Вариант 2

I. Use the proper form.

1. I saw them ... in the park.

a) to play

b) playing

c) play

2. She believes Pete ... a good guy.

a) to be

b) being

c) be

3. I saw you ... in the park. Everybody liked it!

a) to dance

b) dancing

c) dance

4. Mr. Smith saw her friends ... the classroom.

a) to leave

b) leaving

c) leave

5. His mum wants him ... his homework.

a) to do

b) doing

c) do

6. I heard my mum ... me.

a) to call

b) calling

c) call

7. Mr. Brown would like his son ... a surgeon.

a) to become

b) becoming

c) become

8. I want ... more languages.

a) to learn

b) learning

c) learn

9. Don’t let him ... you.

a) to fool

b) fooling

c) fool

10. I expect the weather ... good today.

a) to be

b) being

c) be

II. Translate into English:

1. Я огляделась вокруг и увидела, что в поселке не осталось ни одного деревянного дома. 2. Старый доктор остался тем же добрым, искренним человеком, каким мы знали его с детства. 3. Послушай, я подмету пол и помою посуду, а ты сделаешь все остальное, ладно? — Хорошо. 4. Не надо заострять внимание на проступке ребенка. 5. Почему вы уклонились от прямого ответа на мой вопрос? 6. Любовь к детям заставила его стать учителем, и он никогда не жалел о своем выборе. 7. Мальчик переминался с ноги на ногу, не зная, как ответить на вопрос. 8. Как будто собирается дождь. Думаю, нам лучше посидеть дома.

III. Translate into Russian:

Words

Languages consist of words. To learn a language we need to learn words, many words. We need to get a sense of what they mean, in different situations, and which words they are normally used with in phrases. We need to learn how these words change. There are thousands of words to learn, and even more combinations of these words, that we have to get used to. How do we do it?

Words, the basic building blocks

Should we learn words or should we learn phrases? There is increasing realization that it is important to learn phrases. There has been some research to show that we learn languages in chunks, which I guess corresponds to phrases. I agree that learning phrases, getting used to recognizing phrases that regularly appear in the language, is important. We need to give our brain enough exposure to these phrases, in contexts, and in flash cards or other deliberate study activities, so that they start to become natural to us. That is the easiest way to get comfortable with tenses, prepositions, case endings, and all the other things that are so different from language to language.

Phrases are important, however, so are words, individual words. They are the basic building blocks of the language. We need a lot of them. Many words are connected to other words so that the more we know, the easier it is to pick up new words without even noticing it, incidentally. In vocabulary acquisition, the rich get richer. The sooner you start accumulating, the better.

Phrases, chunks of the language

Native speakers of any language know naturally which words belong together. They have heard their own language so often, and in so many situations, that they can naturally put words together in a way that sounds effective. The foreign learner cannot do this.

Every sentence is unique, but phrases repeat themselves often. A phrase is any group of two or more, (usually no more than five) words that naturally belong together and can be used in many situations.

Learn to look for phrases, save them and learn them. One word of caution is necessary, however. The phrases must come from meaningful content that you are listening to and reading. Free examples of sentences and phrases from dictionaries are false friends. You think you are learning but you are not. You need to find your own phrases as you discover the language from interesting content.

Vocabulary over grammar

What is the most important thing and what is the most difficult thing in learning a new language? My answer is always vocabulary.

You can express yourself with faulty grammar and less than perfect pronunciation. If you do not have the words you cannot express yourself. The constant battle to acquire enough vocabulary to read what you want to read, to say what you want to say, and to understand what you want to understand—that is the hardest part.

Imperfect grammar and pronunciation do not prevent communication and enjoyment of the language. Lack of vocabulary does.

When I correct writing, it is overwhelmingly vocabulary, improper use of words and phrases that is the biggest problem, not grammar.

How do you accumulate words and phrases? You do so from input, from reading, and from listening to content that is of interest to you. You have to see the words and phrases often in different contexts.

Idioms

Maybe I am different from most people, but I do not bother with them. To me they are kind of the dessert of language learning. They come at the end of a meal. Once you have filled up on the solid fare, the key words and phrases that are used in a variety of situations, then you can add a few idioms to spice things up. And by that time you will be able to pick them up naturally anyway.

I find that many learners have an obsession with slang and idioms, as if trotting out some very colloquial expression is going to upgrade how they sound in a language. In fact it is the opposite. Idioms are difficult to use correctly. They can easily sound very strange coming from someone who obviously does not have a good sense of the language.

Yes, occasionally you hear idioms or slang and do not understand. But, in my experience, there are always situations where you do not understand. It is best to focus on the most important words, what they mean and how they are used. Certainly, it is best for a non-native speaker to stick to standard speech.

Some teachers even try to teach the "real language." Then you hear non-native speakers saying things like "I gonna" "You wanna" etc. I just cringe. You will learn all the idioms you need just by exposing yourself to the language.

One word a day

Many language learning sites offer a "word of the day" service, which is amusing for learners, even though I do not find it all that useful for learning a language. I mean you need thousands, or even tens of thousands of words. So, at one word a day, it would take a long time to learn a language. What is more, getting words devoid of any meaningful context, I mean meaningful to the learner, is quite useless, so most of these words will be quickly forgotten.

My wife likes to do crossword puzzles. I sometimes help her, and this morning I discovered that on the same page as the crossword puzzle, there is a Word of the Day item, sponsored by CanWest Canspell and the Post Office! Today's word was Niebelung! That's right, Niebelung, definition "a member of a Scandinavian race of dwarfs."

My wife keeps her old crosswords so I looked up some of the recent Words of the Day, which I list at random below. Either these words are known to the reader, or they are quite useless and will not be learned. It is easy enough to search the Web or a dictionary for a definition and examples of usage:

 Weir

 Riparian

 Perihelion

 Febrile

 Discrete

 Rapscallion

On the other hand to increase your knowledge of more difficult words, especially words needed for academic and professional purposes, or for tests like TOEFL, there is nothing better than doing a lot of reading in your areas of interest. If the subjects are familiar or of interest to you, it will be easier.

Study conversations to master phrases

When trying to increase fluency, it is often best to work from texts which have few rare or difficult words. Often these less formal texts contain more idiomatic expressions. With such texts you can concentrate on the phrases and pay attention to how the prepositions, articles and tenses are used.

The ideal content for this is natural conversation. People use more common words and phrases and fewer difficult words, in conversations. In my experience, conversations and interviews are interesting only if they are genuine and not scripted for learners. Remember interest is key. Look for conversations and interviews, with sound and transcript as ideal content for intermediate and even advanced learning.

(From The Linguist on Language by Steve Kaufmann)