Просмотровое чтение (Skimming): быстрое определение темы и структуры текста

Прочитайте текст и выполните задание. By the time Nina reached the harbour, the last ferry to the island was already a white spot on the grey sea. She stood on the empty pier with her heavy rucksack and felt like crying. For months she had planned this trip, her first without her parents, and now, on the very first evening, everything had gone wrong. 'Missed it, did you?' An old man was mending a fishing net near the café. 'The next boat's at seven tomorrow morning.' He looked at her face and added, 'My sister has a spare room. Nothing special, but the sheets are clean.' Nina hesitated. Her mother had told her a hundred times not to trust strangers. But the café owner, who had heard everything, nodded: 'Mrs Hale's place. Best breakfast in the village.' Hearing this from someone else, Nina said yes. That evening she ate fish soup in Mrs Hale's tiny kitchen and listened to stories about storms, shipwrecks and a dolphin that had once followed the ferry all the way to the island. She went to bed later than she had in weeks. The next morning, standing on the deck of the seven o'clock boat, she realised something strange. Of all the days she had planned so carefully, the one she had not planned at all was the one she would remember. How did Nina's feelings change in the course of the story?

1. АShe stayed calm from beginning to end.
2. БShe was excited at first but disappointed in the end.
3. ВShe was angry with the old man all evening.
4. ГShe was upset at first but glad about what happened in the end.

Прочитайте текст и выполните задание. Every Saturday at nine o'clock, about three hundred people gather by the lake in Westfield Park. Some wear expensive running shoes and check their watches; others arrive in old T-shirts, pushing a baby in a buggy or walking a dog. At exactly nine a volunteer shouts 'Go!', and everyone sets off on a five-kilometre course around the lake. The run is free, and nobody wins a prize. Each finisher gets a time, but most people care more about the coffee afterwards than about their result. 'When I started, I had to walk half of the way,' says Dev Patel, 58, who has now taken part more than two hundred times. 'Nobody laughed. People at the finish clapped just as loudly for me as for the fastest runners.' The event is organised entirely by volunteers, and that is part of its success. Every week around twenty people mark the course, hold the stopwatch and stand at the corners to show the way. Many of them are regular runners who miss their own run once in a while to help. Doctors in the town have even started recommending the Saturday run to patients who need more exercise but feel nervous about joining a gym. For them, a friendly crowd matters more than speed. What is the main idea of the text?

1. АThe Saturday run is a competition with valuable prizes.
2. БWestfield Park may close because it has too few volunteers.
3. ВOnly experienced runners take part in the Saturday run.
4. ГA free weekly run in the park is open to people of all abilities.

Прочитайте текст и выполните задание. Every spring the sound of lawnmowers fills the streets of our town. Neat green lawns, cut short every week, have long been a sign of a tidy, respectable home. I would like to suggest something that may shock some of my neighbours: put the mower away, at least in part of the garden. A lawn that is cut every week is almost useless for wildlife. Short grass gives insects nowhere to hide and nothing to feed on. When grass is left to grow, however, wild flowers such as clover and daisies appear on their own within weeks. They attract bees and butterflies, which in turn bring birds. Last year I stopped cutting a strip of my own garden three metres wide. By July I had counted eleven kinds of butterfly there, compared with two the summer before. I understand the worries. Long grass can look untidy, and nobody wants a garden that looks forgotten. But a wild corner does not have to be messy. A neatly cut path through the long grass shows that the wildness is planned and not the result of laziness. It also saves time and petrol. So this year, instead of fighting nature every Saturday, why not give a small part of your garden back to it? Which sentence best expresses the main idea of the text?

1. АGardens should be left without any care at all.
2. БA partly wild garden helps wildlife and does not have to look messy.
3. ВButterflies have disappeared from our towns.
4. ГShort grass is the best home for insects.

Прочитайте текст и выполните задание. Stamps, coins, football cards, old maps, even sugar packets from cafés: almost anything can be collected, and some surveys suggest that about one person in three collects something at some point in their life. But why do we do it? Psychologists who study hobbies offer several answers. For many collectors, the main pleasure is the search itself. Hunting for a rare item at a flea market or online is exciting, and finding it gives the brain a small reward, similar to the feeling of winning a game. Interestingly, many collectors say they feel slightly empty when a collection is finally complete, so they soon start a new one. Collections also connect people with the past. A box of old postcards can bring back memories of family holidays, and a set of coins from different countries can feel like a map of a person's life. For children, collecting is a way to learn how to sort, compare and organise things, skills that are useful at school. Finally, collecting is often social. Collectors meet at fairs, swap items and share knowledge in clubs and internet forums. So the next time you are tempted to laugh at a friend's shelf full of toy cars, remember that the hobby is about much more than the objects. How is the text organised?

1. АA question is asked, and then several answers are given.
2. БTwo hobbies are compared, and one is chosen as better.
3. ВEvents are described in the order in which they happened.
4. ГA problem is described, and a solution is offered.

Прочитайте текст и выполните задание. The first loaf Ollie ever baked could have been used to keep a door open. It was flat, pale and so hard that his sister knocked on it as if it were a door. Ollie threw it in the bin and decided that baking was not for him. A week later Mrs Okafor from the flat downstairs stopped him on the stairs. 'I heard about the bread,' she said, smiling. It seemed that everyone in the building had heard about the bread. 'Come round on Saturday. I'll show you.' Her kitchen was small and smelled of yeast. She did not give him a recipe. Instead, she made him push his hands into the dough again and again. 'Feel it,' she said. 'When it stops sticking to your fingers, it's ready. Books can't tell you that.' Then they waited. Ollie wanted to put the dough in the oven after twenty minutes, but Mrs Okafor shook her head. 'Bread doesn't like people who are in a hurry.' Two hours later, a golden loaf came out of the oven. It sounded hollow when Ollie tapped the bottom, which, Mrs Okafor said, meant that it was perfect. He carried half of it upstairs, still warm. This time his sister did not knock on it. She simply asked for another slice. Which title suits the story best?

1. АThe Best Bakery in Town
2. БOllie's Favourite Recipe Book
3. ВA Door That Would Not Open
4. ГBread Doesn't Like a Hurry