In rural irish communities of the early 1800s егэ

Задание № 9018

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Задание В2

Рекомендуемое время выполнения задания — 8 минут.

Установите соответствие заголовков А — Н текстам 1— 7. Занесите свои ответы в таблицу. Используйте каждую букву только один раз. В задании один заголовок лишний.
A. MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
B. ATTRACTIVE LANDSCAPE
C. PERFECT HOLIDAYS
D. PORTRAIT OF A GIRL
E. FILM FOR ALL AGES
F. EXCITING HOBBY
G. COLOURFUL FESTIVAL
H. INTERESTING BOOK

1. This is a full-length (ninety minutes) cartoon, which is entertaining for both adults and children over six. The animation and colour are of very high quality and the story has lots of fun and excitement. The plot is quick moving and full of surprises. There’s romance, action, comedy, music and lots of fantastic songs and dances.
2. This is a full-blooded magnificently written portrait of history’s most fascinating woman. Readers will lose themselves for hours in this richly entertaining novel full of dramatic twists and turns. From the spectacular era that bears her name comes the spellbinding story of Elizabeth I — her tragic childhood, her confrontation with Mary, Queen of Scots and her brilliant reign.
3. The young woman is shown in a «shepherdess» hat and white dress, recalling a classical chiton. The background landscape, common in such paintings, seems to indicate the heroine’s closeness to nature, to the ordinary joys of life. The painter’s colour range — at times as translucent as porcelain, at others muted like mother-of-pearl — is based upon subtle plays of gray and green, light blue and pink.
4. In this picture one is struck by the artist’s absolute mastery in portraying natural details, whether the dry, sandy soil of the forest, the clear stream of water in the foreground, the yellow bark and fluffy needles of the pines, or the sense of a bright, clear, calm summer day. The artist managed to create an image familiar to anyone who has seen a Russian forest.
5. Have a good time on the most lively and exciting island in the Caribbean. Relax under a palm tree on the white sandy beaches. Swim in the clear, blue sea. Listen to the bands playing Calypso music. Or get really adventurous and go scuba diving for sunken treasure on the sea bed. Join in the many cultural celebrations we offer, for example the sugar harvest festival.
6. This event is considered the greatest attraction for visitors to the Isle of Man. No definite date can be given, but it is normally held between 5th and 15th July. The Pageant begins at about 8 p.m. First we are given a glimpse of village life in Celtic times. Then suddenly Viking long ships appear and then there are scenes of war. Then Celts and Vikings unite, and the Manx nation is born. The actual Pageant is followed by a grand torchlight procession and firework display.
7. Do you like Latin American dancing? Do you want to dance like you see in the films and on the stage? Do you want to feel the rhythm of the music in your body and in your soul? Do you want to meet other people who have a love for the same music as you? If you have answered «Yes» to any of these questions, join our Latin dance classes on Thursday night between seven and ten. All are welcome.

Задание В3

Рекомендуемое время выполнения задания — 7 минут.

Прочитайте текст и заполните пропуски 1-6 частями предложений А-G. Одна из частей в списке А-G лишняя. Перенесите ответы в таблицу.

The science of sound, or acoustics, as it is often called, has been made over radically within a comparatively short space of time. Not so long ago the lectures on sound in colleges and high schools dealt chiefly with the vibrations of such things as the air columns in organ pipes. Nowadays, however, thanks chiefly to a number of electronic instruments engineers can study sounds as effectively 1) _______ .
The result has been a new approach to research in sound. Scientists have been able to make far-reaching discoveries in many fields of acoustics 2) _______ .
Foremost among the instruments that have revolutionized the study of acoustics are electronic sound-level meters also known as sound meters and sound-intensity meters. These are effective devices that first convert sound waves into weak electric signals, then amplify the signals through electronic means 3) _______ . The intensity of a sound is measured in units called decibels. «Zero» sound is the faintest sound 4) _______ . The decibel measures the ratio of the intensity of a given sound to the standard «zero» sound. The decibel scale ranges from 0 to 130. An intensity of 130 decibels is perceived not only as a sound, but also 5) _______ . The normal range of painlessly audible sounds for the average human ear is about 120 decibels. For forms of life other than ourselves, the range can be quite different.
The ordinary sound meter measures the intensity of a given sound, rather than its actual loudness. Under most conditions, however, it is a quite good indicator of loudness. Probably the loudest known noise ever heard by human ears was that of the explosive eruption in August, 1883, of the volcano of Krakatoa in the East Indies. No electronic sound meters, of course, were in existence then, but physicists estimate that the sound at its source must have had an intensity of 190 decibels, 6) _______ .
A. and finally measure them.
B. since it was heard 3,000 miles away.
C. and they have been able to put many of these discoveries to practical use.
D. that loud sound is of high intensity.
E. as they study mechanical forces.
F. as a painful sensation in the ear.
G. that the unaided human ear can detect.

Задания A15-A21

Рекомендуемое время выполнения задания — 15 минут.
Прочитайте текст и выполните задания А15 — А21, обводя цифру 1, 2, 3 или 4, соответствующую номеру выбранного вами варианта ответа.

The Introduction to a New Biography of Gannibal by the Author

Alexander Pushkin was not only Russia’s greatest poet, but he was also the great-grandson of an African slave. The slave, whose godfather was Peter the Great, claimed to have royal blood of his own. Certainly his Russian descendants believed that he was an African prince. His descendants have included members as well as close friends of the English royal family. So the legend goes on.
Pushkin told the story of his black ancestor in «The Negro of Peter the Great», but this biography tells a different version. The main difference is between fact and fiction. The Russian poet hoped to discover a biographical truth by sticking to the facts, only to discover that facts are slippery and not always true. His biography turned into a novel. Even then, it was left unfinished after six and a half chapters. The scrawled manuscript comes to an end with a line of dialogue — «Sit down, you scoundrel, let’s talk!» — and a line of dots. Pushkin could be speaking to himself. In any case, it’s now time to stand up and carry on with the story. I have tried to join up the dots.
This is a book, then, about a missing link between the storyteller and his subject, an African prince, between the various branches of a family and its roots, between Pushkin and Africa, Africa and Europe, Europe and Russia, black and white. It is the story of a remarkable life and it poses the question: how is such a life to be explained?
My own explanation began in 2001, while I was living in Russia and working there as a journalist. The first draft was written during the war in Afghanistan, on the road to Kabul, but it describes my journey to the frontline of a different war in Africa between the armies of Ethiopia and Eritrea. According to legend, Pushkin’s ancestor was born there, on the northern bank of the River Mareb, where I was arrested for taking photographs and compass readings, on suspicion of being a spy. Understandably my captors didn’t believe that I was only a journalist researching the life of Russia’s greatest writer. At the military camp, where I was held for a number of hours, the commandant looked me up and down when I asked, in my best posh English accent, «I say, my good man, can you tell me, basically, what is going on here?» «Basically,» he replied, with distaste, «you are in prison!» The incident taught me something. Journalists, like biographers, are meant to respect facts, and by retracing Gannibal’s footsteps, I hoped to find a true story.
Some of those journeys lie behind the book, and are used whenever it is helpful to show that the past often retains a physical presence for the biographer — in landscapes, buildings, portraits, and above all in the trace of handwriting on original letters or journals. But my own journeys are not the point of the book. It is Gannibal’s story. I am only following him.
Descriptions of Africa and the slave trade result from my journeys, but this is not a book about a «stolen legacy», nor certainly about the intellectual wars that have been part of black history in recent years. Biographers, like novelists, should tell stories. I have tried to do this. I should, however, point out from the outset that Gannibal was not the only black face to be seen in the centre of fashionable St Petersburg at that time. Negro slaves were a common sight in the grand salons of Millionaires’ Street and they appeared in a variety of roles, such as pets, pages, footmen, mascots, mistresses, favourites and adopted children. At the Winter Palace, so-called court Arabs, usually Ethiopians dressed in turbans and baggy trousers stood guard like stage extras in the marble wings.
A15 The slave’s Russian descendants believe that the slave
1) had Russian royal blood in him.
2) was Peter the Great’s godfather.
3) belonged to the royal family in his native land.
4) was a close friend of the English royal family.

A16 According to the narrator, the biography of Pushkin’s ancestor turned into a novel because Pushkin
1) didn’t like the true biographical facts he had discovered.
2) found it impossible to stick to the facts that were doubtful.
3) could not do without describing fictional events.
4) found the true facts of the slave’s biography uninspiring.

A17 The narrator’s objective in writing the book was to
1) write a new version of the novel «The Negro of Peter the Great».
2) continue the story from where it was left unfinished.
3) interpret the storyteller’s attitude to his ancestor.
4) prove that Pushkin’s ancestor was an African prince.

A18 The narrator says that his research for the book
1) brought him to Russia to work as a journalist.
2) made him go to the war in Afghanistan.
3) led him to take part in the war in Africa.
4) brought him to a river bank in Africa.

A19 The lesson that the narrator learnt from his arrest was
1) not to use a camera and compass at the frontline.
2) to avoid speaking to people in his best posh English accent.
3) not to distort information about real events.
4) never to tell people about his research.

A20 The narrator says that his journeys
1) helped him find some traces of the past.
2) extended his sympathy to a «stolen legacy».
3) deepened his understanding of the concept of intellectual wars.
4) turned out to be the main contents of his book.

A21 The narrator points out that at the time of Gannibal
1) negro slaves played a variety of roles in the theatre.
2) black slaves were like stage extras in royal processions.
3) many Africans made a brilliant career at the court.
4) Africans were not a novelty in the capital of Russia.

Раздел 1. Аудирование

1. Вы услышите 6 высказываний. Установите соответствие между высказываниями каждого говорящего A—F и утверждениями, данными в списке 1—7. Используйте каждое утверждение, обозначенное соответствующей цифрой, только один раз. В задании есть одно лишнее утверждение. Вы услышите запись дважды. Занесите свои ответы в таблицу.

1. Some modem films are very similar to each other.

2. The quality of films today isn’t what it used to be.

3. Big names in cinema make films commercially successful.

4. You can always find a movie to suit your current mood.

5. Films should be used as a source of learning.

6. Sometimes it’s good to watch a film just for fun.

7. Some films can put you in a bad mood.

Говорящий	A	В	С	D	Е	F
Утверждение

2. Вы услышите диалог. Определите, какие из приведённых утверждений A—G соответствуют содержанию текста (1 — True), какие не соответствуют (2 — False) и о чём в тексте не сказано, то есть на основании текста нельзя дать ни положительного, ни отрицательного ответа (3 — Not stated). Занесите номер выбранного Вами варианта ответа в таблицу. Вы услышите запись дважды.

[A] Jane is getting ready for her final exams.

[B] Jane won’t be able to study tonight.

[C] Jane’s computer isn’t working because of a software failure.

[D] Fred has offered to lend Jane a computer.

[E] Jane thinks she won’t be able to finish her work on time.

[F] Fred enjoys watching horror films at the cinema.

[G] Jane will go to the cinema alone.

Утверждение	А	В	С	D	Е	F	G
Соответствие диалогу

Вы услышите интервью. В заданиях 3—9 запишите в поле ответа цифру 1, 2 или 3, соответствующую выбранному Вами варианту ответа. Вы услышите запись дважды.

3. What does James Chandler say about reading in the USA?

1) It’s more popular than watching television.

2) America is currently the biggest reading nation.

3) Americans buy and read only bestsellers.

Ответ: [ ]

4. Which is, according to James Chandler, the first reason of books’ popularity in the USA?

1) Proper education.

2) The growing number of libraries.

3) A variety of publications.

Ответ: [ ]

5. What, according to James Chandler, is good about book sales at local libraries?

1) People show how much they care about their libraries.

2) The libraries buy books at big discounts.

3) They make books more available.

Ответ: [ ]

6. What does James Chandler say about American public libraries?

1) They protect books from people.

2) They’re located only in big cities.

3) People donate books to libraries to sell.

Ответ: [ ]

7. Which does James Chandler NOT list as a place where one can buy books in the USA?

1) Airports.

2) Book clubs.

3) Drug stores.

Ответ: [ ]

8. Which of the following is TRUE about student-run university book stores?

1) Students make big salaries there.

2) They operate 24 hours a day.

3) Sales support educational grants for students.

Ответ: [ ]

9. Why are the ‘paperback supermarkets’ good for the book trade?

1) They offer rather cheap prices.

2) They are conveniently located.

3) They have a wide choice of books.

Ответ: [ ]

По окончании выполнения заданий 1-9 не забудьте перенести свои ответы в БЛАНК ОТВЕТОВ № 1! Запишите ответ справа от номера соответствующего задания, начиная с первой клеточки. При переносе ответов в заданиях 1 и 2 цифры записываются без пробелов, запятых и других дополнительных символов. Каждую цифру пишите в отдельной клеточке в соответствии с приведёнными в бланке образцами.

Раздел 2. Чтение

10. Установите соответствие между заголовками 1-8 и текстами А-G. Занесите свои ответы в таблицу. Используйте каждую цифру только один раз. В задании один заголовок лишний.

1. Strange colours in the sky

2. Changes of the seasons

3. Expanding the influence

4. The last role

5. The last night

6. Waves in the air

7. Influence of magic forces

8. For war and peace

A. In rural Irish communities of the early 1800s, weather forecasting was anything but a precise science. There were people who predicted and explained turns in the weather through the prism of superstition. One particular storm in 1839 was so peculiar that rural folk in the west of Ireland, stunned by its ferocity, feared it could be the end of the world. Some blamed it on the “fairies” from local tales.

B. The eruption of the volcano at Krakatoa in the Pacific Ocean was a major disaster by any measure. In 1883, the entire island of Krakatoa was simply blown apart, and the resulting tsunami killed tens of thousands of people on other islands. The volcanic dust thrown into the atmosphere affected the weather around the world, and people as far away as Britain and the United States saw red sunsets caused by particles in the atmosphere.

C. The dust from Mount Tambora, which had erupted in early April 1815 in the Indian Ocean, shrouded the globe. And with sunlight blocked, 1816 did not have a normal summer. The weather in Europe and North America took a bizarre turn that resulted in crop failures and even famine. Spring came but then everything seemed to turn backward, as cold temperatures returned.

D. Wireless telegraphy originated as a term to describe electrical signaling without the electric wires to connect the end points. It was different from the conventional electric telegraph signaling. The term was initially applied to a variety of competing technologies to communicate messages encoded as symbols, without wires, around the turn of the 20th century, but radio emerged as the most significant.

E. By the time Abraham Lincoln became president, the telegraph had become an accepted part of American life. Lincoln’s first State of the Union message was transmitted over the telegraph wires in 1861. During the Civil War, Lincoln spent many hours in the telegraph room of the War Department building near the White House. The president would generally write his messages in longhand, and telegraph operators would relay them, in military cipher, to the front.

F. One of the truly tragic events in American history is the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Just as the Civil War was coming to an end, on April 14, 1865, the president had sought a night of relaxation at Ford’s Theatre, a short carriage drive from the White House. As Lincoln watched the play, John Wilkes Booth, an actor, shot the president and fled.

G. It is probably impossible to overestimate Queen Victoria’s importance to the British history of the 1800s. She took an active involvement in the affairs of state and strongly believed that Britain should rule much of the world as an empire. Indicating her role as an imperial leader, her official title as Queen of Great Britain and Ireland was changed in the late 1870s to also include the title Empress of India.

Ответ:

A	В	C	D	E	F	G

11. Прочитайте текст и заполните пропуски A-F частями предложений, обозначенными цифрами 1-7. Одна из частей в списке 1-7 лишняя. Занесите цифры, обозначающие соответствующие части предложений, в таблицу.

Welcome to Parliament Hill

Parliament Hill is the home of Canadian democracy and a proud national symbol. It is the heart of Canada’s federal government, where representatives from across the country meet to make laws A _________________. And it is much more than that. Parliament Hill is where you can explore figures, events and achievements that have shaped the country’s past, В _________________. Look closely and you can uncover an image of Canada, its people, history and culture.

The planning and construction of the buildings, monuments and landscapes of Parliament Hill began in 1859. Since then, the Hill C _________________ and modem country. The Hill is home to Canada’s federal government, and welcomes close D _________________. A place of work, a place to meet and a place of leisure, Canada’s Parliament Hill has come E _________________.

The beautiful structures of Parliament Hill include many historic monuments and stone buildings with copper-tiled roofs. The Centre Block is home to the Senate, the House of Commons and the Library. The Library of Parliament preserves and protects Canada’s legislative past. It ensures that senators and members of Parliament have immediate access F _________________ on all matters of parliamentary concern. However, the Library is more than a collection of books alone; it contributes to Canadian democracy by creating and delivering reliable and relevant information to and about Parliament.

1. and continue to influence its present and future

2. that influences the public opinion and lifestyle

3. has changed and evolved to reflect the needs of a growing

4. to one and a half million visitors each year

5. to half a million books and documents that help to inform them

6. that affect the lives of every Canadian

7. to both symbolize and celebrate the great nation it serves

Ответ:

A	В	C	D	E	F

Прочитайте текст и выполните задания 12-18. В каждом задании запишите в поле ответа цифру 1, 2, 3 или 4, соответствующую выбранному Вами варианту ответа.

Robb Wilier: gossip is good for you

Robb Wilier is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. He recently co-authored a paper called The Virtues of Gossip: Reputational Information Sharing as Prosocial Behaviour, which was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. His research has proved that some kinds of gossip are altruistic and beneficial to society. No matter how fundamental his research is, many people find it difficult to accept such an opinion.

Research has been going on for several years about the ways in which fears for reputation encourage people to behave. This led to get interested in gossip because gossip involves spreading reputational information about people in groups. More specifically, the authors were interested in an apparent tension between the bad reputation gossiping and gossipers have, but how there’s a lot of ways gossip has useful social functions.

In the first study, they attached participants to heart-rate monitors and monitored their emotional reactions to events they observed in the lab. One thing they observed was people doing economic exercises based on trust. The researchers arranged so they would observe someone behaving in an untrustworthy way repeatedly; then the participants would have a chance to warn someone else they thought would have to interact with that person next.

People very readily warned the next person, passing on socially useful information to them. But what was more interesting was the emotional register of the behaviour. As people saw a person behave in an untrustworthy way, they became frustrated and their heart rate increased. But when they had the opportunity to pass a warning on, that reduced or eliminated their frustration and also tempered their increased heart rate.

It is “prosocial” gossip that involves warning other people about untrustworthy others. It is pretty common. Generous people are more likely to engage in it and they report doing so out of a need to help others. It is very different from malicious gossip, which might be driven by a desire to spoil another’s reputation or advance oneself.

So why does gossip have such a bad reputation? This research has just sharpened that question. Why would it be that gossip, which we need to function socially in order to keep people behaving a bit better than they might otherwise, has a negative reputation? It could be that we don’t need gossip to have a positive reputation for people to do it. Even the people who pass judgment on gossipers are gossiping as they do so. It may be that socially we’re wired to gossip. Evolutionary theorists have argued that language evolved in part to facilitate gossip, so we’ve developed these social norms against excessive or malicious gossip to keep the system from getting out of hand. News in a lot of ways is dignified gossip. A broad definition of gossip would include the news. I wonder how many journalists would agree with or share such interpretation of news and their role in a society?

It’s very important that we discriminate between different kinds of gossip and the people who do it. The kind where you warn people about untrustworthy others is valid, so we shouldn’t feel bad about that.

12. Which of the following statements does NOT refer to the content of paragraph 2?

1) Gossipers have a bad reputation.

2) Society may benefit from gossip.

3) Gossip can ruin one’s reputation.

4) People in groups favour gossip.

Ответ: [ ]

13. The participants of the study observed …

1) people in danger.

2) groups of economists.

3) trustworthy people.

4) examples of dishonest behavior.

Ответ: [ ]

14. Ability to pass on socially useful information made people …

1) relaxed.

2) frustrated.

3) excited.

4) more confident.

Ответ: [ ]

15. “It” in ‘people are more likely to engage in it’ (paragraph 5) refers to …

1) socially useful gossip.

2) malicious rumours.

3) a person’s reputation.

4) helping other people.

Ответ: [ ]

16. In what way did the research refer to the reason for gossip’s bad reputation?

1) It related it to language development.

2) It connected it to people’s behaviour.

3) It made the question more acute.

4) It proved that it couldn’t be explained.

Ответ: [ ]

17. The researchers see news as …

1) opposite to gossip.

2) a kind of gossip.

3) an origin of gossip.

4) an outcome of gossip.

Ответ: [ ]

18. According to the author, what is important about gossip?

1) Not to pass it to untrustworthy people.

2) To see differences between kinds of gossip.

3) To try to feel good when you hear it.

4) To avoid people who do it.

Ответ: [ ]

По окончании выполнения заданий 10—18 не забудьте перенести свои ответы в БЛАНК ОТВЕТОВ № 11 Запишите ответ справа от номера соответствующего задания, начиная с первой клеточки. При переносе ответов в заданиях 10 и 11 цифры записываются без пробелов, запятых и других дополнительных символов. Каждую цифру пишите в отдельной клеточке в соответствии с приведёнными в бланке образцами.

Раздел 3. Грамматика и лексика

Прочитайте приведённые ниже тексты. Преобразуйте, если необходимо, слова, напечатанные заглавными буквами в конце строк, обозначенных номерами 19—25, так, чтобы они грамматически соответствовали содержанию текстов. Заполните пропуски полученными словами. Каждый пропуск соответствует отдельному заданию из группы 19—25.

Why do people decorate a tree on Christmas?

19. Have you ever thought about it? The custom of decorating a house with tree leaves or branches in December is actually ______________ than Christmas itself.

20. The ancient Romans celebrated a December feast, ______________ Saturnalia, by giving presents and decorating their houses.

21. At the same time, pagans in Germany worshipped a sacred oak tree. Then, when Christian missionaries ______________ them to celebrate Christmas, they used a fir tree.

22. These customs stayed alive in Germany for many centuries, and in 1840, they ______________ to England by a German prince.

OLD

CALL

TEACH

BRING

Mothers and daughters

23. We are a family of three. Most of the cooking in our house ______________ by my husband, but sometimes I make dinner.

24. One day it dawned on me that our four-year-old daughter was willing to help me, but she ______________ to help her father. I asked her why.

25. “Well, Mom,” she said, “Dad seems to know what he ______________ in the kitchen.”

DO

NOT OFFER

DO

Прочитайте приведённый ниже текст. Образуйте от слов, напечатанных заглавными буквами в конце строк, обозначенных номерами 26—31, однокоренные слова так, чтобы они грамматически и лексически соответствовали содержанию текста. Заполните пропуски полученными словами. Каждый пропуск соответствует отдельному заданию из группы 26—31.

The history of paper

26. Writing has been the center of civilization for centuries. Most of our important records are on paper. In fact, putting thoughts down in written form wasn’t always easy or ______________.

27. Early people discovered that they could make simple ______________ on the walls of caves.

28. ______________, they couldn’t transport it.

29. Around 4000 B.C., people started scratching messages into heavy clay tablets. Although this form of written ______________ was now portable, it still was very heavy.

30. For centuries, people tried to discover better surfaces on which to record their thoughts. Almost everything ______________ was tried. Wood, stone, ceramics, cloth, bark, metal, silk, bamboo, and tree leaves were all used as a writing surface at one time or another.

31. No major changes in writing materials were to come for about 3,000 years. A Chinese man named Ts’ai Lun Ts’ai Lun, discovered a way to make paper. The importance of this ______________ is hard to overestimate.

PRACTICE

DRAW

FORTUNATE

COMMUNICATE

IMAGINE

INVENT

Прочитайте текст с пропусками, обозначенными номерами 32—38. Эти номера соответствуют заданиям 32—38, в которых представлены возможные варианты ответов. Запишите в поле ответа цифру 1, 2, 3 или 4, соответствующую выбранному Вами варианту ответа.

Hamilton

Sefton Hamilton was not a very, nice man. The first time I met him was last year, when my wife and I were dining with Henry and Susan Kennedy at their home in Warwick Square. I didn’t like Hamilton at first 32 ____.

Hamilton was one of those unfortunate men who inherited immense wealth but not a lot more. He was able to convince us that he had little time to read and no time to attend the theatre or opera. Actually, he was not 33 ____ in anything but himself. 34 ____, this did not prevent him from holding opinions on every subject from Shaw to Pavarotti, from Gorbachev to Picasso. He couldn’t understand, for instance, why the unemployed were so unhappy when their welfare check was just a little less than what he was currently paying the workers on his estate.

The other dinner guest that night was Freddie Barker, the President of the Wine Society, who sat opposite my wife. Unlike Hamilton, he 35 ____ uttered a word. Henry had assured me over the phone that Barker was considered to be a leading authority on his subject and he had 36 ____ to get the Society back on to a proper financial footing. I looked forward to picking up useful bits of inside information. 37 ____ Barker was allowed to get a word in, he showed enough knowledge of the topic under discussion to convince me that he would be fascinating if only Hamilton would 38 ____ silent long enough for him to speak. But it was impossible to stop Hamilton.

32.

1) look

2) glimpse

3) sight

4) view

Ответ: [ ]

33.

1) involved

2) keen

3) fond

4) interested

Ответ: [ ]

34.

1) Although

2) However

3) Otherwise

4) Therefore

Ответ: [ ]

35.

1) merely

2) nearly

3) hardly

4) closely

Ответ: [ ]

36.

1) succeeded

2) managed

3) achieved

4) fulfilled

Ответ: [ ]

37.

1) Whenever

2) Wherever

3) Whoever

4) Whatever

Ответ: [ ]

38.

1) resist

2) retain

3) remain

4) reserve

Ответ: [ ]

По окончании выполнения заданий 19—38 не забудьте перенести свои ответы в БЛАНК ОТВЕТОВ № 1! Запишите ответ справа от номера соответствующего задания, начиная с первой клеточки. При переносе ответов в заданиях 19—31 буквы записываются без пробелов, запятых и других дополнительных символов. Каждую букву или цифру пишите в отдельной клеточке в соответствии с приведёнными в бланке образцами.

Раздел 4. Письмо

Для ответов на задания 39 и 40 используйте бланк ответов № 2. Черновые пометки можно делать прямо на листе с заданиями, или можно использовать отдельный черновик. При выполнении заданий 39 и 40 особое внимание обратите на то, что Ваши ответы будут оцениваться только по записям, сделанным в бланке ответов № 2. Никакие записи черновика не будут учитываться экспертом. Обратите внимание также на необходимость соблюдения указанного объёма текста. Тексты недостаточного объёма, а также часть текста, превышающая требуемый объём, не оцениваются. Запишите сначала номер задания (39, 40), а затем ответ на него. Если одной стороны бланка недостаточно, Вы можете использовать другую его сторону.

39. You have received a letter from your English-speaking pen-friend Ann who writes:

…Yesterday we planted more than 60 flowers in the garden. The first thing we saw in the morning was a group of wild deer finishing our flowers near the back porch. My dad says it’s a waste of time to plant flowers that can be destroyed. What would you say to this? Are there trees or plants near your house and who has planted them? What other ways of decorating the yard can you suggest?

Just imagine, my grandparents are going on a cruise holiday!…

Write a letter to Ann.

— answer her questions

— ask 3 questions about her grandparents Write 100-140 words.

Remember the rules of letter writing.

40. Comment on the following statement.

A university degree is a must for success in the modern world.

What is your opinion? Do you agree with this statement?

Write 200-250 words.

Use the following plan:

— make an introduction (state the problem)

— express your personal opinion and give 2-3 reasons for your opinion

— express an opposing opinion and give 1-2 reasons for this opposing opinion

— explain why you don’t agree with the opposing opinion

— make a conclusion restating your position

Прочитайте текст и заполните пропуски A–F частями предложений, обозначенными цифрами 1–7. Одна из частей в списке 1–7 — лишняя. Занесите цифры, обозначающие соответствующие части предложений, в таблицу.

The Trailblazers

In the early 1800s, the area that would become the western United States was completely undeveloped.

Explorers, hunters, traders, and settlers had to blaze their own trails. A___________________________ to move possessions and supplies became common place.

Manifest Destiny was the belief that Americans had a God-given right to take over the continent. As they moved west, settlers used this policy B___________________________ to new people and territories.

Trails increased trade opportunities between western and eastern regions, and the U.S. economy prospered C___________________________ on each other for goods.

To achieve Manifest Destiny, the United States purchased land from other countries or conquered territory D___________________________ until its borders stretched from coast to coast.

More than one-half million people chose to travel West on trails between 1800 and 1870, E ___________________________.

As new technology spread across the West, however, the use of trails came to an end. The railroads built thousands of miles of tracks, and, F ___________________________, a cheap, relatively safe, and quick way to transport people and supplies to western areas existed.

1.  to spread U.S. ideas and government

2.  for the first time in history

3.  thus replacing them forever

4.  as territories became interdependent

5.  the use of covered wagons

6.  by taking land from Native peoples

7.  forming the largest mass migration in history

Пропуск	A	B	C	D	E	F
Часть предложения

In rural Irish communities of the early 1800s, weather forecasting was anything but precise. There are many tales of people who were locally revered for accurately predicting turns in the weather. Yet without the science we now take for granted, weather events were often viewed through the prism of superstition.

One particular storm in 1839 was so peculiar that rural folk in the west of Ireland, stunned by its ferocity, feared it could be the end of the world. Some blamed it on the “fairies” and elaborate folk tales sprang from the event.

Those who lived through the “Big Wind” never forgot it. And for that reason, the horrendous storm became a famous question formulated by the British bureaucrats who ruled Ireland seven decades later.

The Great Storm Battered Ireland

Snow fell across Ireland on Saturday, January 5, 1839. Sunday morning dawned with cloud cover that amounted to a typical Irish sky in winter. The day was warmer than usual, and the snow from the night before began to melt.

By midday, it began to rain heavily. The precipitation coming in off the north Atlantic slowly spread eastward. By early evening, heavy winds began to howl. And then on Sunday night, an unforgettable fury was unleashed.

Hurricane-force winds began to batter the west and north of Ireland as a freak storm roared out of the Atlantic. For most of the night, until just before dawn, the winds mauled the countryside, uprooting large trees, tearing thatched roofs off houses, and toppling barns and church spires. There were even reports that grass was torn off hillsides.

As the worst part of the storm occurred in the hours after midnight, families huddled in total darkness, terrified by the relentless howling winds and sounds of destruction. Some homes caught fire when the bizarre winds blasted down chimneys, throwing hot embers from hearths throughout cottages.

Casualties and Damage

Newspaper reports claimed that more than 300 people were killed in the wind storm, but accurate figures are difficult to pin down. There were reports of houses collapsing on people, as well as of houses burning to the ground. There’s no doubt there was considerable loss of life, as well as many injuries.

Many thousands were made homeless, and the economic devastation inflicted on a population that was nearly always facing famine must have been massive. Stores of food meant to last through the winter had been destroyed and scattered. Livestock and sheep were killed in vast numbers. Wild animals and birds were likewise killed, and crows and jackdaws were nearly made extinct in some parts of the country.

And it must be kept in mind that the storm struck in a time before government disaster response programs existed. The people affected essentially had to fend for themselves.

The Big Wind In a Folklore Tradition

The rural Irish believed in the “wee people,” what we think of today as leprechauns or fairies. Tradition held that the feast day of a particular saint, Saint Ceara, which was held on January 5, was when these supernatural beings would hold a great meeting.

As the mighty wind storm had struck Ireland on the day after the feast of Saint Ceara, a storytelling tradition developed that the wee people held their grand meeting on the night of January 5 and decided to leave Ireland. As they left the following night, they created the «Big Wind.»

Bureaucrats Used the Big Wind as a Milestone

The night of January 6, 1839, was so profoundly memorable that it was always known in Ireland as the «Big Wind,» or «The Night of the Big Wind.»

«‘The Night of the Big Wind’ forms an era,» according to «A Handy Book of Curious Information,» a reference book published in the early 20th century. «Things date from it: such and such a thing happened ‘before the Big Wind, when I was a boy.'»

A quirk in Irish tradition was that birthdays were never celebrated in the 19th century, and no special heed was given to precisely how old someone was. Records of births were often not kept very carefully by civil authorities.

This creates problems for genealogists today (who generally have to rely on church parish baptismal records). And it created problems for bureaucrats in the early 20th century.

In 1909, the British government, which was still ruling Ireland, instituted a system of old-age pensions. When dealing with the rural population of Ireland, where the written records might be scant, the ferocious storm that blew in from the north Atlantic 70 years earlier proved to be useful.

One of the questions asked of elderly people was if they could remember the «Big Wind.» If they could, they qualified for a pension.

Sources

«St. Cera.» Catholic Online, 2019.

Walsh, William Shepard. «A Handy Book of Curious Information: Comprising Strange Happenings in the Life of Men and Animals, Odd Statistics, Extraordinary Phenomena and Out of … Wonderlands of the Earth.» Hardcover, Forgotten Books, January 11, 2018.

Among Findmypast’s Petty Sessions court registers is the court of ‘Arran’ which served the Aran Islands off the coast of Galway. The extremely local nature of the petty session’s courts is brought home by these records. Petty Sessions were held weekly, fortnightly or monthly depending on the needs of the local community. On the Aran Islands they occurred on the second Thursday of the month. The court served a population of around 3,300 in the 1860s by the early twentieth century this had dropped to 2,700. The community lived on three islands: Inishmore, Inishmann and Inisheer. Inishmore, the largest of the three islands, had a population of around 2000 in the nineteenth century, dipping to around 1800 in the early twentieth century. The population of the two smaller islands was around 500 each. The economy of the Aran Islands was similar to that of many coastal communities at the time, subsistence farming (growing just enough to feed the family) supplemented by fishing and the sale of kelp (seaweed). The crops grown were mainly potatoes and rye, families also kept pigs, sheep and goats.

These court records provide a snap-shot of life in a rural, although by no means isolated, community in nineteenth and early twentieth century Ireland. From the cases emerge the inhabitants of this small island community on whom the pressures to survive occasionally resulted in recourse to petty crime.

Seaweed collection and selling was an essential supplement to the income of small-holders in the nineteenth century. Seaweed has a variety of uses: as a fertiliser, as food and fodder, and when burned it releases soda ash which is used in the manufacture of glass and soap. Gathering the heavy strands of seaweed while scrambling across slippery rocks must have been precarious work. Several entries in the petty sessions refer to the theft of seaweed. One example from February 1879 makes mention of a pre-dawn theft.

Pigs were another valuable commodity for subsistence farmers. Most were kept indoors, especially at night to prevent wandering and theft, until it came time to butcher them, usually around November. However as the century progressed this practice of housing animals in the same room as humans became less acceptable. One entry in the petty sessions in December 1902 illustrates this shift, one case is brought for the failure to remove pigs from a ‘dwelling house’ for which the defendant, failing to pay the fine, receives seven days in jail. Another is charged with failing to lime wash (white wash) their house which faces the public road. Lime-wash not only gave a house the classic country cottage look, lime acted as an insecticide helping to deter fleas.

On small farms the protection of crops from the depredations of livestock was vital and we see many cases in the petty sessions brought against neighbor for allowing their livestock to wander onto land and root up crops.

In a small community differences were often settled without the need for court intervention and cases brought in the heat of the moment are often subsequently dismissed, even for assault. A plaintiff may change their mind, or a defendant simply not turn up. This case of two women, one of whom hit the other with a sod of turf was dismissed after the complainant failed to make an appearance in court due to illness.

In searching the Petty Session Order Books you learn not just about the misdemeanours of your ancestors but also about the communities they lived in and what was important to them and what they would not tolerate.

For more stories on tracing your Irish heritage from Findmypast click here.

* Originally published in 2015.