ОГЭ Английский Язык Вариант №2

When Shakira was a child, her mother discovered that the girl had a gift for writing. Shakira knew the alphabet by the age of eighteen months, and at three she knew how to read. By the time she was four, she was ready for school. School was not just a place where little Shakira learnt her arithmetic and geography. There she began to understand such great things as kindness, love, trust, and other human ideals. She realized what real friendship was and how much her family meant to her. Later it helped her to decide what to do with the big money she earned.

Shakira loved attention and wished to find a way to get it. She sang a lot for her schoolmates and teachers. However, the music teacher told her that she sounded “like a goat”. Shakira wasn’t too upset about it and soon found a more original way to become the centre of attention. It was dancing. It helped her to express herself and become famous in school. What is interesting is that no one had ever taught her to dance.

In school Shakira was disciplined, but absent-minded. She was usually writing lyrics for her songs on the back of her notebooks. However, Shakira was a good student because she was a quick learner and could understand her teachers’ explanations faster than others.

As soon as the bell rang after class, Shakira was the first one to run and get in line for the cafeteria. She usually bought a pepsi, a hamburger and something sweet, like a muffin or a piece of cake. She seldom took a packed lunch from home. Though Shakira was a lover of fast food, she had no weight problems, as she loved dancing.

When she was eight, Shakira’s father lost all his money because his business went bankrupt. For a while Shakira had to stay with her relatives in Los Angeles. When the girl returned, she was shocked to see almost everything that her family had, had been sold. She later said: “In my childish head, this was the end of the world.”

To show her that things could be worse, her father took her to a local park to see the homeless children. What she saw shocked her deeply and she said to herself: “One day I’m going to help these poor kids when I become a famous singer or dancer”.

Between the ages of ten and thirteen Shakira was invited to various dance events and became very popular in the area. It was at this time that Shakira met a local theatre producer, who was impressed with her performance and as a result tried to help her career. This woman organized a meeting with the managers of the Sony company. After Shakira sang, they decided to sign a contract for three albums with the talented girl.

It is believed that the idea of supermarkets first belonged to an American businessman who opened a self-service grocery store in 1916. The main advantage of the new American store was that the goods were stocked on the shelves, so the customers could take their own goods and bring them to the front of the store to pay for them. Although there was a high risk of stealing, the owner found the new shop’s organisation more effective because it allowed him to reduce the number of shop assistants. Later the new shop organisation spread widely throughout European countries.

Nowadays supermarkets are as British as football and cricket. In the UK 90% of all food is bought at five different supermarket chains. That makes these companies extremely powerful, especially when they deal with small businesses, for example farmers. Milk is a good example. Supermarkets like to use things such as milk and bread, which are at the top of almost everyone’s shopping list, to attract customers. To offer the lowest price the supermarkets need to buy milk from dairy farmers very cheaply, so big supermarket chains agree on a very low price and dictate it to farmers. If the farmers don’t agree to that price, supermarkets start to look for the cheapest possible products abroad instead.

The consumers are of course happy to get cheaper products, but they should also keep in mind the influence supermarkets have on the environment. First of all there’s packaging. Supermarkets like all the products to be packed because it makes it easier to put them neatly on the shelves. Consequently, supermarkets produce nearly 10 million tons of waste packaging in the UK every year, less than 5% of which is recycled. Some supermarkets put large recycling bins in their car parks, trying to create the image that they are environmentally friendly. However, that is just an image.

To reach the supermarket shelves the products often have to travel half the globe. Due to preservatives even milk products can stay unspoiled for months. It’s a great advantage for the supermarket as yoghurt bought from a farmer can’t be kept for longer than 2 days. That is why many small farmers do not even get a chance to compete with long-lasting imported goods.

When a new supermarket is planned, everyone says that a lot of new jobs will be created. In reality the number of jobs lost in the area is greater than the number of new positions in the supermarket. Within a 15km radius of every new supermarket that opens the number of people working in the food business goes down. It happens because all the small shops nearby are forced to close.

Mark Twain wrote “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” in 1884. Since then, the book has been published in at least sixty languages, and some people say it is the best book ever created by an American writer. American students have “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” on their school reading list and parents, teachers and literary experts still debate the problems touched in the book.

The writer’s real name was Samuel Clemens. Samuel was born in 1835. He grew up in the state of Missouri on the Mississippi River. After his father died, young Samuel went to work as an assistant to a publisher. Ten years later, he became a pilot on a steamboat that sailed on the Mississippi. He heard the riverboat workers call out the words “mark twain!” That was a measure for the depth of water. Later he used this word combination as a pen-name.

In 1861 Clemens travelled west and became a reporter for newspapers in Nevada and California. He wrote news stories, editorials and sketches under his pen-name Mark Twain. He became one of the best known storytellers in the West. He developed his own narrative style — friendly, funny, and often satirical, which won him a wide audience. The first success came with the story “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”.

Mark Twain travelled a lot during his lifetime not only round the USA but also to Europe and the Holy Land. He naturally began writing books about his travels. “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” was published in 1876, and soon after he began writing a sequel, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”.

It took Mark Twain longer to write “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” than any of his other books. He started writing in 1876, but put the story away after about two years of work. He returned to it in 1883, and the following year it was published.

From the beginning, the book was strongly debated. Some critics praised its realism and honesty but the others strongly disliked it. They protested against the personality of Huck — a rough, dirty and disobedient boy. They could not agree that such a person should be the main character of a book. What’s more, critics disliked the way Mark Twain used the language of a common, uneducated person to tell the story; no writer had ever done that before.

Today there is no longer any debate about the importance of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn» in American literature. In 1935 Ernest Hemingway wrote: «All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called «Huckleberry Finn.» There was nothing before. And there has been nothing as good since.”

No wonder then, that the novel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” was a great inspiration for film producers — more than 20 screen versions of the book have been shot not only in America but in Europe, Russia and Japan. There are feature films, musicals, cartoons and even Japanese anime.

Alexander Graham Bell was a famous scientist, teacher of deaf people1 and inventor, who is widely known for the creation of the telephone. His father, grandfather and brothers had all been associated with work on speech, and both his mother and wife were deaf. The family greatly influenced Bell’s life and work, making him look past people’s disadvantages and find solutions to help them.

Alexander Bell was born in 1847, in Edinburgh, Scotland. As a young child, Bell received his early schooling at home from his parents. At the age of 10 he asked his father for a middle name like his two brothers. For his 11th birthday, his father allowed him to adopt the middle name «Graham», which was the surname of a close family friend. However, for most of his life he remained «Aleck» to close relatives and friends.

Alexander attended the Royal High School in Edinburgh, which he left at age 15, completing the first four forms only. He was not a good pupil, to the disappointment of his father. His main interest was in the sciences, especially biology, and he was indifferent to other school subjects. After graduation from university, Bell became his father’s assistant. He taught deaf people to talk by using his father’s system.

Both of Bell’s brothers died of tuberculosis. In 1870 his family, in search of a healthier climate, moved to Canada. Soon, Alexander was invited to Boston to teach at Sarah Fuller’s School for the Deaf, the first such school in the world. Throughout his life Alexander Bell continued to educate deaf people.

From 1873 to 1876 Bell experimented with many inventions, including an electric speaking telegraph (the telephone). The money for his work came from the fathers of two of his students. One of these men had a deaf daughter, Mabel, who later became Bell’s wife.

In 1876, at the age of 29, Alexander Bell invented his telephone and in 1877, he created the Bell Telephone Company. By 1886, over 150,000 people in the U.S. owned telephones. Later, Bell company engineers made numerous other improvements to the telephone. However, Bell considered his most famous invention an interruption to his real work as a scientist and refused to have a telephone in his study.

Although Alexander Graham Bell is most often associated with the invention of the telephone, his interests were extremely varied.

The magazine Science was founded in 1880 because of Bell’s efforts. He took part in creating the National Geographic Society and became its second President. He was also involved in hydrodynamics (the study of the forces of water), and projects related to the development and design of aeroplanes. Alexander Graham Bell had 18 patents granted in his name alone and he shared 12 with colleagues. Bell’s inventions included a metal jacket to assist in breathing, a device to locate icebergs, a metal detector, and investigations on how to separate salt from seawater.

Bell died at the age of 75 on August 2, 1922. His contribution to the modern world and its technologies was enormous.

When Shakira was a child, her mother discovered that the girl had a gift for writing. Shakira knew the alphabet by the age of eighteen months, and at three she knew how to read. By the time she was four, she was ready for school. School was not just a place where little Shakira learnt her arithmetic and geography. There she began to understand such great things as kindness, love, trust, and other human ideals. She realized what real friendship was and how much her family meant to her. Later it helped her to decide what to do with the big money she earned.

Shakira loved attention and wished to find a way to get it. She sang a lot for her schoolmates and teachers. However, the music teacher told her that she sounded “like a goat”. Shakira wasn’t too upset about it and soon found a more original way to become the centre of attention. It was dancing. It helped her to express herself and become famous in school. What is interesting is that no one had ever taught her to dance.

In school Shakira was disciplined, but absent-minded. She was usually writing lyrics for her songs on the back of her notebooks. However, Shakira was a good student because she was a quick learner and could understand her teachers’ explanations faster than others.

As soon as the bell rang after class, Shakira was the first one to run and get in line for the cafeteria. She usually bought a pepsi, a hamburger and something sweet, like a muffin or a piece of cake. She seldom took a packed lunch from home. Though Shakira was a lover of fast food, she had no weight problems, as she loved dancing.

When she was eight, Shakira’s father lost all his money because his business went bankrupt. For a while Shakira had to stay with her relatives in Los Angeles. When the girl returned, she was shocked to see almost everything that her family had, had been sold. She later said: “In my childish head, this was the end of the world.”

To show her that things could be worse, her father took her to a local park to see the homeless children. What she saw shocked her deeply and she said to herself: “One day I’m going to help these poor kids when I become a famous singer or dancer”.

Between the ages of ten and thirteen Shakira was invited to various dance events and became very popular in the area. It was at this time that Shakira met a local theatre producer, who was impressed with her performance and as a result tried to help her career. This woman organized a meeting with the managers of the Sony company. After Shakira sang, they decided to sign a contract for three albums with the talented girl.

In the Irish Sea about 20 miles away from the UK you will find a beautiful island. This is the Isle of Man. The people of the island are called Manx and they speak the Manx language. The island occupies a mid-point in the Irish Sea and the British Isles – right between England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The scenery of the Isle is varied. There are ranges of hills with green valleys between them, there are sandy beaches in the north which contrast with the rocky cliffs along the coasts. The island’s only mountain is slightly over 600 metres high. An old legend says that from its top on clear days you can see six kingdoms: the island itself, Scotland, England, Ireland, Wales and Heaven.

The Isle of Man has the oldest parliament in the world. It is called the Tynwald and it has met regularly since 979. The Tynwald usually meets in the capital of the country. However, for one day every summer the Manx parliament

gathers in a small village to celebrate Tynwald Day. It is the only day of the year when parliament is held in the open air. On this day government officials read a summary of all the laws that have been passed during the year in both the English and the Manx languages. There is entertainment before and after the ceremony and it is a real community event. In addition to that, an open air market is organised and different concerts are held in the evening. At the conclusion, the Manx national anthem is played and there is a firework display.

Another thing that attracts tourists to the Isle of Man is its rich and unique culture. Any visitor to the island will be particularly fascinated by the legends, folklore and the ancient traditions that are still kept alive today. Most tourists are happy to participate in the folk programmes.

In Manx mythology, the island’s name comes from the name of a Celtic sea god. He ruled the kingdom and protected the land from invaders by covering the island with mist and thick fog. The island is also reputedly home to fairies who are very special. The Manx fairies are described as small and human-like. They wearred caps and green jackets and are naughty and wicked.

There’s even a bridge called Fairy Bridge. Those who cross it are advised to say “hello fairies” in order to get good fortune. If the person doesn’t greet the fairies, the fairies will become angry with him and may play a nasty trick on him. Some people go further in trying to pay their respects to the ‘little people’. They do not just simply say hello, they also leave messages and gifts at the side of the road.

If you love reading about King Arthur and his knights, then a must-see place is Peel Castle. It was constructed in the 11th century by the Vikings and has a fascinating history. It is believed that Peel Castle was the location of Avalon – the legendary island where King Arthur’s sword was made and where King Arthur was taken after being wounded.

There’s one special day in Britain when you can see lots of people all over the country wearing clown red noses. This is known as Red Nose Day. It’s arranged by a charity organisation “Comic Relief” whose aim is to collect money for people who are in need.

“Comic Relief” was started in 1985 by the writer Richard Curtis and the comedian Lenny Henry. At that time, people in Ethiopia were suffering from an awful hunger and something had to be done. The idea was simple. Richard and Lenny decided to gather a group of much-loved British comedians to give public performances. And in this way they would collect money to help people in desperate need. They also hoped to let people know about poverty in Africa. Richard and Lenny strongly believe that laughter is the best weapon to fight tragedy, poverty and injustice. That was how “Comic Relief” was born.

One of the main events organised by “Comic Relief” is Red Nose Day. It takes place every two years in the spring, though many people think that this day should be held annually. The first Red Nose Day was held on 5 February 1988 and since then they have been held on the second or third Friday in March.

The event is widely celebrated in the UK and many people consider it to be a type of unofficial national holiday. The symbol of the day is the red nose which you can find in various supermarkets and charity shops. The thing is that red noses are not sold and you cannot buy them, but you can leave a small sum of money (a donation) and just take one. The exact sum of the donation is not fixed. You can leave as much as you want — it’s an act of charity.

Since 1985 there have been all kinds of noses: plastic, soft, boring common ones, there were noses that looked like faces, noses that made noises, noses that changed colour when they got hot… This year it’s a dinosaur theme, which means noses are shaped like small creatures from pre-history.

On Red Nose Day money-raising events take place all over the country and many schools participate.

In the evening of Red Nose Day a ‘telethon’ takes place on the BBC channels. This is like a televised marathon that shows a selection of the events of the day, and lots of short comic performances and reports of how the money will

be spent. It starts in the evening and goes through into the early hours of the morning.

There’s a Red Nose Day page on Facebook and you can follow it on Twitter. People also upload videos of local charity events on YouTube and Facebook.

So, if you are ever in the UK on Red Nose Day, now you know why you will find normal people wearing red noses and doing silly things! It’s all for a good reason!

April Fools’ Day, or All Fools’ Day, is an odd holiday which encourages us to play tricks and fool our family and friends. There is some uncertainty about when and where this bizarre tradition began. Popular belief says that April Fools’ Day started in the 16th century in France but there are not enough facts to confirm it.

Anyway, according to legends and a small number of facts, the story seems to be as follows. Before the 16th century, the New Year was celebrated in spring, around April 1st. In 1564 King Charles IX of France declared that the country would start using a new calendar, which changed New Year’s Day to January 1st. In those days, with no communication technologies, news travelled slowly and new ideas were often mistrusted. Many people still celebrated the New Year the old way. These people were called ‘fools’ and became a target for jokers.

Playing jokes on April 1st became a custom and was later transported across the Atlantic to the American colonies. Nowadays, April Fools’ Day has developed into an international festival of fun.

Today in France, people who are fooled on April 1st are called Poisson d’Avril, which literally means the April Fish. Children stick paper fish to their friends’ backs. There are different fish souvenirs in the shops and chocolate fish of all shapes and sizes are sold in supermarkets. In England, if a trick is played on you, you are a noodle. Remember that in this country you should observe the time limit — tricks can be played only in the morning. People playing jokes after midday are April fools themselves.

April Fools’ jokes should not harm anyone. The best jokes are when everyone laughs, especially the people the joke was played on.

One of the great April Fools’ jokes happened on April 1st, 1957. BBC TV did a documentary on ‘spaghetti farmers’ growing ‘spaghetti trees.’ The report showed a family from Switzerland carrying out their annual spaghetti harvest. It showed women carefully pulling long thin pieces of spaghetti from a tree and laying them in the sun to dry.

The joke was an enormous success. A lot of people were fooled — the BBC began to receive hundreds of calls from puzzled viewers. “Did spaghetti really grow on trees?”, they wanted to know. Others were eager to learn how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. To this the BBC replied that they should «place a piece of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best.»

Another famous April joke was played by the Burger King Company in the USA in 1998. They ran an advertisement about launching a “twin brother” of their most famous sandwich Whopper. Along with the traditional Whopper they were going to sell a Left-Handed Whopper, which was specially designed for the company’s left-handed customers. According to the advertisement, they rotated all the ingredients 180 degrees. Amazingly, thousands of customers requested the new sandwich at their restaurants.