Экзаменационные тексты для 9 класса 2012 год.
Билет № 1
I. Read the text and answer the questions.
Buckingham Palace
As you probably know, there is where Queen Elizabeth 2 lives much of the time. In fact, she also spends a lot of time at Windsor Castle and three other places where she goes for the summer holiday, Christmas and Easter. When the Queen is in London, you can see the Union Jack above the palace.
Buckingham Palace is enormous. There are 600 rooms, 78 bathrooms, a cinema, a swimming pool and even a post office. There is also a beautiful park with a lake around the palace.
About 450 - 450 people work at the Palace. They are servants, cleaners, footmen, gardeners and security men. Two people look after the 300 clocks.
When the Queen is probably on holiday in the summer the Palace opens to the public. You can visit the Grand Hill, the State Dining Room, the Music Room and The Silk Tapestry room.
You can also visit the Throne Room. It is interesting but a bit disappointing. There isn’t a huge gold throne in the middle of it, like you might expect!
There are just two chairs with the Queen’s initials (ER = Elizabeth Regina) and Prince Philip’s initial
(P )inscribed. You can’t even sit on them.
Text “Buckingham Palace” (Speak Out “Let’s Go to London” pp.10-11)
Vocabulary
Tapestry - гобелен
Initial – начальные буквы инициалы
Inscribe – вырезать, начертать (камне, дереве)
Questions:
1. What is the main idea of the text?
2. What is Buckingham Palace?
3. There are a lot of different places in the Palace, aren’t there?
4. When can you visit Buckingham Palace?
5. How many chairs are there in the throne Room?
II. Read the text and speak about the way Englishmen celebrate Christmas. Could you tell us about your country’s traditions?
Christmas has been celebrated in England for thousands of years. According to the legend, King Arthur started it in the city of York in 571. People nowadays start preparing for the holiday in the beginning of December. People buy lots of presents and send cards to their friends and relatives. It is mostly a family holiday. Englishmen decorate their houses with green leaves, paper decorations, Christmas Trees and colourful electric lights and glass toy s, balls and beds.
Holly and mistletoe are the plants symbolizing Christmas. Red and green are the traditional colours of Christmas. Green represents the continuance of life through the winter. Red symbolizes the blood of Jesus at his Crucifixion. But the main symbol of Christmas is the Christmas Tree.
The first Christmas Tree came to England in 1841. Queen Victoria's husband Prince Albert brought it over from Germany.
Nowadays, in London, near the statue of Lord Nelson in Trafalgar Square, a giant Christmas Tree is set up and decorated each year. The Tree is a present from the people in Oslo, Norway.
Билет № 2
I. Read the text and answer the questions.
What happened to Crane?
On one side of the Hudson river there was a little village where people told many terrible stories. The most terrible story was one about a headless horseman.
Many years ago, a school-teacher, Crane by name, lived in that village. In the same village lived Katrina Van Tassel. She was a beautiful young woman, and many young men wanted to marry her. Crane, too, loved her, and people thought she liked him. So all the other young men were against Crane, especially Brunt, a strong young man who was popular with the village people.
One afternoon Crane received a letter asking him to come to a party at Van’s Tassel’s house. So Crane went to the party. There were many people there. They were all dancing and enjoying themselves. When the party was almost at the end, Crane, who was dancing with Katrina, suddenly left the ball-room with her. Nobody knows what the young people talked about. But the conversation was not pleasant because the school – teacher did not look happy when they came back to the ball – room.
It was late at night when Crane got on his horse and started back home. It was very dark in the forest, and he began remembering all terrible stories he heard about the headless horseman. Suddenly his horse stopped. Crane looked up. Near the river stood a horseman on a black horse. Then Crane’s horse started off again at gallop. The black horse did the same. He couldn’t believe his eyes because the horseman was holding his head in his hand. Then he disappeared. He threw his head at Crane. It hit Crane on the head throwing him off his horse. Then the headless horseman disappearеd.
The next morning people found Crane’s horse but nobody saw the school teacher himself. On the ground near the river they found only his hat and a large pumpkin.
Soon Brunt married Katrina. People still talked about the headless horseman. But when the story of Crane was told, the listeners saw that Brunt’s eyes became bright. So they thought that they knew more about it all than he wanted to tell.
Vocabulary
1. started off- отправился 2. disappearеd - исчез 3. throw (threw)-бросать
Questions:
1. What is the main idea of the text?
2. Crane and Katrina Van Tassel were a married couple, aren’t they?
3. Why did Crane go to the party at Van’s Tassel’s house?
4. Whom did he see near the river?
5. What do you think? Who was the headless horseman?
II. Read and retell the story. Are there any successful writers in your country?
“I really don’t believe in magic. JK Rolling”
She is the author of the Harry Potter series. She’s internationally famous. And her books have sold over 377 million copies worldwide. JK Rolling is one of the world’s most successful writers.
Success. In February 2004, Forbes magazine estimated Rolling’s fortune to be 576 million pounds; and in 2006, Forbes named her the second richest female entertainer in the world? After talk show host Opra Winfrey. So, how did she get there?
Rolling was born bear Bristol, England. As a child, she enjoyed writing stories, which she often read to her sister. At school, Rowling was good at languages, but didn’t like sports or maths.
After studying French and Classics at the University of Exeter (with a year of study in Paris), she moved to London to work as a researcher and bilingual secretary for Amnesty International. One day, while she was on a tour-hour delayed-train trip between Manchester and London, she developed the idea for a story of a young boy who goes to a school of wizardry. As soon as she got home, she began writing.
In 1995, Rolling completed her manuscript for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’ stone on an old typewriter. (Cool English # 34 2007) p.16
Vocabulary
Amnesty International –Международная амнистия Typewriter – пишущая машинка
Билет № 3
I. Read the text and answer the questions
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated on March 4, 1801. He was the first President to take the oath of office in the nation’s permanent capital. Washington, D.C. Although Washington was a new city, it was already familiar to President Jefferson. In fact, Jefferson had helped to plan the capital’s streets and public buildings. Besides being a city planner and architect, the new President was a writer, a scientist and the inventor of several gadgets and tools.
After his inauguration, Jefferson moved into the Presidential Palace. The Palace was more than a home; it contained offices for the President and some of his staff and advisors. It also included dining and reception rooms, where the President could entertain congressmen. However, President Jefferson did not give many formal parties. This was partly because there was no First Lady; Jefferson's wife had died in 1782. But it was also because Jefferson liked to live in a simple fashion. Once, he showed up for an important meeting wearing old clothes and down-at-the- heels slippers! Neither Washington nor Adams would ever have dressed so casually.
Jefferson was different from the first two Presidents in other ways, too. He disagreed with them about how the country should be run, and about what part a President should play in running it.
Vocabulary
Oath –присяга
Questions:
1. What is the main idea of the text?
2. What was Thomas Jefferson?
3. What was he famous for?
4. Where did Thomas Jefferson live as President?
5. He liked to live in a simple fashion, didn’t he?
II. Read the story and retell it. How do people take care of nature in your native country and other English speaking countries?
A national park is a large piece of land. In the park animals are free to come and go. Trees and plants grow everywhere. People go to national park to enjoy nature. Many people stay in camp groundings in national parks. They sleep in tents and cook their food over campfires. They also walk on trails or paths in the parks. On a gate at the entrance of Yellowstone, a sign says, “For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People”.
Yellowstone is the world’s oldest national park. It became a national park in 1872. It is also the world’s largest park. It covers parts of the states of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. Yellowstone is two- and-half times the size of the smallest state, Rhode Island.
Yellowstone is famous for its geysers. These holes in the ground shoot hot water into the air. There are about seventy geysers in the park. The most famous is Old Faithful. About every hour Old Faithful shoots hot water hundreds of feet into the air. Two-and-a-half million people visit this beautiful park each. Park rangers give information to visitors. They also take care of the park. They tell visitors not to pick the flowers. They also tell them not to feed or hunt the animals.
Билет №4
I. Read the text and answer the questions.
The summer was very hot. Mr. Blake decided to go to the seashore for his summer vocation. He booked a railway ticket, packed his things, and was about to start for the station when he remembered that he had to ask the housekeeper to post to him all the letters he would receive. She promised to do that.
The weather was fine. The sea was calm. Mr. Blake spent much time on the seashore, got sunburnt and felt fine. The only one thing that worried him was the fact that he had not received any letters. He thought it was strange, so he called his housekeeper to find out that she had no key to his letter box.
Mr. Blake apologized and promised to send her the key. On the same day he put the key into an envelope, wrote down his address on it and posted the letter.
Another month was passing. Mr. Blake had a nice time on the seashore. He swam in the sea, went boating and fishing. He still did not receive any letters.
When his summer vocation was over, he returned home. The housekeeper met him very warmly, but Mr. Blake was very angry with her. She could not understand why he was so angry. Mr. Blake asked why she had not sent him his letters.
The poor woman explained to him that she could not get the key as it was in the locked letter box together with the letters.
Questions:
1. What is the main idea of the text?
2. Where did Mr. Black want to go?
3. What did he ask his housekeeper to do?
4. Did Mr. Black send his address to his housekeeper?
5. Why was he angry?
II. Read the story and retell it. What profession are you going to choose?
Elizabeth Blackwell
Elizabeth Blackwell was born in England in 1821, and emigrated to New York City when she was ten years old. One day she decided that she wanted to become a doctor. That was nearly impossible for a woman in the middle of the nineteenth century. After writing many letters seeking admission to medical schools she was finally accepted by a doctor in Philadelphia. So determined was she, that she gave music lessons to earn money for her teaching.
In 1849 after graduating from medical school, she decided to further her education in Paris. She wanted to be a surgeon, but a serious eye infection forced her to give up the idea. Upon returning to the United States, she found it difficult to start her own practice because she was a woman. By 1857 Elizabeth and her sister, also a doctor, along with another female doctor managed to open a new hospital, the first one for women and children. Besides being the first female physician and founding her own hospital, she also established the first medical school for women.
Vocabulary
1. seeking admission – спрашивать разрешение о сдаче экзаменов при поступлении в какое – либо учебное заведение = делать запрос
2. graduating from – finishing
3. to further – продолжить
4 a surgeon – хирург
Билет № 5
I. Read the text and answer the questions.
Making Movies
When the brothers Lous Auguste Lumiere showed their first films in a Paris café in 1895, the audience was amazed to see images that moved. Soon cinemas began to open in cities across Europe Noth America. A new industry had arrived: movie-making.
Hollywood in the USA quickly became the capital of movie-making. The first studio opened there in 1912 and others soon followed. Land and labour were cheap at that time, and there was plenty of Californian sunshine to provide natural light for filming outside. While Europe was at the war (World War One lasted from 1914 to 1918), Hollywood made hundreds of movies. This was the time of” silent movies”. Many cinemas had pianos, and pianists played music to accompany the films. The dialogue appeared in writing every thirty seconds or so.