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Reading

Read the article, then answer the questions below.

HE'S GOTTA HAVE IT! BY STEVEN POOLEThe Guardian Weekly 2007-12-10, page 20

Gadgets can be wildly expensive and quickly obsolete, but Steven Poole is still the first to buy them.

Technological innovations are often quite stupid. The idea that you might want to walk down the street holding a mobile phone in front of your face, just to experience the wonders of video calling, is clearly ridiculous. Luckily for the tech companies, however, there are some people who jump at the chance to buy into new gadgets before they are fully ready and cheap enough for the mass-market. They are called early adopters, and their fate is a terrible one. I should know, since I am one myself.

Early adopters have a Mecca: it's Tokyo's Akihabara district, also known as "Electric City", a neon-soaked warren of high-rise gadget emporia. There, in 1999, I bought a digital camera, a modern and complicated thing that few people in Britain had heard of. Over the next few years I watched in growing dismay as digital cameras became more popular, cheaper and more powerful, until better models could be had for a quarter of the price I had paid. Did I feel stupid?

What I actually did was this: I splashed out more money last year for a new one, one that let me feel pleasantlyahead of the curve once again. But I know that cannot last, and I'll probably have to buy another in a few years.

You might think we should just stop being so silly, save our money, and wait to see what really catches on. But the logic of the industry is such that, if everyone did that, no innovation would become popular. Imagine the first person to buy an ordinary telephone soon after Alexander Graham Bell had invented it. Who was he going to call? Maybe he simply bought two phones, one for a special friend.

But still, the usefulness and eventual ubiquity of the device wasn't clear at the time. Indeed, the telephone was originally marketed as a way to listen to music concerts from the comfort of your own home. Nobody dreamed of the possibility of being able to speak to any one of millions of people. And yet if Telephone Man, and the subsequent hundreds and thousands of early adopters after him, had not bought into the idea, the vast communication networks that we all take for granted today would never have been built.

The same goes, indeed, for all new technologies. Those yuppies holding bricks to their ears that we laughed at in the 1980s made the current mobile phone possible. People who bought DVD players when they still cost a fortune, instead of today's cheap one at the local supermarket, made sure that the new format succeeded. Early adopters' desire for desires invested in the future. And what did they get for their pains? They got a hole in their bank accounts and inferior, unperfected technology. But still, they got it first. And today they are still at work, buying overpriced digital radios, DVD recorders and LCD televisions, and even 3G phones, so that you will be eventually be able to buy better and less expensive ones.

So next time you see a guy carrying lots of gadgets and want to laugh at them, think for a minute. Without early adopters, there would be no cheap mobile phones or DVD players; there would be no telephone or television either. We are the tragic, unsung footsoldiers of the technology revolution. We're the desire-addicted vanguard, pure in heart, dreaming of a better future. We make expensive mistakes so you don't have to. Really, we are heroes.

1. The writer

a. thinks it is normal to buy new gadgets

b. thinks it is stupid but does it anyway

c. does not approve of buying new gadgets

2. What is an early adopter?

a. someone who likes to buy the latest gadgets

b. someone who invents new gadgets

c. someone who gets to the shops first

3. What can you buy in Tokyo's Akihabara district?

a. very cheap gadgets

b. very expensive quality gadgets

c. very new gadgets

4. According to the writer, why is it silly buy brand new gadgets?

a. because the products are low quality

b. because if you wait you can buy them cheaper

c. because it is too difficult to get them

5. How were telephones first marketed?

a. As a way of speaking to special friends

b. As a way of listening to music

c. As a way of communicating with millions

6. Why are early adopters ‘heroes’?

a. because they spend lots of money

b. because they try out new inventions for the rest of us

c. because they are funny

7.1 jump at the chance means:

a. miss the opportunity

b. take the opportunity enthusiastically

c. ignore the chance

8. splashed out (money) means:

a. saved money

b. spent a lot of money

c. lost money

Part 2 Multiple Intelligences

by Thomas Armstrong

Howard Gardner distinguishes between seven human intelligences. These are:

Linguistic intelligence: the ability to use words effectively, whether orally or in writing.

Logical-mathematical intelligence: the ability to use numbers effectively and to reason well.

Spatial intelligence: the ability to perceive the visual-spatial world accurately and to perform transformations upon those perceptions. This intelligence includes the sensitivity to color, line, shape, form, space and the relation that exists between these elements.

Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence: skill in using one’s whole body to express ideas and feeling and ability to use one’s hands to produce or transform things.

Musical intelligence: the ability to perceive and express musical forms.

Interpersonal intelligence: sensitivity to the moods, intentions, motivations and feelings of other people. This can include sensitivity to facial expressions, voice and gestures; the ability to discriminate among many different kinds of interpersonal cues, and the ability to respond effectively to those cues.

Intrapersonal intelligence: self-knowledge and the ability to act adaptively on the basis of that knowledge. This intelligence includes having an accurate picture of oneself; awareness of inner moods, intentions, motivations, temperaments, and desires; and the capacity of self-discipline, self-understanding, and self-esteem.

Many people look at the above categories – particularly musical, spatial, and bodily-kinesthetic – and wonder why Howard Gardner insists on calling them intelligences, not talents or aptitudes. Gardner realized that many people are used to hearing expressions like “He is not very intelligent, but he has a wonderful aptitude for music”; thus he was quite conscious of his use of the word intelligence to describe each category. He said in an interview that he wanted to make people think and talk about the idea of intelligences. If he had said that there are seven kinds of competences, people would have yawned and said, “Yeah”. But by calling them ‘intelligences’ he was saying that we have tended to put on a pedestal one variety called intelligence, and there are actually several of them, and some are things we have never thought of as ‘intelligence’ at all.

Gardner set up certain basic ‘tests’ that each intelligence had to meet to be considered a full-fledged intelligence and not simply a talent, skill, or aptitude. The first test is related to work he did in hospitals. At the Boston Veteran Administration he worked with individuals who had suffered accidents or illnesses that affected only specific areas of the brain. For example, a person with a wound or a cut in the left frontal lobe might have a substantial portion of his linguistic intelligence damaged, and thus experience great difficulty speaking, reading and writing. Yet, he might still be able to sing, do math, dance, reflect on feelings, and relate to others. In these cases, brain lesions seemed to have selectively affected one intelligence and not others.

Decide which of the following statements (items 9-14) are True or False .

9. TFGiving students opportunity to write is the only way to develop their linguistic intelligence.

10. TFTo have musical intelligence, a person has to be able to play an instrument.

11. TFIt is implied that a person with good interpersonal intelligence makes a good team member.

12. TFPeople with strong intrapersonal intelligence know themselves but can not change.

13. TFStudying what people can and can’t do after they suffer a head injury is one test Gardner used to show that there are separate intelligences.

14. TFGardner found that when a part of the brain is damaged, certain intelligences are affected but not others.

USE of ENGLISH

Fill in the gaps by ONE suitable word.

The Origin of Rugby Football

The modern (0) …..game…… of rugby originated in 1823 at Rugby School in England. During a game of football, a boy called William Webb Ellis picked up the ball and ran with it instead (1) …… kicking it.

This new way of playing football soon became very popular and started to be played in schools across the country. (2)… first, this new game was very disorganized and had very few rules. There was no (3)…… to the number of players, and ‘hacking’ or kicking other players, was acceptable. Rugby School published (4) … own set of rules in 1846 for rugby football, but elsewhere, different types of ‘football’ were played and the rules varied from school (5) …to school.

The Football Association was set up in 1863 to come up with a standard set of rules for football. They outlawed this new style of football that had come to be (6)……as rugby, and decided on eleven players on each team, a round ball and standard goalposts with a net. Soon the new rules became accepted throughout England. The Rugby Football Union followed in 1871 and their rules were based (7)……those developed at Rugby School – that is, fifteen (8)……on each team, an oval ball and ‘H’ shaped goalposts. The ball may (9)… kicked, carried or thrown but only passed backwards and tackling is allowed.

More than a century later, the games of football and rugby are (10)…. played according to these rules and they (11)…become international sports. The Football Association and the rugby Football Union are known and respected worldwide. Who could have imagined that one boy’s actions on a school playing field all those years ago would have had such consequences?

Part 3

For Questions 12-26,read the text below and look carefully at each line. Some of the lines are correct, and some have a word which should not be there.If a line is correct, put a tick (v) by the number on the separate answer sheet. If a line has a word which should not be there, write the word on the separate answer sheet. There are two examples at the beginning (0and00).

0 – v 00 – on

0vJosef Nesladek is a street musician who works in an office during

1. the week and plays on the trumpet in a jazz band at weekends.

12He feels that this combination suits to him very well as it allows

13him the best of both the worlds. Monday to Friday he leads a

14regular life, getting up early, travelling to work, and returning home

15in the evening to be his wife and children. He regards playing in

16the street as a way of advertising the jazz band. People stop to

17listen and often ask it if the band is for hire. They get asked to play

18themselves at private parties, weddings and clubs; in this way

19they can earn up enough money to pay for their street licence,

20which costs quite a lot. In the summer months, however, when

21there are more than tourists around, the band does quite well

22financially. According to Josef, sunshine makes people more

23generous, especially that if the band can play in a town square

24where people are sitting and outside enjoying a drink or a meal.

25On those occasions people do like to sit for ages, listening to

26good music, eating, drinking and chatting to their most friends.

Writing

Write your own version of the story based on the picture.

Time: 60 minutes

Remember to: - include a title; - describe events in an entertaining way; - include elements of direct speech, description of feelings and emotions; - make an unexpected ending. You should write 220-250 words.

Адрес публикации: https://www.prodlenka.org/metodicheskie-razrabotki/510983-trenirovochnye-uprazhenija-dlja-podgotoki-k-e