Задание 3-9
Now we are ready to start.
Many people have a casual attitude towards art and I was no exception. But in 1989, I finally realized that life might have something more to offer. My husband Ray had asked me to retire six months earlier and I somehow began watching an oil painting show on TV, ‘The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross’. I was fascinated. It was not very long before I really wanted to try and paint along with this man on TV. My first finished painting was a landscape. Everyone praised my work and encouraged me to continue and gradually painting became my absolute passion in life.
A few months later we started looking to buy a four bedroom house. The one we found and really loved had brand new lush, thick carpet in all the rooms except one small bedroom in the back corner. This room had old, stained carpet and needed repairs but when the renovations were complete, it turned into the perfect ‘Art Studio.’ I painted constantly; almost day and night. I would often finish two paintings per day!
About a year later we began attending a little church in our neighbourhood. When the Pastor and his family found out that I was an artist, they asked me to teach their sons how to paint. I believed that God had given me the ‘gift’ of painting so I did not charge any money for the art lessons and we provided all the supplies needed for the lessons except the canvas. The next five and one-half years were filled with students from ages 6 to 70 coming in and out of my Studio twice per week and learning how to paint. At one time, I had 18 students per week.
This was a great time of learning and growing for me as an artist. After I stopped teaching Art, my interest moved from painting landscapes towards painting people. This was very foreign to me because I had never learned how to draw very much. During these years, I sold paintings, accepted commissions for specific works and did plein air paintings in public occasionally.
My husband, Ray, had also developed a great interest in painting. We took a spring vacation near a beautiful large lake in Texas and decided we would paint together for a week. After the first day of painting, I became very ill and thought it was a stomach virus or something I had eaten. In fact, I had been having stomach problems for a few weeks prior. After some research, we realized I had developed a strong allergy to oil paints and turpentine! We got rid of all oil based products in the Studio and I started using a water based acrylic paint. It was quite expensive.
Learning to paint with acrylics presented a huge challenge as they dry quickly in a matter of seconds and are nearly impossible to blend in comparison to oil paints, which take several days to dry completely and blending is no problem at all. Lots of new videos were studied and I continued to paint every day determined to learn the new medium. One weekend, I decided to paint a canvas and chose a landscape composition with an old Chapel high up in the mountains. I was painting as fast as I could before the acrylic dried and Ray laughingly said I was painting with both hands! When that experience was complete, I knew I could paint anything I wanted with acrylics.
A few years later we joined a local Art Association and we enjoyed making new friendships with other artists. We exhibited paintings in art shows, banks and other places during our tenor with the group. Soon I became President of my own Art Association, which was formed with the help of some very close and dear artist friends. We were a diverse group of lively, creative and energetic artists. Our meetings were fun, boisterous and informative. They were necessary for us because we always encouraged one another to keep painting no matter what! We exhibited paintings in different businesses on a continual basis and our artwork remains displayed at the city Library to this day.
You have 15 seconds to complete the task. (Pause 15 seconds.)
Now you will hear the text again. (Repeat.)
This is the end of the task. You now have 15 seconds to check your answers. (Pause 15 seconds.)
This is the end of the Listening Test.
Вы услышите интервью с учёным. В заданиях 3-9 запишите в поле ответа цифру 1, 2 или 3, соответствующую выбранному Вами варианту ответа. Вы услышите запись дважды.
Верный ответ: 2
P.S. Нашли ошибку в задании? Пожалуйста, сообщите о вашей находке ;)
При обращении указывайте id этого вопроса - 12996.
Задание 3-9
Now we are ready to start.
Interviewer: Van, we know that you went to college and studied Psychology and now you are a full-time designer. Have you always wanted to go into designing?
Van Monroe: Well, I knew this at a young age. My mother said I could draw since I was 2 years old. So even though I went off into management and then I was an account executive right before I quit, I would always still go home and paint pictures and draw or daydream about the stuff that I could do. I didn’t really follow my passion until it came to a point where I couldn’t concentrate on what I was doing at my 9 to 5 job and I knew it was time for me to give it a chance and see what would happen.
Interviewer: So as a designer, do you do both clothes and shoes?
Van Monroe: Well it actually started with clothing. Back in 2001, I was in college and I started airbrushing T-shirts. I mean everybody’s been airbrushing T-shirts forever, so it wasn’t like I was really standing out. Then I moved from there to designing tennis shoes and then moved into the beginning phases of trying to start my own shoe line, which is what I am working on right now.
Interviewer: When you first began, was it mainly just making the shoes a different colour or were you putting your art or accessories on the shoe?
Van Monroe: When I first started, I was just putting different colours on the tennis shoe and then it started evolving. I realized that I could now transfer to the shoe some of the stuff I was doing on the T-shirt. It was so new to people at the time and actually it is still even new now. People look at it and say, ‘Wow, you paint on tennis shoes?’ So you can imagine what it was like in 2003 when I was painting on tennis shoes and putting my own art on them. It was fun. I was just trying to do something different every time I picked up a new pair of shoes.
Interviewer: So how do you come up with your own designs? Do people just hand you their shoes and say go at it?
Van Monroe: Yes, definitely. That happened when I first started and it happens a lot now. Some people would give me a theme and say ‘I like this sport, I like this team - can you do something around that?’ Then I would just brainstorm, come up with something, pitch the idea to them, and if they like it, do it. So half the time is me composing an idea and putting it onto my webpage and people seeing it and saying, ‘Hey, I want to buy that.’ The other half is people coming to me and giving me their shoes and asking me to just run with it and do something different with it.
Interviewer: So tell me about ‘the Twentieth Century Fox’ promotion for the upcoming ‘Wolverine Origins’ movie? How did that come about?
Van Monroe: You know it’s a trip, because I didn’t even think that they would listen to me. But it turned out that some of them had seen my work before. Because Will Adams is in the movie and he had worn some of my Obama sneakers last year to an awards show. They didn’t know my name, but they had seen the Obama tennis shoe around. So it was a lot easier for me to pitch the idea of me helping promote their movie with the shoe.
Interviewer: That’s awesome! You mentioned that you are working on your own shoe line. What is your vision for the line?
Van Monroe: I wanna start it off with what’s called a ‘lifestyle shoe’. I plan to just touch on different subjects that a lot of other companies haven’t. Like, I have the Obama shoe, which definitely bridged the gap. So I want to continue to do that and I also want to put biblical things on tennis shoes. So I have got a whole host of things that I am trying to do, but I want to start them off at that level, then move on and eventually get into athletic shoes. I’m just trying to get in, where I fit in right now. But there is always that other level that you’ve gotta get to and that is what I’m working towards.
Interviewer: What is the inspiration for your art? Is it music? Things you see?
Van Monroe: I am inspired more by musicians than I am by artists. The reason is that musicians are so talented. Composers paint pictures with music and I just think it is so amazing, But my greatest motivation is hot issues. I am inspired by what I think is important for people to understand or for people to know. If there is a subject that I feel is not getting enough light, then I will put it on a tennis shoe to try to bring more awareness to it.
Interviewer: Thanks for taking the time to speak with me about your designs and upcoming projects. I definitely wish you continued success!
You have 15 seconds to complete the task. (Pause 15 seconds.)
Now you will hear the text again. (Repeat.)
This is the end of the task. You now have 15 seconds to check your answers. (Pause 15 seconds.)
This is the end of the Listening Test.
Вы услышите интервью с учёным. В заданиях 3-9 запишите в поле ответа цифру 1, 2 или 3, соответствующую выбранному Вами варианту ответа. Вы услышите запись дважды.
Верный ответ: 3
P.S. Нашли ошибку в задании? Пожалуйста, сообщите о вашей находке ;)
При обращении указывайте id этого вопроса - 12956.
Задание 3-9
Now we are ready to start.
Interviewer: It is a proven fact that if you elevate the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, this will have the effect of acidifying the sea, because carbon dioxide, when it dissolves, forms carbonic acid. This acidification, notwithstanding the invariable amount of dissolved oxygen, can change the way that fish react to the world around them. Dr Steve Simpson, who’s from Bristol University, has been looking at how this affects their ability to sense the sound of danger.
Dr. Simpson: My research has focused on the behaviour that coral reef fish show when they’re looking to seek habitat after a period of a few days of developing out at sea in the plankton. My interest has been particularly on the importance of auditory cues, which are sounds produced by animals on the coral reef that the small fish can detect and use to pick specific habitats. Recent research has demonstrated that fish which experience ocean acidification lose their natural sense of smell, which is the other cue that fish use to detect reef habitat. So the question is whether the sense of hearing is unaffected by ocean acidification and so, will be able to compensate for this loss of sense of smell, or whether hearing is also impacted on by ocean acidification.
Interviewer: So what was the experimental technique? What did you actually do and what fish did you test?
Dr. Simpson: We worked with clown fish. Clown fish are similar to Nemo, and are readily available through the aquarium trade. Clown fish are native to warmer waters of the Indian and Pacific oceans, including the Great Barrier Reef but they can be bred in captivity. So for scientists, this is great because it means that we can actually work with the embryos of these fish. So we took embryonic clown fish and put them into different treatments of water that were either based on today’s CO2, environment, or based on different predictions, for the CO2, environments later in the century. Then we took the fish and put them into a long tube facing towards a speaker and we allowed the fish to move around in this tube while we played sounds to them and monitored their behaviour.
Interviewer: What did the fish do under those circumstances when you played the sounds of a reef?
Dr. Simpson: We used a recording of daytime coral reef noise, and in the natural environment fish normally move away from this sound. A coral reef is a dangerous place during the daytime because of the high density of predators. And so, the noise of all these predators causes fish naturally to move away from the sound. On the contrary, the fish that had experienced high levels or elevated levels of CO2, showed no response to the recordings. So they were equally spending time moving towards the speaker as well as away from it.
Interviewer: Gosh! So that’s quite striking, isn’t it? Have you any clue as to why they behave like that?
Dr. Simpson: It’s certainly possible that the fish have gone deaf or it may be that the fish can hear these sounds quite well but lose their natural avoidance behaviour. But it’s most likely that their hearing has been partly influenced by the environment because we did look at the growth of their ear bone, which is a central part of a fish ear, and we found there are differences in the shape or the size of the ear bone between the fish from different treatments. Either way, any of those three scenarios would be bad news for the fish in the natural environment.
Interviewer: And what do you think the implications are for what you’ve found?
Dr. Simpson: Well, the implications are that loss of hearing or their natural responses to sound are certainly detrimental to fish, because fish live in a very auditory world, and sounds are important for detecting and avoiding predators, and also for detecting potential prey items. So there would be fairly detrimental impacts on fish populations. We don’t know whether this impact would be seen across the board in terms of different fish species and that’s the focus of our research now. It is also necessary to study whether fish can adapt to CO2, levels because there can be some rare fish that already have more tolerance that will then be able to keep pace with the change.
You have 15 seconds to complete the task. (Pause 15 seconds.)
Now you will hear the text again. (Repeat.)
This is the end of the task. You now have 15 seconds to check your answers. (Pause 15 seconds.)
This is the end of the Listening Test.
Вы услышите интервью с учёным. В заданиях 3-9 запишите в поле ответа цифру 1, 2 или 3, соответствующую выбранному Вами варианту ответа. Вы услышите запись дважды.
Верный ответ: 3
P.S. Нашли ошибку в задании? Пожалуйста, сообщите о вашей находке ;)
При обращении указывайте id этого вопроса - 12916.
Задание 3-9
Now we are ready to start.
There’s a lot of whining in baseball, at least among baseball fans. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been told the game isn’t as good as it used to be. Still, you could’ve seen game three of the World Series that year for $42, which brings me to my point: ‘When did going to a Major League Baseball game become more expensive than going to the opera?’
Don’t get me wrong. I like the trend in new ballparks, which began with the opening of the Camden Yards in 1992. I appreciate the padded seats, the unobstructed views, the variety of food. I used to go to the Giants’ old home, Candlestick Park, which was so cold and miserable that they tried to market fan endurance. The new Giants home is paradise in comparison, and it is relatively affordable. My brother and I went to see a game there in May, and our lower box seats cost $42. A steal compared with the L.A. Dodgers’ $285 VIP seats, and the average $73 Yankees ticket.
Average! That’s a hundred percent increase over last year’s Yankees ticket average, and the most expensive seats, directly behind home plate, were priced at $2,000. That was not the price for the season, or a month, or even a week. That was the price per seat, per game. For that kind of money, they should let you choose the batting order. Instead, all you get is free braised short ribs with fresh watercress.
When I visited the new stadium this summer to see the Yanks host Toronto with my pal Steve, I purchased two seats tor a total of $240. They were on the third level above home plate, a great vantage point from which to see the game but not the one where you are likely to catch any foul balls. The new Yankee Stadium looks a lot like the old Yankee Stadium from the outside, and you don’t have to rely 011 your memory to make that comparison: The original sits right across the street while they tear it clown in slow motion.
Sure, the old stadium was about as welcoming as JFK Airport and as confusing as Penn Station, but you could see the field pretty well, no matter where you were. The seats were uncomfortable, but if you wanted comfort, you could stay home and watch the game on TV. In the new stadium, you feel as if you are watching the game on TV. There are 1,400 screens and one LCD giant that’s six times bigger than the former stadium’s JumboTron. All the better, it seems, to broadcast animated figures telling you when it’s time to ‘make noise.’
Honestly, the velvet-rope treatment is my biggest complaint. It just seems ill-timed. When the team set out to build its new stadium, it was counting on Wall Street’s former Masters of the Universe to be putting their feet up on those $2,000 front-row seats. But now those same masters are building their resumes at home, and it’s embarrassing to televise games with empty front-row seats. So twice during the game, giant screens announced promotional upgrades in which lucky fans were picked out of the cheap seats and ushered into the ‘luxury’ area.
But what were the Yankees thinking in the first place? When did baseball become a rich man’s game? What happened to the game a kid could afford by working a paper route, with the dream of catching the game-winning home-run ball? These days, that kid wouldn’t stand a chance. He could never sneak in, and he certainly couldn’t buy his own ticket. Nor could he get anywhere near the players as the now discounted dugout seats, where fans used to plead for autographs during batting practice, are still $1,000.
Steve and I had a great time at the game that day. Burnett pitched seven excellent innings. The Yankees won 4-2. But as I left the stadium, I thought about the long-term effects of excluding the majority of baseball fans from the experience of watching the game live.
You have 15 seconds to complete the task. (Pause 15 seconds.)
Now you will hear the text again. (Repeat.)
This is the end of the task. You now have 15 seconds to check your answers. (Pause 15 seconds.)
This is the end of the Listening Test.
Вы услышите интервью с учёным. В заданиях 3-9 запишите в поле ответа цифру 1, 2 или 3, соответствующую выбранному Вами варианту ответа. Вы услышите запись дважды.
Верный ответ: 2
P.S. Нашли ошибку в задании? Пожалуйста, сообщите о вашей находке ;)
При обращении указывайте id этого вопроса - 12876.
Задание 3-9
Now we are ready to start.Вы услышите интервью с учёным. В заданиях 3-9 запишите в поле ответа цифру 1, 2 или 3, соответствующую выбранному Вами варианту ответа. Вы услышите запись дважды.
Верный ответ: 3
P.S. Нашли ошибку в задании? Пожалуйста, сообщите о вашей находке ;)
При обращении указывайте id этого вопроса - 12836.
Задание 3-9
Now we are ready to start.
When I’m stopped on the street, people often want to tell me that they’ve never forgotten my match against Bobby Riggs in 1973. Every single day of my life, people come up to me and say, ‘I remember watching you play that match, and win.’ Men, especially, tell me this. It’s amazing. They say, ‘I have a daughter now, and she’s ten years old. I’m raising my daughter differently because of seeing you play that match.’ They really insist that their daughters and sons have equal opportunities. It’s been a huge shift in attitude. These men are so different from their fathers and grandfathers.
My parents have always been the biggest inspiration in my life. They worked three jobs so that my brother, Randy, and I could pursue our athletic dreams as kids. They taught us great lessons, which are particularly relevant today, with the economy the way it is. My parents always said, ‘If you don’t have it, don’t spend it.” When I was eleven and wanted to buy my first tennis racket, they didn’t buy it for me. I had to work odd jobs to earn it. Their attitude was, ‘Let’s see if you’re really interested.
Let’s see if you have the focus.’ I guess I solved that one!
Actually, I don’t have much free time but when I do have a spare minute, I enjoy reading. My favourite book is Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty by Muhammad Yunus, the economist who won the Nobel Prize in 2006. It’s great. He explains how he developed the Grameen Bank and how, through the concept of micro-financing, he was able to change a lot of people’s lives. As soon as he gave out a small loan to different people, he began to visualize what that could lead to. He saw the potential. He is one of my heroes. That’s what I try to do for tennis and other things.
The person I admire most of all is Julie Foudy, former Olympic soccer star. She walks into a room and just lights it up. We see each other every October at the Women’s Sports Foundation dinner in New York, which brings together athletes from over 130 sports. She’s energetic, bright, and possesses all of the qualities that go into leadership, which sports is a great venue for. Sometimes she’ll just call me and say, ‘Help!’ We should all ask for help when we need it, particularly when we’re young-and, you know, when you need help. It takes courage to ask for it. With her energy and her leadership qualities, Julie can do just about anything. That’s great!
People always think that being a great sportsman doesn’t require any effort. They believe that success is easy. Absolutely wrong! Athletes must have a daily discipline of mind, body, and soul. They have to do it all as physical exertion teaches tenacity and will power. But you cannot just be ‘dead from the neck up.’ It is also a way of thinking, the mental side that often spells the difference between an average hitter and a good hitter and between a good hitter and a great hitter. Life is difficult sometimes. But every time I see a ball bounce, I think about bouncing back myself. It’s a philosophy.
I don’t only think about winning tennis matches. I also think about what I’ve done off the court. Everything I’ve done is trying to push the envelope, whether it’s on or off the court, to create a more level playing field for others and to help people have a better quality of life. That’s what I care about.
You have 15 seconds to complete the task. (Pause 15 seconds.)
Now you will hear the text again. (Repeat.)
This is the end of the task. You now have 15 seconds to check your answers. (Pause 15 seconds.)
This is the end of the Listening Test.
Вы услышите интервью с учёным. В заданиях 3-9 запишите в поле ответа цифру 1, 2 или 3, соответствующую выбранному Вами варианту ответа. Вы услышите запись дважды.
Верный ответ: 3
P.S. Нашли ошибку в задании? Пожалуйста, сообщите о вашей находке ;)
При обращении указывайте id этого вопроса - 12796.
Задание 3-9
Now we are ready to start.
Question: What is unique about your hotel’s location?
Answer: San Diego is known as America’s finest city because of its amazing climate and natural beauty. Tourists can visit lots of attractions like the world renowned San Diego Zoo or Sea World, located in the suburbs. Or if they are just looking to unwind, San Diego is home to some of the most beautiful beaches in North America. The Keating Hotel is situated in the heart of downtown, where guests will find premier dining, shopping and entertainment. Reflecting historic grandeur and modern allure, the Keating Hotel offers a chic retreat from the urban metropolis.
Question: What makes your hotel memorable and unforgettable?
Answer: The Keating is an intimate boutique hotel with full dedication to exceeding the guest’s expectations. The chic design makes it memorable but ultimately what makes it really unforgettable is the service and attention guests receive from our personal concierge from the moment their reservation is made. Guests will rave about the Keating Hotel’s sleek design and lavish accommodations, savory food and chic boutique nightclub. But above all, they will rave about the service of the personal concierge and their efforts to make sure every detail is taken care of.
Question: What is the atmosphere of your hotel? What types of guests does it attract?
Answer: The Keating caters to a diverse clientele. During convention season we have business executives, and at weekends, the hotel and night club welcome celebrities who appreciate an intimate setting without the media or fan attention. Yet the hotel has become most popular with people celebrating special occasions. We go above and beyond to make celebrations an extraordinary experience.
Question: What makes your hotel a destination within itself?
Answer: The Keating is a destination itself because it is located in the heart of the Gaslamp quarter where our guests have a bird’s eye view of the main entertainment district in San Diego without having to leave the comfort of their suite. Guests can begin their evening in style with specialty cocktails, followed by an intimate dinner at the Bistro Italiano that features fresh pasta dishes, thin crust pizzas and unique wines from California and Italy. And the night doesn’t have to end there; all hotel guests are VIPs at the boutique nightclub, where the city’s top DJs spin and San Diego’s elite come to mix and mingle.
Question: Do you provide any special amenities to guests?
Answer: Our luxurious rooms and suites have lavish amenities like modern electronics, WIFI wireless internet access, luxurious Italian linens, an espresso machine, and also designer bathrobes. In the evening, the guest rooms are turned down to a relaxing setting and fresh baked pastries are set table side for a nighttime treat. On arrival guests are welcomed in the lobby by a bowl of fruit and fresh flavored water made according to the season.
Question: What are your responsibilities in the hotel?
Answer: I am responsible for the entire operation at the Keating Hotel, making sure that all our guests are happy and want to come back and recommend our hotel to their family, friends and colleagues. Besides, I am actively involved in all kinds of renovations. Two years ago we redecorated all our guest rooms, our lobby area and the bar. This year we’ve also completely re-done our wellness area except for the swimming pool, which was built only a year ago.
Question: What do you enjoy most about what you do?
Answer: I love all the various aspects of a large city hotel. It’s the contact with the guests in the lobby, welcoming them to our executive lounge, inviting people for an exciting wine dinner in one of our award winning restaurants. Yet my greatest pleasure is working with my colleagues and subordinates. When you feel that you are representing a brand like this, then you just can’t go wrong. I am proud of what I do, and of the hotel I work for.
Question: Thank you for sharing your experiences. I wish you all the best in your current position and look forward to hearing more great things about your achievements in the future.
You have 15 seconds to complete the task, (Pause 15 seconds.)
Now you will hear the text again. (Repeat.)
This is the end of the task. You now have 15 seconds to check your answers. (Pause 15 seconds.)
This is the end of the Listening Test.
Вы услышите интервью с учёным. В заданиях 3-9 запишите в поле ответа цифру 1, 2 или 3, соответствующую выбранному Вами варианту ответа. Вы услышите запись дважды.
Верный ответ: 3
P.S. Нашли ошибку в задании? Пожалуйста, сообщите о вашей находке ;)
При обращении указывайте id этого вопроса - 12756.
Задание 3-9
Now we are ready to start.
Reader’s Digest: In your new book, you criticize your fellow environmentalists, using such words as ‘outdated’ and ‘too tradition-bound.’ Why?
Stewart Brand: To understand why I’m critical, you have to remember that at the beginning of the environmental movement, back in the 1970s, the green credo was built on three ‘antis’: anti-nuclear power, anti-genetically engineered crops, and anti-densely populated cities. But the world has changed radically. Today we’re faced with the threat of catastrophic global warming; and the application of technology is our only chance to reverse this greenhouse devastation. As a result, some fundamental green ideas have to be re-examined and rethought.
RD: Let’s be specific: Which ideas are you talking about?
Stewart Brand: Take, for example, the once sacrosanct ideas that nuclear power and genetically engineered crops are bad. That simply doesn’t make sense anymore. We now have a number of exciting and maturing technologies to address the challenge of climate change, including advances in nuclear power generation and the creation of genetically engineered crops that use less energy and less water.
RD: So, how would you describe the current state of the environmental movement?
Stewart Brand: There’s a battle going on right now. A fair number of people are gradually going from being antinuclear to being cautiously pronuclear. Of course, many greens, especially in Europe, are still against transgenic crops. But I’ve talked to others who are not as worked up about technologies like synthetic biology. In short, everything is in flux. For instance, in the past, nobody wanted to talk about finding ways to make coal less dirty. But now that our backs are against the wall, we’ve got to look at every possible way of making energy cleaner.
RD: You’ve said that the opposition among greens to the genetic management of agriculture is the biggest mistake the environmental movement has ever made. Do you still stand by that sweeping statement?
Stewart Brand: Absolutely. We did active harm, especially in Africa by promoting a form of antiscience. We told people in the developing world, ‘Pay no attention to the scientists who say that transgenic crops are not only okay but also more productive, more sustainable, and actually good for the environment.’ And we had no right to say that. After all, we are the people who base our arguments regarding global climate change on scientific data, and yet when the science didn’t suit our preconceived notions, we abandoned science. That’s not good.
RD: What’s been the reaction to your proposals on genetically modified food?
Stewart Brand: Well, I’m a little surprised that food activists haven’t come over to my way of thinking. The local growing of organic food is absolutely fantastic in a country where the major nutrition problem is obesity. However, that’s not the major nutrition problem in most of the world. What’s needed is volume. The second green revolution is in the next set of good technologies in agriculture. Not only of higher yield, lower cost, cheaper food, better distribution, but also environmentally green in terms of climate.
RD: Let’s talk about nuclear energy, which you now advocate. How practical is that? It creates all that dangerous waste, and we have no way to dispose of it.
Stewart Brand: Air pollution from coal burning is estimated to cause 30,000 deaths a year from lung disease in the USA and 350,000 deaths in China. A one-gigawatt coal plant produces seven million tons of carbon dioxide, all of which immediately goes into the atmosphere, where no one can control it. Using a nuclear reactor to generate one gigawatt a year requires only about 20 tons of nuclear fuel. It’s true that nuclear reactors create 20 tons of nuclear waste, but they create absolutely zero carbon dioxide.
RD: That still doesn’t address the question of what we do with all the spent nuclear waste.
Stewart Brand: Right now, that nuclear waste is carefully monitored by the government. By contrast, the millions of tons of carbon dioxide that go into the atmosphere from a coal plant are neither controlled nor retrievable. One new thing in spent nuclear-waste storage that’s come along is the so called borehole technology. The idea is you dig a borehole three miles deep. You can drop spent fuel rods down the borehole, pour in some concrete, and forget about the whole thing. And then there’s a breakthrough in nuclear technology that’s just over the horizon. I mean fourth-generation reactors that can reprocess the spent nuclear fuel.
You have 15 seconds to complete the task. (Pause 15 seconds.)
Now you will hear the text again. (Repeat.)
This is the end of the task. You now have 15 seconds to check your answers. (Pause 15 seconds.)
This is the end of the Listening Test.
Вы услышите интервью с учёным. В заданиях 3-9 запишите в поле ответа цифру 1, 2 или 3, соответствующую выбранному Вами варианту ответа. Вы услышите запись дважды.
Верный ответ: 3
P.S. Нашли ошибку в задании? Пожалуйста, сообщите о вашей находке ;)
При обращении указывайте id этого вопроса - 12716.
Задание 3-9
Now we are ready to start.
Interviewer: Daniel, you’re coming to the end of the journey now and we’ve basically watched you grow up on-screen. How do you feel about it?
Daniel Radcliffe: I’m not thinking about it that much at the moment. It’s very occasionally I’m suddenly thinking, oh God, I am only here for another 3 months, you know? And so that’s very odd and it will be very upsetting when it does come to an end because I’ve spent so much time here and made some fantastic friends who I hope will stay with me for the rest of my life. And so it’ll be very sad but equally it is an exciting time. Whenever you go through periods of transition, I suppose those times are always going to be both very upsetting and also very exciting by the very nature because things are changing and you don’t know what’s going to happen.
Interviewer: Could you talk about when you got the 7th book? Your experience of reading it for the first time and just your emotions?
Radcliffe: Yeah, I obviously loved the 7th book as much as everybody else did. I was reading actually at a cricket match because it came out 2 days before my 18th birthday. And I was going to a match for my birthday. So I was going ‘round for 2 days without having read it while everybody else was reading it. And so it was a 2-day-long struggle to beg not to be told how it all ends. And I did actually manage to do that and then, yeah, I remember finishing it on the plane and just becoming very emotional. I found it’s a very moving book. The epilogue was something that I liked. It’s tying together all those loose ends. Because the thing is that if Jo Rowling hadn’t written that epilogue, can you imagine being her for the rest of her life and having to cope with questions about what did Harry go on to do? She has to give some conclusion.
Interviewer: And can we talk about the process of the film? Not only the physical action but there’re some great emotions that Harry has to go through.
Radcliffe: The whole series for me is about loss of innocence and about Harry going from this kind of a wide-eyed child and turning into this slightly grizzled young man by the end of it. Although it is essential that he does not turn into a man necessarily in the film because what makes all that fight stuff at the end so powerful and so horrible to watch is the fact that you’re seeing a kid get beaten up by a very strong, very angry man.
Interviewer: Speaking of that, can you talk about filming that sequence with you and Ralph Fiennes when you’re in the forest and you know you’re going to die?
Radcliffe: That scene was one of my favourites. And as with everything that you place great significance on, one tends to put so much pressure on yourself that you actually end up nowhere. I so much wanted it to be good. I was probably trying almost too many different things. It was really hard work but I suppose simply because of the expectations I placed on myself.
Interviewer: Can you talk about the overall pride that you have for the series and what you and everyone have been able to accomplish?
Radcliffe: Of course I’m very proud of the series. These are films that are some of the biggest grossing films ever. No, not because of that... I think that’s because of the attention to detail that we have over these films. If you walk onto one of those sets, you’ll see not only the grandeur of it but, what makes them really impressive, also the details of the sets that you probably would never see in the film. But I think the fact that we walk onto those sets every day and think, well, if these sets are here, we have to be good enough to use them. You know, because they are amazing.
Interviewer: Are you comfortable with the association with the series and the character that you’ll have for the rest of your life?
Radcliffe: Well, I think that every opportunity I’ll get for the rest of my life, I would not have got if it wasn’t for Harry Potter. And it would be height of ingratitude if I was ever anything but proud to be associated with these films.
You have 15 seconds to complete the task. (Pause 15 seconds.)
Now you will hear the text again. (Repeat.)
This is the end of the task. You now have 15 seconds to check your answers. (Pause 15 seconds.)
This is the end of the Listening Test.
Вы услышите интервью с учёным. В заданиях 3-9 запишите в поле ответа цифру 1, 2 или 3, соответствующую выбранному Вами варианту ответа. Вы услышите запись дважды.
Верный ответ: 1
P.S. Нашли ошибку в задании? Пожалуйста, сообщите о вашей находке ;)
При обращении указывайте id этого вопроса - 12676.
Задание 3
Now we are ready to start.
Question: Doctor Dibb, what is ARCTAS?
Answer: ARCTAS stands for the Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites. It is part of the activities that are going on under the umbrella of the International Polar Year about every 40 or 50 years. 2008 and 2009 are two of those years when this is occurring after the last ones were in the 50’s. This is the time when the international community comes together and focuses on polar aspects.
Question: Why should we study the Arctic?
Answer: It’s generally a very clean region because nobody or very few people actually live there, but there’s a lot of pollution that is imported into those areas and transported there. So our main goal is to see how it is getting transported, where it is coming from and what impact it might have on the regional climate in the arctic region.
Question: Why don’t you use satellites to get this data?
Answer: The satellites do a good job of staying there for several years so they do provide us a longterm view of things. They also cover a lot of territory so they are more global in nature, but they don’t do a very good job in terms of the details. They don’t measure a lot of things that we need to know in order to understand the system, in order to be able to model it and to forecast or predict the changes in the future. So a lot of detailed observations we will be doing using airborne platforms are really not possible from satellites. But there is a second aspect. Things that are measurable from satellites require a lot of validation, because a satellite is really an indirect measure of things.
Question: How does this study relate to climate change?
Answer: Given the recent loss of Arctic ice in 2007, which was unprecedented, this is a fortuitous time for us to be here looking at climate change in the Arctic. We’re particularly interested in the atmospheric contribution to that so in the spring we’re looking at what is traditionally been described as Arctic haze. Besides, this Arctic haze has components that come from pollution transport from mid-latitude locations such as North America, Europe and Siberia.
Question: So, are you looking at how carbon dioxide is related to climate change?
Answer: We’re not only looking at carbon dioxide, which is the most recognizable greenhouse gas, but also at methane, and CFC’s and ozone, even more importantly. Ozone is a greenhouse gas that’s not emitted by pollution but is created by the chemistry of pollutants as they’re transported to the Arctic. Trying to understand those things is an important part of this campaign.
Question: What recent changes in the Arctic have made the ARCTAS mission really important?
Answer: One of the things that has been of great interest in the last few years is why the snow and ice are now. melting earlier in the year and freezing up later and, clearly, the air is a little warmer. There’s also speculation that the dirt and the black carbon that is in the Arctic haze that’s deposited just as the sun is coming up may actually change the reflection of the snow and hasten the melt season. So where is this black carbon coming from? Is it increasing or decreasing over time? And does it have a measurable effect on the reflection of the white surface as we come out of the winter in the Arctic? These questions are a major motivation behind ARCTAS.
Question: What is your field of study and how does it relate to the ARCTAS mission?
Answer: We have a lot of similar issues, like where the air comes from that gets to a place like Greenland and how it gets out of the atmosphere, and onto the ground. Recently we’ve discovered that there’s very active processing of the snow. When the sun shines on the snow, a lot of complicated chemistry happens that nobody knew about 10 years ago. I’m actually studying snow and air samples in Greenland to better understand ice core analyses that have been done by other folks in our group and in other areas of the world.
You have 15 seconds to complete the task. (Pause 15 seconds.)
Now you will hear the text again. (Repeat.)
This is the end of the task. You now have 15 seconds to check your answers. (Pause 15 seconds.)
This is the end of the Listening Test.
Вы услышите интервью с учёным. В заданиях 3-9 запишите в поле ответа цифру 1, 2 или 3, соответствующую выбранному Вами варианту ответа. Вы услышите запись дважды.
Верный ответ: 2
P.S. Нашли ошибку в задании? Пожалуйста, сообщите о вашей находке ;)
При обращении указывайте id этого вопроса - 12636.