К содержанию

Анатолий
Анатольевич
Eфремов

Card 63 - Reading

Раздел 2 (задания по Чтению)

9 Прочитайте тексты и установите соответствие между текстами и их заголовками: к каждому тексту, обозначенному буквами А-G, подберите соответствующий заголовок, обозначенный цифрами 1-8. Используйте каждую цифру только один раз. В задании есть один лишний заголовок.
1. Bilingual society5. The meaning of colours
2. The creator of the famous building6. Was it a real story?
3. The dominant colour of the island7. In the heart of Dublin
4. The origin of the international word8. Two things associated with the country
A One of the informal names of Ireland is ‘the Emerald Isle’. This is because of its lush greenery and rolling hills. The country receives a lot of rain each year, which keeps the grass green and the plants blooming. Experts argue that the flora of Ireland demonstrates more than forty shades of green. The famous country singer Johnny Cash even wrote a song about it ‘40 Shades of Green’.
B The most famous symbol of Ireland is undoubtedly the shamrock clover. However, the official emblem of the country is the Celtic harp. Ireland is the only country in the world to have a musical instrument as its national symbol. The harp has become Ireland’s national symbol not because it was created there but due to the collection of the oldest harps in the world which now can be seen in the museum at Trinity College in Dublin.
C The national flag of the Republic of Ireland is a tricolour of green, white and orange vertical stripes. The flag was designed to reflect the country’s political situation. Created in 1848, the orange stripe represents Irish Protestants. Green is for Irish Catholics and white is for the hope that peace might eventually be reached between them.
D According to the Constitution, Irish (Gaelic) is a national language of the Republic of Ireland. It used to be the primary language that was used on the island. Though at school children are still taught Irish, the language is losing its importance. Nowadays, most people speak English which is the second official language of the country. At the same time, many families who have lived in Ireland for generations understand and speak Irish.
E The story about the world-famous vampire Count Dracula was written in 1897 by Bram Stoker, from Dublin. Count Dracula started the period of 20 years of vampire stories in Victorian literature. People believe that the author gathered inspiration from real life events of a Romanian ruler, called Vlad the Impaler. But Vlad the Impaler lived almost 400 years before Bram Stoker, so nobody actually knows whether it is true or not.
F The White House, the official residence of the US President, was designed by an Irishman. James Hoban was born in Ireland and studied architecture in his homeland. In 1792, James Hoban won the competition for the construction of the President's house in America. He spent nine years supervising the building process. When in 1814 The White House was destroyed, James Hoban had to redesign the building.
G The widely used word ‘boycott’ originated in Ireland. In 1880, a campaign of isolation against Charles Boycott, a land agent, was started. He threw out the farmers from his land when they complained that the rents were too high. After that, the local shops refused to serve him, his servants left and the boy who delivered his mail disappeared too. The surname of the land agent became a word which means silently ignoring. The word was adopted in English, French, Dutch, German, Russian etc.

Запишите в таблицу выбранные цифры под соответствующими буквами

Текст A B C D E F G
Место действия 3 8 5 1 6 2 4

545B8D

Прочитайте текст. Определите, какие из приведённых утверждений 10-17 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). В поле ответа запишите одну цифру, которая соответствует номеру правильного ответа.

J.K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling is one of the most popular writers today. She was born into the family of an engineer in 1965. Her childhood was happy, although she does remember getting teased in primary school because of her surname ‘Rowling’. She was often called ‘Rolling pin’ by her schoolmates. The writer says that she never really liked her own surname, she liked the surname of her friends Ian and Vikki Potter who lived nearby. Later she would give their surname to the hero of her popular books.

From an early age, Joanna Rowling had an ambition to become a writer. She often tried her hand at writing fantasy stories. Aged six, she wrote a book about a rabbit who got measles. After, she understood that her parents enjoyed her story, Joanna suggested with confidence ‘well, get it published then.’

After finishing school, her parents encouraged Joanna to study French. She slightly regretted choosing French, saying she would have preferred to focus on English and English literature. However, it was her parents’ wish that she should study something ‘more useful’ than just English. After graduating from university Joanna Rowling took various jobs in London.

It was in 1990, that she first got the idea for Harry Potter, a boy attending a school for wizards. As she recalls, it was on a long train journey from Manchester to London, when she began forming in her mind the characters for the book. On arriving at her flat, she started writing the book immediately, although, it would take her several years to finish it. In the meantime, she went to teach in Portugal, married a Portuguese journalist, had a daughter, Jessica, divorced her husband, and returned to Britain, to Edinburgh.

Eventually, she finished her first copy of The Philosopher’s Stone, but her agent spent over a year trying hard to get a publisher. It was rejected by 12 major publishing houses. But, finally, quite a small publisher, Bloomsbury, agreed to take the book on. The decision to take on the book was, in large part, due to the publisher’s daughters who read and liked the first chapter of the book.

When the first ‘Harry Potter’ novel was published, the publisher asked Joanna to use initials rather than her first name. The publisher was afraid that boys would be against a book written by a woman. Since Joanna had only one given name, she took ‘K.’ from her favorite grandmother, Kathleen.

Within a few weeks of publication, book sales started to take off. A number of other novels about Harry Potter followed. In 1998, Warner Bros secured the film rights for the books. The films have increased the success of the books, making Harry Potter into one of the most recognisable media products. Under the close guidance of J.K.Rowling, all the films were shot close to the original plot; also at J.K.Rowling’s request the filming took place in Britain.

The final book of the Harry Potter Series – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released in 2007. J.K.Rowling said that the book was her favorite and she would continue writing, but there was little chance of continuing the Harry Potter Series.

10 ‘Potter’ was Joanna’s nickname in primary school.
  • 1) True
  • 2) False
  • 3) Not stated
Ответ: 2
11 Joanna’s first book about a rabbit was published in a magazine for kids.
  • 1) True
  • 2) False
  • 3) Not stated
Ответ: 3
12 Taking the French course at university was the choice of Joanna’s parents.
  • 1) True
  • 2) False
  • 3) Not stated
Ответ: 1
13 The decision to write a book about a young wizard came to Joanna in Portugal.
  • 1) True
  • 2) False
  • 3) Not stated
Ответ: 2
14 It took Joanna a year to write the first book about Harry Potter.
  • 1) True
  • 2) False
  • 3) Not stated
Ответ: 2
15 Bloomsbury decided to publish The Philosopher’s Stone after a positive review from the publisher’s daughters.
  • 1) True
  • 2) False
  • 3) Not stated
Ответ: 1
16 It was the publisher’s idea to put initials, not her first name, on the cover of Joanna’s book.
  • 1) True
  • 2) False
  • 3) Not stated
Ответ: 1
17 Joanna chose the leading actors for the Harry Potter films.
  • 1) True
  • 2) False
  • 3) Not stated
Ответ: 3

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