What the Sami can teach Britain's rulers about country life

 

    Writing my last Diary I was cold, having just arrived from Kenya, which was about 40C at its hottest.

    This week I am writing with the mother-and-father of all chest infections – popping antibiotics and steroids like Smarties. Lulu and me have just got back from the Arctic Circle: northern Sweden, which was -21C. I thought clean, cold air was supposed to do you good. So how did I get this particular debilitating nasty? I suppose it could be the rapid temperature shift – of 61C. More likely I sat near somebody full of contagious cold – aeroplanes are notorious for spreading virtually every disease known to man.

21

    Never again. But the real question is: will the Government now demand repayment of my old man’s heating allowance? A ridiculous payment anyway, in the majority of cases – but one that I intend to keep taking while the Government persists in wasting so much of the tax I pay. Dropping bombs on Col Gaddafi to turn Libya into a dysfunctional, dangerous state is only one expensive and disgraceful example. If only we had statesmen instead of career politicians, most of whom have never done a proper job.

22

    The purpose of our trip was to visit the 400-year-old Jokkmokk Winter Fair in Swedish Lapland. The Sami (once called Laps) call Lapland “Sapmi”. We went with our friends Tilly and Alan Smith, owners of Britain’s only free ranging herd of reindeer – a fit and healthy herd in the Cairngorms – which makes Tilly and Alan Britain’s only authentic reindeer herders (a fact confirmed by the Association of World Reindeer Herders).

23

    The winter fair was staggering, giving a real glimpse of life on the frontier – a people still living lives of nomadic hunter/herder/gatherers but with some home comforts and central heating in their far-from-traditional winter homes. The fair was opened with a procession of reindeer led by Per Kuhmunen in Sami dress – he is an owner/herdsman who sold Tilly and Alan some more reindeer in 2011 to improve the genetic pool of the Cairngorm herd.

24

    At the Jokkmokk fair there were bundles of skins – fox, beaver and pine marten – for sale. No badger skins – coarse badger hair is not the warmest. But there is a hunting season in Sweden for badgers, and 35,000 are taken out each year. With hunting seasons for two major predators, badgers and pine martens, is it any wonder that capercaillie – woodland grouse – are so common in the forests of Sweden that 21,500 are shot for the table in the hunting season? It’s a very different tale in Scotland, where certain conservationists prefer wildlife to be left alone, out of balance, with the result that the capercaillie is almost critically endangered – more about this in my next Diary.

25

    In the nearby museum there was Sami music and singing, including the famous “joiking”. Joiking has been described as “hearing the sound of one’s soul”.

 

Пропущенные абзацы

A	I suppose the consolation for my sauna suffering was doing the whole thing under the Northern Lights. I found them extremely moving, even spiritual – plugging us into nature in a complete and mysterious way. Lulu, on the other hand, was disappointed – for although in photographs the “lights” show up in 59 shades of green, to the naked eye they come in shades of white with a background of light olive green – still incredible.
B	The food stalls at the fair served reindeer meat: dried, smoked, roasted, minced and sausaged, and all of it very tasty. I loved it but Lulu was soon reindeered-out. There were fish too, Arctic char in particular: a beautiful salmon-like fish of the cold lakes. I was taken char fishing on Windermere a few years ago, I recall. It wasn’t successful – the boat sank.
C	We stayed with a Sami, John Erling Utsi, a film-maker and writer, and nephew of Mikel Utsi, the man who reintroduced the reindeer to Scotland 63 years ago. John is a man totally consumed by the rights and needs of the Sami people, and he has his own herd of reindeer. He lets them forage in the forests during the winter and then sees many herds head for the mountains in the summer.
D	But everything is not perfect. An English company, Beowulf Mining, wants to start a huge open cast mining operation in the Jokkmokk area, on traditional Sami reindeer herding land. It wants to extract several minerals including copper and iron. I hope the Swedish government has the strength to resist the overtures and nonsense about “growth” and “sustainability” – two direct opposites – and protects the culture and rights of its indigenous people.
E	Lulu has another view. Despite the news this week that saunas may cut the risk of heart attacks, she thinks that a contributory factor to my illness could be the hottest sauna I have ever had, followed by – you guessed it – a roll in the snow: deep, crisp and extremely cold. Lulu has the pictorial evidence. The editor, I suspect, will have censored the images on the grounds of good taste. But it was one of the most unpleasant experiences of my life: I certainly drew the line at being spanked by maniacs wielding birch twigs. I think various bits of my body, in addition to my lungs, will take a long time to recover — and will certain parts of my anatomy ever reappear?
F	There were numerous stalls selling all manner of food and things from life on the edge; ornate knives, fishing nets, fur hats and fur shoes, ideal for -21C. Of course, what the animal rights, anti-fur protesters in England cannot understand is that properly obtained and controlled wild fur is renewable, sustainable and, in winter, warm. About 400,000 wild fox skins are wasted in Britain annually, something the Sami people cannot understand.

 

21	22	23	24	25

 

 

Прочитайте текст и выполните задания 26–30. В каждом задании запишите в поле ответа цифру 1, 2, 3 или 4, соответствующую выбранному Вами варианту ответа.

On the Sunday of last weekend's bank holiday I had what I think of as a perfect day. Some of my pleasure in it is easily explained, with causes that would make sense to anyone. There wasn't a cloud in the sky from dawn to dusk, nor a breath of wind to ruffle the sea. Our little boat motored through islands that looked as though they'd been mounted on a mirror, and at our outdoor lunch table the butter in the dish turned to ghee. In southern England this kind of weather might attract a nod of approval, but in western Scotland, even in the fine summer now ending, it wins an Oscar for best direction.

On such a day people never tire of comparing foreign places unfavourably to the familiar-yet-new scenery set before us, as though a deceptively plain secretary had taken off her glasses and loosened her hair in the cliche of old Hollywood. Greece, the Seychelles, Bali, the Grand-Hotel du Cap Ferrat? "Why would you want to go there?" someone will say. "You can't beat Scotland on a day like this." In the Kyles of Bute last weekend, that seemed undeniable. The narrows between the island and mainland Argyll had an unreal beauty. Knobbly green hills were flecked with sheep and patterned with bracken, cottages shone white among the rhododendrons and twisted little oaks along the shore, precipitous stands of pine trees looked down on a shaded anchorage, the occasional sail hung limply in the disappointed hope of wind.

But if the weather came first in this reckoning of perfection, the company wasn't far behind. Four of us – me, wife and daughter plus an old friend – know each other as well as anyone can and relish the same things. We baled out our aluminium skiff, which is a boat as basic as my boating skills, and I prepared for the terrible moments when it seems the outboard will never start; the fear of public humiliation is never far away in marinas. But it started at the fourth tug and I managed to steer us astern without hitting anything – we were berthed
awkwardly – and soon we were chugging north out of the bay. I've done this journey dozens of times, as a passenger on pleasure steamers, mail boats, yachts and coasters, but only recently under my own command (our son is the sailor in the family), and rarely as slowly.

It took two hours to reach Tighnabruaich. We saw the usual sights on the way. The hillside where a 19th-century landlord planted trees in the shape of the British formation at Waterloo; Sir Richard Attenborough's holiday farmhouse; the group of Edwardian villas that look as though they've been transplanted from Muswell Hill; the beautiful little harbour where one of George Stephenson's nephews built his now vanished castle. A large ketch lay at anchor off a small island in the narrows, so we sailed around it and called out to the owner, whom we knew, and were happy when one of his passengers shouted back that at that very moment he was reading a book written by one of us.

So we were all in a fine mood when we reached the stone jetty opposite the Royal Hotel and pulled our skiff up the pebbled beach, fussing over the reliability of its mooring in the face of a rising tide. Then we walked 50 yards to an empty table, where we had fish and chips and watched the butter melt. "What a cracker, eh?" said a yachtsman as he passed us, nodding towards the sky. "Perfect," we agreed then, and went on agreeing among ourselves for the rest of the day. It wasn't just the weather, the landscape and the company, it was the sense of freedom and achievement that messing about in a boat can give you, and in my case something else, both larger and vaguer, that had to do with a book I read as a teenager.

 

26

 

Which of the following was the most obvious reason for the author’s pleasure on the day he describes?

 

 

1)	picturesque landscape
2)	the weather
3)	eating outdoors
4)	it’s being a holiday

 

Ответ:

 

 

27

 

Which of the following is compared to the secretary from “the cliché of old Hollywood”?

 

 

1)	A popular foreign resort.
2)	Scotland.
3)	Beauty of a long known scenery.
4)	The sea.

 

Ответ:

 

28

 

The author describes his boat as …

 

 

1)	a very simple vehicle.
2)	an old and unreliable one.
3)	made from a cheap material.
4)	one which is hard to manage.

 

Ответ:

 

29

 

Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a sight on the way to Tighnabruaich?

 

 

1)	Trees on a hillside planted in memory of a famous battle.
2)	A celebrity’s farmhouse.
3)	Muswell Hill.
4)	A little harbor.

 

Ответ:

 

 

30

 

The phrase “What a cracker, eh” referred to the …

 

 

1)	sky.
2)	weather.
3)	melted butter.
4)	author’s company.

 

Ответ:

 

Раздел 2. Лексико-грамматические задания

Прочитайте приведённый ниже текст и определите, в каких строках, пронумерованных 31-40, есть лишнее слово, выписав его на поля. Если в строке нет лишнего слова, поставьте на полях цифру 0. Строки 0 и 00 приведены как пример.

When people are asked what kind of housing they need,	0 0
a variety of an answers is evoked: “four bedrooms”, “lots of	00 a
storage space”; “close to the my work”; “low rent”; “a quiet	31___________
neighbourhood”; “a big yard”; “a scenic view”; and so on. To most	32___________
people, housing quality obviously means more than simply shelter.	33___________
“Is it big enough?” is if perhaps the first question people ask when	34___________
they look at a new house or apartment. A family might to want, for	35___________
example, a master bedroom for the husband and wife, a separate	36___________
bedroom for the more younger children of each sex, a separate	37___________
bedroom for each child over than 12, a bedroom for a grandparent	38___________
or a guest, large closets, an extra half-bathroom, a dining room or	39___________
a kitchen with a good-sized eating area, a large living room, and so on.	40___________

В заданиях 41–47 прочитайте исходное предложение. Используя лексико-грамматические трансформации, заполните пропуски во втором предложении так, чтобы смысл второго предложения не противоречил первому. Количество слов, необходимых для трансформации, указано пропусками.

 

41

 

I haven’t seen her since our graduation.

Last time I _______ ________ _______our graduation.

 

 

42

 

She is two years older than her brother.

She has _______ ________ _______brother.

 

 

43

 

Fran is extremely smart. Ann isn’t.

Ann _______ ________ _______ Fran.

 

 

44

 

There is little milk in the fridge.

There is hardly _______ ________ _______ milk in the fridge.

 

 

45

 

We’re the family of 7 and we have 7 bikes.

There’s a bike for _______ ________ _______ family.

 

 

46

 

The situation was bad enough and the call from David added more tension.

The situation became even _______ ________ _______ call.

 

 

47

 

She insisted that I went there with her family.

She _______ ________ _______ there with her family.

 

 

Прочитайте предложения 48–52. Для каждого предложения выберите наиболее близкое по значению из списка 1–3. Занесите ответы в таблицу.

 

 

48

 

No sooner had she arrived than the things went wrong.

 

1) Things went wrong because she arrived.

2) Soon after her arrival things started to get wrong.

3) Immediately after her arrival things went wrong.

 

 

49

 

No matter what Ben does it seems to go wrong.

 

1) Everything Ben does goes wrong.

2) Ben always seems to be doing wrong.

3) Ben is doing wrong again.

 

 

50

 

 

It was my firm conviction that Alice was telling the truth.

 

1) I was quite sure Alice was speaking about the truth.

2) I strongly believed Alice to be telling the truth.

3) I convicted Alice to tell the truth.

 

51

 

 

What I’m most looking forward to when I’m in London is visiting the Trafalgar square.

 

1) When I come to London I’ll look forward to visiting the Trafalgar square.

2) I’m particularly looking forward to visiting the Trafalgar square when I come to London.

3) When I visit London I will want to go to the Trafalgar square.

 

 

52

 

It fell to me to break the news to the group.

 

1) I was the one charged with breaking the news to the group.

2) The group asked me to break the news to them.

3) I decided to inform the group about the news.

 

48	49	50	51	52

 

Прочитайте приведённый ниже текст. Образуйте от слов, напечатанных заглавными буквами в конце строк, обозначенных номерами 53–58, однокоренные слова так, чтобы они грамматически и лексически соответствовали содержанию текста. Заполните пропуски полученными словами. Каждый пропуск соответствует отдельному заданию из группы 53–58.

 

53

 

Writing

Writing develops according to needs. A hunter-gatherer group will find it__________________ to have a few common signs-rather like the chalk marks that English tramps once used on gateposts to show whether the householders were kindly or not-but more complex societies need records.

USE

 

 

 

 

54

 

Traders have to record deliveries, keep accounts, send out bill; tax gatherers must calculate __________________ and all in form which will be intelligible to others.

ASSESS

 

 

 

 

55

 

Priests and magnates want to issue laws, encourage __________________ and proclaim their own power.

OBEY

 

 

 

 

56

 

Once a written language is understood, others take it for __________________, for pleasure or are driven by cultural pressure, and literature begins.

SECURE

 

 

 

 

57

 

In all probability, writing began __________________ in various parts of the world-China, Egypt and the Americas but the Sumerians have left the most prolific records, beginning in the late 3000s BC and continuing for three millennia.

DEPENDENT

 

 

 

 

58

 

The art of writing and __________________had to be taught, and therefore many of the earliest texts are dictionaries and word lists.

NOTE

 

 

 

Прочитайте текст с пропусками, обозначенными номерами 59–65. Эти номера соответствуют заданиям 59–65, в которых представлены возможные варианты ответов. Запишите в поле ответа цифру 1, 2, 3 или 4, соответствующую выбранному Вами варианту ответа.

In the desert

The desert was dark pink, the sky was baby blue; the whole thing looked good enough to eat. 59 ______, it was a very nice place to visit. The road from Santa Fe made its way like a black snake through the red and pink landscape. Through the hot air the tall man standing at the side of the road could see the sharp mountain peaks of the Rockies in the distance. He 60 ______ how long it would take him to get home.

At last a truck came. The first thing he heard was the distant sound of an engine. Sweetest sound in the whole world when you've been 61 ______ in the desert sun for two hours and you're beginning to think you might die there. He ran up through the bushes and stood right there staring into the distance, so that he could see the truck as soon it came into 62 ______. Then he saw it, a bright piece of silver, with sunlight bouncing off it in all directions.

As the truck got nearer he tried to 63 ______ out the driver. Looked like a woman. Well, that was that, he thought. No way was a woman alone going to stop for a guy hitchhiking in the middle of nowhere. He 64 ______ away.

But then he heard the sound of brakes as the truck came to a stop about two hundred meters further on. He looked at the clouds of dust the truck had thrown up. After a minute or so the dust 65 ______, the door of the driver's cab opened and a pair of blue jeans came down from the cab.

 

59

 

 

 

1)

Actually

2)

Factually

3)

Practically

4)

Completely

 

Ответ:

 

 

60

 

 

1)

asked

2)

questioned

3)

wondered

4)

puzzled

 

Ответ:

 

 

61

 

 

 

1)

out

2)

around

3)

across

4)

off

 

Ответ:

 

 

62

 

 

1)

gaze

2)

vision

3)

look

4)

view

 

Ответ:

 

63

 

 

 

1)

get

2)

do

3)

make

4)

put

 

Ответ:

 

64

 

 

1)

took

2)

turned

3)

came

4)

seemed

 

Ответ:

 

65

 

 

1)

stayed

2)

settled

3)

stopped

4)

dropped

 

Ответ:

 

Раздел 3. Задание по созданию письменного текста

 

 

Для ответа на задание 66 используйте отдельный лист. Обратите внимание на необходимость соблюдения указанного объёма текста. Текст недостаточного объёма, а также часть текста, превышающая требуемый объём – не оцениваются. Запишите сначала номер задания (66), а затем ответ на него. Если одной стороны бланка недостаточно, вы можете использовать его другую сторону.