Тесты по английскому языку грамматика, лексика, аудирование

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‘Water?’ she said aloud, and paused. ‘Am I lost? I suppose so. I must be on a bridge, I suppose, and there must be a river under me. I’ve been told that there’s a river in this part of the country, but I don’t know its exact position. How am I going to get to my cottage from here?’

All at once she heard a man’s friendly voice near her. It said, ‘Excuse me, can I help you?’

‘How kind of you!’ Mrs. Hammond answered. ‘Yes, please. I’m lost. Some of the trees which I follow when I go for my walk every evening had been removed today, and if I hadn’t been lucky enough to come across you, I don’t know what I’d have done. Can you please help me to get home?’

‘Certainly’, the man answered. ‘Where do you live?’ Mrs. Hammond told him, and they began walking. The man took Mrs. Hammond to her cottage, and she invited him in and gave him some coffee and a piece of cake. She told the man how grateful she was that she had met him.

‘Don’t thank me’, he answered. ‘I want to thank you.’ ‘Thank me?’ Mrs. Hammond said. ‘Whatever for?’

‘Well’,themanansweredquietly,‘Iwasbalancedontheedgeofthebridge for ages in the dark, because I was trying to make up my mind to throw myself into the river and drown myself. But I’m not going to do it now.’

Test 5. Jim and Mrs. Roper

Jim lived with his parents until he was twenty-one years old, and then he got a job in the office of a big factory in another town, so he left home. He found a comfortable little flat which had two rooms, a small kitchen and a bathroom, and he lived there on his own.

At first he cleaned it himself, but he didn’t want to have to go on doing this, so he determined himself to find someone else to do it instead of him. He asked a lot of his fellow workers at the factory what they did about this, and at last one of the men said, ‘Oh, Mrs. Roper comes and cleans my flat regularly. She washes the dishes, irons my shirts and keeps the place neat and tidy and so on. I’ll introduce her to you, if you like. She’s a charming old lady. She does her best, but she hasn’t got much energy.’

‘Well, you’d better ask her to come and see me, please,’ Jim answered. So the next evening Mrs. Roper came to see him, and she agreed with pleasure to come to his flat every morning for an hour.

After she had been working for Jim for two weeks, he looked at the mirror in the bedroom and thought, ‘This mirror looks very dusty. Mrs. Roper’s forgotten to clean it. I can write on it with my finger.’ He wrote the message in the dust: ‘I’m coughing whenever I breathe because everything in this room is very dusty.’

He came home at 7 o’clock that evening, and when he had eaten his supper, he went into his bedroom and looked at the mirror. ‘That silly woman still hasn’t cleaned it!’ he said to himself. ‘All it needs is a cloth!’

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But then he bent down and saw a bottle in front of the mirror. ‘I didn’t put that bottle there,’ he thought. ‘Mrs. Roper must have left it.’ He picked the bottle up and looked at it carefully.

‘She’s written some words on it,’ he said to himself. He read the words. They were: ‘Cough medicine.’

Intermediate

Test 1. Winter Festivals

‘Winter has a cold heart,’ said the writer, Christina Rosetti. But is it a sad season? Not at all. For thousands of years, winter festivals have brought light and colour to the darkest time of year.

The earliest festival lights were candles. Romans tied them to trees for their Saturnalia festival. During Saturnalia week — 17 to 24 December — people gave each other gifts. And they couldn’t work or fight wars. The Celts also used candles for their Imbolic festival, on 2 February. Imbolic was a celebration of light returning after winter. On festival day, candles were put in the windows of the family home. Outside, the men lit fires. The women were braver. They wore a crown of candles on their heads.

Some of today’s festivals use this same tradition. The most famous of theseisSweden’sLucia’sDay,on13December.CatholicssaythatLuciawas a young Roman girl. While she lived, her people were attacking Christians for their religion. Lucia felt sorry for the Christians and wanted to help. When night came, she wore a crown of candles. The Christians followed her crown of lights through tunnels under the ground and escaped. On Lucia’s Day, the eldest daughter of the family wears a long white dress, a red sash and a crown of candles. She walks through the house and gives food and drink to other people in the family. Male children walk behind her. They carry silver stars and sing St Lucia’s song.

In the east, India’s Diwali festival is also a celebration of light and colour. Diwali means ‘night of lights’ and celebrates the Hindu New Year. The festival lasts for five days. Indians fill their houses with candles, lamps and bright flowers. And they wish for happiness in the next year.

Candles are also important in the Jewish festival of Chanukah. It begins on 22 December and lasts for eight days. Every evening another candle is lit on the menorah (a traditional candle-stick). People give each other money and give children small gifts.

In western homes, decorating the Christmas tree is an old tradition. In the past people decorated trees with candles. But today people decorate their trees with yellow stars and balls of red, silver and gold.

Most churches also prefer candlelight for their Christmas festivals. England’s ‘Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols’ from King’s College,

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Cambridge, is a world-famous example. The festival starts at midnight on 24 December. Boys with candles walk slowly to the front of the church as they sing the first carol.

From east to west, winter brings cold weather and long nights. But its festivals all bring light, colour and warmth to people’s homes. Everyone celebrates and hopes for a happy new year.

Test 2. It’s Carnival Time!

At this time of year, in cities as different as Venice and Rio de Janeiro, menandwomenareputtingonmasksandunusualcostumes.Why?Because it’s carnival time! The carnival tradition began two thousand years ago, with the Roman winter festival of Saturnalia. During the festival, people from different classes ate together, drank together and sometimes slept together! With the arrival of the Christian religion, the Roman festival became a Christian one. The word ‘carnival’ means ‘goodbye to meat’. For Christians, Carnival was a time when they ate well and had fun before ‘Lent’ — a time when Christians tried to eat less. Carnival always ended on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Lent began.

Carnival mostly takes place in countries like Spain, Italy and South America, countries with a strong Roman Catholic tradition. The most famous carnivals take place in Venice, Rio de Janeiro, and New Orleans. Today, the main idea of carnival is to wear costumes that change how you look and enjoy the fun. In Rio de Janeiro and New Orleans, there are exciting street parties with music and dancing. Thousands of people fill the streets, many in costume. In Rio it’s traditional for men to dress as women at carnival time. In both cities, wonderful floats carrying people dressed in colourful costumes pass slowly through the streets. Musicians and dancers follow them. It’s something that once you see, you don’t forget!

In Europe, there are fancy dress dances and masked dances. People spend months making their costumes. The ten-day Venice carnival is probably the mostfamousEuropeanfestival.Thebeautifuloldhousesandthegreenwaters of the city make it an excellent place to have a carnival. It always begins in the famous Piazza San Marco, probably the most beautiful city square in the whole world. Thousands come to the carnival and sometimes Venice is so full of people that the entrance to the city has to be closed. The narrow streets are full of people in beautiful costumes. In the many squares of Venice, musicians play, and the theatres are always full.

All you need to become part of the carnival in Venice is a mask, and you can find these in every shop. You can buy the masks already painted if you want, but many people buy a simple white mask and paint it themselves. Once you have your mask, you should go to a masked dance. Or, if you’re

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wearing a costume, you could win a fancy dress competition. In Venice the best masked dances are private, but there are many dances that are open to everyone, and they’re great fun too.

In the last days of the carnival, there are parties by the side of the canals. Then on Shrove Tuesday there’s always a big masked dance in the Piazza San Marco again. Above the square, fireworks light up the night sky. At midnight the bells ring above the square to tell you that it’s the end of the festival. Then it’s time to go home and become your ordinary self again.

Test 3. World Music

On 19 November 2000, thousands of people in New York went to the Great African Ball. The star was Youssou N’Dour, a singer from Senegal. Twenty years ago, African and Asian music was not heard much in Europe or America. Then suddenly, in the 1980s, everybody was listening. Why was World Music suddenly so popular? Because some famous rock stars from the 1970s — Peter Gabriel, Ry Cooder and Paul Simon — made albums with musicians from African and Asian countries.

When English singer Peter Gabriel left the rock group Genesis in 1975, he became interested in World Music. He organized the first World of Music, Arts and Dance Festival (WOMAD) in 1982. There are now WOMAD festivals every year all over the world. Many musicians and singers who haveplayedatWOMADfestivals—peoplelikeYoussouN’DourandNusrat Fateh Ali Khan from Pakistan — have become international stars.

Youssou N’Dour started his first group in Senegal in 1979. Senegalese taxi drivers in Paris introduced his music to French listeners. Then Peter Gabriel heard Youssou N’Dour and invited him to sing with him on a world tour. He also asked him to sing on his 1986 album, So. The album was a great success. Since then Youssou N’Dour has had his own international hit — 7 seconds — which he sang with Neneh Cherry, and sold albums all over the world.

Ry Cooder is famous now for the album The Buena Vista Social Club (1997)—recordedwithCubanmusiciansCompaySegundo(age92)andRuben Gonzalez (age 80), who were famous in Cuba in the 1950s. But in the 1960s he played on Rolling Stones’ records. His first World Music album was recorded in 1993. He made A Meeting by the River with Indian musician V.M. Bhatt. This won a Grammy award. His next album, Talking Timbuktu (1994), with Malian musician Ali Farka Toure, won another Grammy

Simon and Garfunkel were famous pop stars in the 1960s. They split up in 1970, and Paul Simon worked as a singer-songwriter. But in the 1980s he became less popular. He went to South Africa for new ideas. In 1986, he made

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an album, Graceland, with black South African musicians. It became one of the most popular albums of the 1980s. ‘Paul Simon is stealing music from another country to help his own career,’ some people said. But Graceland helped to make South African music world famous. In 1990 Simon made an album, Rhythm of the Saints, with musicians from Brazil.

Millions of people in Europe and America are now listening to World Music. There will be another Great African Ball in New York next year. Everybody is welcome. But if you can’t be in New York next November, don’t worry. You can still find Youssou N’Dour and many other World Music stars at a record shop near you!

Test 4. Mobile Phones: Useful or Dangerous?

Why are mobiles so popular? Because people love to talk to each other. And it is easier with a mobile phone. People think mobile phones are fun and useful. In countries like Russia and China, people use mobile phones in places where there is no ordinary telephone. Business people use mobiles when they’re travelling. In some countries, like Japan, many people use their mobile phones to send e-mail messages and access the Internet. They use a new kind of mobile phone called ‘i-mode’. You can even use a mobile phone to listen to music.

Mobile phones are very fashionable with teenagers. Parents buy mobile phones for their children. They can call home if they are in trouble and need help. So they feel safer. But teenagers mostly use them to keep in touch with their friends or play simple computer games. It’s cool to be the owner of a small, expensive mobile! As eighteen-year-old Londoner Rosie Farrer says, ‘Before,girlsofmyagesmokedcigarettestolookgood.Nowwehavemobiles!’ Rosie’s right. Research shows that teenage owners of mobile phones smoke less! Parents and schools are happy that teenagers are safer and smoke less. But they are worried about the possible problems of mobile phones.

There are now 750 million mobile phone users around the world. This number will probably grow to 1.4 billion in five years’ time. Many people dislike them. They hate it when the businessman opposite them on the train has a loud conversation on his phone. Or when mobile phones ring in a café or restaurant.

But there is a much more serious problem. We are not sure that mobiles are completely safe. It’s possible that mobiles can heat up the brain because we hold the phone so close to our head. Scientists fear that mobiles can perhaps be bad for your memory and even give you cancer. Because of these fears, some people use a ‘handsfree’ mobile — a phone that you needn’t hold to your ear. But it is possible that these are more dangerous. We just don’t know and many parents don’t give their younger children mobiles for this reason.

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So why do we use mobiles when we aren’t sure they’re safe? Because mobiles are a lot of fun and very useful, we choose to forget the possible dangers. We choose to believe that mobiles are safe. Let’s hope we’re right!

Test 5. Modern British Families

Father leaves for work in the morning after breakfast. The two children take the bus to school, and mother stays at home cooking and cleaning until father and the kids return home in the evening. This is the traditional picture of a happy family living in Britain. But is it true today? The answer is — no! The past 20 years have seen enormous changes in the lives and structures of families in Britain, and the traditional model is no longer true in many cases.

The biggest change has been caused by divorce. As many as 2 out of 3 marriages now end in divorce, leading to a situation where many children live with one parent and only see the other at weekends or holidays.

There has also been a huge rise in the number of mothers who work. The large rise in divorces has meant many women need to work to support themselves and their children. Even when there is no divorce, many families need both parents to work in order to survive. This has caused an increase in childcare facilities, though they are very expensive and can be difficult to find in many areas. In addition, women are no longer happy to stay at home raising children, and many have careers earning as much as or even more than men, the traditional breadwinners.

There has also been a sharp increase in the number of single mothers, particularly among teenagers. Many of their children grow up never knowing their fathers, and some people feel the lack of a male role model has a damaging effect on their lives.

However,thesechangeshavenothadatotallynegativeeffect.Forwomen, it is now much easier to have a career and good salary. Although it is difficult to be a working mother, it has become normal and it’s no longer seen as a bad thing for the children. As for children themselves, some argue that modern children grow up to be more independent and mature than in the past. From an early age they have to go to childminders or nurseries, and so they are used to dealing with strangers and mixing with other children.

So while the traditional model of a family may no longer be true in modern Britain, the modern family continues to raise happy, successful children.

Test 6. America’s Favorites: Hot-Dog

You may have heard that Americans like hot dogs and hamburgers best of all foods. Well, farmers and owners of public eating places might

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happily agree. So might the nation’s Meat Institute and the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council. But people whose favorites are pizza and apple pie would give the meat-lovers a spirited argument!

Naming the favorite foods of Americans depends a lot on whom you ask. But one thing is sure. The ancestors of most Americans came from other countries. The United States owes many favorite dishes, or the ideas for these foods, to the rest of the world.

For example, that traditional American favorite, the hot dog or wiener, had its modern beginning in Germany. The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council estimates that Americans eat about seven thousand million of these sausages during a summer.

A hot dog is usually made from pork, the meat of a pig. Or it is made from beef, the meat of a cow. Another version is made from turkey. A vegetarian version of a hot dog has no meat at all. It often contains tofu, made from soy plants.

The hot dog is shaped like a tube. Many people say it looks like a Dachshund dog. It is served between two shaped pieces of bread called a bun. Americans often say they especially like hot dogs cooked over a hot fire in the open air. People at sports events buy plenty of hot dogs.

For many people, it is not just the meat that tastes so good. These people enjoy colorful and tasty additions. For example, they include a yellow or yellow-brown thickened liquid called mustard. They may also put red catsup and pieces of a white or red, strong-smelling vegetable called onion on their hot dogs.

Hot dog eaters often add pickle, a salty green vegetable. Some people place barbecue  sauce on top of all this. Or they use a spice called horseradish. It gives the hot dog a pleasant bite.

A hot dog is also known as a frankfurter or frank. That is because the city of Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany is often said to be the birthplace of this sausage. But the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council says there are other ideas about where the hot dog began.

One version of hot dog history says a butcher, or meat cutter, from the German city of Coburg was responsible. It says he invented the hot dog in the late sixteen hundreds. Vienna, Austria, also claims that it created the food.

The council says butchers from several countries probably brought common European sausages to America. A street salesman sold hot dogs to people in New York City in the eighteen sixties. And, in eighteen seventy one, a hot dog stand opened at the Coney Island amusement park in New York City.

Test 7. Hamburgers

Americans also eat lots of hamburgers. This ground meat comes from beef. It can be cooked in many ways. Like hot dogs, hamburgers are a favourite picnic food.

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Many public eating places in the United States say hamburgers are their most popular foods. People often eat them in places that serve quickly prepared, moderately priced food.

Like hot dog experts, hamburger historians disagree about how their subject got started. The Egyptians and Romans apparently ate ancient versions of hamburgers. In more modern days, people in Hamburg, Germany, made something like a hamburger from pork and beef.

The small town of Seymour, Wisconsin, is among several American towns that claim to have created the first modern hamburger in the United States.

In Seymour, a man named Charlie Nagreen tried to sell meatballs at a local fair in eighteen eighty-five. But as people walked around, it was hard for them to handle the round pieces of meat. So Nagreen flattened the ball of meat. Then he placed this meat patty between two pieces of bread.

In two thousand one, people in Seymour cooked a hamburger that weighed more than three thousand kilograms. This creation reportedly fed thirteen thousand people.

Like hot dogs, Americans like their hamburgers with additions. Things like mustard, catsup, horseradish, mayonnaise, barbecue sauce, tomatoes, lettuce, onion and perhaps a pickle.

A hamburger with cheese melted on it is called a cheeseburger. Cooks make a ‘Sloppy Joe’ by combining hamburger meat with tomato sauce. Many people eat the Sloppy Joe mixture on a bun. Without a bun, they may get more of the loose meat on them than inside them.

For many people, eating both hot dogs and hamburgers does not seem right without potatoes. They eat French fries and potato chips with these meats. French fries are strips, or pieces, of potato cooked in oil. Potato chips are extremely thin, cooled pieces of potato. They usually are also cooked in oil.

Upper-Intermediate

Test 1. A Journey Through the Channel

Recently I was offered the chance to travel by train through the channel tunnel between England and France. I went on the shuttle that carries cars. The site is not beautiful. There is a huge railway complex with tracks disappearing into a large hole, and a brand-new exhibition centre.

The location of trains is indicated by signs saying ‘France’. Cars must stop at the toll booths and French immigration points, where passports are shown. (Dealing with formalities here means you can drive straight off the train at the other end.)

The double-decker carriages are brightly lit, air-conditioned and very hi-tech. Loudspeaker announcements from the ‘Chef de Train’, an

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Englishman speaking very slow French, welcomed us aboard. A crew member with a walkie-talkie said the crossing would take about 35 minutes and passengers were expected to stay in or by their cars. He told me the shuttle employed several female drivers. ‘The most important requirement for the job is that they know about computers and learn French, especially the numbers. They practice by playing bingo.’

Then we started. We slid into the tunnel and hit our traveling speed of 80 mph. The ride was so smooth one was barely aware of any movement. It was, predictably, about as interesting as a ride round the London underground. Somewhere to sit and have a coffee would have been welcome, but a crew member said: ‘With the numbers we expect to carry, it just wouldn’t be practical.’

After half an hour we shot back into the French daylight, had lunch, then came back. The return trip, however, did not go so smoothly. Halfway across, a fire alarm went off. We were all moved to a neighbouring carriage. Moments later, a young man appeared and said calmly: ‘Just practising. You can all go back!’

Then without warning, the train stopped. We found out that a lorry had fallen over during boarding. After half an hour we were still waiting. People were becoming mildly irritated, and the only person still smiling worked for a cross-channel ferry company.

Then, all at once, we moved off. Disembarking was swift and easy and, within minutes, we were driving on the left again through a wet English night. It had been an interesting day. I had enjoyed the experience of what will undoubtedly become routine in the 21st century; but for me, the attractions of the sea and the cry of gulls will always win in the end.

Test 2. The Day that Changed my Life

When I saw Jim on the news, I didn’t recognise him to begin with. He looked really thin and his hair was falling out. When I heard the reporter say his name, though, I looked a bit more closely and then I realised it was him. I just burst out crying. I was really surprised, because we were never really friends when we were at school together. He came from quite a poor family and his dad had been in prison. Maybe it was just because he was looking for attention, but I remember that he could be a bit loud sometimes in class and we were just very different, I suppose. But to see him there, looking so lost and alone, begging on the street! Well, it was just so upsetting. It broke my heart, it really did!

The next thing I knew, I was ringing the TV station which had run the report. I don’t really know why — I just did it on impulse. Anyway, they gave me the address of a hostel for homeless people. I went down there

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the following day and it was really depressing. It was filthy and the whole place stank! Half the people there were either drunk or mad — or both! One of the workers showed me to where Jim was sleeping. What amazed me was that he recognised me at once and said, ‘Oh, Andrea. It’s you.’ His voice sounded so sad, but, at the same time — and I can’t explain this very well — it was like I could feel something pulling us together. I felt like it was destiny.

I’d like to say that things have been easy for us since then and that love has run its true course, but life doesn’t work like that, does it? What happened to Jim when he became homeless was incredibly painful and he’s had to fight to overcome his addictions. To begin with, my parents were very unhappy about our relationship. My father is a very successful businessman and I know he wanted me to marry someone with money. Still, they are slowly starting to accept my decision and now that they’ve met Jim a few times they can see that he is a good man.

We’vehadalotofsupportfrompeoplewho’veseenourstoryinthepapers, but we’ve also had a lot of negative comments too and we’ve both lost some friends. The media have also put a lot of pressure on us. I know Jim doesn’t see it this way, but even now it still makes me angry the way the papers and the TV producers treat people. I just think back to that first story. Here was this completely broken man, living on the streets. They came along and did their story on him, and do you know what they gave him? Ten pounds and a cup of tea! That’s it! And then they got back into their big cars and drove off, leaving him to go back to that awful hostel. They do these stories, but none of them really care about people. I can’t forgive them for that.

Anyway, despite all that, we’ve managed to survive together. He’s a wonderful person, and I love him with all my heart.

Test 3. A Self-Made Man

Damo Setiadi is one of the top thousand richest men in Indonesia — not bad for someone who was born into a huge family in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere. Mr. Setiadi runs his own business, importing machinery from Europe and selling it all over the country. He employs over three hundred people and lives in a mansion in a nice suburb of Jakarta, the capital city. However, as he will tell you, he had to travel down a long, hard road to get to where he is today. Building up a business takes a lot of hard work and effort, especially in a developing country.

‘I’m a self-made man and I built this business up from nothing through my own hard work and brains,’ said Damo. ‘I come from a very poor family in a rural part of Indonesia and I’ve got thirteen brothers and sisters. My dad died when I was only fourteen and I had to go out to work to try to support the rest of my family. To begin with, I sold ice creams in the street; then I got a job