Тест 11-Б

Read the text and choose the best answer (a, b, c or d) to the questions 1-7.

A busy saturday

Traffic wasn’t allowed in the town centre any more, apart from buses and taxis and even they couldn’t use the high street. Barry wondered whether this was a good thing or not. Custom at his shoe repair business hadn’t been affected one way or the other, but he was trying to remember how it had been before.

He was sure that somehow the town centre had seemed more alive than now. OK, he thought, now there were flowerbeds and little gazebos where shoppers could rest their feet or examine their purchases. But he missed the hustle and bustle, especially around five o’clock when everyone was rushing home from work. It was strangely quiet now without vehicles hooting their horns and his regular customers didn’t stop to chat while they were looking out for their bus any more. They simply picked up their shoes and dashed off to the bus station.

In the summer, Barry would sometimes stand in the shop doorway enjoying the sunshine as he watched the world go by. A young man came in on Saturdays to give him a hand, but for the rest of the week he was on his own. He liked it that way. If he wanted to pop into the café for a bite to eat, he would just leave a note on the door, “Back in five minutes.” Everyone knew that really meant half an hour.

One day, returning from the café after a particularly tasty lunch, Barry found a woman waiting for him. “Where have you been?” she asked crossly. “Five minutes! More like fifty!” Barry was lost for words. As he fumbled with the lock, she explained why she was there. It was about her son, Phillip, who helped out on Saturdays. She had come to tell Barry that he was away on a school trip, so she would be taking his place at the shop that Saturday.

“No, honestly, there’s no need,” Barry protested. The last thing he wanted was his Saturday ruined by this bossy woman. “No, I insist and that’s the end of it.” Barry knew when he was beaten. After she had left, Barry thought of plenty of things that he could have said, but it was too late. He began to dread Saturday. Perhaps he could take the day off, pretend he was ill or something.

But Saturday was Barry’s busiest day and he couldn’t afford to lose a day’s takings. Sure enough, as the town hall clock struck nine, the woman burst through the door of Barry’s shop. She immediately started on the jumble of shoes and boots awaiting collection, sorting them into piles according to the date they had been left for repair. Even some of the customers stared open-mouthed. Then, just before lunchtime, she decided to start on the pile of paperwork in Barry’s office at the back of the shop.

By now, Barry was totally exhausted just from watching her. “Please slow down for a minute,” he pleaded. “Can’t we pop next door for a quick cup of tea?” “Only for five minutes, I promise.” The woman laughed and closed the filing cabinet she had just started looking through. “Okay, but only five minutes and then I’ve got some great ideas for improving your business.”

1. The word ‘it’ (line 4, paragraph one) refers to

2. In paragraph two, the phrase ‘hustle and bustle’ means

3. Barry preferred working alone because he

4. The woman had come to see Barry in order to

5. Barry didn’t argue with the woman because

6. The woman spent Saturday morning

7. In the final paragraph, the writer suggests that the woman

What would you do if you _________a million dollars? 

When it __________again, I won't forget to bring my umbrella.

Where ________________,if you move out of your flat?

If you ___________choose any company, which company would you like to work for?

Tomorrow we ______ taking the day off.

If I get there early enough, I ___ you a seat.

You _____ English for five years by this time next spring.

He promised me that he _____ my room the following day.

We _____ the accident happen while we _____ the street

They __________ a new Porshe to New York.

I didn't know the word so I __________ it up.

She is the __________ girl in the group.

David's just broken __________ with his girlfriend and he's feeling a bit low.

Are zoos a good thing?

Zoos are hugely popular attractions for adults and children alike. But are they actually a good thing?

Critics of zoos would argue that animals often suffer physically and mentally by being enclosed. Even the best artificial environments can't come close to matching the space, diversity, and freedom that animals have in their natural habitats. This deprivation causes many zoo animals to become stressed or mentally ill. Capturing animals in the wild also causes much suffering by splitting up families. Some zoos make animals behave unnaturally: for example, marine parks often force dolphins and whales to perform tricks. These mammals may die decades earlier than their wild relatives, and some even try to commit suicide.

On the other hand, by bringing people and animals together, zoos have the potential to educate the public about conservation issues and inspire people to protect animals and their habitats. Some zoos provide a safe environment for animals which have been mistreated in circuses, or pets which have been abandoned. Zoos also carry out important research into subjects like animal behaviour and how to treat illnesses.

One of the most important modern functions of zoos is supporting international breeding programmes, particularly for endangered species. In the wild, some of the rarest species have difficulty in finding mates and breeding, and they might also be threatened by poachers, loss of their habitat and predators. A good zoo will enable these species to live and breed in a secure environment. In addition, as numbers of some wild species drop, there is an increased danger of populations becoming too genetically similar. Breeding programmes provide a safeguard: zoo-bred animals can be released into the wild to increase genetic diversity.

However, opponents of zoos say that the vast majority of captive breeding programmes do not release animals back into the wild. Surplus animals are sold not only to other zoos but also to circuses or hunting ranches in the US or South Africa, where some people are willing to pay a lot of money for the chance to kill an animal in a fenced enclosure. Often, these animals are familiar with humans and have very little chance of escaping.

So, are zoos good for animals or not? Perhaps it all depends on how well individual zoos are managed, and the benefits of zoos can surely outweigh their harmful effects. However, it is understandable that many people believe imprisoning animals for any reason is simply wrong.

Modern zoos can offer animals a living environment that is as good as their natural habitats.

One of the reasons zoo animals become distressed is because they are separated from their families.

If zoos have more animals than they can look after, they always give them to another zoo or release them back into the wild.

The author thinks that, on balance, zoos are generally a good thing.