I. Match the words and their transcriptions. Two transcriptions are excess. 

  • A. ['ʧænl]
  • B. [keˈniːl]
  • C. [ʃəˈnel]
  • D. [ʃəˈniːl]
  • E. ['ʧenl]
  • F. [ˈkenl]
  • G. [kə'næl]

1. Canal

2. Channel

3. Kennel

4. Chanel

5. Chenille

 

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II. Match the words and their transcriptions. Two transcriptions are excess. 

  • A. [sjuːt]
  • B. [sjuː]
  • C. [sɔː]
  • D. [swɪt]
  • E. [səʊ]
  • F. [swiːt]
  • G. [suː]

1. Saw

2. Sew

3. Sue

4. Suit

5. Suite

 

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III. Read the text. Fill in the gaps with suitable words from the list. Three words are excess. 

  • set off / were joined / carried / bore / broke off / wove / was estimated / broke out

The 2011 Super-Outbreak was the fourth most deadly series of tornadoes in US history. Alabama the brunt of the damage, with over 230 killed. But "twisters" in at least a dozen states, from Texas north and east all the way to New York. The total damage at $10 billion US in 2011 prices. (Hurricane Katrina's costs, adjusted for 2011 prices, were over ten times more.) The Super-Outbreak began on April 25. A cyclone or "low" developed over Oklahoma and Missouri. Unusually high temperatures - over 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) - strengthened the wind and rain, and many thunderstorms. More big storms together as the whole system tracked east and north. The next day there were worsening storms and more tornadoes in Louisiana and Arkansas, and outbreaks as far north as the Great Lakes.

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IV. Read the sentences. If there is a lexical or grammatical mistake in the sentence, write the number of the line. If there are no mistakes, write "OK".  

  • A. Though penguins are assumed
  • B. to be native to the South Pole, only
  • C. four of the seventeen species
  • D. have evolved the survival adaptations
  • E. necessary to live and breed
  • F. in the Antarctic year-round.

Your answer:

  • A. The physical features of penguins
  • B. equip them to withstand
  • C. the harshest living conditions in world.
  • D. In the dark days of winter,
  • E. when the Antarctic sees practically no sunlight
  • F. the penguins that remain on the ice sheet sleep most of the day.

Your answer:

  • A. To stay heat, penguins gather in communities
  • B. of up to 6,000 of their own species.
  • C. When it's time to create a nest,
  • D. most penguins build up a pile of rocks
  • E. on top of the ice
  • F. to place their eggs.

Your answer:

  • A. The male balances the egg on top of his feet
  • B. covering it with small fold of skin.
  • C. In the huddle, the male penguins rotate regularly
  • D. so that none of the penguins have to stay
  • E. on the outside of the circle exposed to the wind
  • F. and cold for long periods of time.

Your answer:

  • A. In order to reduce the cold of the ice,
  • B. penguins often put their weight
  • C. on their heels and tails.
  • D. Antarctic penguins also have
  • E. complex nasal passages that prevent
  • F. 80 percentage of their heat from leaving the body.

Your answer:

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V. Read the text. Fill in the gaps with the words from the brackets so they suit the text lexically and grammatically.  

  • Art Nouveau was an artistic trend that began near the turn of the 20th century. The style was distinct from the styles before it, especially the "academic" art that had been popular in the 19th century. Both the approach and style of Art Nouveau established it as a unique movement that is still celebrated today.
  • Art Nouveau began with very non-traditional approaches. It split from the fine art of the 19th century that focused heavily on accurate portrayals of reality. It did not seek to create art that [EXACT]

  • represented reality. Rather, Art Nouveau sought to add to reality and make normal, everyday things beautiful with decoration. In this way, Art Nouveau was more [FUNCTION]

  • than the art before it. Moreover, it did not focus only on classical types of fine art, such as statue and painting, but was a “total style”; that is, it applied artistic ideas to nearly everything. While some Art Nouveau artists did create images, one could just as easily produce tea cups, jewelry, or architecture in the style of decorative art. Alphonse Mucha, one of the most famous figures of Art Nouveau, became popular by producing posters that advertised stage productions. In Prague, Brussels, and several other places across Europe, the Art Nouveau style swept the city. It could be seen in buildings, train stations, and parks. In this way, Art Nouveau's approach was much different than art before it; rather than [MAKE]

  • “pure” art for museums, Art Nouveau was beautiful and served a purpose.
  • The style of Art Nouveau was a huge [DEPART]

  • from the art before it. Once again, accurate depictions of reality were abandoned in favor of a decorative style. Most Art Nouveau images are two-dimensional. They cast aside rules of perspective that were so present in 19th century art. In addition, large amounts of decoration are added to a picture. In many of the poster images prepared by Mucha, for instance, several vine-like, [CURVE]

  • lines frame his pieces. Over the entrances to the metro in Paris, ornate panes of glass expand outward from the entrance. In both cases, the decoration has no function other than adding a sense of beauty to what is otherwise very plain.

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VI. Read the text and choose a headline for every paragraph. Two headlines are excess.  

  • The two complementary processes
  • Sleeping to overcome climatic changes
  • Learning throughout the lifetime
  • Acquiring a new mechanism of adjusting to the environment
  • Using moisture to regulate the temperature
  • The basics of thermoregulation
  • Teaching babies to adjust

  • Over the course of their evolution, mammals have developed a sophisticated nervous system by which they can control their internal temperature. Thermoregulation allows mammals to keep their internal temperatures constant. This can occur despite external temperature changes in their environment. It offers mammals a degree of freedom from their environment. However, it requires a very large expenditure of energy. This process is centered within the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is a part of the brain responsible for other subconscious functions like breathing and blinking. By using nervous signals sent from temperature-sensing nerves in the skin, the hypothalamus can activate mechanisms in the body to regulate the body's internal temperature.

  • The most basic process for temperature regulation is simply to change the rate of heat production. The hypothalamus sends signals to skeletal muscles, which causes them to move. This movement requires muscle cells to metabolize substances to produce energy and, in doing so, create heat. A mammal involuntarily shivers when it is cold because the hypothalamus is ordering the muscles to move and produce heat. Conversely, the hypothalamus can also stop unnecessary muscle movement and slow metabolic heat production to cool a mammal.

  • The hypothalamus can also trigger vasodilation and vasoconstriction in blood vessels near the surface of the skin. Using these processes, the amount of heat lost to the environment can be controlled to a degree. When a mammal enters a cold environment, the blood vessels near the skin surface constrict. This lessens the amount of blood that flows into those regions. As such, heat loss resulting from the flow of blood can be reduced. The opposite process, vasodilation, can be used to help cool the body by increasing the flow of blood to vessels near the surface of the skin.

  • Terrestrial mammals - those that live on land - can also regulate their temperature by controlling the amount of moisture released by the skin. When released moisture collects on the skin of a mammal, it eventually evaporates into the air around it. The evaporation process creates a cooling effect on the surface of the skin, which can be used to regulate temperature. This is common among humans who sweat when they enter warm environments. Some mammals lack the ability to produce sweat. However, they can still use evaporative cooling methods to regulate their body temperature. Rodents, for instance, may use saliva to wet their heads. Bats use their own saliva and urine to cool themselves. Evaporative cooling of the skin coupled with vasodilation can quickly reduce a mammal's body temperature.

  • Finally, mammals may simply relocate to regulate their body temperature. In desert regions, mammals gather underneath the shade of trees to avoid harsh sunlight. During winter, many mammals go into hibernation - a deep sleep in which many body functions slow considerably. Hibernating mammals survive the winter months by conserving energy and dedicating it to sustaining a constant temperature. The hibernation process relies on reserves of energy stored as fat, which are burned over the winter to produce heat. Thanks to hibernation, many mammals can inhabit extremely cold regions and survive the winter.

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VII. Read the text and complete the tasks below.  

  • He loved the Virginia countryside all his life. No matter where he travelled, he always longed to return to Virginia. His father owned a tobacco plantation. This vast farm stretched across more than a thousand acres on the edge of wilderness, just east of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
  • He spent five years studying law, for which he had a high regard. He thought learning about the law helped one understand the culture, history, and morality of a nation. Several years after having received his law degree, he laid the first bricks of his own home. He called his estate an Italian word that means “little mountain”.
  • He was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, the legislature for the Virginia Colony, from 1669 to 1774. During this time, the colonies were growing more and more resentful of the British. Great Britain had been involved in expensive wars against France in both Europe and North America. The British Government needed money to pay for its military. Britain began increasing taxes on the colonists to raise money. They put taxes on items ranging from sugar to tea and newspapers. The colonies were outraged. They had no representatives in Parliament, the British legislature. The cry went up: “Taxation without representation is tyranny!”
  • By 1776, the 13 American colonies were at war against Great Britain. He, who was just 33 years old, was among the members of the Continental Congress that travelled to Philadelphia to meet the delegates from other colonies.
  • Congress named him to a committee charged with writing an important document. It would tell the world that Americans no longer accepted Great Britain’s rule. It would declare America’s autonomy. Other committee members recognized his talent as a writer, and they asked him to create the document. His ideas helped build what the United States strives to be – a democracy where the people participate in their government.
  • Come up with the word that means “regard” in this sentence: "He spent five years studying law, for which he had a high regard"?

Your answer:

  • Which situation resulted from the following event: "Britain began increasing taxes on the colonists to raise money. They put taxes on items ranging from sugar to tea and newspapers"?

Your answer:

  • Which word from the text originated from the Greek word meaning "oppressive absolute power of a leader"?

Your answer:

  • Which document is described in the penultimate paragraph?

Your answer:

  • Which famous American politician is described in this text?

Your answer:

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VIII. Place the sentences below in a chain to get a coherent [=связный] text. Two sentences are excess.  

  • A. Prehistoric vertebrates that once roamed the Earth left evidence of their activity.
  • B. In some cases, they can be used to determine how an extinct animal moved around in its environment.
  • C. This evidence is often found in the form of fossilized tracks and footprints called trace fossils.
  • D. Trace fossils also provide evidence about past environmental conditions, and, sometimes, they can even overturn previously held theories.
  • E. These imprints record clues about the lives of their makers as well as the world in which they once lived.
  • F. In an experiment by Detterline and Wilhelm, the presence of N. Fowleri in government-owned recreational waters was linked with changes in the environment.
  • G. For example, scientists once thought that the entire Red Gulch area of Wyoming was underwater during the Middle Jurassic period.
  • H. Paleontologists study trace fossils to learn about the behavior of prehistoric vertebrates.
  • I. Dense patterns of tracks, for instance, offer clues about feeding and social behaviors.
  • J. Chemical barriers are some of the most common features introduced by geneticists to protect plants against pests.
  • K. Trace fossils were created when animals stepped into soft mud or silt Their imprints then filled with sand that later turned to stone.
  • L. For example, scientists used trace fossils to discover that an animal referred to as a giant sea scorpion crawled across the sea floor.

Your answer:

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IX - XIII. There are five books and a list of events from each one. Match every book with two events. Two events are excess.  

  • A. The main character is pursued for his crimes, but manages to escape.
  • B. The main character saves the life of her employer.
  • C. The main character is left behind in a strange land.
  • D. The main character gets in trouble for asking for more food.
  • E. The main character is betrayed by his wife.
  • F. The main character is hired as a governess for a wealthy man’s foster child.
  • G. A younger sister of the main character runs away from home with a man.
  • H. As a punishment, the main character is forced to face his worst fears
  • I. The main character’s trip with her relatives results at her finding out the truth about her future husband.
  • J. The words written in the main character’s diary could have led to disastrous consequences.
  • K. The main character has a terrible relationship with his new family.
  • L. Throughout the novel, the main character travels to different countries.

Pride and Prejudice:

1984:

David Copperfield:

Jane Eyre:

Fahrenheit 451:

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