For the writer, the problem for British people who want to bring home unique souvenirs from abroad is that

a) quality items are no longer available;   

b) souvenirs in places around the world have become westernized;

c) the same items could probably be bought at home;

d) such souvenirs are unlikely to be genuine.

 

According to the writer, tourist souvenirs in Britain

a) are sold mainly by American retail chains;

b) are often imported from non-English-speaking countries;

c) disappoint tourists with their lack of Britishness;

d) have little to do with what tourists see in Britain.

2. Read the text and choose the correct answer А, В, С or D.

Claudio Bonifacio is a treasure hunter who finds most of his bullion (gold and silver) in libraries full of ancient documents. He has spent the past 14 years searching the Spanish naval records in Seville, from which he has located the positions of more than 2, 500 sunken galleons – Spanish sailing ships of the 15th-18th centuries. For large sums of money, he gives this information to companies with the resources to raise the bullion from the wrecks. Such is his fame as a marine archaeologist that he can demand very large fees for his research work.

Bonifacio, a 48-year old from Italy who now lives in Seville, has worked for sev­eral Latin American governments, including Cuba. The Cuban government asked him to discover the location of galleons which sank somewhere off the Cuban coast. He has also carried out survey work for the Spanish government and the Italian national research council.

However, Bonifacio is unwilling to reveal the names of his private clients, or say how much money they have made from the wrecks. They want to remain anony­mous due to the uncertainty about exactly who owns the ocean floor. Countries such as Honduras, where Bonifacio has discovered many wrecks, insist on claim­ing all the treasures found in their territorial waters. One of the richest wrecks Bonifacio has located is the “San Roque”, near an island in Honduran waters, which contains an estimated 180 chests of gold and silver. Honduras itself now plans to recover the treasure from more than 20 Spanish galleons in its territorial waters, including the “San Roque”, in order to pay back some of its huge nation­al debt. This means that the company who hired Bonifacio to locate the “San Roque” will not have a share of the profits.

Bonifacio himself is unsure of exactly how much bullion has been found by others as a result of his research, but he is sure it must be many millions of dollars worth: “I hear reports, but in this type of work there is a great amount of secrecy, not only because of the problems of governmen­ts demanding the entire treasure, but also for tax reasons.”

Bonifacio’s research is not only directed at locating wrecks. His passion for old documents has led to the discovery of old Spanish and Portuguese gold mines in South America, Mexico and the Caribbean. “In the 1560s and 1570s, most of the gold and silver transported to Europe was stolen from the Incas and Aztecs; but later, mining was the main source of bullion. Mining technology was obviously very basic, and the mines were not worked efficiently. Now, with modern tech­niques, the world's mining companies are only too happy to pay me to find them. ”

Where does Bonifacio look for clues to hidden treasure?

A) in public offices                             В) in archaeological manuals

С) around the Spanish coast               D) in old records

How does Bonifacio make money?

A) selling his research results

В) raising Spanish wrecks

С) selling bullion to South American governments        

D) giving advice on mining techniques

What is the main problem facing Bonifacio's private clients?

A) secrecy                                         

В) uncertainty about the exact location of wrecks

С) unclear laws on ownership of the wrecks      

D) the large sums of money involved

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