Задания ВПР по Английскому языку 11 класс

Harry Potter course for university students

Students of Durham University are being given the chance to sign up to what is thought to be the UK's first course focusing on the world of Harry Potter. Although every English-speaking person in the world knows about Harry Potter books and films, few have thought of using them as a guide to … modern life.

The Durham University module uses the works of JK Rowling A __________ modern society. “Harry Potter and the Age of Illusion” will be available for study next year. So far about 80 undergraduates have signed B __________ a BA degree in Education Studies. Future educationalists will analyse JK Rowling’s fanfiction from various points of view.

A university spokesman said: “This module places the Harry Potter novels in a wider social and cultural context.” He added that a number of themes would be explored, C __________ the classroom, bullying, friendship and solidarity and the ideals of and good citizenship.

The module was created by the head of the Department of Education at Durham University. He said the idea for the new module had appeared in response D __________ body: “It seeks to place the series in its wider social and cultural context and will explore some fundamental issues E __________. You just need to read the academic writing which started F __________ that Harry Potter is worthy of serious study.”

Mobile phones

On New Year’s Day, 1985, Michael Harrison phoned his father, Sir Ernest, to wish him a happy new year. Sir Ernest was chairman of Racal Electronics, the owner of Vodafone, A __________.

At the time, mobile phones weighed almost a kilogram, cost several thousand pounds and provided only 20 minutes talktime. The networks themselves were small; Vodafone had just a dozen masts covering London. Nobody had any idea of the huge potential of wireless communication and the dramatic impact B __________.

Hardly anyone believed there would come a day when mobile phones were so popular C __________. But in 1999 one mobile phone was sold in the UK every four seconds, and by 2004 there were more mobile phones in the UK than people. The boom was a result of increased competition which pushed prices lower and created innovations in the way that mobiles were sold.

When the government introduced more competition, companies started cutting prices to attract more customers. Cellnet, for example, changed its prices, D __________. It also introduced local call tariffs.

The way that handsets themselves were marketed was also changing and it was Finland’s Nokia who made E __________. In the late 1990s Nokia realized that the mobile phone was a fashion item: so it offered interchangeable covers which allowed you to customize and personalize your handset.

The mobile phone industry has spent the later part of the past decade reducing its monthly charge F __________, which has culminated in the fight between the iPhone and a succession of touch screen rivals.

Laughing and evolution

The first hoots of laughter from an ancient ancestor of humans could be heard at least 10 million years ago, according to the results of a new study.

Researchers used recordings of apes and babies being tickled A __________ to the last common ancestor that humans shared with the modern great apes, which include chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans.

The finding challenges the opinion B __________, suggesting instead that it emerged long before humans split from the evolutionary path that led to our primate cousins, between 10m and 16m years ago.

“In humans, laughing can be the strongest way of expressing how much we are enjoying ourselves, but it can also be used in other contexts, like making fun of someone,” said Marina Davila Ross, a psychologist at Portsmouth University. “I was interested in C __________.”

Davila Ross travelled to seven zoos around Europe and visited a wildlife reserve in Sabah, Borneo, to record baby and juvenile apes D __________. Great apes are known to make noises that are similar to laughter when they are excited and while they are playing with each other.

Davila Ross collected recordings of laughter from 21 chimps, gorillas, orangutans and bonobos and added recordings of three babies that were tickled to make them laugh.

To analyze the recordings, the team put them into a computer program. “Our evolutionary tree based on these acoustic recordings alone showed E __________, but furthest from orangutans, with gorillas somewhere in the middle.” said Davila Ross. “What this shows is strong evidence to suggest F __________.”

Nenets Culture affected by Global Warming

For 1,000 years the indigenous Nenets people have migrated along the 450-mile-long Yamal peninsula in northern Russia. In summer they wander northwards, taking their reindeer with them. In winter they return southwards.

But this remote region of north-west Siberia is now being affected by global warming. Traditionally the Nenets travel across the frozen River Ob in November A __________ around Nadym. These days, though, this annual winter migration is delayed. Last year the Nenets, together with many thousands of reindeer, had to wait until late December B __________.

“Our reindeer were hungry. There wasn’t enough food,” Jakov Japtik, a Nenets reindeer herder, said. “The snow is melting sooner, quicker and faster than before. In spring it’s difficult for the reindeer to pull the sledges. They get tired,” Japtik said.

Herders say that the peninsula’s weather is increasingly unpredictable – with unseasonal snowstorms C __________, and milder longer autumns. In winter, temperatures used to go down to -50°C. Now they are normally around -30°C, according to Japtik. “Obviously we prefer -30°C. But the changes aren’t good for the reindeer D __________,” he said, setting off on his sledge to round up his reindeer herd.

Here, in one of the most remote parts of the planet, there are clear signs E __________. Last year the Nenets arrived at a regular summer camping spot and discovered that half of their lake had disappeared. The water had drained away after a landslide. The Nenets report other curious changes – there are fewer mosquitoes and a strange increase in flies. Scientists say there is unmistakable evidence F __________.