Тексты с заданиями для подготовки к ЕГЭ
материал для подготовки к егэ (гиа) по английскому языку (11 класс) на тему

Books    in My Life

You are going to read a magazine article about books. Four sentences have been removed from the article. Choose from the sentences A-E the one which fits each gap 1-4. There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use.

       I won't discover America again if I say that books are an essential part of our life. Books are our friends, teachers, advisers, which share their knowledge and wisdom with us. They help people on their way to perfection, enlarge our horizons, help us to be more literate and to enrich our vocabulary. 1.__   Of course, we learn a lot of interesting things from books. They take us back millions of years, predict the future, or tell our descendents about us.

      As for me, I'm a regular bookworm, and my pride is my own library, because a house without books is a body without a soul. 2. __ And I read everything I can lay my hands on: adventures and travel hooks, memoirs, historical novels, and even fairy-tales, because books read in childhood seem like old friends.

       I prefer to read detective stories and psychological dramas. They are very clever and may be called first-rate literature. Take, for example, Fyodor Dostoevsky. In my opinion he stands in the forefront of Russian and world culture. 3. __ Dostoevsky teaches us to be human, merciful, good-hearted, and his works make us think about the eternal problems of life, that's why he is considered to be the father of psychological literature. 4. ___ The novels of  Dostoevsky, such as Crime and Punishment, the Idiot, the Brothers Karamazov and many others, have become world-famous. Their plots are very interesting and the characters are well-drawn.

       Also I'm fond of reading love stories. When I read them I cannot help crying or feeling sad. Love stories are full of brave, noble men, beautiful women, a lot of adventures and great love, and - there's always a happy ending.

       Well, many people say: some books are good, others are bad. But I think there are no bad books; there are only bad authors.

1. My motto is "wear the old coat and buy a new book".
2. His creativity strikes us with deep thoughts, the sharpness of the problems he raises.
3. Thanks to books we see the world:  not only from the perspective of our own culture; they make us feel whether what we do is right or wrong.
4.  His novels are considered to be treasures of world literature, they are at once thrilling and instructive.
5. I am fond of reading horror  books too.

CAREER GROWTH

You are going to read a magazine article about career. Four sentences have been removed from the article. Choose from the sentences A-D the one which fits each gap 1-4.

Why do we study 11 years at school and then from 4 to 6 years (depending on the program) in university? And even then there are those who continue their studying and finally get a scientific degree. I am sure we can get several answers to this question, such as, we do it: to be respected and to be considered an intelligent person; to give an outlet to our capabilities; and, finally, to make a career. The latter reason is a sticking point, as there are two different opinions about the necessity of building a career. 1 ___

I will try to show that building a career is not always as bad as it can seem at first sight. But, first of all, let me tell you a short story.

A man and a woman are in a cafe celebrating an important event in their lives. Suddenly there is a call on the mobile phone of the man. He answers and promises somebody to come. Then he explains to his friend: "Sorry, it was my chief and I, being a careerist, must go and see him now". The woman, smiling, answers: "I hope you are. I will go with you". 2 __

Any business needs much time, that is why a busy man spends the majority of it with his colleagues, signing contracts, making presentations, negotiating with clients and so on. 3 __

I strongly regret that there are people who say that businessmen are those without hobbies; people who are extremely boring; etc. I think those who manage to do several things at the same time, often being overburdened and, hence, tired, but never complaining, are some of the most brilliant people who merit our respect.

Then, let's not forget that career growth is often accompanied by earning more money. I know there are some people who think that "money is not the major thing in our life" and that "it is impossible to earn all the money in the world". 4 __ I'd even say that it makes 50% of our happiness: try not to earn a kopeck and you'll see what your personal life will be. Consequently, a career is a kind of a door to a successful personal life; that is, of course, something everyone should aspire to.

The conclusion is simple: be a careerist and you will develop your personality, making people you love happy and proud of you.

A I cited this story to show that many problems could be easily resolved if friends/wives/husbands of men building careers shared their interests and could understand what they are to face every day to achieve success.

B Still I'd like us not to be hypocrites, and to accept that money is something nobody can live normally without. I'd even say that it makes 50% of our happiness: try not to earn a kopeck and you'll see what

your personal life will be.

C Either a career helps us to express ourselves and to prove we are capable of doing serious work, or it is nothing but a big negative, as it takes so much time that a working person has no strength for the other things our life should be full of.

D For the majority of such workaholics this is a style of life, a kind of a drug they are addicted to and will never be able to give up. It is like the need to watch TV or to do sports for some other people.

X – TREME SPORTS. WHY DO PEOPLE RISK

You are going to read a magazine article extreme sports. Five sentences have been removed from the article. Choose from the sentences A-E the one which fits each gap 1-5.

        I have never done extreme sports and never really intended to, I have some friends who are very fond and interested in them though. I was always wondering what it is that makes people regularly risk their own lives for a short adrenaline buzz, so I interviewed a few people on their opinions on extreme sports.

        The first person I talked to about it was my friend Peter. Here's what he said:

   'Personally I don't understand why they do it. 1. __ The more they do it the more they want to do it again. Or probably they start doing it because they want to show how strong and courageous they are and then end up liking it and as I've said before become addicted. I'd never try anything like that, I'm addicted to safety.

          I was having a conversation with a girl called Anna the other day. What she said was this:

     'I'm just dying to do BASE-jumping. All my friends do it. It's a relatively new sport.  BASE is an acronym for building, antenna, span (bridge) and earth (cliffs). 2. __. Unlike skydiving, no aircraft is involved. They've said it's a feeling nothing can be compared to, in a short period of time you experience so much. They go almost every month, I think they're obsessed. 3. __ .

          Then I spoke to my relative Michael who is a lot older than me. He is interested in extreme sports so I wanted to know his opinion.

     'I work in a bank and I can't say it's a particularly exciting job. You often want a change. 4. __  I found the perfect escape in skydiving. When I do it all my personal problems go away, and when I get back to real life they don't seem that bad anymore. And to add up to that skydiving is an ultimate thrill and a real pleasure. 5. __ I've also made a lot of friends who share the same passion. I'd never abandon it. Never.'

       Whatever you say Michael, now it's clearer to me why people do extreme sports. I started to understand them better. But it definitely doesn't mean I'm going to do it. Too scared, and as well as Peter, I am addicted to safety.

A. Even though it's pretty dangerous I'm not a least bit scared, the only

    problem is my parents — I'm afraid they will not let me do it.'

B. I've also made a lot of friends who share the same passion

C. Maybe it's like a drug, they do it for the first time just because some of  

     their friends said it was great and then end up being addicted to it.

D. You get bored with e-mails, faxes, deadlines, work challenges.

E. Jumpers leap from stationery objects and deploy a parachute.

Time Travel

I. Read two opinions about travel.

   Five sentences have been removed from the texts.

  Choose from the sentences A-E the one which fits each gap 1-5. II. Which opinion do you agree with? Give reasons for our answer.

A   I do not understand the modern fashion for long-distance travel. We travel thousands of miles to get to the other side of the world, and then two weeks later we come back again. What for? 1… To get to know other cultures? You must be joking.

The instinct to explore has been exhausted. Humans have been everywhere, done everything. They have climbed to the top of Everest so often the summit resembles a rubbish dump.

This restlessness and our ever increasing desire to travel long distances is disastrous for the environment. 2… It is a scandal that aviation fuel for international flights is not taxed.

3 … You can only really learn anything about foreign countries by living and working in them and I applaud those who do it.

B  Travel abroad is no longer a luxury and nowadays most people in my country have had at least one foreign holiday. Personally, I think this has benefited our society in a number of ways.

Firstly, it enables us to observe and value other cultures and to understand that ours is not the only way of life. 4 … Secondly, foreign tourists can learn from and 'borrow' those aspects of other cultures which are better than in their own country.

Another benefit is that more people can now see the world's most spectacular natural sights and visit its most important historic monuments. 5 …

To conclude, I strongly believe that if we travel with an open mind, our horizons will be widened even further.

1. This helps combat ignorance and narrow-mindedness, which so often lead to racial prejudice and even violence.

B. To see the sights ... and make a mess of them?

C. As for the idea that travel broadens the mind, widens people's horizons and promotes international understanding, this is just nonsense.

D. As a result, we discover our planet and become more knowledgeable in a way which is simply not possible with the Internet or television.

E. Air travel burns up unimaginable quantities of fuel and is the most energy-hungry thing that people can do.