Variant X

I Read the text and do two tasks below it

Computer games

In the early 1960s, the computer company DEC made a computer called a PDP-1. This type of computers was very large and expensive (120,000 dollars), so only companies and universities bought them. Steve Russell, a student at one of these universities wrote a piece of software for the PDP-1. It was a game for two players, and he called it Spacewar. The two players controlled spaceships which fought against each other. Users of the PDP-1 liked the game, and the other programmers made the software better.

In the late 1960s, a programmer Donald Woods invented a game called Adventure. This was a different kind of game from Spacewar because it did not have any pictures and it was for one player only. The computer told a story; the player took part in the story, and gave the computer instructions, like ‘Go south’, or ‘Get the box’.

Together, Spacewar and Adventure started the two most important kinds of computer games: games with speed and action, and games with stories and imagination.

In 1971, a student Nolan Bushnell tried to make money from the game Spacewar. People did not have PCs then, so he built a machine for bars, shopping centers, and other places where people meet. To play the game, people had to put money in the machine. A company bought Nolan Bushnell’s idea for 500 dollars and made 1,500 machines. But nobody wanted to play the game.

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

a The computer company PDP is known for production of a computer DEC-1.

b Nolan Bushnell installed personal computers at the bars and shops.

c Two students contributed a lot to the development of the computer games software.

d Adventure and Spacestar were the two most popular computer games.

e Adventure could be played by two players.

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

1 Nolan Bushnell a made the software for Spacewar.

2 Steve Russell wanted b to make money from the game Spacewar.

3 People in business and higher education c were fighting against each other.

4 Speed and action are typical d for one kind of computer games.

5 People playing Spacewar e could buy the first computers.

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

In November 1999, a collection of 50,000 environmentalists, students, anarchists, and ordinary members of the public gathered in Seattle, USA, to protest against a meeting there of the World Trade Organization. The demonstration began peacefully, but by the end of the day, protestors had smashed shop windows and destroyed property. The police had fired plastic bullets and gas into the crowd, and a state of civil emergency had been declared. The ‘Battle of Seattle’ is now seen as the start of a world-wide anti-globalization movement.

Similar demonstrations have now become common in cities that host global monetary meeting. In London’s financial district, anti-globalization demonstrations take place annually every 1^st of May. The largest protests so far took place in Genoa, Italy, in 2001, where 300,000 demonstrators clashed with police in a violent conflict: one person died and hundreds were injured.

Anti-globalization protestors are protesting about the dominance in the world economy of large (usually American) multi-national companies. They consider that these companies spread their western culture at the expense of other countries, and that they exploit developing countries and the environment in general. Targets for violence and vandalism are often American companies such as McDonald’s, GAP and Starbucks.

1 In 1999, 50,000 protesters gathered in Seattle

a) to declare a state of emergency b) to destroy shop windows and property

c) to demonstrate their disagreement with the WTO policy

2 The anti-globalization started its global level with

a) the ‘Fighting of Seattle’ b) the ‘Battle of Seattle’ c) the ‘Clash of Seattle’

3 Hundreds of demonstrators suffered in a conflict which took place

a) in London b) in Seattle c) in Genoa

4 In most cases anti-globalization demonstrators direct their protest against such producers as

a) Gap b) Levi Strauss c) Kelvin Klein

5 People gather for anti-globalization protests because they

a) want more people to join them

b) don’t like the quality of goods produced by multi-national companies

c) are against the domination of the western culture and way of life