Упражнение на заполнение пропусков
Упр 1
After living under the threat of extinction for more than 30 years, the national bird of the United States has been granted an official reprieve, as the bald eagle and 28 other animals and plant species have been earmarked for removal from America’s list of endangered species. The bald eagle, also known as the white-headed sea eagle, took pride of place at the top of a list of species likely to be taken off the endangered register in the coming years. The proposed «delistings» are being promoted by the US Interior Secretary to counter a growing feeling among Republicans than endangered-species laws do not work. Charges of ineffectiveness have been laid/brought against these laws before, but more recently it has even been suggested that the situation may actually have been made worse by them. The recovery of the bald eagle follows 31 years on the critical list. Its numbers had been reduced to fewer than 500 by/through the use of pesticides that reacted adversely with its reproductive system. The number of nesting pairs is now estimated at 5000. Until now, few species have ever been removed from the list. When they were, it was usually because they had become extinct.
Упр 2
Although some shoppers may already find supermarket trolleys quite hard to push up and down the aisles; one supermarket chain is about to make the task even harder. Next week sees the introduction of the so-called Trim Trolley.
The Trim Trolley can be set at different levels of resistance, making it harder or easier to push. It is able to measure both the customer’s heart rate and the number of calories burnt through sensors on the handle. Shoppers are thought to burn about 160 calories during a typical forty-minute visit to the supermarket. The Trim Trolley with the resistance level at seven would allow the average person to burn as many as 280 calories. In other words, the equivalent of a twenty-minute swim. At the highest resistance level, a shopping trip could replace a trip to the gym.
A spokesperson for the supermarket said: “We hope it will make people more aware of what they are putting in their trolleys. The chocolate cakes may be easier to resist when/if/once you‘ve got calories levels on your mind!”
Упр 3
Many tourists nowadays walk around carrying plastic bottles of water, even in cities. The bottle seems to have become an important fashion accessory, and not just for tourists. Nowadays everyone seems to carry a bottle of water with them wherever they go. This fashion for being seen with bottled water, sometimes called ‘designer water’, has led to a massive increase in sales over the past few years. There are now so many different brand names available in the shops that it is hard to choose.
But why do some people prefer their water from a bottle rather than a tap? To start with, water forms a vital part of a healthy lifestyle. We are now advised to drink two litres of water daily, as well as eating large quantities of fruit and vegetables. In addition to this, designer water offers the promise of purity. It is advertised as clean and natural, while tap water may be viewed with suspicion.
Упр 4
Festivals in the Caribbean can be huge, colourful events that stretch the imagination. One of the biggest of these, the Trinidad Carnival, consists of five days of non-stop parties and music competitions that end with/in a costumed parade through the streets of the capital, Port of Spain. The music at the carnival is calypso. Calypso is more than just music for singing and dancing. An evening in a ‘calypso tent’ will give you a course in Trinidadian politics and let you know all about the island gossip.
But whatever the topic of the songs, calypso’s main function is to entertain.
One of the most important parts of the carnival is the calypso competition. This is divided into two sections. First of all, on the Sunday, the best song is judged. Ten finalists each sing two songs in front of a crowd of 30,000. The singers all do their best to give performances that will have the crowd shouting and screaming for more, and the winner receives the highly-prized title of Calypso Monarch.
Then, on the Monday, there is the Roadmarch competition, when/where the best dance tune is decided. Dancers in fantastic costumes spill out onto the streets in their thousands at 4 a.m. and dance in a parade with the calypso bands. This goes on until/till the carnival ends the following night. The winner is the person whose tune is being played most often as the bands pass the place where the judges are situated.
And the music has to be good, to keep as many as half a million people dancing non-stop for five days.
Упр 5
Making and breaking codes has long been one of the practical applications of pure mathematics.
The first codes often were used for military purposes, so that even if a courier was captured, his information would be useless to the enemy. The ancient Spartans used a long strip of skin with writing on it. Only when this skin was wrapped around a stick of the right size could the message be read.
Later Julius Caesar protected his communications in Gaul by writing his messages in Greek, which the Gauls could not understand — a trick which/that was used again by Englishmen on India’s north west frontier, where Greek was also unknown.
The most common basic codes are called substitution codes, where one letter of the alphabet is replaced by another symbol. Although more sophisticated codes have been developed, today’s commonest code is the PIN, or personal identity number. Today PINs are used by all of us in daily life, to see our bank accounts, to use our mobile phones, to log in to internet accounts.
Упр 6
Agatha Christie is probably the most widely known writer of crime novels in the world. In spite of the fact that her writing now seems rather old-fashioned, her novels continue to sell very well. What readers obviously like about them is the suspense and the atmosphere of mystery they create.
Agatha Christie was born in 1890. After getting married to Colonel Archibald Christie in 1914, she worked as a volunteer nurse in World War I, dispensing medicines. The knowledge of poisons which she gained during this time came in useful when she wrote her novels.
Her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, was published in 1920. The main character in the novel, Hercule Poirot, was so popular that she used him in another 40 books. In addition to her novels, Agatha Christie wrote a number of plays.
Дополнительные задания
Олимпиадные версии заданий на словообразование, времена , предлоги с фразовыми глаголами , поиском ошибок , лексический выбор, поиск лишних слов и артикли мы публиковали ранее.