Английский ЕГЭ - банк заданий - страница 234
Вопросы
Прочитайте текст и выполните задания 12-18. В каждом задании запишите в поле ответа цифру 1, 2, 3 или 4, соответствующую выбранному Вами варианту ответа.
Gap year
Once only a common occurrence in Europe, embarking on a year-long break, or gap year, before starting college has become almost mainstream in the U.S. Even former presidents’ children took a year off before attending university. And now college graduates are increasingly taking a gap year before graduate school.
By the time students graduate from college, they may have been going to school for some 20 years. The idea of charging right into another two to seven (or more) years of academia, depending on a student’s post-graduate goals, can be daunting. Educational burnout is a real possibility for some. A gap year allows students to take a breather – to rest, recharge, refresh, reinvigorate and reflect on the next step in life.
“It’s a very American mindset to keep going and going and going,” says Yulia Fires, a founder of a consulting firm that provides support for students taking a gap year. “I call it the ‘conveyor-belt mindset’ of kindergarten through high school, into college, into grad school, then you get a career, and then you retire… We are obsessed, as a culture, with productivity. People need to be more deliberate with their choices, and a gap year offers that time for deep reflection, and also for deliberate action to inform their grad school choices.”
No longer are the only options graduate school or a job. The gap year offers a third, just-as-productive option, which can include travel, volunteering, internships, experiential learning opportunities, or working professionally to gain experience in one’s chosen field. The possibilities are endless. “The magic of a gap year is in trying different things and awakening interests or skills that may have stayed dormant in your college years,” Fires says.
While little official data has been kept on gap years, especially pre-grad school, the Gap Year Association says gap years are increasing in popularity in the U.S., as evidenced by a booming industry of gap year programs.
This organization also conducted the first-ever nationwide study on the effects of a gap year experience. While the survey was of students who had participated in a gap year before starting college, some of the data can be applied to pre-grad-school “gappers” – especially regarding the motivation for taking a gap year. Of the gappers surveyed, 92 percent cited a desire to gain life experience and personal growth; 85 percent wanted to travel, see the world, and experience other cultures; and 81 percent wanted a break from the traditional academic track.
“Put it in this perspective. You’re 22 years old. What is a year in the grand scheme of your life, and for the purpose of discovery and maybe a little adventure or education?” Fires says. “When you survey people who have done it, they say they wouldn’t give it back for the world.”
To get the most out of a gap year, planning ahead is key. Students should figure out what they want to do, where they want to go, what goals they hope to achieve and how much they are able to spend – and then establish a timeline with a firm end date.
Whether the year will include travel, volunteering, a job, or time for quiet self-improvement, students can opt to participate in structured programs, or tailor their own self-directed year. While there is no right or wrong way to take a gap year, it is important that students remain engaged and spend that time doing something that will further their personal, academic or professional development. In my opinion, people deserve to take some time out to pursue other interests tangential to their career path and just good for their mental well-being.
Which is the recent trend in taking a gap year, according to the article?
What is meant by a conveyor-belt mindset in “I call it the ‘conveyor belt mindset’” (paragraph 3) in the article?
Which is the author’s overall view on taking a gap year expressed in the last paragraph?
Прочитайте текст и выполните задания 12-18. В каждом задании запишите в поле ответа цифру 1, 2, 3 или 4, соответствующую выбранному Вами варианту ответа.
Edible Gold
I like to think of myself as an open-minded person, someone who is tolerant to those with different beliefs, however wacky they may seem to me. Every rule has its exceptions, though.
A few years ago while traveling in England, I met a woman who asked me if I’d heard of edible gold. I replied that I had, as I’d seen a TV show about chefs using gold leaves as a decorative but edible garnish on dishes. I assumed that’s what she was talking about. But she seemed very surprised and in a hushed, conspiratorial tone, began excitedly talking about how the ancient Egyptians had discovered that by eating powdered gold, one could become immortal. Very clearly, she believed this too. OK. I felt that all my good intentions of open-mindedness went out the window –– that was just way too strange for me.
Later, when I consulted Google to see if I could learn more about this outrageous claim, I was shocked and dismayed to find thousands of Web pages describing, with great seriousness, a miraculous substance usually referred to as white powder gold. Even though I can’t claim the slightest expertise in this esoteric field, I thought I’d make an attempt to distil the essence of these claims for your consideration.
Let’s begin with culinary gold. If you walk into your nearest gourmet supply store, you can probably find, for about US$20, a box of gold leaf manufactured expressly to enable you to impress your friends at your next dinner party. These unbelievably thin pieces of nearly pure gold add an impressive touch to chocolates, soups, sushi, or just about anything else you can think of. Because the quantity of gold is so small, the price is reasonable; yet these gold highlights make a meal appear to be extravagant and give restaurants an excuse to charge exorbitant prices.
Some purveyors of mineral supplements sell a gold colloid: a suspension of extremely tiny particles of metallic gold in water. In a gold colloid, each particle contains nine atoms of gold. Its daily dose is enough to provide a wide range of health benefits. Here, at least, there is some research behind it. A few studies found the product to be effective in managing rheumatoid arthritis and also, intriguingly, increasing I.Q. scores. These claims are at least plausible.
Our next step is one decidedly outside the realm of scientific certainty. David Hudson, a farmer living in Arizona, was trying to extract gold and silver from the tailings of an abandoned mine in the mid-1970s. In the process, he found a mysterious substance that defied analysis, despite years of experimentation by reputable laboratories, undertaken at great personal expense. Hudson eventually concluded the white powder was gold in a monatomic state and it has some amazing properties: when heated it can levitate and has a long list of incredible health benefits.
Hudson even received patents in Britain and Australia, though not in the USA. I should interject that the awarding of a patent does not mean that a government agency has successfully reproduced the invention in question, or even that they have validated it as being scientifically sound. Interested in alchemy, Hudson became convinced that his white powder gold was the stuff of many legends. He equated it with “the philosopher’s stone”, and “the food of the gods”, among other things. Hudson believed he had rediscovered an ancient alchemical formula. And, naturally, numerous companies sell solid or liquid forms of “white powder gold” supposedly created using variants of Hudson’s recipe.
The author describes the meeting with the woman as…