Column a Column b

a) having courage and initiative

b) foolishly

c) grow in number

d) unbelievably; amazingly

e) spread over quickly

f) destruction

g) grass; pasture

h) kind; sort; type

i) sensitive or prone

j) causing death

k) disease that affects only a particular area (two words)

I) very severely; very greatly

m) reduce

EXERCISE 2: Choose the correct answer according to the passage

1. The rabbits

A) were finally exterminated, but only after a long struggle

B) had been in Australia for a long time, growing in number, when the first settlers arrived

C) were to be killed, for they were carrying a fatal virus dangerous for human beings as well

D) increased in number rapidly in Australia, because nothing interfered with their breeding

E) soon showed an incredible resistance to the fatal virus passed on to them via the mosquitoes

2. The Australians

A) had come there from various countries around the world

B) wanted to get rid of the rabbits because they were destroying pasture that could be used for sheep and cattle

C) were making their living merely by raising sheep and cattle on their farms

D) hadn't expected to meet with such a big rabbit population on their new land

E) weren't wise enough to get rid of the rabbits by their own efforts

3. We can conclude from the passage that

A) the rabbits were reduced in number through a fatal virus deliberately spread by a kind of

mosquito

B) it had become a matter of life and death for the Australians to get rid of the rabbits

C) though it was hazardous for themselves as well, the settlers nonetheless encouraged the

spread of the epidemic

D) being a pioneer requires a man or woman to be prepared to face certain risky conditions

E) Australians today owe their prosperous life to the efforts of their enterprising ancestors

EXERCISE 3: Complete the sentences by selecting words from Column B in EXERCISE 1.

1. Old people and very young children are often more _______ to infection than other age groups.

2. Since the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster, cases of childhood thyroid cancer in the area have ____________ to 80 times the world average.

3. A lot of small businesses were set up in Britain during the 1980s by ________individuals, who were encouraged by the government.

4. The flood caused great ___________ to the crops as well as to the houses.

5. If we cut down on some of our luxuries, our financial problems can be considerably ___.

ВАРИАНТ 8

READING 1

THE COMPUTER

The computer is basically a device for ingesting, judging, and otherwise processing or usefully modifying knowledge. Thus it enlarges brainpower in the same way that other man-made machines enlarge muscle power. Like man, the computer expresses knowledge in terms of symbols; man's symbols are letters and numbers, and the machine's symbols are electromagnetic impulses that represent letters and numbers. Although man must usually instruct or program the machine minutely, its chief present advantage is that it can manipulate symbols a million times faster than a man with pencil and paper, and can make calculations in a few minutes that might take man alone a century. An expert has remarked that the difference between doing a calculation by hand and by computer is the difference between having one dollar and having a million. Sometimes the difference is infinite; only a computer can calculate swiftly enough to analyze the data from a satellite, or to enable man to control the flight of a missile.

EXERCISE 1: Find words or phrases in the passage which mean the same as:

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