Задание 9. Прочитайте текст и
выполните задания 1 – 7,выбирая букву A, B, C или D. Установите
соответствие номера задания выбранному вами варианту ответа.
The
introduction to a new biography of Gannibal by the author.
Alexander Pushkin was not only Russia’s
greatest poet, but he was also the great-grandson of an African slave. The
slave, whose godfather was Peter the Great, claimed to have royal blood of his
own. Certainly his Russian descendants believed that he was an African prince.
His descendants have included members as well as close friends of the English
royal family. So the legend goes on.
Pushkin told the story of his black
ancestor in “The Negro of Peter the Great”, but this biography tells a
different version. The main difference is between fact and fiction. The Russian
poet hoped to discover a biographical truth by sticking to the facts, only to
discover that facts are slippery and not always true. His biography turned into
a novel. Even then, it was left unfinished after six and a half chapters. The
scrawled manuscript comes to an end with a line of dialogue – ‘Sit down, you
scoundrel, let’s talk!’ — and a line of dots. Pushkin could be speaking to
himself. In any case, it’s now time to stand up and carry on with the story. I
have tried to join up the dots.
This is a book, then, about a
missing link between the storyteller and his subject, an African prince;
between the various branches of a family and its roots; between Pushkin and
Africa; Africa and Europe; Europe and Russia; black and white. It is the story
of a remarkable life and it poses the question: how is such a life to be
explained?
My own explanation began in 2001,
while I was living in Russia
and working there as a journalist. The first draft was written during the war
in Afghanistan, on the road
to Kabul, but it describes my journey to the
frontline of a different kind of war in Africa between the armies of Ethiopia and Eritrea. According to legend, Pushkin’s
ancestor was born there, on the northern bank of the River Mareb, where I was
arrested for taking photographs and compass readings, on suspicion of being a
spy. Understandably my captors didn’t believe that I was only a journalist
researching the life of Russia’s
greatest writer. At the military camp, where I was held for a number of hours,
the commandant looked me up and down when I asked, in my best posh English
accent, ‘I say, my good man, can you tell me, basically, what is going on
here?’ ‘Basically,’ he replied, with distaste, ‘you are in prison!’ The
incident taught me something. Journalists, like biographers, are meant to
respect facts, and by retracing Gannibal’s footsteps, I hoped to find a true
story.
Some of those journeys lie behind the
book, and are used whenever it is helpful to show that the past often retains a
physical presence for the biographer – in landscapes, buildings, portraits, and
above all in the trace of handwriting on original letters or journals. But my
own journeys are not the point of the book. It is Gannibal’s story. I am only
following him.
Descriptions of Africa
and the slave trade result from my journeys, but this is not a book about a
‘stolen legacy’, nor certainly about the intellectual wars that have been part
of black history in recent years. Biographers, like novelists, should tell
stories. I have tried to do this. I should, however, point out from the outset
that Gannibal was not the only black face to be seen in the centre of
fashionable St Petersburg
at that time. Negro slaves were a common sight in the grand salons of
Millionaires’ Street and they appeared in a variety of roles, such as pets,
pages, footmen, mascots, mistresses, favourites and adopted children. At the WinterPalace,
so-called court Arabs, usually Ethiopians dressed in turbans and baggy trousers
stood guard like stage extras in the marble wings.
1.The slave’s Russian descendants believe
that the slave
A) had Russian royal blood in him.
B) was Peter the Great’s godfather.
C) belonged to the royal family in
his native land.
D) was a close friend of the English
royal family.
2. According to the narrator, the
biography of Pushkin’s ancestor turned into a
novel because Pushkin
A) didn’t like the true biographical
facts he had discovered.
B) found it impossible to stick to
the facts that were doubtful.
C) could not do without describing
fictional events.
D) found the true facts of the
slave’s biography uninspiring.
3. The narrator’s objective in
writing the book was to
A) write a new version of the novel
“The Negro of Peter the Great”.
B) continue the story from where it
was left unfinished.
C) interpret’s attitude to his
ancestor.
D) prove that Pushkin’s ancestor was
an African prince.
4.The narrator says that his research for the
book
A) brought him to Russia to work
as a journalist.
B) made him go to the war in Afghanistan.
C) led him to take part in the war
in Africa.
D) brought him to a river bank in Africa.
5.The lesson that the narrator learnt from
his arrest was
A) not to use a camera and compass
at the frontline.
B) to avoid speaking to people in
his best posh English accent.
C) not to distort information about
real events.
D) never to tell people about his
research.
6. The narrator thinks that his
journeys
A) helped him find some visible traces
of the past.
B) made him to feel sympathy to a
“stolen legacy”.
C) deepened his understanding of the
concept of intellectual wars.
D) turned out to be the main
contents of his book.
7. The narrator points out that at
the time of Gannibal
A) negro slaves played a variety of
roles in the theatre.
B) black slaves were like stage
extras in royal processions.
C) many Africans made a brilliant
career at the court.
D) Africans were not a novelty in
the capital of Russia.
Задание 10. Прочитайте текст и
выполните задания 1 – 7,выбирая букву A, B, C или D. Установите
соответствие номера задания выбранному вами варианту ответа.
A
GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP – AN IMPOSSIBLE DREAM?
Tonight, do yourself a favor. Shut
off the TV, log off the Internet and unplug the phone. Relax, take a bath,
maybe sip some herbal tea. Then move into the bedroom. Set your alarm clock for
a time no less than eight hours in the future, fluff up your pillows and lay
your head down for a peaceful night of restorative shut-eye. That’s what
American doctors advise.
American sleep experts are sounding
an alarm over America’s
sleep deficit. They say Americans are a somnambulant nation, stumbling groggily
through their waking hours for lack of sufficient sleep. They are working
longer days – and, increasingly, nights – and they are playing longer, too, as
TV and the Internet expand the range of round-the-clock entertainment options.
By some estimates, Americans are sleeping as much as an hour and a half less
per night than they did at the turn of the century – and the problem is likely
to get worse.
The health repercussions of sleep
deprivation are not well understood, but sleep researchers point to ills
ranging from heart problems to depression. In a famous experiment conducted at
the University of
Chicago in 1988, rats
kept from sleeping died after two and a half weeks. People are not likely to
drop dead in the same way, but sleep deprivation may cost them their lives
indirectly, when an exhausted doctor prescribes the wrong dosage or a sleepy
driver weaves into someone’s lane.
What irritates sleep experts most is
the fact that much sleep deprivation is voluntary. “People have regarded sleep
as a commodity that they could shortchange,” says one of them. “It’s been
considered a mark of very hard work and upward mobility to get very little
sleep. It’s a macho attitude.” Slumber scientists hope that attitude will
change. They say people have learned to modify their behavior in terms of
lowering their cholesterol and increasing exercise. Doctors also think people
need to be educated that allowing enough time for sleep and taking strategic
naps are the most reliable ways to promote alertness behind the wheel and on
the job.
Well, naps would be nice, but at the
moment, employers tend to frown on them. And what about the increasing numbers
of people who work at night? Not only must they work while their bodies’
light-activated circadian rhythms tell them to sleep, they also find it tough
to get to sleep after work. Biologists say night workers have a hard time not
paying attention to the 9-to-5 day because of noises or family obligations or
that’s the only time they can go to the dentist. There are not too many
dentists open at midnight.
As one might imagine, companies are
springing up to take advantage of sleeplessness. One of the companies makes
specially designed shift-work lighting systems intended to keep workers alert
around the clock. Shift-work’s theory is that bright light, delivered in a
controlled fashion, can help adjust people’s biological clocks. The company
president says they are using light like a medicine. So far, such special
lighting has been the province
of NASA astronauts and
nuclear power plant workers. He thinks that in the future, such systems may pop
up in places like hospitals and 24-hour credit-card processing centers. Other
researchers are experimenting with everything from welder’s goggles (which
night workers wear during the day) to human growth hormones. And, of course,
there is always what doctors refer to as “therapeutic caffeine use,” but
everyone is already familiar with that.
So, is a good night’s sleep an
impossible dream for Americans? Maybe so.
1. The advice of American doctors is
all about
A) ways to reduce negative effect of
modern technologies.
B) complex measures that ensure
healthy sleep.
C) positive effect of herbal
therapy.
D) the process of restoring from
unexpected psychological stress.
2. Americans are referred to as a
“somnambulant nation” because they
A) need special help to fall asleep.
B) are sleepwalkers.
C) regularly wake up at night.
D) don’t get enough sleep to
function effectively.
3. Experiments with sleep
deprivation proved that
A) it inevitably leads to death.
B) its repercussions have finally
become predictable.
C) it is likely to result in cardio
or nervous problems.
D) animal and human reaction are
almost alike.
4. There is a tendency to sleep less
because
A) people want to look tough at any
cost.
B) people think they can reduce
sleeping hours without any harm .
C) people have learned to cope with
less sleep just as they have learned to lower cholesterol.
D) otherwise they lose career and
social opportunities.
5. Having naps during the day would
be nice, but
A) doctors do not find them
effective.
B) people won’t take them
voluntarily.
C) bosses are against this.
D) it is difficult to arrange.
6. People who work at night can
hardly
A) fulfill traditional family
obligations.
B) consult doctors when needed.
C) socialize to their liking.
D) ever sleep without ear-plugs.
7. The main aim of specially
designed shift-work lighting system is
