Olvasott szöveg értése

Task 1

Read the following article about the Magic Cube. Some parts of the text are missing.
Choose the most suitable part from the list (A-I) for each gap (1-8) in the text. There is
ONE extra part which you do NOT need to use. Write your answers in the boxes after the
text. There is an example (0) at the beginning.

Professor Erno Rubik, Inventor

In the mid-1970s, I was teaching design at the Academy of Applied Arts in Budapest. I was
searching for 0) _________3D movement to my students and one day found myself staring into
the River Danube, looking at how the water moved around the pebbles. This became the
inspiration for 1)__________ . The fact that it can do this without falling apart is part of its
magic.

I experimented in my mother's flat, using wood, 2)____________ to make a prototype. I needed

some sort of coding to bring sense to the rotations of the cube, so I used the simplest and
strongest solution: primary colours. Putting the stickers on 3)______________ felt very
emotional. I knew it was revolutionary. The moment I started twisting the sides, I could see it
was a proper puzzle - but what I didn't know was whether it could be solved. It
4)_______________ : there are 43 quintillion permutations!

Once I'd cracked it, I knew it could sell. But it took me three years 5)________________ . First,
a firm called Politechnika manufactured it as Buvos Kocka, or Magic Cube. Then a salesman
called Tibor Laczi told me he could get it distributed on 6)___________ . He has since described
me as being "terribly dressed, looking like a beggar, with a cheap Hungarian cigarette hanging
out of my mouth".

He told me we 7)________________ and took it to the 1979 Nuremberg toy fair where it was
seen by Tom Kremer, who was the key to getting global distribution. I've always kept my
distance from the business side, though. I feel more like 8) ________________: my cube
inspired thousands of "twisty puzzles" and I'm amazed how it continues to excite new
generations. People have taken cubes underwater and to outer space. On the 40th anniversary,
I was in New York to see the Empire State Building light up in its colours.

A) a way to demonstrate
B) rubber bands and paper clips
C) could sell millions
D) people in charge
E) the cube's twisting mechanism
F) a father to a child
G) to get it to market
H) took me weeks
I) the finished cube
J) the other side of the iron curtain

0) 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8)
A

Task 2
You are going to read an article. Some words are missing from it. Write the missing words
on the dotted lines after the text. Use only one word in each gap. There is an example (0)
at the beginning.

THE GREAT WAL-MART OF CHINA

For Wal-Mart China is the biggest challenge (0) _____________it conquered America. In the
USA, virtually every American (9) ______________within 25 miles of a Wal-Mart and the
company will build 370 new stores this year. In the Chinese (10) ____________ , however,
they had to learn business again.
At the beginning Wal-Mart tried to sell dead fish and packed meat to Chinese customers which
offended and put off the customers. So Wal-Mart began to keep meat uncovered, put up fish
tanks and began (11)__________live tortoises for turtle soup. Sales rose. "Between the fish and
the turtles," (12)_____________analyst Bill Dreher, "it feels like you have walked into the pet
department."

After a decade of adopting Chinese customs and culture, Wal-Mart is changing from a small
chain with just 3.1 percent of the market (16)_____________ a dominant one. Over the
(14) _____________three years, Wal-Mart will have 200 (15) _________________ in China,
making about $2.6 billions in annual sales.
As it did at home, Wal-Mart is growing up with China's middle class, which is expected to be
200 million by 2015. "China will be as big and as successful a market for Wal-Mart

(16)__________ the United States," says Dreher.

 0) since
9)
10)
11)
12)
13)
14)
15)
16)

Task 3
You are going to read a text about higher education. Your task will be to decie if the
statements (17-24) are TRUE, FALSE or NOT STATED according to what the text says.
Mark a sentence A if it is true according to the article.Mark it B if it is false according to
the article.Mark it C if there is not enough information in the text to decide if the sentence
is true or not. Write your answers in the white boxes as in the example (0).

WHY SHOULD SOME GET AN EASIER RIDE THAN OTHERS?

It is socially and politically unacceptable that participation in higher education is still too
determined by class, family income and race. Having attended my local comprehensive school
and having been the first person in my family to go to university, I feel very strongly about this.
Fifty years ago, higher education was reserved largely for the elite. In the 1990s, children whose
parents had the highest incomes were about five times more likely to go to university than those
whose parents were in the bottom 20 percent.This clearly does not reflect ability. There is a
social gap in attainment that grows at each stage of the education system. This is just not fair.If
we want to remain globally competitive, we must raise the skills of our workforce. Twelve
million job vacancies are expected to open up between 2004 and 2014, 5 million of them for
graduates.
Thankfully, things have developed. Since 1997, funding for higher education has risen by 2
billion. Since the late 1990s, there have been some improvements in the social mix of
undergraduates. Our programmes to widen participation are beginning to have a positive effect,
but we must move faster.As a result of our Aimhigher programme, more young people say they
intend to participate in higher education. However, my department recognised the need to focus
Aimhigher more tightly to promote social justice.Our new booklet, which was also published
yesterday, includes our plans for the development of ten new partnerships between universities,
colleges and schools, to work with talented young people from the poorest backgrounds.
It is very clear to me that although we are making progress there is much more to do.The
government is committed to increasing and widening participation in higher education. A
degree is still the best route to a comfortable life. I want that for many more people.

0) Participation in higher education mainly depends on class, family income and race.

17) Children of rich parents have less chance to go to university than children of poor
parents.

18) Participation in higher education often doesn 't depend on the student's ability.

19) The writer thinks that the education system is unfair.

20) Between 2004 and 2014 most of the job vacancies will be for graduates.

21) Since the late 1990s, more and more females have been graduating.

22) More young people want to participate in higher education as a result of the
Aimhigher programme.

23) There are already some partnerships between universities and schools for poor but
talented young people.
24) The writer of the article wants many more people to participate in higher
education.

0) 17) 18) 19) 20) 21) 22) 23) 24)

A
Task 4

Read the following story about a clever invention and then read the half sentences that
follow the text. Your task is to match the half sentences based on the information in the
text. Write the letters (A-K) in the white boxes next to the numbers (25-30) as in the
example (0). Remember that there are three extra letters that you will not need.

BIKE LOCK DEVELOPED THAT MAKES THIEVES IMMEDIATELY VOMIT

A thief approaches a bicycle, with an electric saw in his hand. He starts to drill, and is shot in
the face with a foul spray that makes him vomit uncontrollably. This is the dream of the inventor
of SkunkLock.
“Basically I was fed up with thefts,” says inventor Daniel Idzkowski. “The real last
straw was when a friend parked his very expensive electric bike outside a café, and then went
to have lunch and chat. When he left, his bike was gone.” He was outraged.
“I realized that the biggest problem is that most people don’t know that the lock that they
bought for $20 is absolutely worthless. It costs at least $100 to get at least somewhere close to
where you can at least limit the chances of a thief wanting to steal your bike. With the right
tools a thief could cut through most locks in less than a minute. Thieves talk in seconds: a 15-
second bike, a 20-second bike, and it goes up to 60-second bikes.”
Idzkowski created a U-shaped lock of carbon and steel with a hollow chamber to hold a
pressurized gas. When someone cuts about 30% of the way into the lock the gas erupts in the
direction of the cut. “It’s pretty much immediately vomit inducing,” Idzkowski said.
The inventors have tested it on themselves and volunteers at distances of 50cm and 2
metres. “At 50cm it was pretty bad. It was absolutely vomit inducing in 99% of people. At
2 metres it’s still definitely detectable and very unpleasant.”

0) The thief with an electric saw A) their lock cannot protect their bike.

25) It will make the thief vomit if … B) they will almost certainly start
vomiting.
26) The inventor finally decided C) will get a very smelly surprise.
to create SkunkLock when…

27) Most people have no idea that…
28) There is no bike lock that…
29) If you can cut less than half
way through SkunkLock,…
D) can resist a thief for more than a
minute.
E) they cannot touch the bike.
F) a friend’s electric bike was stolen.
30) When the gas hits someone from G) it will release its smelly gas.
half a metre away,…
H) his friends ask him for help.
I) they try to cut off SkunkLock.
K) you can steal the bike.

0) 25) 26) 27) 28) 29) 30)

C