II. Read the text and say if you accept Ramit’s life values. What are your life values?

LIFE AT THE TOP

Ramit is the son of an Indian mobile-phone millionaire. He’s extremely tall and still growing. He eats an enormous amount, and only buys designer clothes. Ramit is not a shy boy – he knows what he wants and he usually gets it. “My dad once said I couldn’t have a BMW motorcycle, but I usually try to ask him for things face to face and he gives them to me in the end.” Ramit doesn’t to worry how much he spends. “I don’t want to boast but I have money – it’s experience I’m looking for,” he says. He likes spend his time bungee-jumping in Australia and going to night clubs in London. He lives in Delhi where his life is just as exotic. He and his younger brother have their own apartment in the family mansion. He has an expensive stereo, an exercise area and the very latest computer. The phone rings constantly and he has several servants to take care of his every need.

Билет № 14

I. Read the text and answer the questions

THE GIANT PANDA

An endangered species, the giant panda can only be found in the mountain bamboo forests of Western China. There are only about 1,000 wild giant pandas left in the world. Giant pandas are members of the bear family, and they are mammals. Even though giant pandas look just like bears, they certainly do not behave like bears. Unlike their meat-eating relatives, giant pandas are vegetarians for the most part of their time. Their favourite food is bamboo. Giant pandas must eat a lot of bamboo everyday to get enough nourishment. In fact, they spend at least 12 hours everyday eating about 33 pounds of bamboo. However, if they are extremely hungry and bamboo is nowhere to be found, giant pandas may eat grass, fruits, or sometimes, small animals like chicken.

Giant pandas do not live in groups. They are loners! They only leave their territory from March to May to look for a mate. Female giant pandas usually give birth to twins. Baby giant pandas are very small, blind, pinkish, and weigh about 5 ounces at birth. Strangely, mother giant pandas tend to choose to raise just one baby and leave the other to die. Mother giant pandas feed their babies with milk. A baby giant panda opens its eyes at six to seven weeks. It starts to learn how to walk when it is about three or four months old. Mother giant pandas look after their babies for about 18 months. Once the young is strong enough, it bids farewell to its mother and moves out to live independently. (1201)

 

Questions:

1. Where do pandas live?

2. What class of animals do they belong to?

3. What is the main difference between giant pandas and bears?

4. Why do young giant pandas leave their mothers when they are about 18 months?

5. Are there any other endangered species in the world? What are they?

 

II. Read the text and say if English is a widely spread language. Why is it important to study English?

 

DIFFERENT ENGLISH

English is spoken as a first language by several countries including Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, and the United States. While all of these countries share the same mother tongue, there are some differences in the way they speak and write.

The first difference is in the accent. Each country has its own accent. And within each country there are a variety of accents called regional accents.

Another difference is the spelling of some words, like ‘colour’ and ‘colour’, or ‘theater’ and ‘theatre’.

And a third difference is that some of the words are not the same at all. For example, Americans say restroom, Canadians say washroom, and the British say W.C. (water closet.) But all of these words have the same meaning (the room where the toilet is located.)

So which English is the best English to learn? Well, there is no best English. They are all equally good and correct. But two things may help you decide which one is best for you to study.

First of all, where do you live? If you are from South America, for example, you will probably have more exposure to North American English. If you live in Europe, most likely you will be more exposed to British English.

But no matter where you study English or whether it's British, American, Australian, or whatever, it's good to know a little about English in other countries.

Билет № 15