БИЛЕТ № 16 1 Read the article and say what it is about in 2-3 sentences
Sleep is a subject few people know much about. We do know, though, that sleep is important for our physical health and for our mental well-being. But scientists tell us that sleep can only refresh us mentally and physically when given enough time to do so. And the correct amount of time varies from individual to individual. Seven hours may be too little for some, resulting in tiredness and restlessness. Or it may be too much. Only you can tell how much sleep you need to maintain your peak form.
Surveys show that 60% of the population sleeps between seven and eight hours a night. The other 40% sleep less, or more. So if you are not getting your eight hours each night, and you feel fine, maybe you don’t need as much sleep as you think you do.
Other factors that determine your sleep needs are your health, your job, your emotional state, and the «efficiency» of your sleep. Sleep efficiency is very important because 6 hours of sound, restful sleep will do you more good than 10 hours of tossing and turning.
What you sleep on is also very important. A surface that is too soft can cause lower back pain. A mattress that is too hard can cause painful pressure at the shoulders and hips.
For sleep that is truly efficient, support and comfort must work hand in hand. That is why it makes sense to buy the highest quality bedding you can afford. In the right size.
If you suffer from insomnia, as some people do, mild exercise can often help you to sleep at night. Just don’t exercise too strenuously before bedtime. Generally speaking, exercise is important. In fact, there is some evidence that the better your physical condition, the better you will be able to sleep.
\In today’s competitive fast moving world it’s more important than ever to be the best you can be. And when you sleep your best, you can look and feel your best. And that means you can do your best at anything you pursue. You have the energy and the feeling of well-being that makes each day easier and more enjoyable.
Sleep is too important to be taken lightly.
2 What do scientists tell us about sleep? Read aloud the extract which says about it.
3 What can help people who suffer from insomnia?
4 Why is it so imporant to sleep your best?
БИЛЕТ № 17
1 Read the article and say what it is about in 2-3 sentences.
I don’t live in Tokyo. I don’t even know whether I would like to live there. I love it and hate it — it is one of those places that you can love and hate at the same time.
The first «fact» about Tokyo, for me, is that there are too many people. I don’t mean the fact that twelve million people live there. That is four million more than London or New York, but it is not an important fact for me.
In Tokyo there are always too many people in the places where I want to be. That is the important fact for me. Of course there are too many cars. The Japanese drive very fast when they can but in Tokyo they often spend a long time in traffic jams. Tokyo is not different from London, Paris and New York. It is different when one wants to walk.
At certain times of the day there are a lot of people on foot in London’s Oxford Street or near the big shops and stores in other great cities. But the streets in Tokyo always have a lot of people on foot, and sometimes it is really difficult to walk. People are very polite; there are just too many of them.
The worst time to be in the street is at 11.30 at night. That is when the night-clubs are closing and everybody wants to go home. Between 11 and 12 everybody is looking for a taxi. Usually the taxis are shared by four or five people who live in the same part of the city.
During the day, people use the trains. Most people travel to and from work by train, and there is a station at almost every street comer. At most stations, trains arrive every two or three minutes, but at certain hours there do not seem to be enough trains. At 8 o’clock in the morning you can see students pushing passengers into the trains. Usually the trains are nearly full when they arrive at the station, so the students have to push very hard. Sometimes the pushers are also pushed in by mistake, and they have to get out at the next station. Although they are usually crowded, Japanese trains are very good. They always leave and arrive on time. On a London train you would see everybody reading a newspaper. In Tokyo trains everybody in a seat seems to be asleep. Some Japanese make a train journey of two hours to go to work, so they do their sleeping on the train.
2 What is the worst time to be in the street in Tokyo? Read aloud the extract which says about it.
3 What would you see on a London train?
4 Do you think Tokyo is a convenient place to live in?
БИЛЕТ № 18 1 Read the article and say what it is about in 2-3 sentences.
Helen was a very successful business woman. She had always liked nice clothes, and when she left school she had gone and worked in a shop which sold them, not far from her home. After a few experiments she showed that she was very successful at designing the sorts of things that women want to buy, so after a few years the owner of the shop, who was an oldish lady, offered to make her a partner.
Helen was very pleased, of course, and when the old lady retired, Helen bought her share and became the sole owner of the shop. Now she had her independence.
Ever since she had started in the shop she had had to travel around to see what attractive things her rivals in the clothes trade were producing, to attend fashion shows and so on. She had always stayed at small cheap hotels, because she dared not to spend too much money when she was saving up to buy a shop of her own.
But when at last she became the owner of the shop, and it was making good profits, she found that she had plenty of money, and she felt she should now stay in the best hotels whenever she travelled.
So when she had to go to the next fashion show, which was in Rome, she stayed at a very good hotel. She had a nice big room with beautiful furniture in which she could entertain customers, and there were also fine public rooms where she could, to her great pride, hold small fashion shows of her own. The room service was excellent, and so was the dining-room, which had a band every evening for dancing. Helen had never before dared to stay in such a splendid place.
She could see from the bills she signed for everything that the prices in the hotel were high, but she was still rather surprised when, just before she left, she was given a bill of several pages, written on beautiful headed paper.
She checked the bill carefully, and was happy with everything except the last line, which said «Paper L 1800», which was about 75p in British money. She could not remember having had any paper from the hotel, so she thought she should go to the cashier and ask him about it.
«That, madam,» said the cashier, «is for the paper your bill is written on.»
2 What hotel did Helen stop in Rome? Read aloud the extract which says about it.
3 How did Helen become the only owner of the shop?
4 Why did Helen have to travel a lot?
БИЛЕТ № 19
1 Read the article and say what it is about in 2-3 sentences.
Helen packed a small suitcase, said good-bye to her mother and hurried out of the house to catch the bus to the station. There was no one else waiting at the bus-stop, so it looked as if a bus had just left. Helen looked at her watch anxiously: it was already two o’clock. Her train left at two-thirty, and since it would take at least twenty minutes to reach the station, she did not have much time to spare, even if a bus came along at once.
Just then a taxi came slowly down the road. Helen knew that the fare to the station was at least two pounds, which was more than she could afford; but she quickly made up her mind that it would be well worth the extra expense in order to be sure of catching her train. So she stopped the taxi and got in. She told the driver that she had to catch a train which left at half past two. The man nodded and said that he would take a short cut to get her to the station in good time.
All went well until, just as they were coming out of a side-street into the main road that led to the station, the taxi ran into a car. There was a loud crash and Helen was thrown forward so violently that she hit her head on the front seat. Both drivers got out and began shouting at each other. Helen got out as well, to ask them to stop quarrelling, but neither of them took any notice of her at all.
Helen was quite sure that she was going to miss her train, although she was not very far from the station. She was wondering what to do when a bus came into sight, going in the direction of the station. The bus-stop was not far off, so Helen got her suitcase out of the taxi and ran towards the bus, which had stopped to let some passengers get off. The bus conductor saw her running and did not ring the bell for the bus to start until she had got on. Helen reached the station just in time and managed to catch her train after all. But if she had waited for the taxi driver to stop arguing, she probably would have missed it.
2 What happened to the taxi on the way to the station? Read aloud the extract which says about it.
3 What did both the drivers do after the accident?
4 Why didn’t Helen miss the train?