Test 8

Read the text below. Choose the correct variants to (1—5). There are three choices you don't need to use.

1. This is the cardinal rule of shopping. The list represents your grocery needs: the staples you're out of, and the food you need for upcoming meals. Whe n you stray from the list, you're buying on impulse, and that's how shopping trips get out of control.                                      [Check your receipt, Go during slow times, Go shopping less often, Write down everything you need, Avoid trips to the corner store, Shop on a full stomach, Don't buy junk food, Don't examine things you don't need]

2. Each time you enter the grocery store is another chance to spend — almost inevitably, you buy more than one item. By reducing the frequency of your visits to the store, you're saving money, time and fuel. Plan ahead, make a weekly menu. But if you still find yourself running out for a few items, analyze the reason.                                      [Check your receipt, Go during slow times, Go shopping less often, Write down everything you need, Avoid trips to the corner store, Shop on a full stomach, Don't buy junk food, Don't examine things you don't need]

3. The more you interact with something, the more likely you are to buy it, says Расо Underhill in Why We Buy: "Virtually all unplanned purchases... come as a result of the shopper seeing, touching, smelling, or tasting something that promises pleasure, if not total fulfillment."                                     [Check your receipt, Go during slow times, Go shopping less often, Write down everything you need, Avoid trips to the corner store, Shop on a full stomach, Don't buy junk food, Don't examine things you don't need]

4. Make sure your prices are scanned correctly. Make sure your coupons are scanned correctly. Sale items, especially, have a tendency to be in the computer wrong, and yet few people ever challenge the price at the register. You don't need to hold up the line: simply watch the price of each item as it's scanned.                                      [Check your receipt, Go during slow times, Go shopping less often, Write down everything you need, Avoid trips to the corner store, Shop on a full stomach, Don't buy junk food, Don't examine things you don't need]

5. This is a common tip, but it's true: studies show that folks who shop when they're hungry buy more, they tend to buy all kinds of junk. If you go to the store for milk on a Sunday morning without eating breakfast, you are likely to come home with donuts and orange juice and Lucky Charms, too.                                     [Check your receipt, Go during slow times, Go shopping less often, Write down everything you need, Avoid trips to the corner store, Shop on a full stomach, Don't buy junk food, Don't examine things you don't need]

Read the text below. For questions (6—10) choose the correct answer (А, В, C, or D).

The Dogon are a tribe of poor, cave-dwelling, farming people in southern Mali in West Africa — hardly the likeliest source of advanced astronomical data. Yet according to a study of these people during 1946—50 by French anthropologists Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen, published in 1950, the Dogon priests know of a tiny secret star that they call Po. They state that it is composed of an exceedingly heavy substance and orbits the brilliant dog-star Sirius in a 50-year cycle, pursuing an elliptical path.

There is indeed such a star — Sirius B, first recorded scientifically in 1862, and so dense that a cubic metre of its matter weighs about 20,000 tonnes. Moreover, its orbit is just as the Dogon describe, which makes all the more remarkable the fact that Sirius В is totally invisible to the human eye and was photographed for the first time as recently as 1970.

So how do the Dogon know so much about it? Their explanation is even mor e remarkable, for they claim to have received their astronomical information (which also includes knowledge of Saturn's rings and the four major moons of Jupiter) from a race of space beings called the Nommo s that visited the earth long ago from the Sirius star system!

In The Sirius Mystery, researcher Robert K. G. Temple supports an extraterrestrial origin for the Dogon data, but others are very sceptical. American cosmologist Dr Carl Sagan considers it far more likely that they gained their knowledge from travelling Europeans around 1930 — a time when details of Sirius, its tiny companion star and other astronomical data later became familiar in the Western world. It's a very probable solution, but one that may yet be disproved in a highly sensational manner. The Dogon also speak of a second star orbiting Sirius, at right angles to Sirius B. They call it emme ya ("sun of women"), but it is presently unknown to science: so what will scientists say if one day they discover that this star really does exist?

1. According to the text, the Dogon are ...                                          [West African people from another planet, a group of Africans raising crops, French priests interested in Sirius, anthropologists who live in Mali]

2. Which of the following is TRUE about Po?                                          [It can be seen from Sirius star system., Its description reminds of Sirius B., It was discovered by French astronomers, It has an elliptical form.]

3. The Dogon state that they learned about Po from ...                        [aliens from far away, French anthropologists, African astrologists, American cosmologists]

4. The extraterrestrial origin of the Dogon data will be proved when ...                                          [the Dogon share knowledge about Sirius В, scientists discover satellite of Sirius, the orbit of Sirius is calculated, data about Saturn's angles are obtained]

5. Which of the following is NOT stated in the text?                                          [Scientists disbelieve the Dogon version, Europeans traveled inAfrica last century, SiriusВ was discovered in the19thcentury, The Dogon get information from the Nomos]

Read the texts below. Match choices (A—H) to (1-6). There are two choices you don't need to use.

TRADITIONS AND SUPERSTITIONS

1. "Red tape" is a complicated and annoying set of rules. A person found doing something wrong is said to have been "caught red-handed" . If someone is "in the red" they owe the bank money. Red also suggests excitement.

2. Black is often associated with bad things. A 'black day' is a day on which a disaster takes place, e.g. Black Monday . A 'black look' shows anger or hatred. But seeing a black cat is said to bring luck. Somebody who 'sees things in black and white' thinks everything is either bad or good.

3. Green in traffic lights means 'go' , and if a person is 'given the green light' they have permission to do something. Green is associated with nature, and people who are good at growing plants are said to have 'a green thumb' or 'green fingers'.

4. Yellow is a warning color. In the US school buses are also yellow. Americans tie a yellow ribbon round a tree in their garden to remember somebody who has gone to fight in a war.

5. Blue is associated with value: a blue chip (counter) has a high value in poker, and 'hlue-chip' stocks are a good place to invest money. A blue ribbon is given for first prize in a show. Something that happens 'once in a blue moon ' is very rare.

6. White color is associated with Christmas and snow, Halloween is celebrated with orange, pink is associated with St. Valentine's Day. On Independence day, everything is red, white and blue, the colors of the American flag.

Which color shows that _______

Read the text below. Choose from the one variant which best fits each space. There are two choices you do not need to use.

The Olympic rings, ____                                          [the flag started showing signs of wear, the official emblem ofthe Olympic Games, a symbol of unity around the world, the five rings are interlaced, athletes from all over the world, demonstrate the power of the countries, represent the union of these continents, the rings and motto were embroidered], are five interlaced rings of blue, yellow, black, green, and red on a white background. The fag was designed by Baron Pierre de Coubertin in 1913. The Olympic rings represent five continents (Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australia, and Europe) and are interlaced to ________                                          [the flag started showing signs of wear, the official emblem ofthe Olympic Games, a symbol of unity around the world, the five rings are interlaced, athletes from all over the world, demonstrate the powe r of the countries, represent the union of these continents, the rings and motto were embroidered]. At least one of the five colors is found in the flag of every nation in the world.

The first Olympic flag, which was approximately 10 feet by 6.5 feet, was made at the Bon Marche store in Paris, France, and flew over the Olympic stadium during the 1920 game s in Antwerp, Belgium. The Olympic motto "Citius, Altius, Fortius " was also on the flag, Latin for "faster, higher, stronger." The flag was made of satin and ______                                          [the flag started showing signs of wear, the official emblem ofthe Olympic Games, a symbol of unity around the world, the five rings are interlaced, athletes from all over the world, demonstrate the powe r of the countries, represent the union of these continents, the rings and motto were embroidered] . Because it first flew at the Antwerp Olympics, it was called "the Antwerp flag."

This original flag was flown at every Olympics from 1920 to 1984. After 64 years of use, ______                                         [the flag started showing signs of wear, the official emblem ofthe Olympic Games, a symbol of unity around the world, the five rings are interlaced, athletes from all over the world, demonstrate the power of the countries, represent the union of these continents, the rings and motto were embroidered] and a new flag made of Korean silk was presented by Korea. It was first flown in the 1988 Olympic Games.

If you look closely at the Olympic flag, you'll see how ____                                         [the flag started showing signs of wear, the official emblem ofthe Olympic Games, a symbol of unity around the world, the five rings are interlaced, athletes from all over the world, demonstrate the power of the countries, represent the union of these continents, the rings and motto were embroidered] so that none can be removed. It's significant that ______                                         [the flag started showing signs of wear, the official emblem ofthe Olympic Games, a symbol of unity around the world, the five rings are interlaced, athletes from all over the world, demonstrate the power of the countries, represent the union of these continents, the rings and motto were embroidered]meet at the Olympic games, where they are joined together in a common event.

Read and complete the text below. For each of the empty spaces choose the correct answer.

Soccer is the most popular sport in the world, but a form of tennis is the second most popular sport. It's table tennis or Ping-Pong. This sport is played by more people in the United States than baseball or football.

____            [As though, When, Although, Unless] no one knows for sure, it is believed that table tennis ___             [invented, originated, introduced, spread] in England around the 12th century as a parlor game version of Royal Tennis, as tennis was called then. Initially all the equipment was improvised. A piece of cardboard was the paddle, books were _____           [used, made, utilized, carried] to form a "net," and the ball was often a ball of string.

In the late 1800s, ____               [designers, stylists, manufacturers, inventors] of sporting goods started making official cable tennis equipment such as solid rubber or cork balls. These early versions of table tennis were called by ______            [strange, several, particular, various] names such as Gossima, Whiff Whaff, and Flim-Flam.

James Gibb, an Englishman ____             [inspecting, visiting, viewing, observing] the United States, saw children playing with plastic toy balls and took some back to England to use for table tennis. They were an instant hit. Parker Brothers, Inc., had been making some table tennis equipment at the time and liked the sound of the plastic ball _____           [hitting, reaching, getting, jumping] the table. They decided to _____          [specify, appoint, name, mention]their version of the game after the sound of the ball. They called it Ping-Pong.

As the game ____           [increased, developed, improved, grew] in popularity, national and international associations were formed. The United States Table Tennis Association wanted to purchase rights to the name Ping-Pong but could not come to an _____            [agreement, decision, conclusion, treaty]with Parker Brothers, so they named the sport table tennis.

Read the texts below. For each of the empty spaces choose the correct answer.

WHY DO WE CALL ACADEMY AWARDS «OSCARS»?

____       [In, Since, From, At] 1928, the Academy Awards have been issued ____         [between, on, with, by]the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for excellence in filmmaking . The statuettes ___                  [were nicknamed, nick-named, been nick-named, being nick-named]"Oscar " in 1931 by Margaret Herrick, a secretary at the academy who, upon ___        [seeing, seen, see, sees] one for _____     [a, __, an, the]first time, exclaimed, "Why it looks just like my uncle Oscar. " Her uncle was Oscar Pierce, a wheat farmer.

LET THERE BE LIGHT

Thomas Alva Edison is considered one of the greatest inventors in history.

In 1877 and 1878, Edison invented and developed the carbon microphone ____            [using, was used, used, was using] in all telephones. Edison is ___                    [the most famous, still more famous, much famous, a most famous] for the electric light bulb. Contrary to popular belief, he didn't invent the light bulb, but rather he improved upon a 50-___         [years, year's, years', year] -old idea. The problem other inventors ___                    [have encountered, were encountered, had encountered, are encountered] was the ability to make it work for long periods of time . Edison solved this problem and created a light bulb that sustained light for 40 straight hours. More importantly, he created a system that allowed homes and businesses _____                      [be supplied, supplied, have been supplied, to be supplied]with electricity.