MAKE_THE_GRADE_kafedra

Interviewer: And they have a wide appeal, don‘t they, because we can all place them, we know where we are with them.

Lynda: Well, maybe that‘s because I‘m actually quite resistant to the idea of moving into abstract art, because that‘s what everyone, kind of, expects you to do. The resistance stems, I think, from where I did my training. I was at a college where there was a very strong emphasis on figure drawing and traditional drawing skills generally. It‘d be hard to shake that off, even if I wanted to.

Interviewer: So do you actually do the drawings down by the waterfront? Lynda: Not much of the work is done in situation, actually, just the preliminary sketches. Those then act as my source of inspiration. I then take them and play about with them until I get an idea of how a finished drawing may look. The drawings often take the form of composite images actually.

Interviewer: So your workspace is pretty important to you?

Lynda: It‘s funny you should mention that because when I did those particular drawings, I was working in a rented studio in South London. It was a great space, with a nice atmosphere. It was big enough to have six or seven pieces of work on the go at the same time. But it was beginning to get me down because although it wasn‘t that far away in terms of miles, it was a stressful journey to get over there. I often found that ideas that were fresh in my mind as I left the house in the morning were draining away by the time I‘d fought my way through the traffic.

Interviewer: So where do you work now?

Lynda: Well, as I say, I‘d had it in mind for some time to find a workplace closer to home., and then one day earlier this year, I noticed an easel in an upstairs window in one of the houses on the other side of the road where I live. I knew the girl across the road was an artist, but for some reason I thought she was a designer working in a potter‘s studio or something. I‘d never met her to talk to. So it was a pleasant surprise to realize not only did I have a painter living nearby, but she also did her work there, too. Interviewer: A real coincidence.

Lynda: Amazing. Seeing the easel standing there was one of those eureka moments, you know, I phoned her later on and said that I had a show coming up, and could I rent a room on a short-term basis. As it turned out, she was happy for me to take over a room as a temporary studio.

Interviewer: So it‘s really worked out well for you.

Lynda: I‘ve only been in this studio for a couple of months, but it‘s already proved to be a revelation. There‘s the obvious benefit of just

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having to cross the road to get here, and at first I was concerned about whether I‘d be able to completely detach myself mentally from the normal day-to-day routine, which is vital. I know I would be terribly distracted if I actually tried to work at home.

Interviewer: So tell us about the exhibition.

Lynda: The work I‘ll be showing at the exhibition in September is all new work, a lot of it produced in my present studio. Working there has had a real impact on my work. I think it‘s got a lot to do with the fact that I can come in and work in short bursts – one of the effects of that has been that the work has been developing more quickly and I think the images are sharper as a result. But it‘s not only that, the colours have changed, become softer, though I couldn‘t tell you why. Overall I think the effect is a much stronger image.

Interviewer: And what does the future hold?

Lynda: Although I have started to experiment with different surfaces and mediums – I tried doing some designs on ceramics recently which was fun

– I‘m actually more comfortable working on paper. I feel I know exactly what I can do with it, what it can take. Canvas frankly freaks me out. I know that a gallery can charge more for an oil painting on canvas just because it is an oil painting on canvas, but I can‘t really understand why. As far as subject matter goes, I‘m also thinking about moving away from the Thames; going back to doing people, which is where I started really. Interviewer: Lynda, good luck with the exhibition, and thank you for joining us.

UNIT 5

PART 1

Listen to Part A of the call and decide if these statements are True or

False.

THE RADIO PHONE-IN

Part A

Presenter: Our next caller is Rachel who is from South London. Go ahead Rachel.

Rachel: Hello, Doctor Howard.

Dr. Howard: Hello, Rachel. How can I help you?

Rachel: Well, you see it‘s about my son, Mark. He‘s almost 18 and he hasn‘t been able to find a job since he left school.

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Dr. Howard: When did he leave?

Rachel: It‘ll be a year in July.

Dr. Howard: And what seems to be the problem?

Rachel: It‘s like this. Mark used to be such a nice, outgoing sort of boy but over the last few months he‘s changed quite a bit.

Dr. Howard: So, can you describe what has happened?

Rachel: Well, after he was turned down for several jobs he got depressed and withdrawn which was bad enough, but now it‘s got much worse – he‘s become really moody and aggressive.

Dr. Howard: Moody and aggressive?

Rachel: Yes, and he‘s started mixing with some boys I don‘t like very much. But to tell you the truth, I think he‘s starting taking drugs.

Dr. Howard: What makes you think that?

Rachel: Well, as I said, there are his change of moods. One minute he‘s depressed and the next minute he becomes very excited – you know, he can‘t sit still. Another thing is stuff has disappeared from the house. Some of my jewellery has gone and some money and so has Mark‘s cassette player.

Dr. Howard: Does he know you know about the cassette player?

Rachel: Yes, he does. He told me he‘d let a friend borrow it. I was really surprised because he‘s always been so keen on music. When I asked him about it a couple of days later, he just told me to mind my own business.

Another thing is that he just doesn‘t look after himself any more or care what he looks like. And I‘ve noticed strange noise smells in the house too.

Dr. Howard: May I ask you, Rachel, are you still married?

Rachel: Yes I am but my husband spends a lot of time away. He‘s in the merchant navy, you see.

Dr. Howard: From what you‘ve said the change in your son has been quite dramatic. What I suggest….

PART 2

Listen to the text and write if the following statements are True or False according to the text.

(P= Presenter, N= Nostradamus)

P One of the names most commonly associated in the collective consciousness with augury and foreknowledge is that of Nostradamus, although the facts about this man and his prophecies are less widely known. Born in Provence in 1503, the Frenchman Michel Nostradamus

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studied medicine at Montpellier University and began a lifetime of seemingly dedicated caring for the sick. He particularly cared for the victims of the Black Death, a virulent plague that had reached epidemic proportions. After the death of his first wife and her two children, ironically victims of the disease, he wandered widely, at one period having to evade the infamous Inquisition because of some injudicious remarks he had made concerning a statue. Eventually he remarried, this time to a rich widow, and settled down in Salon.

It was there that he began to write almanacs and his book of prophecies.

Each prophecy is written in the form of a four line verse or ‗quatrain‗ and they are given in groups of 100 called ‗centuries, although they are not in chronological order. He intended to write 100 quatrains, but the seventh century is not complete, so there are 942 in all.

The first two quatrains are not prophecies but describe the divining technique. Nostradamus used a method recorded by Imblichus, a fourth century Neoplatonist, details of which had been republished in a book in 1547. A bowl of water was placed on a brass tripod, and the seer stared into the water until images of the future appeared. The prophecies became very popular all over Europe and Nostradamus was given a royal audience with Catherine Medici on three occasions. After his death in 1556, his fame continued to spread. There are a number of his quatrains which appear to refer to historical episodes with an uncanny accuracy. The following quatrain is believed to be about the rise of Hitler and the Second World War, and the prophecy even predicts the name almost exactly:

N Beasts ferocious with hunger will swim across rivers. The greater part of the region will be against Hitler. The great one will cause it to be dragged in an iron cage when the German child will observe nothing.

P In another quatrain he is believed to have predicted the rise of the emperor Napoleon, who was born in Corsica:

N An Emperor will be born near Italy. One who will cost his Empire at high price. They will say that from the sort of people who surround him. He is to be found less prince than butcher.

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P Nostradamus is also credited with foreseeing the fighter aircraft and the atomic bomb; one of the quatrains has also been interpreted as predicting a nuclear war, with its origins in the Middle East, at around the end of the millennium.

Sceptics would argue that the quatrains are vague and are open to many different interpretations. They would suggest, too, that almost any historical event could be made to fit one of the 940 randomly ordered prophecies, and also that there were bound to be some apparently spectacular predictions with such a large base. But whatever the millennium brings, Nostradamus and his apocalyptic visions are certain to remain a subject of fascinating and controversy for the foreseeable future.

UNIT 6

PART 1

You are now going to hear an interview between Peter Whitehead, the presenter of a current affairs programme, and Frances Kelly, the leader of the Campaign for Clean Air. While you listen, decide if the following statements are True or False (1-8).

Peter Whitehead: The Campaign for Clean Air has just issued a report on air pollution and we have in the studio Frances Kelly of the CCA who‘s going to tell us something about the dangers we face from air pollutants.

Frances Kelly: Hello.

Peter Whitehead: Let‘s start with sulphur dioxide which causes acid rain.

I thought the government was doing something about that.

Frances Kelly: Well, they are but slowly. Sulphur dioxide emissions from power stations are still going on and the resulting acid rain is still killing fishes and plant life in lakes and destroying the forests. And we in Britain are among the worst culprits when it comes to this kind of pollution.

Peter Whitehead: What are the other pollutants?

Frances Kelly: Carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. Carbon monoxide, which is mostly produced by motor vehicles can, even in small doses, cause sickness and a slowing of the reflexes and there is strong evidence to show that it has an effect on the growth of children.

Peter Whitehead: And carbon dioxide?

Frances Kelly: Well, in a way this is the least dangerous of the pollutants we‘ve mentioned but in the longer term it may be the most damaging.

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Peter Whitehead: Why?

Frances Kelly: There is clear evidence that the build-up of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is the main cause of the Greenhouse Effect. This will have dreadful results like the melting of the polar ice caps and the subsequent flooding of low-lying areas.

Peter Whitehead: So what you‘re saying is that the increased amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is making it warmer.

Frances Kelly: Yes, that‘s right and the results will be catastrophic.

Peter Whitehead: And what should we be doing about this?

Frances Kelly: Frankly, the government has got to impose far stricter controls on these emissions and bring in tough legislation to deal with the problem.

Peter Whitehead: Frances Kelly, thank you very much.

Frances Kelly: Thank you.

Peter Whitehead: After the news we hope to be talking to the Minister for

Environment, Patrick Hilliard…

PART 2

You will hear a radio report about a wildlife holiday in the Yellowstone National Park in the USA. For questions 9-17, complete the sentences with a word or short phrase.

Announcer: And our next report is from Michela Jenson, who‘s been wolf watching in the Yellowstone National Park in the USA.

Michela: It all started some years ago on a trip to Canada. In a place called Dawson City, I met a man who had just had his first sighting of a wild wolf. His eyes positively lit up every time he spoke of it and I could see that he had been deeply moved by the experience. Ever since then, I had been looking forward to the day when I might share the feeling.

Wolves once roamed freely across North America, but after 200 years of being regarded as a pest and persecuted mercilessly, few remain, and they now feature on the official list of endangered species. I was told that the best chance of seeing one was to head for the Yellowstone National Park in the US state of Wyoming. The US National Parks Service reintroduced wolves into the Yellowstone some years ago in an attempt to recreate the balanced ecosystem lost to hunting over the centuries. Yellowstone has more than three million visitors a year, 140 000 of whom visit, as I did, in the winter, the best time for wolf spotting. And an estimated 20 000 of

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those are thought to have been lucky enough to get a sighting since the wolf reintroduction programme began.

There are no direct flights from London to Yellowstone, so I flew to Salt Lake City via Phoenix, Arizona, and then on into Wyoming by road. It was a seven-day organizes wolf-watching trip offered by the company known as Wildlife Windows, and so my visit began with an evening lecture given by a park warden. He explained that the wolves are now one of the park‘s biggest winter attractions, for the animals are easier to see in the snow. For people traveling alone through the park there was, he explained, little chance of seeing a wolf although many people mistake the much commoner coyote for one. The coyote is smaller, with longer ears a nd a paler coat. Wolves, whitch vary in colour from grey to jet black, have longer legs.

Fortunately, my own personal guide was already booked as part of the package tour I had bought, and for the next six days he led me around the park. His name was Ken and he‘d studied to be a biologist before retraining as a professional guide.

There is only one road open through the park in the winter, and it was fairly packed with wolf watches, environmentalists and photographers, and so Ken‘s advice was invaluable. He explained that about 50 per cent of the wolves have been fitted with devices known as tracking collars, which send out a signal, so it was possible to know whereabouts to start our search. Nonetheless, the animals tended to keep away from the road unless they wanted to cross it, and large numbers of cars parked along one stretch of road was an indication that there‘s been a sighting, but the wolves wouldn‘t be hanging around.

Ken told me that wolf pack tend to operate over fairly large territories, but he was fairly sure he knew where we‘d spot some. He told me not to bother scouring the forested verges and nearby hillsides, but to keep by binoculars trained on the distant slopes, where I should keep my eyes peeled for grey rocks sticking up out of the snow. When I saw one move, we‘d stop and take a closer look.

When it came, my one wolf sighting was over very quickly. My heart leapt into my mouth when I spotted one, just a few hundred meters away on the side of a hill. A young male, he had a flecked grey coat and surprisingly

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piercing yellow eyes, clearly visible through the excellent telescope Kent trust into my hand. I might have been in the relative safety of the car, but I could still feel myself struggling to breathe with the excitement. My friend in Canada had been right; it was a unique experience, well worth waiting for.

Announcer: Michela Jenson there, reporting to the USA.

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ANSWER SHEET

UNIT 1 LANGUAGE LEARNING AND FUTURE PROFESSION

1.1. READING

Ex. 1
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15

Ex. 2

1 2 3 4C 5D

1.2. USE OF ENGLISH

Ex. 1		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
Ex. 2
1	2	3	4		5	6	7	8		9	10
11	12		13		14	15		16		17	18	19		20
Ex. 3
1	2	3 I	4		5	6	7	8
Ex. 5
1						9					17					25
2						10					18					26
3						11					19					27
4						12					20					28
5						13					21					29
6						14					22					30
7						15					23					31
8						16					24					32

1.5. LISTENING

Ex.1
1	6
2	7
3	8
4	9
5

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SELF-ASSESSMENT TEST

Ex. 1
Task one:		1		2		3	4		5
Task two:		6		7		8	9		10
Ex. 2	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
Ex. 3	1		2		3		4		5	6	7	8		9	10	11	12
13	14		15		16		17	18		19	20	21
Ex. 4	1 B	2 E		3 H		4 I	5 A		6 K	7 J	8 C	9 G	10 F
Ex. 5
1				11					21					31
2				12					22					32
3				13					23					33
4				14					24					34
5				15					25					35
6				16					26					36
7				17					27					37
8				18					28					38
9				19					29
10				20					30

UNIT 2 TELEVISION AND CINEMA

2.1. READING

Ex.		1
1			2	3	4		5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Ex.		2
1		2		3	4	5	6	7
2.2. USE OF ENGLISH
Ex.		1
1	2		3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
Ex.		2.
1		2		3	4	5	6	7		8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20		21

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