Готовимся к ЕГЭ
II. Тренировочные упражнения для выполнения заданий по грамматике и лексике
Прочитайте приведённые ниже тексты. Преобразуйте, если необходимо, слова, напечатанные заглавными буквами в конце строк, так чтобы они грамматически и лексически соответствовали содержанию текстов. Заполните пропуски полученными словами.
| THE AGE OF CHIVALRY Edward III and his eldest son, the Black Prince, were _______ admired in England for their ________ on the battlefield and for their courtly manners. They became symbols of the “code of chivalry”, the way in which a perfect knight should behave. Edward introduced the idea of chivalry into his court. Once, a lady at court _______ dropped her garter (подвязка) and Edward III noticed some of his courtiers laughing at her. He picked up the garter and tied it to his own leg, saying in French “Let him be ________ who sees wrong in it.” From this strange yet ______true story, the Order of the Garter was founded in 1348. Edward chose as members of the order 24 knights, the same number the __________ Arthur had chosen. They met once a year at Windsor Castle, where King Arthur’s Round Table was supposed to have been. Chivalry was a ______ way of persuading men to fight by creating the idea that war was a noble and ______ thing. | GREAT COURAGEOUS ACCIDENT SHAME PROBABLE LEGEND USE GLORY |
| THE CRISIS OF KINGSHIP During the 14th century, towards the end of the Middle Ages, there was a ___________ struggle between the king and the nobles. The first crisis came in 1327 when Edward II was ___________ murdered. Towards the end of the 14th century Richard II was the second king killed by___________ lords. He had made himself extremely _____________ by his choice of advisers. This was always a difficult matter, because the king’s advisers became ___________ and those not chosen lost influence and wealth. Some of Richard’s strongest critics had been the most _________ men in the kingdom. King Richard II was young and very ________. He ____________ his uncle, John of Gaunt, who was the ____________ noble of his time. | CONTINUE CRUEL AMBITION POPULAR POWER INFLUENCE PRIDE PRISON WEALTH |
| THE REFORMATION The Church was a huge landowner, and the monasteries were no longer important to economic and social ___________ in the way they had been two hundred years earlier. In fact they were __________ because many monks no longer led a good __________ life but lived in wealth and comfort. Henry __________ the power of the Church in England because, since it was an __________ organization, he couldn’t completely control it. Henry had another reason for standing up to the authority of the Church. Henry tried to persuade the pope to allow him to divorce Catherine of Aragon. __________, Henry needn’t have expected any __________. His chief minister, Cardinal Wolsey, had already been ________ in advising on Henry’s foreign and home policy. But the pope was controlled by the king of Spain who was Catherine’s nephew. The pope forbade Henry’s divorce. Henry was extremely angry and the first person to feel his _________ was Cardinal Wolsey. Wolsey only escaped _________ by dying of natural causes on his way to the king’s court. | GROW POPULAR RELIGION LIKE NATIONAL NORMAL DIFFICULT SKILL ANGRY EXECUTE |
| THOMAS JEFFERSON Jefferson was entrusted with the actual writing of the Declaration of Independence due to his ______ writing style, his personal character and his ______ of the political spirit of the time. It took Jefferson 2 days to complete the draft using, as he said later, neither book nor pamphlet. Adams and Franklin made minor ______ and the document was submitted to Congress. “All men are created equal”, – the document proclaimed, – “with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of ______”, adding that “the _____ derive their powers only by the consent of the governed.” On July, 2, the delegates of the Congress resumed their debate on becoming free and independent states. By the end of the day the resolution for ____ was adopted. Two days later on July, 4, 1776, after making only a few changes the ____ Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. | POWER EMBODY ALTER HAPPY GOVERN SEPARATE CONTINENT |
| ALEXANDER FLEMING Having witnessed the death of many soldiers from septicemia resulting from infected wounds, after the war Fleming _________ searched for anti-bacterial agents. Unfortunately antiseptics killed the patients’ immunological defences __________ than they killed the invading bacteria. “When I woke up just after dawn on September 28, 1928, I certainly didn’t plan to ________ all medicine by discovering the world’s first antibiotic, or bacteria ___________,” Fleming would later say, “But I guess that was exactly what I did.” By 1928, Fleming had developed a reputation as a brilliant _____________, but quite a ____________ lab technician; he often forgot cultures that he worked on, and his lab in general was usually in chaos. After returning from a long holiday, Fleming noticed that many of his culture dishes were contaminated with a fungus, and he threw the dishes in disinfectant. But subsequently, he had to show a ___________ what he had been researching, and so he retrieved some of the submerged dishes that he would have otherwise discarded. He then noticed a zone around an invading fungus where the bacteria could not seem to grow. Fleming proceeded to isolate an extract from the mouldy bread, correctly identified it as being from the Penicillium genus, and therefore named the agent penicillin. Fleming published his ________ in 1929 in the British Journal of Experimental Pathology, but little attention was paid to his article. Fleming continued his _________, but found that cultivating penicillium was quite difficult, and that after growing the mould, it was even more difficult to isolate the antibiotic agent. Fleming’s _________ was that because of the problem of producing it in quantity, and because its action appeared to be rather slow, penicillin would not be important in _______________ infection. Fleming also became convinced that penicillin would not last long enough in the human body to kill bacteria _____________. Many clinical tests were ____________, probably because it had been used as a surface antiseptic. In the 1930s, Fleming’s trials occasionally showed more promise and he continued, until 1940, to try and interest a ________ skilled enough to further refine usable penicillin. | ACTIVE EFFECTIVE REVOLUTION KILL RESEARCH CARE VISIT DISCOVER INVESTIGATE IMPRESS TREAT EFFECTIVE CONCLUDE CHEMISTRY |
| WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Shakespeare bought a house in Stratford, called New Place in 1597. While, ____________, he returned there from time to time to visit his family, he finally retired there in 1613. Close by is the house of his son-in-law Dr. Hall – a ________ and well-known physician, married to Shakespeare’s daughter Susanna. In their society, and with the respect and ___________ of all those around, his life appears to have come ________ to an end. His will, written about a month before he died, gives in his ________ one of the few scraps of his handwriting of which we can be certain. He died on his birthday April, 23, 1616 and was buried in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-on-Avon. The marvelous ____________ of his plays, the _____________ and _________ he depicted, the fun and laughter have helped millions of people of all races to make some sense of their lives. Through the extraordinary ________ of his poetry it is possible to find in the seeming chaos of our world a __________ order. | PRESUME PROSPER ADMIRE PEACE SIGN BROAD MISERABLE CRUEL BEAUTIFUL REASSURE |
| GEORGE BERNARD SHAW (1856–1950) George Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin in 1856, although he left the city forever and moved to London when he was twenty. His early education was musical rather than ____________ (his mother was a ___________) and it was as a music critic that he first became known. However, his first play “Widower’s Houses” was published in 1893 and for the next thirty years he wrote 63 plays. George Bernard Shaw was one of the ________ of the Fabian Society (a non-revolutionary socialist organization) which was dedicated to reforms in education and to the _________ of women. His plays are _________for their entertaining _______ of the social problems. His best comedies of ideas are still performed in theatres today and seem to have stood the test of time. Shaw died aged 94. He is the only person to have been awarded both the Nobel Prize in Literature (1925) and an Oscar (1938). These were awarded for his _______ to literature and for his work on the film “Pygmalion”, _______. | LITERATURE SING FOUND LIBERATE REMARK EXPOSE CONTRIBUTE RESPECTIVE |
| “PYGMALION” AND “MY FAIR LADY” The ancient Greeks tell the legend of the ________ Pygmalion, who created a statue of a woman of such great beauty that he fell in love with his own ________. Then Aphrodite, taking pity on this man whose love could not reach beyond the barrier of stone, brought the statue to life and gave her to Pygmalion as his bride. Centuries later George Bernard Shaw captured the magic of this legend in his ________ romantic play “Pygmalion”. Pygmalion became Henry Higgins, a professor of phonetics, his statue Eliza Doolittle, a common flower girl from the streets of London, and the barrier between them the ________ in their stations in life. “My Fair Lady” is a ________ based upon George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion” with lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The show’s 1956 Broadway _______ was a smash hit. An Oscar winning film version was made in 1964 starring Audrey Hepburn (Eliza Doolittle) and Rex Harrison (Professor Higgins). | SCULPTURE CREATE CELEBRATE DIFFER MUSIC PRODUCE |
| ELIZABETH I Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII’s second wife, Anne Boleyn. Anne Boleyn had been executed because she was _____ Anne Boleyn’s fall marked a major step down in the world for young Elizabeth. Her parents’ ______ was declared null and void. She was now ______ and unable to inherit the throne. Elizabeth’s sudden _______ of status threw the little court where she had been brought up into ______. Even her _______, Lady Bryan, didn’t know what to do, and wrote to the King’s minister, Thomas Cromwell, for _______. How should the little girl be treated? By the way, could she please have some more clothes? She’d outgrown _______ everything she had. But above all, where should she eat? Should she continue to eat in her chamber, where it would be easier to keep her away from the rich foods that were so bad for her teeth and ________. | FAITH MARRY LEGITIMATE LOSE CONFUSE GOVERN GUIDE ABSOLUTE DIGEST |
| BREAK WITH ROME Henry VIII governed England through his close _______, men who were completely ___________ on him for their position. But when he broke with Rome, he used Parliament to make the break legal. Through several Acts of Parliament England became _________ a Protestant country. Once England had accepted the __________ from Rome Henry took the English Reformation a step further. Wolsey’s place as the king’s chief minister was taken by one of his __________, Thomas Cromwell. Henry and Cromwell made a ___________ survey of Church property. | ADVISE DEPEND POLICY SEPARATE ASSIST CARE |
| QUEEN MARY Mary, the Catholic daughter of Catherine of Aragon, became queen in 1553. But Mary was __________ and unbending in her policy and in her __________. If Mary married an Englishman she would be under control of a man of lesser ______________. If she married a __________ it might place England under foreign control. Mary chose to marry King Philip of Spain. It was a(n)________________ choice. The ordinary people __________ the marriage. Popular feeling was so strong that a rebellion in Kent __________ reached London before ending in _________. Mary dealt cruelly with the rebel leader, Wyatt, but she took the _________ step of asking Parliament for its opinion about her marriage plan. Parliament _________ agreed to Mary’s marriage, but it only accepted Philip as king of England for Mary’s lifetime. | WISE BELIEVE IMPORTANT FOREIGN FORTUNE LIKE ACTUAL FAIL USUAL WILLING |
| THE ENGLISH REFORMATION When Elizabeth became queen in 1558, she wanted to find a ___________ answer to the problems of the English Reformation. She wanted to bring together those parts of English society which were in religious ____________. And she wanted to make England _____________. Elizabeth made sure that the Church was still under her authority, __________ politically dangerous forms of Protestantism in Europe. The struggle between Catholics and Protestants continued to __________ Elizabeth’s position for the next thirty years. By 1585 the Catholic plots and the dangers of Catholic foreign __________ had changed people’s feelings. Most English people believed that to be a Catholic was to be an enemy of England. This _________ of everything Catholic became an important political force. | PEACE AGREE PROSPER LIKE DANGER INVADE HATE |
| CLAUDE MONET During the __________ of 1870–1871 Monet fled, first to London, where he studied the art of Constable and Turner, then to Holland and Belgium, where he was interested ___________ in landscape. On his return to France Monet’s style changed ___________: he dissolved the object. He demonstrated that colour belongs not to the object but the moment of visual experience. This was hard for his _________ to accept. _________ Monet studied the effects of light and colour on the façade of Rouen Cathedral. In 1895 he exhibited 18 views of the façade and two other views of the Cathedral. Monet’s moments had, in the process of ___________, become the work of art. Dazzling as the cathedral paintings are, Monet was discouraged by the __________of registering with his hand what he saw with his eyes. | ORDER CHIEF RADICAL CONTEMPORARY SYSTEM PAINT POSSIBLE |
| POMPEII Pompeii was an ancient ___________ country town near Naples in ___________ Italy. It was destroyed, when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. Pompeii and its ____________ were suffocated beneath the falling ash, although the town was____________ preserved for centuries under _____________ layers of mud and vegetation. In 1748 ____________ began reclaiming Pompeii. The town appears to have been moderately ____________ and every house was decorated with wall paintings. Artwork found in Pompeii is known as Campanian Art, and is ___________ of all __________ Italian painting at the time. | ROME WEST INHABIT PERFECT SUCCEED ARCHEOLOGY WEALTH REPRESENT SOUTH |
| VAN GOGH Van Gogh discovered his _________ vocation in 1880. Vincent lived and painted in the Netherlands until 1885, producing dark images of peasants that emphasized their ________. In 1888 van Gogh settled in Arles in the south of France, but the years 1888-90 were ________ for him. He quarreled with Paul Gauguin, with whom he had hoped to set up an artists’ ________, and cut off his own ear. Subsequently he spent time in an asylum at St. Remy before moving to Auvers to be near his brother, who supported him ___________ all his life. Van Gogh was a __________ tortured individual and this is reflected in the _______ of his work. He became ________ with the power of colour as a symbol and evolved his own style of great swirling brushstrokes. The version of Sunflowers was painted during van Gogh’s stay in Arles before his decline into ________. The entire canvas is based on broad, _________ painted areas of yellows and browns. | ART HARD ORDER COOPERATE FINANCE PSYCHOLOGY INTENSE OBSESS SANE THICK |
KEY:
| The Age of Chivalry greatly courage accidentally ashamed probably legendary useful glorious | The Crisis of Kingship continuous cruelly ambitious powerful influential proud imprisoned wealthiest |
| The Reformation growth unpopular religious disliked international normally difficulty skilful anger execution | Thomas Jefferson powerful embodiment alterations happiness governments separation continental |
| Alexander Fleming actively more effectively revolutionize killer researcher careless visitor discovery investigation impression treating effectively inconclusive chemist | W. Shakespeare presumably prosperous admiration peacefully signature breadth misery cruelty beauty reassuring |
| G. B. Shaw literary singer founders liberation remarkable exposition contribution respectively | Pygmalion and My Fair Lady sculptor creation celebrated difference musical production |
| Elizabeth I unfaithful marriage illegitimate loss confusion governess guidance absolutely digestion | Break with Rome advisers dependent politically separation assistants careful |
| Queen Mary unwise beliefs importance foreigner unfortunate disliked actually failure unusual unwillingly | The English Reformation peaceful disagreement prosperous unlike endanger invasion hatred |
| Claude Monet disorder chiefly radically contemporaries systematically painting impossibility | Pompeii Roman western inhabitants perfectly successive archeologists wealthy representative southern |
| Van Gogh artistic hardships disorderly cooperative financially psychologically intensity obsessed insanity thickly |
Source:
1. David McDowal. An Illustrated History of Britain. Longman, 1995
2. Peter Bromhead. Life in Modern America. Longman, 1995