Now we are ready to start.

6. A caller on the line… Who are you?

Hello, I’m Virginia Small and, eh, you see I have this problem about traveling by car. I always end up feeling sick, you know. I hate going on long holidays because I know what’s going to happen in the end and it ruins everything. Now my parents have started to talk about a real family holiday in Spain, but all I can think about is the traveling…

 

7. Three boys from Southwold had a narrow escape yesterday, as they were kicking around a live handgrenade they had found on the beach. An ex-armyman passing by was just in time to stop one of the youngsters pulling out the weapon’s rusty pin.

 

8. Martin Donelly, the Formula One driver from Belfast, was taken to hospital with minor fractures suffered in a crash while practicing for today’s Spanish Grand Prix at nearby Jerez de la Frontera. He won’t be able to take part in any races the rest of the yaer, a Lotus spokesman said.

 

9. Today will be dry with sunny spells before turning more cloudy with thick mist over hills and coastal areas in the evening. The outlook for tomorrow is heavy rain. For the rest of the week it will remain unsettled with strong winds and showers.

 

10. FLUFFITS, the brilliant new designer pens. What’s so new about them? Draw your own creation on a T-shirt, bag or on your jeans. All you have to do is dry it with a hairdryer and the design will be permanent and machine-washable. Available in six colours. Ask for FLUFFITS.

You have 15 seconds to complete the task. (Pause 15 seconds.)

Now you will hear the texts again. (Repeat.)

This is the end of the task. You now have 15 seconds to check your answers. (Pause 15 seconds.)

Задания 11–15

Вы услышите рассказ о Хьюстоне. Заполните таблицу, используя информацию из прослушанного текста. Используйте не более трёх слов для каждого из заданий 11–15. Вы услышите запись дважды. У вас есть 20 секунд , чтобы ознакомиться с заданием .

Nowwearereadytostart.

On the Gulf Coastal Plain of Texas sprawls the South’s largest city, Houston. A 19^th-century frontier town, it has sprouted into one of the world’s leading seaports and oil-refining centers. As the headquarters for the United States man-in-space program, the city has been dubbed “Space Center, USA.”

Houston is the major industrial and commercial hub of Texas. It is one of the fastest-growing large cities in the nation. Its population increased from 938,219 in 1960 to over 2.1 million in 2010.

Houston’s central business district stretches back from the south bank of Buffalo Bayou. Modern, high-rise buildings house the offices of large industrial and banking firms.

Houston covers more than 446 square miles, one of the largest areas of any city in the nation. It is laced by sluggish bayous, or creek, whose marshy shores are still bordered in places by Spanish moss and groves of magnolia, cypress, sweet gum, cedar, pine, and oak. Most of the city is built on higher ground originally covered by thick forests and lush prairie grass.

The summer climate is hot and humid; winters are mild. Normal daily temperatures in August, the warmest month, range between 23-33 degrees centigrade; in January, the coldest month, they range between 8-18 degrees centigrade. Summer temperatures sometimes reach 38 degrees. Occasional cold blasts from the north bring freezing temperatures in winter, but snow is rare. The mean annual precipitation is about 45 inches.

Houston began to emerge as a modern metropolis after the discovery of the Spindletop oil field near Beaumont in 1901. As a result of successive waves of oil discoveries at nearby Humble in 1904 and then elsewhere in eastern Texas, there was a massive growth of industry in Houston.

In the middle of the 20^th century unprecedented construction activity started. The new structures that appeared then were the 44-story Humble Building and the 12-story World Trade Center.

In 1964 the multimillion-dollar Manned Spacecraft Center of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was completed on the shores of Clear Lake, 22 miles southeast of downtown Houston. It is a major research center, as well as headquarters for United States manned space flights.

 

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