№
7
I. 1. Read
the story and say in 2—3 sentences what it is about.
The Condemned Room1
Dear
Mom,
I
am working very hard on cleaning my room. But I want to go to Katy’s this
afternoon to work on our Halloween costumes. Can I finish tomorrow? I would get
up early and do it before breakfast and I’ll do a good job. Please, write back.
Love, The Prisoner in Tower # 3
Dear Prisoner, No.
Love, Mom.
For
days Sam’s mother never came up to her room. And then one day Sam came home
from school and found the Condemned sign on her door. Her mother had made the
sign. It said: “The room is condemned. Its owner may not go anywhere or do
anything until the area is restored”. In other words, Sam was to stay in until
she cleaned her room.
It
wasn’t fair. She was always getting the Condemned sign. Her brother hardly ever
did. And his room was really disgusting, with posters of rock stars and
basketball stars and movie stars wearing tiny bikinis covering every inch of
his walls. But, her mother pointed out, his floor was clean and his desk as
well. That was all she cared about.
Sam had been in her room for three hours now. She sat
on the floor, looking at everything she was supposed to be putting away. It was
possible she might be there all day. There were her clothes, lying high on her
chair and overflowing onto the floor. Dirty shoes. An umbrella from when it
rained on Tuesday. Library books. Magazines with pictures of cool teenmovie
stars that Rebecca had given her. Her piano music from yesterday’s lesson. And
different little things: nail polish remover, cotton balls, a tennisball, a
note pad from Katy, rocks from rock collection they were making for science,
pencils, chewing gum. And about twelve dirty handkerchiefs.
The
thing to do, Sam decided, was sort everything into piles. A pile of dirty
laundry, a pile of her dresser drawers, a pile to throw away. That was how her
father, the organization man, would do it. She sighed. It was impossible to
imagine she couldn’t leave her room all weekend. She decided to paint her finger
nails instead.
1 a condemned room [kənˈdemd ˈruːm] комната, признанная небезопасной для проживания
2. The author tells us about her brother’s room. Find this
extract and read it aloud.
3. What made Sam’s Mum write a message?
4. Is Sam going to clean the room? Why do you think so?
№ 8
I. 1. Read
the story and say in 2—3 sentences what it is about.
Great grandad
It
was a funny and surprising thing that brought Grandad back to me. It was
algebra. I couldn’t cope with algebra in my first year at secondary school, and
it made me mad. “I don’t see the point of it,” I screamed. “I don’t know what
it’s for!”
Grandad,
as it turned out, liked algebra and he sat opposite me and didn’t say anything
for a while, considering my problem in that careful expressionless way of his.
Eventually
he said, “Why do you do PE1 at school?”
“What?”
“PE.
Why do they make you do it?”
“Because
they hate us?” I suggested.
“And
the other reason?”
“To
keep us fit, I suppose.”
“Physically
fit, yes.”
He
reached across the table and put the first two fingers of each hand on the
sides of my head.
“There
is also mental fitness, isn’t there? I can explain to you why algebra is
useful. But that is not what algebra is really for.”
He
moved his fingers gently on my head.
“It’s
to keep what is in here healthy. PE is for the head. And the great thing is you
can do it sitting down. Now, let us use these little puzzles here to take our
brains for a jog2.”
And
it worked. Not that I fell in love with algebra. But I did come to see that it
was possible to enjoy it. Grandad taught me that maths signs and symbols were
not just marks on paper. They were not flat. There were threedimensional, and
you could approach them from different directions. You could take them apart
and put them together in a variety of shapes, like Lego. I stopped being afraid
of them.
I
didn’t know it at the time, of course, but those homework sessions helped me to
discover my Grandad. Algebra turned out to be the key that opened the invisible
door he lived behind and let me in.
Now
I learnt that Grandad’s world was full of miracles and mazes3,
mirrors and misleading signs. He was fascinated by riddles and codes and
labyrinths4, by the origin of place names, by grammar, by slang, by
jokes — although he never laughed at them — by anything that might mean
something else. I discovered My Grandad.
1 PE [ˌpiːˈiː] физкультура
2
to take our brains for a jog [əˈdʒɒɡ] шевелить мозгами
3
a maze [meɪz] путаница
4
a labyrinth [ˈlæbərɪnθ] лабиринт
2. The author says she had problems with algebra. Find this
extract and read it aloud.
3. How did the girl’s Granddad
help her understand the subject?
4. What else did the author understand about her Granddad?
№
9
I. 1. Read
the interview with a British businessman and say in 2—3 sentences what it is
about.
AN
INTERVIEW
Journalist:
Do people in your country depend a lot on technology for communication?
Businessman:
Yes. Everybody’s using all kinds of phones, mobiles and Internet services. I
think the benefits of the computers cannot be denied. They save valuable time
and space. Timeconsuming tasks such as checking bank accounts can now be done
in a matter of minutes and a large volume of information is economically stored
on tiny disks. In addition, with immediate access to the Internet, we can
always keep up with global and current issues and explore the world from the
comfort of our homes.
Journalist:
Do you manage to keep up with the development of technologies?
Businessman:
I think the fact that methods in business have moved ahead at such speed has
meant that we generally have to keep up with it all, whether we want to or not.
Otherwise, we’ll be left behind. In fact this need to keep up has also entered
the home, where a lot of people spend much money on computer equipment when all
they do is play games.
Journalist:
How different would everyday life be without technological means of
communication?
Businessman:
Of course, life would be very different without all these means of
communication. For those working in the world of business, life would be much
more difficult as it would take much longer to get in touch with other
companies and to come to agreement on important matters. Basically, if we
didn’t have email systems at home or mobile phones, etc., it wouldn’t be the
end of the world. I mean, we survived before, didn’t we?
Journalist:
How do you feel about mobile phones?
Businessman:
I personally find them useful and necessary. They’re convenient if there’s an
emergency on a business trip or when you’re in the middle of nowhere or need to
contact the police or your family for example. Though, I do feel that they are
overused in many cases. Think about how many people spend hours just chatting
about silly, unimportant things or looking through sites for no special reason
even at work.
2. What are the benefits of the computers? Read
aloud the extract which describes them.
3. How do businessmen benefit from using technological means of
communication at their workplace?
4. When are technological means of communication misused?
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