D. Learning That Never Stops

E. Things Worth Learning

F. The Right Word Can Bring Changes

G. What My Father Taught Me

H. The Power of Numbers

1. Education has the power to transform a person’s life. I am the living example of this. When I was on the streets, I thought I was not good at anything but I wrote a poem, and it got published. I went back to school to learn. I have learned the benefit of research and reading, of debate and listening. One day soon a group of fresh-faced college students will call me professor.

2. Language has the capacity to change the world and the way we live in it. People are often afraid to call things by their direct names, use taboos not to notice dangerous tendencies. Freedom begins with naming things. This has to happen in spite of political climates, careers being won or lost, and the fear of being criticized. After Helen Caldicott used the word ‘nuclear arms race’ an anti-nuclear movement appeared.

3. I never wanted to be a teacher. Yet years later, I find myself teaching high school English. I consider my job to be one of the most important aspects of my life, still I do not teach for the love of teaching. I am a teacher because I love to learn, and I have come to realize that the best way to learn is to teach.

4. One day my sister and I got one and the same homework. My sister finished the task in 2 minutes and went off to play. But I could not do it, so I went into my sister's room and quickly copied her work. But there was one small problem: my father caught me. He didn’t punish me, but explained that cheating makes people feel helpless. And then I was left feeling guilty for cheating.

5. Lifelong learning does not mean spending all my time reading. It is equally important to get the habit of asking such questions as “what don’t I know about this topic, or subject?”, “what can I learn from this moment or person?”, and “what more do I need to learn?” regardless of where I am, who I am talking to, or what I am doing.

6. Math has always been something that I am good at. Mathematics attracts me because of its stability. It has logic; it is dependable and never changes. There might be some additions to the area of mathematics, but once mathematics is created, it is set in stone. We would not be able to check emails or play videogames without the computer solving complex algorithms.

7. When my high school English teacher asked us to read Shakespeare, I thought it was boring and too difficult. I agonized over the syntax – I had never read anything like this. But now I am a Shakespeare professor, and enjoy teaching Hamlet every semester. Each time I re-read the play, I find and learn something new for myself.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7

Прочитайте рассказ и выполните задания 1–7. В каждом задании обведите букву A, B, C или D, соответствующую выбранному вами варианту ответа.

A School Story

It happened at my private school thirty odd years ago, and I still can't explain it. I came to that school in September and among the boys who arrived on the same day was one whom I took to. I will call him McLeod. The school was a large one: there must have been from 120 to 130 boys there as a rule, and so a considerable staff of masters was required. One term a new master made his appearance. His name was Sampson. He was a tall, well-built, pale, black-bearded man. I think we liked him. He had travelled a good deal, and had stories which amused us on our school walks, so that there was some competition among us to get a chance to listen to him.
Well, the first odd thing that happened was this. Sampson was doing Latin grammar with us. One of his favourite methods was to make us construct sentences out of our own heads to illustrate the rules he was trying to teach us. Now, on this occasion he ordered us each to make a sentence bringing in the verb memini, 'I remember.' Well, most of us made up some ordinary sentence such as 'I remember my father,' but the boy I mentioned - McLeod - was evidently thinking of something more interesting than that. Finally, very quickly he wrote a couple of lines on his paper, and showed it up with the rest. The phrase was "Remember the lake among the four oaks." Later McLeod told me that it had just come into his head. When Sampson read it he got up and went to the mantel-piece and stopped quite a long time without saying anything looking really embarrassed. Then he wanted to know why McLeod had put it down, and where his family lived, and if there was such a lake there, and things like that.
There was one other incident of the same kind. We were told to make a conditional sentence, expressing a future consequence. We did it and showed up our bits of paper, and Sampson began looking through them. All at once he got up, made some odd sort of noise in his throat, and rushed out. I noticed that he hadn't taken any of the papers with him, so we went to look at them on his desk. The top paper on the desk was written in red ink - which no one used - and it wasn't in anyone's handwriting who was in the class. I questioned everyone myself! Then I thought of counting the bits of paper: there were seventeen of them on the desk, and sixteen boys in the form. I put the extra paper in my bag and kept it. The phrase on it was simple and harmless enough: 'If you don't come to me, I'll come to you.' That same afternoon I took it out of my bag - I know for certain it was the same bit of paper, for I made a finger-mark on it - and there was no single piece of writing on it!
The next day Sampson was in school again, much as usual. That night the third and last incident in my story happened. We - McLeod and I - slept in a bedroom the windows of which looked out at the main building of the school. Sampson slept in the main building on the first floor. At an hour which I can't remember exactly, but some time between one and two, I was woken up by somebody shaking me. I saw McLeod in the light of the moon which was looking right into our windows. 'Come,' he said, - 'come, there's someone getting in through Sampson's window. About five minutes before I woke you, I found myself looking out of this window here, and there was a man sitting on Sampson's window-sill, and looking in.' 'What sort of man? Is anyone from the senior class going to play a trick on him? Or was it a burglar?!' McLeod seemed unwilling to answer. 'I don't know,' he said, 'but I can tell you one thing - he was as thin as a rail: and water was running down his hair and clothing and,' he said, looking round and whispering as if he hardly liked to hear himself, 'I'm not at all sure that he was alive.' Naturally I came and looked, and naturally there was no one there.
And next day Mr. Sampson was gone: not to be found, and I believe no trace of him has ever come to light since. Neither McLeod nor I ever mentioned what we had seen to anyone. We seemed unable to speak about it. We both felt strange horror which neither could explain.

1. Why did schoolchildren like the new teacher, Mr. Sampson?

А) They liked his appearance.

B) He often went for a walk with them.

C) He organized competitions for them.

D) They enjoyed listening to his stories.

 

2. How did Mr. Sampson teach Latin grammar?

А) He told the pupils to learn the rules by heart.

B) He asked the pupils to make up example sentences.

C) He illustrated the rules with pictures.

D) He made up interesting sentences to illustrate the rules.

 

3. Why did McLeod write the phrase "Remember the lake among the four oaks?"

А) There was a place like that in his native town.

B) He wanted to show his knowledge of Latin grammar.

C) The phrase suddenly came to his mind.

D) He wanted to embarrass the teacher.

 

4. What did Mr. Sampson do after reading the examples of conditional sentences?

А) He left the classroom immediately.

B) He put the papers with the examples into his bag.

C) He asked who had written the example in red ink.

D) He gave marks to the pupils.

 

5. What was wrong with the paper written in red ink?

А) It didn’t illustrate the rule that was studied.

B) It had finger-marks on it.

C) It didn’t belong to anyone in the class.

D) It had many grammar mistakes.

 

6. Who did McLeod see on Mr. Sampson’s window-sill?

А) Nobody.

B) A stranger.

C) One of his schoolmates.

D) Mr. Sampson.

 

7. Why did the boys never tell anyone about the incident at night?

А) They were not asked about it.

B) Mr. Sampson asked them not to tell anyone.

C) They agreed to keep it secret.

D) They were afraid to speak about it.

Прочитайте текст и выполните задания А15–А21. В каждом задании укажите номер выбранного Вами варианта ответа.

Women and the maths problem

 

Women's underachievement in maths may not be due to their poor self-image in the subject, a new report suggests. Researcher Dr. Gijsbert Stoet at the University of Leeds says that the so-called "stereotype threat" theory – which holds that women perform worse than men because they expect to do badly – "does not stand up to scrutiny".

Earlier research had serious flaws, he says, with improper use of statistical techniques and methodology. Clearly, those who carried out this research need to review their own competence in maths. Stoet believes the gender gap may simply be that men and women have different interests from an early age, and says the answer to getting more women into maths and engineering is probably a matter of motivation.

According to last year's results, even though girls perform as well as boys in their maths GCSEs, 60% of A-levels in the subject are taken by boys, who achieve 60% of grade As.

I am an engineer, who has worked in the chemical industry for most of my working career. When I graduated in the 80, I assumed we were at the start of a new era for women in science: I studied alongside intelligent and motivated women, opportunities seemed aplenty, in-roads had been made.

But 20 years down the line, only 8.7% of British engineers are women, the lowest proportion in Europe, compared with 25% in Sweden. So what has happened?

One of the main problems is that careers in science, technology, engineering and maths (known as Stem) are not sufficiently promoted in schools, with fewer children taking up these subjects at GCSE and A-level. Year in, year out, we are told that Britain has a skills shortage. The general lack of interest among schoolchildren in maths and science subjects, together with the underlying social conditioning that still remains – that science subjects "aren't really for girls" – has led to a double-whammy effect, reducing female entrants even further.

Over the past few years, I have been involved in Stemnet, an organization dedicated to promoting these careers by getting people who work in jobs from biologists to builders to talk to schoolchildren about what they do. It's an attempt to debunk the myth that maths and sciences are too difficult or too boring. I was amazed to see hundreds of schoolboys and girls at a recent event at the Science Museum, presenting a range of experiments and projects they had prepared. And the ones prepares by girls were equally challenging and sophisticated.

I agree with the new study that rather than focusing on the problems of stereotyping, we should devote more time to encouraging girls into science and technology: they clearly respond.

But encouraging schoolgirls into university and careers is not all. As is typical in most sectors, I see a number of female engineers at the entry and mid-levels of companies, but precious few at the top. This is a huge waste of talent. It also raises the issue of certain professional inequality and a biased attitude towards women. The report has done well to challenge the myths behind women's underachievement in schools, but more work still needs to be done to address the problem of women's lack of achievement in the workplace. At least in the spheres closely related to science and engineering.

 

Начало формы

Dr. Gijbert Stoet claims that women do worse than men at maths because they …

1) are not encouraged to do the subject.   2) do not believe in their own competence.   3) use improper methods in problem-solving.   4) employ wrong stereotypical techniques.

Конец формы

 

Начало формы

Last year’s A-levels maths results show that …

1) more girls take the subject.   2) girls do better than boys.   3) boys get more A grades.   4) boys are more likely to fail.

Конец формы

 

Начало формы

Which of the following statements is NOT true, according to paragraphs 5 and 6?

1) The author has worked in engineering for over 20 years.   2) The prospects for women in science are best in Sweden.   3) The author’s expectations about women in science have not come true.   4) Britain has fewer women engineers than other European countries.

Конец формы

 

Начало формы

According to the author, social conditioning taking place in Britain implies that …

1) boys are smarter than girls.   2) science could be interesting.   3) science is for boys.   4) math is an optional skill.

Конец формы

 

Начало формы

“They” in “to talk to schoolchildren about what they do” (paragraph 7) may refer to …

1) scientists.   2) schoolchildren.   3) careers.   4) experiments.

Конец формы

 

Начало формы

According to the final paragraphs, which of the factors discouraging girls from careers in science appears to be most important?

1) Lack of opportunities in career growth.   2) Academic underachievement.   3) Social stereotypes.   4) Lack of encouragement.

Конец формы

 

Начало формы

The author’s attitude to the problem may be called …

1) impartial.   2) biased.   3) negative.   4) interested.

Прочитайте текст и выполните задания А15–А21. В каждом задании укажите номер выбранного Вами варианта ответа.