Final test for the 3rd course writing name: Total score : 25 points Group

Text 2.

Questions 9-18. Match the following headings (A-L) to the texts.

Note: There are two extra headings which you do not need to use.

	HEADINGS:
A) Most commonly asked questions.		G) Explanation of a term
B) A great loss.		H) An experience held between two genders.
C) Instructions to sharpen one’s memory.		I) A quick improvement.
D) Popular singer’s life.		J) A wonderful autumn day.
E) Not so much talkative nation.		K) A long-awaited winter holiday.
F) A question which is actually not question.		L) Misunderstanding between ages.

9. Although I had stayed in England for over a year, it was difficult for me to understand the British mentality. Traveling to the office everyday by train, I watched people concealing their faces behind newspaper. They rarely conversed with each other, occasionally lifting their eyebrows to look at their fellow passengers. But when I started a conversation under the pretext of the weather I found many had a natural gift for gossip.

10. Doole was in business, in fireplaces. But he would often go for a stroll in the afternoon between two and three. "Nobody comes back from lunch till three, you might as well not have a telephone", so he often said to himself. Doole took out his watch and checked the time. Nearly half an hour before he need think of the office. "What a wholly delightful day!" he contemplated. Indeed, the varied colorful flowers in the park shone very brightly in that September light.

11. The world is undergoing a rapid change. That is, views, opinions, fashion, and even traditions are changing rapidly. The old cannot adapt themselves to these changes easily. They always talk about good old days, and grumble about the young, which leads to a generation gap. Parents always mention the problems of the young. If there is one, then, we can say that it is the old who create it. Everyone is of the opinion that the young are, after all, human beings-people just like their parents. There is only one difference between an old man and a young man: the young man has got a bright future before, him and the old one has got a lot of experience behind him.

12. There is no simple answer to the question, "How can I enhance my memory?" But there are some general points one can make. Firstly, you have to practice. Practice remembering things. Secondly, use your memory. Preferring to make notes all the time rather than rely on one's memory is a terrible mistake. It's certain that you actually risk making your memory worse that way. In order to utilize your memory, you have to be keen to remember-eager to remember. If you really mean to remember things, you can. And thirdly, always make associations when you want to remember anything.

13. Christmas is only a few days away and the two children in the Robinson family feel very excited and are impatient for it. Their mother has baked them a very large and delicious Christmas cake. She has shown them how to make colorful ornaments for their Christmas tree. Tomorrow she will take them out shopping in the High Street as she is planning to purchase new clothes for them to wear on Christmas Day. Mr. Robinson gave Tommy and Irena some money last week so that they could buy themselves lots of balloons and streamers to decorate their house.

14. By five o'clock Graceland was crammed with mourners: ex-employees, old friends, relatives, and special fans. Of course everyone is sadden by death, but the thing about Elvis' death was that no one could believe it. Elvis Presley dead? As more people crowded in and the reality began to fully sink in, I felt I couldn't breathe. I stepped out on the porch, and the sight beyond the gates was incredible; tens of thousands of people gathered there.

15. Because words can break silence, and thus remove tension, we often draw on them for this reason and not mainly for what they mean. When two people are introduced, one says, "How do you do?" Now this is not really a question, despite its apparent meaning, and the other person will reply not, 'Very well thank you, but 'How do you do?' This is the conversational formula. The purpose of the phrase 'How do you do?' is not to communicate meaning but to break the tension which would result from silence.

16. Men usually want to have their own way. They want to think and act as they like. No one, however, can have his own way all the time. A man cannot live in society without taking into account the interest of others as well as his own interests. "Society" means a group of people with the same laws and the same way of life. People in society may make their own decisions, but these decisions ought not to be unjust or detrimental to others.

17. A group of men were requested to put their hands into a bowl of icy water and then tell a researcher how much it hurt. Half of them reported back to a man, the other half to an attractive woman. Those who talked to the woman asserted that they suffered significantly less pain than the others. When women were asked to do the same, they reported a similar level of pain whether they were talking to a man or a woman. There was not a discrepancy between the statements they made to a man and a woman.

18. The city of London has been a world financial center for many years. Until about fifty years ago, its significance was due to the fact that London was the capital city of major trading nation. After the financial difficulties of the first part of the twentieth century, the city might have slowly lost its influence in international finance. But in fact since 1960, it has recovered rapidly, and developed at great speed in recent years. A new city has grown, modern, efficient and looking forward to the future.

Text 3

The English language has been borrowing words for more than 1,500 years. The most complete dictionary of the English language contains a whopping 600,000 words. It’s common for new words to grow from previously existing words — for example, to burgle, formed from burglar. The use of words can change. Shower started out meaning “light rain.” It later referred to a bathroom shower, and then became used as a verb, to shower. English is said to have one of the most difficult spelling systems in the world. Take a look at these four words: anxious, fission, fuchsia, and ocean. They all spell the sh sound differently. English has 14 different spellings for the sh sound. Throughout history, the spelling of English words hasn’t changed as much as their sounds have. For example, people once pronounced the k in knife and the gh in right. We no longer say those letters, but we’ve kept the old spelling. English also tends to hold on to the spelling of words it borrows from other languages. The most striking examples of differences between spelling and pronunciation in English are the six di fferent pronunciations of ough. Say these words aloud: bough, cough, thorough, thought, through, and rough. Some spellings have lasted from a time when the gh was pronounced in English. The English language is unusual in the way it borrows and grows. New words are constantly being introduced. The verb to google is a new word that means “to do a fast Internet search.” It comes from the widely used Internet search engine, Google. Many nations around the world have been influenced by British history and culture. With each passing year, English comes closer to being a world language for all educated people, as Latin once was. The prominence of English can be traced to the spread of the British Empire during the last three centuries. In the early 20th century, a quarter of the world’s people and a quarter of the world’s land surface were controlled in some way by Britain. Some parts of the world received substantial numbers of British emigrants and developed into what were called daughter nations. These colonies eventually became self-governing areas called dominions. Canada, Australia, and New Zealand fit this pattern. For a long time India was the most important colony in the British Empire, but after a long anti-colonial struggle with Britain, independent India today is the world’s most populous democracy. The British Empire once included substantial portions of southern, western, and eastern Africa; important areas in Asia, such as Hong Kong; a few holdings in the Americas; and a large number of islands in the Pacific. Today most of these are independent nations, but many retain some British law, institutions, and customs.