman, Alexander Graham Bell walked into the New York patent office. He was carrying the drawing of his invention. The invention was able to transmit the sound of the voice by wire over long distances. We know this invention as the telephone. Just two hours later on the same day, another man Elisha Gray came to the same patent office with “ his telephone”. But, unfortunately for him, it was too late. Bell has gone into history as the inventor of the telephone.
The first real telephone call was on March 6, 1876, when Bell, in one room, called to his assistant in another room. “ Come here, Watson, I want you.” Watson heard Bell through a receiver which Bell had connected to the transmitter.
After that Bell started his famous company: the Bell Telephone Company. The new invention quickly became popular. A month after Bell invented the telephone, his telephone company had sold only six phones! A year and a half later they had sold 778 telephones. Fifteen years after the invention there were five million phones in America.
Nowadays the Bell Telephone Company is the largest telephone company in the world.
February 14, 1876 was the day when
Morse invented his code. c) Bell invented the telephone.
Rowland Hill invented the first stamp.
Bell’s invention was able
to send letters. c) to code the letters of the alphabet.
to transmit the sound of the voice by wire over long distances.
Elisha Gray didn’t become the inventor of the telephone because
Bell’s invention was better. b) he didn’t know the address of the patent office. c) Bell arrived at the patent office two hours before him.
In 1891 there were
778 telephones. b) 6 telephones. c) five million telephones.
Task 5: Read the paragraphs (a-d) and put them
in the right order to get a logical text.
«A jinn»
The man took out his wallet and signed a cheque for three thousand dollars. Then he started, “ I want to have all the money in the world”. “ It is done for you,” replied the jinn. “ I want to be the king of England.” “ Done”. “ I want to become immortal.” “ No problem!” said the jinn.
Once a man and his wife went on holiday to Italy. They had a great time and on the last day of their stay they decided to play tennis. The wife could not play tennis very well, and by mistake sent the ball straight into the window of one of those expensive houses standing around. The couple got very scared, but there was nothing to do, so they went to have a look at the damage they had caused.
Then the happy couple said goodbye and left. As they were passing the broken window, the jinn looked out and shouted to the husband, “Can I just ask you a question?” “ Please do,” answered the man. “ How old are you?” – “ I am forty-five,” replied the man. “ And you still believe in jinns?”
They went into the house and saw a broken window and a broken bottle on the table. Suddenly they saw a strange- looking man with a towel on his head. He said, “ Do not be afraid, kind people. I am a powerful jinn and if you hadn’t broken the bottle, I would have still be kept a prisoner there. If you hadn’t arrived at this place, I would not have been able to see the daylight again. I swore to myself that if somebody had freed me, I would have fulfilled his or her three wishes. So you can have what you want, and each wish will cost you only one thousand dollars.”
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