Английский ЕГЭ - банк заданий - страница 432
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.
A big change
Julie had had long hair since she was 8 years old. She used to keep it plaited during the summer and occasionally she would curl it for a special occasion. She didn’t mind the time it took to take care of it, and actually took great pride in keeping it healthy, shiny and well-brushed. But she had just turned 17, and she was beginning to feel that her hair was a symbol of her childhood, holding her back from being the young adult she wanted to be.
So she booked an appointment at her hair salon and told her hairdresser of her plans. She arrived at the salon full of both excitement and concern, that somehow she was beginning a new phase of her life, but she would look radically different. It seemed both simple and complex at the same time: she considered it simple when she wanted to calm her nerves about taking a big step, but it became complex when she thought about how she was losing something that had been a part of her for so long.
When her hairdresser called her into the chair, Julie got a sick feeling in her stomach, but she tried to tell herself, ‘It’s just a haircut’, and she must have repeated that to herself ten times by the time she made it to the chair. Her hairdresser asked her how she was feeling, and there was no covering it up: ‘I’m nervous!’ she replied. Her hairdresser asked her if this is what she really wanted to do, and whether perhaps they should just do a trim. Julie said in her most convincing voice – in an effort to convince herself most of all – ‘No, it’s time to let go.’
Her hairdresser combed her hair, taking a few moments to do so, and with each passing moment, Julie was on tenterhooks, knowing that the hairdresser’s hands would soon be holding scissors which would slice through her hair, taking just seconds to do so. Her hairdresser asked her how school was, and Julie replied without thinking, ‘It’s fine. I’ve got a lot of difficult classes and I’m quite busy all the time.’ The truth was that she found her classes to be quite easy and she was busy sometimes, but not all of the time. She didn’t know why she’d lied – she simply couldn’t concentrate on anything other than what the hairdresser was about to do.
Her hairdresser put the comb down and picked up the scissors. ‘This is the moment of truth. Are we going ahead then?’ her hairdresser asked sincerely. Julie took a deep breath and nodded her head affirmatively. Her hairdresser took each section of hair at a time and chopped several centimetres off. It was soon done, but the sense of relief that Julie had hoped would come over her, didn’t. It remained far from her, and she was even more nervous than before.
Her hairdresser finished trimming the ends so that the style was even, and she cut some of the hair around Julie’s face so that her face was better framed. Julie looked in the mirror, if only for a brief moment, and she felt like a totally different person, but less confident than she’d imagined and more like someone who was unsure of the world. Her hairdresser, sensing Julie’s unease, told her she’d get used to it and assured her she looked beautiful. Those kind words were quite helpful for Julie’s mood, and as she left the salon, she caught her reflection in a window. She saw the person she had wanted to see all along, and she finally felt satisfied with her decision.
12. Julie's opinion of her long hair was that it was…
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.
A banking crisis
Becky was in a hurry and really didn’t have the time for sorting out password issues on her computer. She had been locked out of her online bank account after entering the password incorrectly more than three times, and she needed to access it to pay bills that were due that day. Aside from being a sloppy typist, the number of times she had to change her passwords left her unable to remember them correctly. It didn’t help that she had a computer file that listed all her current passwords, as she didn’t always update it.
So she began the difficult journey of setting up a new password, which only added to her current frustration. She phoned the bank, as she wasn’t able to receive a new one electronically, as per bank policy. Irritating as that was, she pressed on, as she was keen to avoid the massive penalty she’d incur if she paid her bill late. It was a tax bill, after all, and the government never failed to fine those who did not handle their obligations in a timely fashion.
She hoped she could avoid having to visit the bank, as it generally had terribly long queues, and as it was getting late in the day, she doubted she’d get served that day anyway. During her phone call she was passed between several different departments, and finally, after being on hold for several minutes and pacing around her flat impatiently, she was greeted with bad news. The bank representative asked for a telephone banking password, which Becky didn’t even know existed. Exasperated, she hung up without even asking what she should do next. It was now all but certain that she would miss the deadline for paying her bill. She could have arranged to pay it late and avoid the penalty, but getting locked out of her online account wasn’t something she’d anticipated.
She was deeply unhappy with the level of difficulty she experienced in doing what she believed should have been a simple online transaction. It was a transaction that she had done several times before, with success, but her occasional clumsiness and mild lack of organisation got the best of her that day. Completely focused on the unfairness of it, she gave no consideration to what banks do to protect information, and no thought to what might happen if someone hacked into her bank account and stole her entire savings. In Becky’s mind at that particular moment, it was all about the supreme inconvenience of technology.
Passwords had become so much more sophisticated recently, it seemed, so that something as simple as a pet’s name or a date of birth was now considered ‘weak’ and unacceptable to the system. Passwords had to have letters, numbers and one capitalised letter, and this was good for only a short period of time, after which they would need to be changed. Becky had long run out of ideas for new ones, so hers had become a meaningless jumble of numbers and letters. ‘Why couldn’t 1111 suffice?’ Becky said as she hurled her account details onto the table in the hall. She wasn’t normally so irrational, but her outburst allowed her to let off steam in the only way she felt she could.
She phoned up her accountant to see if he could help. His first words were ‘You’ll have to go into the bank to get a new password,’ which merely **added fuel to the fire**. Becky let out a big ‘Ugh!’ which was OK because her accountant, Kyle, was an old mate from university. She could be really grumpy with him and he’d forgive her. But his very flat, simple response – however innocent – was probably not the best thing for Becky to hear.
12. Becky was locked out of her online account because…