Variant 1 You could have come first and won the race if you … faster

23. According to the passage, what two things are essential in Spanish holidays like Easter?
A) Food and music B) Laughter and tears C) Religious and secular festivals D) Easter cake and “Eggy Bread”
24. Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
A) Easter foods B) Easter in Spain C) Spanish festivals D) Spring celebrations


The Hindenburg was the last in a series of airships designed to carry passengers and cargo over long distances. It could carry fifty passengers in twenty-five luxury cabins with all the comforts of a first class hotel. Cruising at 125 km per hour, it could cross the Atlantic in half the time of the great luxury ocean liners, which it had been built to compete with. But in 1937, the Hindenburg came to an unfortunate end in New Jersey just as it was about to land. In spite of extensive safety precautions, the highly flammable hydrogen with which it was filled burst into flames. Remarkably though, sixty-two of the ninety-seven people on board were able to escape.
25. Only one of the following statements is TRUE ...
A) None of the passengers survived the disaster.
B) The Hindenburg exploded as it was taking off from New Jersey.
C) The Hindenburg was one of the most successful airships of all times.
D) The Hindenburg had a component containing hydrogen.
26. According to the descriptions in the passage …
A) life aboard the great airships was cramped and uncomfortable.
B) the number of passengers an airship could carry was almost half that of a luxury ocean liner.
C) the luxury ocean liners could cross the Atlantic twice the time that an airship could.
D) not only the rich could afford to travel on airships like the Hindenburg.
27. It is said in the passage that ...
A) the great airships had a passenger capacity of from twenty-five to fifty passengers.
B) ocean liners filled with hydrogen often ended up with explosions.
C) after the Hindenburg disaster, there were no more airships of the same type.
D) there were sixty-two people on board at the time of the disaster.


Rubber trees are tapped - that is, cuts are made in the bark so that the latex, a milk-like Juice, containing about 30-40% rubber, can be obtained. The latex is then processed by exposing it to heat and wood smoke, or by mechanical means, so as to separate the rubber from the water, mineral salts, sugars, resins and protein matters. The rubber obtained in this way is known as ’crude’ - latex is extensively used in industry for making foam rubber products, footwear, dolls etc. Untreated crude rubber is naturally soft and lacks the required strength for making into manufactured articles. To improve its strength and usefulness, it is vulcanized, or heated with sulphur, and the proportion of sulphur used determines the hardness and elasticity of the rubber.