К содержанию

Анатолий
Анатольевич
Eфремов

Card 66 - 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. A great source of water5. The fresh air producer
2. A famous Russian toy6. Famous for its size
3. A great source of knowledge and information7. Named after a famous scientist
4. Getting higher than the sky8. Spoken all over the world
A Russia, also officially known as the Russian Federation, is the largest country in the world. Its territory is 17,075,400 square kilometers. According to scientists, the country’s territory would almost cover the surface of the planet Pluto. It is the only country which is washed by 3 oceans and 12 seas. Russia is considered to be a European country, but two-thirds of the country are in Asia. However, most of the population lives in the European part of Russia.
B Siberian Lake Baikal is the largest source of fresh water on the planet. All the 12 major rivers of the world (the Volga, the Don, the Yenisei, the Ob, the Ganges, the Amazon, etc.) would need to flow almost a year to fill a pool equal to the volume of Lake Baikal. Another impressive fact is that even if all the rest of the planet’s fresh water supply were to disappear, there would be enough fresh water left in Lake Baikal to supply the people of the earth for up to 50 years.
C Russia is the country with the largest forest reserves in the world. 45% of its territory is covered in green forests. The forests are located in the European north of the country, in Siberia and in the Far East. Forests play an important role in the life and welfare of people. Russian forests are the biggest ‘lungs’ of the Earth. They produce oxygen and clean the atmosphere of carbon dioxide and other pollutants.
D There are more than five thousand languages in the world. Russian is one of the five major world languages. 280 million people around the world speak Russian and it is one of the most widely spoken native languages in Europe. The United Nations uses Russian as one of the official languages of the organization. It is also used in international commerce, politics, academic and cultural life.
E For its collection of books, the Russian State Library is considered to be the biggest in Europe and one of the largest in the world. The Russian State Library was founded in 1862, in Moscow. The library has over 275 km of shelves with more than 43 million items, including books, journals and magazines, art publications, music scores and sound records, maps and other things. There are items in 247 languages of the world.
F Russia is known all over the world for its space programmes. In 1957 the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite in the world. Four years later, in 1961, human space flight was accomplished. Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first man to journey into space. He orbited the Earth and landed the same day. There are other impressive space achievements of the country like the first long space flight, the first woman cosmonaut in space, and the first spacewalk.
G One of the most popular souvenirs tourists buy in Russia is the Matryoshka. It is a doll made of wood and painted with colourful ornaments. Although the Matryoshka is called a doll, it is actually a set of dolls of different sizes placed inside one another. A traditional Russian Matryoshka has big black eyes, red healthy cheeks and a friendly smile. She wears a national Russian costume, and often has some flowers or a basket of fruit in her hands.

Запишите в таблицу выбранные цифры под соответствующими буквами

Текст A B C D E F G
Место действия 6 1 5 8 7 4 2

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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.

Hermitage cats

Hermitage cats have been officially kept in the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, since its foundation. The cats prevented intensive breeding of rats and mice in the State Hermitage Museum. The director of the Hermitage, Mikhail Piotrovsky, said, “cats have become a very important part of our Hermitage lives and a significant part of Hermitage Legends.”

It is believed that the history of the Hermitage cats started with a cat that was brought from Holland by Peter the Great. In the XVIII century there were lots of rats in the Old Winter Palace. The history of cats continued due to Empress Elizaveta Petrovna. Visiting Kazan she noticed that there were no rats and mice in the city because of the large number of cats. The Empress ordered to bring some Kazan cats to St Petersburg, to the old Winter Palace. The cats had done their job, and almost all the rats disappeared from the palace. After the construction of the Winter Palace, the cats settled down in the new building too. The founder of the Hermitage, Empress Catherine II gave the cats the status of ‘gallery guards’.

Cats in the Hermitage existed for a long time, during the war with Napoleon, and after the revolution, under the Soviet regime. In 1941, when the Great Patriotic War began, the works of art were evacuated to the Urals, in Sverdlovsk.

After the war, two cars brought new cats to the Hermitage. The rats, that had invaded the building during the war, stepped back. However, in the 1960s it was decided that the cats were not needed any more. Employees of the museum caught the cats and took them away. But, soon after, rats invaded the building. Since then, the museum has never got rid of its cats.

Today, about seventy cats live in the Hermitage to protect it from mice and rats. Each cat has its own passport and a veterinary card. They live comfortably in the basement. The place where they live is always warm and dry, and all the rooms of the basement are equipped with small holes, to let the cats move freely.

The Hermitage employees regularly buy food for cats. They try to make their meals healthy and diverse. Each cat has its own bowl, tray and basket to sleep. In summer, cats are more often outside on the lawns and courtyards than in their basement.

To control the number of cats in the Hermitage, employees sometimes give away their cats to residents of the city. The new owner has to present their passport and leave their contact details. The adopted animals are accompanied by a certificate from the Hermitage.

10 According to its director, the Hermitage is the only museum in Russia where cats are kept officially.
  • 1) True
  • 2) False
  • 3) Not stated
Ответ: 1
11 Kazan cats met the expectations of Empress Elizaveta Petrovna.
  • 1) True
  • 2) False
  • 3) Not stated
Ответ: 1
12 During the reign of Empress Catherine II the cats received official status.
  • 1) True
  • 2) False
  • 3) Not stated
Ответ: 1
13 During the Great Patriotic War the Hermitage cats were taken to Sverdlovsk to guard the works of art.
  • 1) True
  • 2) False
  • 3) Not stated
Ответ: 3
14 Nowadays all the cats are settled in the attic of the Hermitage.
  • 1) True
  • 2) False
  • 3) Not stated
Ответ: 2
15 The Hermitage cats live on a strict diet of rats and mice.
  • 1) True
  • 2) False
  • 3) Not stated
Ответ: 2
16 The cats are allowed to leave the building of the museum.
  • 1) True
  • 2) False
  • 3) Not stated
Ответ: 2
17 The new owner of a Hermitage cat can visit the museum free of charge.
  • 1) True
  • 2) False
  • 3) Not stated
Ответ: 3

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