TEST 13

ON FOREIGN LANGUAGES

1. 
   Прочитайте текст и выберите вариант ответа, соответствующий содержанию прочитанных фрагментов (A-F).
   

1. 
   Victor: "Because I'd like to see more of the United States and I'd like to go to South America, and Spanish is the predominant language in many parts of the United States these days, and certainly in South America, so I think it would be a useful language for traveling in that part of the world".
   
2. 
   Ann: "Because the country's such a powerful economic force, especially for us in Australia, but actually the more I think about it, probably the rest of the world too. It's an economic force. There are a lot of tourists coming to Japan for example - that doesn't mean I want to get involved in the tourist industry - but of all the regional languages within the Pacific basin, I think that would be the one that would be most useful to me in what I do for a living and help me to get on".
   
3. 
   Alex: "It would be exciting actually. I think it would be great. I know very little about Russia. I think most of us in North America anyway know very little. And it's such a vast country, I think we're only just beginning to understand what an incredibly varied country it is. And with all the changes in recent years, there's so much to discover, and language is really the key".
   
4. 
   Joan: "I like the sound of the Arabic language and I'm fascinated by the way it's written, back to front to our eyes, of course, but it's so beautiful when you see it in an old manuscript or as part of the decoration of a mosque. I'd like to be able to use it too, of course, but it's really the language itself, it's always fascinated me".
   
5. 
   Kate: "I'm sure Chinese is incredibly difficult and that puts a lot of people off, 1 know. But you'd feel terribly pleased with yourself if you could master it, or at least be able to hold a simple conversation. I like the idea of drawing all those little characters, too. But I think the pronunciation would be the hardest part. I've heard you can make awful mistakes by using the wrong tone when you say a word, so you say 'hello' but it means 'fish' or something!"
   
6. 
   Mike: "Well, it's the ancient language of a beautiful island -you know they call it the Emerald Isle? Not that many people speak Irish as their first language any more, unfortunately - English has taken over - but I think everyone still learns it in school. I'm very interested in all the old traditional songs and stories and I'd love to be able to understand them in the original language. I'd like to talk to the old people in the country areas, too, and hear about how they lived in the old days".
   
   1. 
      The person who would like to take up the particular language for work-related reasons is
      

A.

2. 
   The person for whom studying the language means in a way safeguarding cultural heritage is
   

A. Victor B. Joan C. Ann D. Mike

3. 
   Learning this particular language will mean expanding horizons and breaking barriers for
   

A. Mike and Joan B. Victor and Mike C. Alex and Victor D. Ann and Kate

4. 
   The person who would study the language because it appeals to his/her sense of beauty is
   

A. Kate B. Joan C. Victor D. Ann

2. 
   Прочитайте текст. Подберите соответствующий заголовок к каждому абзацу (1-6).
   

1. 
   The University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate, to give it its full name, was established as long ago as 1858 to provide exams in a whole range of school subjects. The Certificate of Proficiency in English, or CPE, was the first English as a Foreign Language examination and it was introduced in 1913. It was first intended especially for teachers of English but nowadays it's recognized very widely for business and academic purposes.
   
2. 
   A lower level examination, which developed into the First Certificate that we know today, was introduced twenty odd years later, in 1939. Both Proficiency and First Certificate, or FCE, have been revised from time to time over the years, but nowadays they both have a similar structure, with 5 papers each, and you can take them in June or December. It's also worth noting that the listening and speaking papers make up one third of the total marks. There were about 50,000 candidates for the Proficiency exam in 1990, for example, while First Certificate, which has become the most popular Cambridge exam of all, had a staggering 180,000.
   
3. 
   Next there came an extremely high level exam called the Diploma of English Studies which tests knowledge of Literature and Civilization as well as language ability and this was introduced in 1941. You have to sit four papers altogether in the Diploma and it's taken once a year in June. Only people who have achieved a grade A or Вin Proficiency can enter for the Diploma. Not surprisingly, candidate numbers arc a lot fewer than for CPE or FCE - there were around 500 in 1990.
   
4. 
   The Preliminary English Test, which is often referred to as PET, was first introduced in 1980, and it was revised a few years later. This is a fairly basic level exam and it's designed to test students' 'survival' skills in social and work situations. There are three papers in P.E.T which cover all four language skills. You can take the test on 5 fixed dates during the year and it's getting very popular -there were roughly 30,000 candidates for PET in 1990.
   
5. 
   Then in 1990, CCSE was introduced, which means Certificates in Communicative Skills in English, because there are four different levels from basic to advanced. There are also four papers, Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing at each I.cvel and you can take the exams in November or in May/June each year. CCSE is very different from the other exams in a number of ways. For one thing, you can take just one or two papers if you like - you don't have to take all four. You can also mix up the levels. Another special feature that in the Writing paper you can use a dictionary, and that's very popular with students! There were about 1,000 candidates in the first year and numbers are expected to grow.
   
6. 
   Finally, there is CAE, the Certificate in Advanced English. That was only introduced in 1991, although it had been developed over a period of six years or so. It fits between First Certificate and Proficiency in level and it's similar to those exams in that there are 5 papers all. The exam times of June and December are the same too. But the questions are rather different, as you'll know and a special feature of CAE is that throughout the exam the emphasis is on real world tasks.
   
   1. 
      The Youngest Exam
      
   2. 
      Diplomas You Get
      
   3. 
      Top of Popularity List
      
   4. 
      How It All Began
      
   5. 
      Not Everyone Can Do It
      
   6. 
      Flexible Exam Scheme
      
   7. 
      Hurdles to Tackle
      
   8. 
      Cambridge University Exams
      

3. 
   Прочитайте текст и выполните послетекстовые задания.
   

1. 
   Dictionary-making, since computers took the drudgery out of it, has become fun. These days Hanks, the chief editor of Collins English dictionaries works from Birmingham University, leading an outfit which is rather off-puttingly known as Cobuild. It stands for the Collins and Birmingham University International Language Database, and is housed in a handsome Edwardian mansion in one of Birmingham's greener suburbs.
   
2. 
   I low do modern lexicographers find their words? Dr Johnson, one of the first dictionary-makers, found most of them from his own reading. Today, methods have changed. Cobuild has pioneered a huge electronic database, known as a "corpus", containing 18 million words - not, of course, all different. It includes complete novels, best-selling non-fiction titles, magazines and newspapers, transcripts of BBC programmes, casual conversations and lectures. A particular word, together with its context, can be called up any time on the computer screen. What's more, the team is building up a "monitoring corpus". Last year, it started inputting every issue of The Times, and the computer prints out new words on demand, giving the frequency with which they appear.
   
3. 
   But spoken language is important, too. A team of word-detectives, based in Glasgow at Collins English Dictionary Unit, visits pubs and discos, hangs about in supermarkets and launderettes and listens to loud ladies on the bus, in the race to pin down new words and meanings as soon as they are born. They scour shops for examples of new types of food and clothing. All finds are noted and go straight into the computer. The new dictionary's new words paint a picture of life in the late 1990s. Health hazards, environmental problems, computer jargon, music argot, financial slang - it is all there.
   
4. 
   Other words develop new meanings while retaining the old. "Dinosaur", for instance, now means "a person or thing which is considered to be out of date," as well as its more familiar definition. One of Hanks's favourite new words is "check it out" in the casual sense of "have a look at" rather than "investigate". If we call up "greenhouse", from The Times database, we shall watch hundreds of references, to the "greenhouse effect" fill the screen, far outnumbering gardening references in relation to tomatoes and pot plants.
   
5. 
   "We try to reflect English as it is really used today," says Rosamund Moon, who has been working on the project for eight years. She points out that deceptively simple words are often the most complicated. "Take 'take', for example. What is its core meaning? You may think it is something like 'to transport from place to place', but our monitoring shows us that this is not the most common use. It is much more often used in phrases such a 'take a look' or 'take a photograph'. A key problem is which words to include. A new word could turn out to be ephemeral, no sooner frozen in print than disappeared from the street".
   

• 
  Выберите вариант ответа, соответствующий содержанию прочитанного текста (задания 1-5).
  

1. 
   From what we can gather, Dr Johnson
   
   1. 
      was an early dictionary-maker
      
   2. 
      had no idea of how to make a dictionary
      
   3. 
      worked at Birmingham University
      
2. 
   Dictionary-making has become fun since
   
   1. 
      the invention of the computer
      
   2. 
      the boring part was delegated to computers
      
   3. 
      editors started to combine work and play
      
3. 
   Samples of new spoken language are collected
   

1. 
   exclusively from mass media
   
2. 
   while detectives are questioning suspects
   
3. 
   in every day social situations
   

1. 
   Simple words are often the most complicated to define as
   

1. 
   it's hard to register all the meanings
   
2. 
   it's problematic to distinguish the central meaning
   
3. 
   they are more often used in set phrases
   

1. 
   The key problem of modern dictionary-making is
   

1. 
   difference in actual word meanings
   
2. 
   the difficulty in collecting words
   
3. 
   which words to include and which not
   

• 
  Определите значение указанного слова в тексте (задания 6-8).
  

6. 
   outfit (1)
   

A. team В. Organization С. party

6. 
   off-рuttingly (1)
   

A. attractively В. positively С. not very appealingly

6. 
   scour (2)
   

A. visit B. search C. drop in

• 
  Выберите правильный вариант перевода в соответствии с содержанием текста (задания 9-12).
  

9. 
   Last year, it started inputting every issue of The Times ... (2)
   

1. 
   С прошлого года они начали вносить в компьютер каждый новый выпуск газеты "Таймc" ...
   
2. 
   В прошлом году началось внесение в компьютер каждого выпуска "Таймса"...
   
3. 
   В прошлом году они начали вносить в компьютер все выпуски газеты "Тайме"...
   

9. 
   We try to reflect English as it is really used today (4)
   

1. 
   Мы пытаемся отразить английский язык в его реальном сегодняшнем употреблении.
   
2. 
   Мы пытаемся отразить то, как английский язык по- настоящему используется сегодня.
   
3. 
   Мы стараемся отобразить английский язык в том, как он используется сегодня.
   

9. 
   Other words develop new meanings while retaining the old (3).
   

1. 
   Другие слова развивают новые значения при сохранении прежних.
   
2. 
   Другие слова приобретают новые значения, не теряя прежних.
   
3. 
   Другие слова получают новые значения в дополнение к прежним.
   

12. 
    A new word could turn out to be ephemeral, no sooner frozen in print than disappeared from the street (4).
    

1. 
   Новое слово может оказаться эфемерным - едва появившись в словаре, оно может уйти из обиходного языка.
   
2. 
   Новое слово может оказаться эфемерным - как только оно зафиксируется в печати, оно исчезнет из языка улицы.
   
3. 
   Новое слово может оказаться эфемерным - едва отобразившись в печати, оно сразу исчезнет из обиходного языка.