Examination Card № 11

Name, surname ___________________________________ Class ________________

Examination Card № 11

I.  Reading

Read the text. For questions (1-5), choose the answer (A, B, or C) which you think fits best according to the text.

HOLLAND: SHOPPING FRENZY

         The best Christmas present for the Dutch is snow! During the holidays , they like to ice skate, but the Dutch only see white Christmas about once every three or four years. May be that is why the Dutch Sinterklaas sails to the local children from Spain, rather than from Lapland. The kids eagerly meet him at the dock, and with his assistant, an elf called Black Pete (Zwarte Piet), he gives everyone marzipan fruits, toys, gingerbread and flower-shaped candies. But this is not enough for the kids, so at night they put their shoes near the fireplace or electric heater in hope of more presents.

         Meanwhile, the adults are racing around the shops to make all the proper preparations for Christmas. One must have a Christmas tree, decorations, food for holiday dinner and, of course, presents, which in Holland are exchanged on December 25, Sinterklaas Day. In the Dutch language there is even a special word for the Christmas shopping frenzy - ker-stress. The Dutch, who promise themselves to buy only the best, can hardly resist the temptation of the bright displays in all the shop windows.

         And how one could resist, with wonderful presents like decorated ceramic beads and bells, sweets, festive decorations made from candles and fir branches, cute snowmen, figu­rines of whole Dutch families in ethnic dress and even steam engines and trains complete with Sinterklaas! And don't forget to stock up on the cooked rabbit and delicious dough­nuts that are a Christmas tradition in the Netherlands: they are sold on every corner, but only for the week before and the week after Christmas.

         For those who say that Holland is too emancipated, remember that the old European traditions are alive and well here, especially Christmas ones.

1.      Where does the Dutch Sinterklaas sail from?
 A Spain

       B Norway

      C Lapland

2.      Who is the Sinterklaas's assistant?
 A Snow Maiden

      B an elf

      C Santa Claus

3.      What do the adults do to make all preparations for Christmas?

      A They race around the shops. 

      B They decorate a Christmas tree.
      C They cook delicious dishes.

4.      What is a Christmas tradition in Netherlands?
 A the cooked rabbit

      B the cooked rabbit and doughnuts   

      C doughnuts

5.       How long are the traditional dishes sold?

      A a week before Christmas and a week after Christmas
      B a week before Christmas
      C a week after Christmas

1	2	3	4	5

        

II. USE OF ENGLISH

Read the text below. For questions (6—15) choose the correct answer (A, B, C or D).

HOW THE INTERNET HAS CHANGED BUYING AND SELLING

As the world population gets larger and technology keeps (6) __, more people are able to do more things that they couldn't do before. The Internet is an excellent example of this. You can buy and sell just about anything over the Internet.

Anyone with a computer can sell stuff, and anyone else with a computer can buy that stuff. The Internet knows no geographic (7) __. It's probably not practical to buy oil and gasoline over the Internet, but you can buy a car that way.

People are selling (8) __: stuff they don't want, stuff they would normally throw away. You can almost anything you need (and plenty of stuff you don't) on these online auctions sites.

Many people buy books, CDs, movies, furniture, cars, and (9) __ houses online. The sites that are selling these things are not necessarily auction sites. They are online shops.

Amazon.com is a good example of a business that is totally Internet-driven. You can buy or sell all kinds of things using Amazon.com, and you'll never (10) __ in a store. Amazon has warehouses where they store the goods they sell, and they have offices where their (11) __work and where their servers rest. But you won't see an Amazon.com `store' around the corner from where you live.

(12) __businesses have websites to help their traditional sales. You can go to the store in person, or you can check out the store's website. (Some stores use their websites only to showcase their merchandise; others allow you to buy online.)

(13) __, it seems, can sell anything, as long as they can get their hands on enough supply to make the business work. For example, you could live nowhere near the things you're selling and still be successful, provided that you can guarantee the shipment of whatever it is you're selling to the people or companies that are buying from you.

If you lived in the middle of Ukraine and you really wanted to buy and sell African alligator eggs, you could do it using a computer. You'd just need to guarantee yourself a supply and a demand and make all the necessary (14) __using your computer and the Internet. Computers are constantly changing the way people do business in very exciting ways. Stay (15) __!

	A	B	C	D
6	advancing	moving	going	improving
7	borders	boundaries	lines	edges
8	anything	something	nothing	everything
9	also	too	even	as well
10	set foot	Set feet	sit foot	sat feet
11	employers	employees	employs	employments
12	Others	Another	Other	The others
13	Someone	No one	None	Anyone
14	deals	arrangements	works	steps
15	turned	tune	turn	tuned

III. WRITING

Your teacher at the English courses has asked you to write a composition (80 – 120 words) describing the person who has influenced your life the most. Write the following:

• Who is this person (your relative / your friend / celebrity)?

• Why has this person influenced your life?