- КРО / КРО рп

every second, and then, like a chess computer, plotted hundreds of simple situations, in this way, the Newton robots were ''coached'' more effectively and (12) … to be tough opposition from the outset. In the smaller ''Under 15cm class'', the French were the only team to score a goal against them. Indeed, the French might have done better still, if they hadn't (13) … played the Spanish: it turned out that both sides were using the same radio frequency to (14) … their robots. This inevitably resulted in total confusion, with the match being abandoned as a no-score draw. Just (15) … what would happen if Atletico Madrid and Aston Villa were to go out wearing the same strip!

Task 2. For questions 1-10, read the text below. Use the word given in capitals at the end of some of the lines to form a word that fits in the space in the same line. There is an example at the beginning (0).

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Task 4. For questions 1–6 below, read the following text and then choose from the list A-J the best phrase to fill each of the spaces. Each correct phrase may only be used once. Some of the suggested answers do not fit at all. The exercise begins with an example (0).

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ROBOTS - DREAM OR NIGHTMARE?

Members of the staff of the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, USA were puzzled. The museum had acquired (0) J but no one knew how old it was, who had made it, or exactly what it was meant to do. Once its mechanism was restored, however, the figure wrote out a short poem in French - and eerily signed it with the words, ''Written by Maillardet's automaton''.

This robot, and others made by Henri Maillardet in the early 19th century, (1) ... designed to mimic the actions of living creatures. As long ago as the second century EC, Hero of Alexandria wrote of a theatre manned by mechanical performers, and Leonardo da Vinci is said to have built a mechanical lion to greet the King of France on his visit to Milan in 1507.

Not until the 20th century did such inventions (2) ... The word first appeared in 1921, in a Czech play about rebellious humanoid machines, and is derived from the Czech word for ''forced labour''. It is mainly as helpmates, though, (3) ... from fiction into the real world. In particular, they are used to perform many tasks too dangerous, difficult or boring for humans.

For example, robots have explored the wreck of the Titanic, and a robot even (4) ... But the main use of robots has been in industry. In Japan, which employs twice as many robots as the rest of the world put together, one company has built a factory in which robots (5) ...

But the dream (or nightmare?) of the future is of robots which can build other robots – a prospect that would open up such exciting possibilities as the exploration of deep space by machines (6) ...

Awork nightshifts all on their own

Bwhich could renew themselves unendingly

Chas been known to make the occasional mistake

Dthat robots have found their way

Ewere by no means the first mechanical devices

Fhelps doctors to perform brain surgery

Gmay never learn to show human emotions

Hcome to be known as ''robots''

Ihas to perform a million calculations a second

Jwhat seemed to be a mechanical doll

Task 5. Prepare a report on the positive and negative effects of GM food.

Task 6. Write a balanced discussion on the following topic: ''Computers breed laziness and discontent'' (Bel Mooney). How true is this of modern technological innovations in general? Write in about 300 words.

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Вариант 4

Task 1. Choose the most suitable word for each space. The exercise begins with an example (0).

FOOD FOR ASTRONAUTS

It used to be thought that people could not (0) A well in space, so the

food (1) … for astronauts consisted of bite-sized pieces of food pushed out of tubes. But now it is (2) … that you can eat in space in the same way as on Earth. The physical constraints lie in the body of the spaceship rather than the body of the astronaut. Limited storage and cooking facilities, with no space or power to (3) … for complex food preparation, mean that the (4) … for space nutritionists has gone beyond providing astronauts with food that is palatable and good for them. The solution has emerged in the (5) … of dehydrated foods. Simply add water to the freezedried granules and ... bon appetitit! With space flights often (6) … more than a week, astronauts cannot live on granules alone. They also take pre-cooked meals (7) … in bags, which they (8) … up in a small oven. These are tastier than granules but, according to Dr Helen Lane, a research nutritionist, it is difficult to get astronauts to eat as much as they need. It's partly that they are so busy but also because there is no (9) … to eat. So tickling their taste buds is an (10) … struggle, especially since one of the effects of zero gravity is to (11) … the sense of smell. Weightlessness is an important (12) … in space food because of the danger that the food might (13) … and float off in different (14) … ''We need foods that coalesce,'' says Dr Lane. "Yoghurts, puddings, sauces all (15) … together in large droplets. Your spoon may float away, but the food will

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Task 2. For questions 1-10, read the text below. Use the word given in capitals at the end of some of the lines to form a word that fits in the space in the same line. There is an example at the beginning (0).

Task 3. Match the following words to their definitions.

10. ethics

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g.a person who illegally gains access to and sometimes tampers with a computer system

h.a device usually consisting of a keyboard and a screen by which you can give instructions to a computer and get instructions from it

i.the set of keys on a machine such as a computer

j.moral rules or principles of behaviour for deciding what is right and wrong

Task 4. For questions 1-6 read through the following text and then choose from the list A-I below the best phrase to fill each of the spaces. Write one letter (A-I) in the correct box on your answer sheet. Some of the suggested answers do not fit at all.

THE HISTORY OF @

The universal symbol of Internet era communications, the @ sign used in e-mail addresses to signify the word ''at'', is actually a 500-year-old invention of Italian merchants, a Rome academic has revealed. Giorgio Stabile, a science professor at La Sapienza University, claims (1) ... of the symbol's use, as an indication of a measure of weight or volume. He says the sign represents an amphora, a measure of capacity based on the terracotta jars used

(2)... in the ancient Mediterranean world. The professor unearthed the ancient symbol in the course of research for a visual history of the 20th century,

(3)... The first known instance of its use, he says, occurred in a letter written by a Florentine merchant on May 4, 1536. He says the sign made its way along trade routes to northern Europe, where it came (4) ... , its contemporary accountancy meaning.

Professor Stabile believes that Italian banks may possess even earlier documents bearing the symbol lying forgotten in their archives. ''The oldest example could be of great value. It could be used for publicity purposes and

(5)... ,'' he says. The race is on between the mercantile world and the banking world (6) ...

Ato describe the now omnipresent squiggle

Bto represent ''at the price of''

Cto see who has the oldest documentation of @

Dto transport grain and liquid

Eto save space and work

Fto be published by the Treccani Encyclopedia

Gto learn how popular it has become

Hto have stumbled on the earliest known example

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I to enhance the prestige of the institution that owned it

Task 5. Prepare a report on the positive and negative effects of robots.

Task 6. Write a discursive essay: GM foods will not combat world poverty (250–300 words).

Вариант 5

Task 1. Choose the most suitable word for each space The exercise begins with an example (0).

Whenever we read about the natural world nowadays, it is generally to be (1) … dire predictions about its imminent destruction. Some scientists go so (2) … as to assert that from now on, the world can no longer be called ''natural'', insofar as future processes of weather, (3) …, and all the interactions of plant and animal life will no longer carry on in their time-honoured way, unaffected by (4) …There will never be such a thing as ''natural weather'' again, say such writers, only weather (5) … by global warming. It is hard to know whether to believe such (6) …of doom, possibly because what they are saying seems too terrible to be (7) …

There are other equally influential scientists who argue that climate, for example, has changed many times over the (8) … , and that what we are experiencing now may simply be part of an endless cycle of change, rather than a disaster on a global (9) … One cannot help wondering whether these attempts to wish the problem away (10) … underline the extent to which western industrialised countries are to blame for upsetting the world's (11) … It is not our fault, they seem to be saying, because everything is all right, really!

One certain (12) … which is chilling in its implications, is that there is no longer anywhere on the earth's (13) …, whether in the depths of the oceans or in the polar wastes, which is not (14) … by polluted air or (15) … with empty cans and bottles. Now we are having to come to terms with understanding just what that means, and it is far from easy

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Task 2. For questions 1–10, read the text below. Use the words to form one word that fits in the same numbered space in the text.

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Task 3. Match the words and phrases with the definitions.

Task 4. For questions 1–6 below, read the following text and then choose from the list A–J given below it the best phrase to fill each of the spaces. Each correct phrase may be used once. Some of the suggested answers do not fit at all. The exercise begins with an example (0).

THE INTERNET'S IMPACT

For some, the advent of television marked the beginning of the end of civilised society. More and more, people have watched TV at the cost of playing cards or board games, or other communal pastimes. Many fear that

(0) J .

That may be true but, as researchers at Stanford University in the USA are the first to say, further study is needed. In a recent survey they found that

(1) … What's more, people who go online are likely to watch less television than others.

The study makes two things clear. Contrary to all the fuss in the media, the Internet's popularity is still in its infancy. More than half of US households are not connected yet, but (2) …

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Workers may be using the Web on the job for such personal ends as checking sports scores but, according to the study, (3) … Just 4 per cent of the surveyed Internet users said they had cut back on their working hours since getting connected to the Internet.

But will the Internet make us more isolated socially? While a fourth of the Internet users say they spend less time talking on the telephone with friends and relatives, (4) … Since e-mail is free and can be sent and received at any hour of the day, it has many built-in advantages. For some, it has actually revived the highly social art of letter writing. As for spending less time on the telephone, (5) …

Few would argue that the Internet has had a profound effect on the lives of many in its first decade of common use. But assessing its long-term impact is difficult. That's why for all the questions they raise, (6) … If we don't pay close attention to how we use the Internet, it will change our lives not just for better, but for worse.

Athey also use the Internet to work from home

Bthe continuing boom in mobile phone use makes an overall decrease less and less likely

Cthey also use it to buy and sell shares on the stock market

Dtheir phone bills are much lower

Estudies such as Stanford's are so useful

Fthe Internet's potential impact on how we live and interact is enormous

Ge-mail allows them to stay in touch, regardless of distance

Hpeople will always find the Internet attractive

Ithe Internet and the use of e mail have actually increased some forms of human interaction

Jthe Internet too will further limit social interaction

Task 5. Prepare a report on the positive and negative effects of cars.

Task 6. Write a discursive essay on the benefits and drawbacks of using robots instead of people (250–300 words).

Вариант 6

Task 1. Choose the most suitable word for each space.

In most capital cities, which were built (1) ... before the heyday of the private car, there is rarely enough (2) ... for moving traffic, and certainly not enough for parked (3) … Buses move slowly because of the volume of (4) ...

thus encouraging more commuters to abandon public (5) … Banning traffic from some areas may help, but such a (6) … may not actually diminish the

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