Variant IX

I Read the text and do two tasks below it

Getting the message

Although the first email message was sent in 1971, electronic messages began nearly two hundred years earlier. Telegraph machines used electricity to send messages along wires from one place to another. The first telegraph machine was built in 1774. But for the next sixty years, the machines were very large and difficult to use, and each one needed twenty-six wires –one for each letter of the alphabet. In the 1840s, an American inventor Samuel Morse built a better kind of telegraph which only needed one wire. He also invented a special code for messages – Morse Code.

Immediately, telegraphs became an important way for people to communicate. During the next twelve years, American telegraph companies put up 36,000 miles of telegraph wires to send messages all over the USA.

In the 1920, a new kind of electronic message was invented – the telex. A telex machine could send a message to any other telex machine in the world. They did not use the telephone or telegraph wires – they used telex lines. These lines were quite expensive, and the machine were not easy to use. It was not a perfect system - but it worked. Companies continued to use telex until the 1980s and many companies still have telex machines today.

1 Are the statements below true (t) or false (f)?

a S.Morse made the telegraph simpler.

b Americans were the first to enjoy the advantages of the telegraph.

c The Morse code and the telex are examples of electronic messages.

d Both the wires and telex lines can be used to send messages.

e Today telex is considered as an old-fashioned device which came out of use.

2 Complete the sentences 1-5 with the correct endings a-e.

1 One should use electricity a in the English alphabet.

2 American telegraph business b belong to the means of communication.

3 High price and complexity c grew up within twelve years.

4 There are twenty six letters d to send message along wires.

5 Both the telegraph and the telex e are main disadvantages of the telex.

II Read the text and choose the phrase (a, b or c) that best completes the sentences 1-5.

Muhammad Ali’s life story

Muhammad Ali was probably the most famous athlete and one of the best-known people in the world. What is actually known about his life?

He was the first three-time heavyweight boxing champion of the world. He was known for his powerful fists as well as for his poetry. His ability to compose rhymes on the run could qualify him as the first rapper. He won an Olympic gold medal and later threw it into the river in protest against racism in America.

Ali’s interest in boxing began when he was 12. He lived in a poor black neighbourhood in Louisville, together with his parents and brother Rudy. Ali passionately devoted himself to amateur boxing. He trained hard and soon became a celebrity in his hometown. Within the next few years, he won 100 of his 108 matches. At 18, he became Olympic gold medallist and signed a professional contract.

In the 1960, Ali became one of the most controversial figures in the country. He refused to serve in the American army in Vietnam for religious reasons and, as a result, he lost his championship belt. He was also sentenced to five years in prison, but later the sentence was cancelled by the Supreme Court.

Muhammad Ali retired from boxing in 1981. In 1999, he was named Sportsman of the century by one of the biggest sports magazine.

1 Muhammad Ali started his boxing career as

a) a celebrity b) an amateur c) as a rapper

2 The reasons that made Ali not to go to the army were

a) controversial b) professional c) religious

3 Muhammad Ali won

a) most of his matches b) more than the half of his matches

c) more than 100 matches

4 After Ali won an Olympic medal he

a) gave it to his brother Rudy b) showed it to his neighbours

c) threw it into the water

5 In the late 1990s Muhammad Ali became the Sportsman

a) of the 20^th century b) of the USA c) of the sports magazine