английский. Конкурс Кращий навчальнометодичний посібник 2014
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Part II (gapped text)Text 1 You are going to read an article about a man who spent a year as a volunteer. Seven sentences have been removed from the article. Choose from the sentences A-H the one which fits each gap (1-7). There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use. AFTER THE TSUNAMI Paul Green tells us about dedicating his time and skills to helping victims of the 2004 Asian tsunami rebuild their homes. I remember that day very clearly. It was 26 December 2004 and as we always did on this day. my friends and I had a barbecue, then went to the beach for a surf. We had a great day, completely unaware of the devastation that was about to be unleashed not so far from our hometown of Brisbane, Australia, When I returned home later that night, I heard the terrible news that a massive undersea earthquake in the Indian Ocean had triggered off a deadly tsunami. We would later learn, of course, that altogether it had killed around a quarter of a million people and left more than one-and-a-half million people homeless. My friends and I had returned from a surfing trip to Indonesia earlier the same month, and I was particularly saddened by the destruction that occurred there, as I had felt a strong affection for the people I had met during my travels, 1 I was later to learn that Indonesia had sustained the worst physical damage of all the countries affected by the tsunami. At the time, I was a successful florist in the city centre, I had spent years building up my client base and training staff, I really wanted to help, so I donated a percentage of the profits from my shop to the worst-affected areas in Indonesia. 2 I leased my business and flew over to Indonesia. I joined an organization of volunteers called Shelter, committed to rebuilding homes. After the tsunami, over 160 aid organizations and UN agencies began operations in Indonesia to provide shelter, food and schooling, so I wasn't alone. Shelter's focus was on rebuilding homes. 3 I soon realized, however, that we weren't just rebuilding homes, we were creating hope for the future. I chose to join a housing charity, rather than a medical one, because I had previously trained as a carpenter and I believed I could make a difference with my talents. When I was a child, I was always fixing things, . 4 I was just the type of person Shelter was looking for. Shelter found a role for me on building sites, teaching construction skills to the locals and supervising the production of materials such as bricks and roofing tiles. Disease was common because of poor water and sanitary conditions, so Shelter tried to move the homeless out of temporary camps and into permanent proper homes as soon as humanly possible. 5 Many of the volunteers also suffered from these, I frequently experienced high fevers and rashes, and it was during these times that I most longed for the comforts of home. Looking back, spending a year as a volunteer was the best decision I had ever made, but it wasn't easy. . 6 Most people were happy to help, but a few said that if I was going to drop out of ‘real life’ for so long I’d have to finance my humanitarian adventures myself. There was also the sheer physical labour. By the end of the day I was both physically and mentally exhausted. Sometimes my muscles ached so much that I couldn't imagine continuing the next day. Back home in Brisbane, I continue to support Shelter by giving presentations on my year abroad and spreading the word about their charitable work. . 7 I have also made countless lifelong friends. Furthermore, I am welcome in many homes in the area. My friends and I will definitely have somewhere to stay during our next surfing trip! Common illnesses suffered by disaster victims include diarrhoea, fevers, skin irritations, respiratory infections and stomach problems. I hoped that they had all escaped unharmed. My story has inspired dozens of new recruits to sign up as volunteers. Many people had lost loved ones and the sorrow of the locals could be felt all around us. By the time 1 was in my twenties I could make furniture and had helped many friends with renovations and repairs to their homes. I had to live off my savings, and when they ran out I asked friends and family for loans. However, I soon realized that I wanted to do more than give money. 500,000 Indonesians didn’t have a roof over their heads, so they were desperately needed. Text 2 You are going to read an article about going to live in another country. Seven sentences have been removed from the article. Choose from the sentences A-H the one which fits each gap (1-7). There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use. Escape TV ... a very moving story Britons have become obsessed with the dream of moving abroad to start a new life, and TV shows telling us how to do it are more popular than ever. Why are we so keen to leave, asks Sara Wheeler? Barely a night goes by without a television programme showing people who either long to escape from Britain or who have already done so. Take Channel 4’s hugely successful A Place in the Sun, for example, in which former estate agent Amanda Lamb shows potential buyers around a range of foreign properties. (1) These ‘escape TV’ programmes represent Britain’s most successful new theme in factual television, and, if the viewing figures are anything to go by, a large proportion are desperate to get away. (2) The dream of living in a rural setting somewhere in mainland Europe has long been a British national fantasy. When Peter Mayle tapped into it with his book A Year in Provence, he sold millions of copies and the lanes around his old stone farmhouse at the foot of the Luberon mountains were soon jammed with tourist coaches. (3) He wrote it to earn enough money to buy a tractor, and ended up with a bestseller. But it’s not all lazy afternoons for people who pack up and head abroad. Many see their dreams turn into nightmares before they’ve finished unpacking. Living the Dream featured two couples from Basildon who sold up to run a B&B in Almeria, Spain. (4) A Place in the Sun once showed a British official in Benidorm warning that British-owned bars in the resort have a failure rate of 95 per cent. This, of course, is the appeal of escape TV - the risk of failure, and the nasty pleasure we feel as we witness disaster unfolding on the Costa Brava. And, according to the unwritten rules of escape TV, you must be self- employed, and preferably want to do something fun - running a bar, for example, is ideal. (5) The persistent appeal of finding the good life abroad begs an obvious question: Why can’t British people find the good life in their own village or town? The weather is, of course, a key factor. You never see programmes about beginning a new life in Finland. Similarly, the ideal new life is always to be found close to the countryside, far from traffic jams, superstores and concrete. (6) They had their ups and downs, but, in the end, they said that the only thing they missed was a Chinese takeaway. It seems this escape fantasy is peculiarly British. American networks are not busy producing shows about Mexican villas as the US equivalent of 5’s Dream Holiday Home. Yet the phenomenon is not restricted to western Europe. (7) Amanda Lamb has even been showing people around the ‘Romanian Riviera’. It is, of course, all based on an illusion. Change your surroundings, we think, and you can change your destiny, or at least cast off the bits of our life that you don’t like and replace them with a few nicer ones. Well, dream on. You can go to the very ends of the earth, to a paradise untroubled by human footprints, and you’ll still find someone vaguely familiar waiting patiently for you there: yourself. And do you know what? You will find that it’s the same grumpy person you thought you’d left behind. A The cameras followed them as they ran out of cash, were conned by builders and failed to get the project off the ground. B Similarly, a decade later, Chris Stewart wrote Driving Over Lemons, about the joys and tribulations of setting up as a small-time farmer in Spain. C Or BBC 2’s Living the Dream, which followed the progress of couples who have sold up and moved abroad in pursuit of the good life. D According to Escape to the Sun, BBC l’s documentary series fronted by Pop Idol judge Nicki Chapman, a whopping 15,000 Britons own homes in the Orlando area of Florida. E When you come back, you feel refreshed from the break, and ready to carry on with your old life. F Living the Dream regularly pulls in four million viewers, and 90 episodes of A Place in the Sun have been screened. G In contrast, an accountancy job in Provence just wouldn’t make good viewing. H Living the Dream featured one couple who moved to France, where they bought their own farm. |