Olvasott szöveg értése

Task 1
Read an article about the famous tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams, and then read
the statements (1-11) following it. Mark a sentence A if it is true according to the article.
Mark it B if it is false. Mark it C if there is not enough information in the text to decide if
the sentence is true or not. Write your answers in the boxes below. There is an example
(0) at the beginning.

Before Superstardom, Williams Sisters Stunned on Compton’s Court

On Stockton Street, in Compton, Calif., there’s a small white house with a chain-link fence and
an old tree out front. There isn’t a sign or plaque in the yard, and there aren’t any tour groups
taking photos. There’s nothing here to indicate that this house was the childhood home of the
two best athletes of all time. Venus and Serena Williams were given their first tennis rackets
here.
Next door, Maria Gomez leans up against her blue pickup trunk. She’s lived in this house since
1974, so she knew the Williams family. She says she remembers Venus and Serena running
around the house and playing in the tiny backyard next door.
The girls cut their teeth on courts around Compton. And to this day, the Williams sisters are a
source of pride in the city. ’To be able to say that they’re from the town that you grew up in –
who wouldn’t be inspired by them?’ says Janna Zurita, a Compton councilwoman. She was
born and raised in Compton, and says she used to watch the Williams sisters train.
Their dad, Richard Williams, was their coach back then. He was known for being tough and
pushing his daughters to perfection on the court – hours on the courts, day in, day out.
Some of the places where they’d practice were in tough neighborhoods, East Rancho
Dominguez Park. Today, the courts are repaved and there’s a new recreation center – but that’s
not how it used to be.
Andre Barbee says the last time he stood on the court at East Rancho Dominguez, gang
members would hang out on park benches just outside the fence. ’You could see them driving,
smoking their weed,’ he says. ’But they never messed with us. We never had a problem with
nobody here.’
Barbee was a 21-year-old limo driver and part-time tennis coach when Richard Williams invited
him to train with his daughters. Barbee was a tennis prodigy himself, so when he faced Venus
and Serena on the court, he had finally met his match.
’Man, it was unbelievable,’ Barbee says. ’Never see anybody that good.’
Playing in Compton is a distant memory now: The Williams family moved to Florida in 1991.
’I loved them like my little sisters,’ says Barbee.’ And Richard Williams, I loved him like a
father. At the time, I didn’t have a high school diploma. And Richard told me, ’Promise me that
you get your high school diploma.”
’Richard. I kept my promise,’ he says.
Barbee doesn’t play much tennis these days. But on this court, I can see him reliving that year
he spent training with Venus and Serena Williams. And for the record, the last time he played
Serena, they never finished their match.
’So Serena, if you’re hearing this, you still owe me a match’, Barbee says.

0) In Compton, the Williams family had a house in Stockton Street.

1) A lot of tourists come to Compton to visit the birthplace of Venus and Serena Williams.
2) Maria Gomez was one of the neighbours of the Williams family.
3) The people in Compton are very proud of the two tennis stars.
4) Janna Zurita, who works for the town council, played tennis herself when she was young.
5) The father was very strict about the training.
6) The tennis court they used for training has not changed.
7) The gang members around the tennis court were interested in tennis.
8) At that time Andre Barbee had two jobs.
9) Andre liked the girls but he did not like their father.
10) When Andre completed his high school studies, the Williams family didn’t live in
Compton any more.
11) Serena Williams hasn’t played with Andre Barbee since they moved to Florida.

0) 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10) 11)
A
Task 2

You are going to read an article about a special indicator of the coming of spring in one
part England. After the text, you can find sentences (12-18) with some missing information.
Your task is to complete the sentences with maximum THREE words based on the
information from the text. Write your answers on the corresponding lines. There is one
example (0) at the beginning.

Magnolias Mark the Start of This Years’ Cornish Spring

Traditionally magnolias signal the start of spring, and this week they’ve arrived in Cornwall.
The Great Gardens of Cornwall have announced the beginning of the spring as the six champion
Magnolia campbellii trees have each flowered with over 50 blooms. To mark the beginning of
spring, representatives from The Great Gardens presented a bouquet of magnolias at Downing
Street. This is the fifth year spring has been declared in such a way for Cornwall, and the first
time that a bouquet has been presented to mark the occasion.
Prime Minister David Cameron said: „I am delighted these magnificent flowers have been
presented to Downing Street from the Great Gardens of Cornwall. Marking the early arrival of
spring, they also symbolise the outstanding beauty or growth of Cornwall, one of the UK’s most
precious gems.”
’A place close to my heart, with its stunning beaches to wooded valleys, Cornwall attracts
millions of visitors from across the nation and the world every years.” This year, with the
unreasonably mild weather, spring has come particularly early to Cornwall. The first flowering
magnolia was see on January 3. „In 2010 or 2011 we had a magnolia flower on the table in very
late January but this beats all known or conceivable records by about a month. Quite staggering.”
„Cornwall enjoys a very early spring – nearly a month ahead of the rest of the UK,” said lain
Davies, head of gardens & estate at Heligan.
„The Great Gardens of Cornwall are stunning at any time of year, but one of the very best times
to visit Cornish spring gardens is when Cornish Magnolias are in full bloom during the early
part of the season.”

0) The first of spring in Cornwall are _________________.

12) Each magnolia tree has more than___________flowers.
13) This year the Prime Minister received a _____________.
14) Besides showing that spring has come, magnolia also represent the____________of
Cornwall.
15) The breathtaking beaches and valleys attract________________to Cornwall.
16) In 2010 and 2011, spring arrived a bit _______________.
17) In Cornwall spring always arrives ____________earlier than in other parts of the
country.
18) You can enjoy Cornish gardens ____________round, not just in the spring.
 0) magnolias
12)
13)
14)
15)
16)
17)
18)
Task 3

You are going to read a text about the history of the hot dog. Some sentences have been
taken out of the text. Your task is to complete the gaps in the text (19-23), choosing from
the sentences (A-G) below. There is one extra sentence you do not need. Write your answer
in the boxes below. There is an example (0) at the beginning.

The Hot Dog

Back in 1900, a man was trying to sell sausages in the streets of New York. 0)
__________. Nobody was very interested until he started to shout, ’Get your dachshund
sausages here!’ (A dachshund is a long, thin, brown dog which looks something like a
sausage.)
19)____________.
20) ___________. But he wasn’t sure how to spell ’dachshund’, so he called ’hot dog’
instead. 21) __________.
The same salesman lent a pair of white gloves to his customers to hold the hot dog
sausage with. But somebody forgot to give him back the gloves. 22)_________. And it
worked perfectly. 23) __________________.

A) A newspaper reporter took a photograph, for a story in his paper, of the sausage
seller holding up one of his sausages.
B) People eat good food so they can grow strong and stay healthy.
C) He boiled them and kept them hot in a tank of hot water.
D) So he went to baker and asked him to make him some long pieces of bread to hold
the hot dog in.
E) And this is how the name started.
F) As a result he sold many more of his sausages.
G) In fact, this was such a perfect combination that it has remained unchanged ever
since!

0) 19) 20) 21) 22) 23)

C
Task 4

Read this article about Blue Monday and then read the statements (24-31) following
it. Mark a sentence A if it is true according to the article. Mark it B if it is false.
Mark it C if there isn’t enough information in the text to decide if the sentence is
true or not. Write the letters in the white boxes next to the numbers as in the example
(0).

A = TRUE B = FALSE C = THE TEXT DOES NOT SAY

BLUE MONDAY

Feeling miserable this morning? That is because January 15 is supposedly the most depressing
day this year. A combination of three reasons makes the third Monday of the year the most
miserable. Understanding that Christmas really is over, the realisation of all the holiday
expenses and the fact that most of us are back at work all play a part. First invented in Britain,
Blue Monday is especially sad in the northern half of the world, where it’s also deep, dark
midwinter.
It was in 2005 that Cliff Arnall, a university lecturer from Wales, dreamt up his gloomy
calculation using the above three main factors to find the date of the most depressing day in the
year. He also took into account things like the weather, the period since we’ve broken our New
Year’s resolutions and our general motivational level.
However, there is hope, say psychologists, as Blue Monday was really all a marketing
trick. January in the UK is peak holiday booking time and the original research was paid for by
a travel agent who wanted to persuade people to cheer up by heading to the beach. Preferably
through them.
While there is no scientific evidence of Blue Monday on the third Monday of January –
or any other Monday in a year – research shows us that our mood is significantly better on
Fridays and over the weekend in general. This is generally because we get more sleep and “me
time” to spoil ourselves.
Dr Burke, a psychologist, says that “since Blue Monday is a trick that may affect our
thinking and emotions so much, we should turn it into Happy Monday. Instead of searching for
all that is going badly on the day, think of all the good things that happen around you – that
woman who held the bus door to prevent it from closing, the old lady who smiled at you for no
reason or the little boy who gave you a big hug.”

0) The most depressing day of the year is called Blue Monday.

24) People feel sad on this day because they are worried about the cost of their summer
holiday.

25) The phrase Blue Monday originally comes from Britain.

26) More and more people are refusing to work on Blue Monday.
27) Mr Arnall’s calculation has nothing to do with the weather.

28) A holiday company managed to make a lot of money on Blue Monday.

29) Among Britons, seaside resorts are very popular in January.

30) There is scientific evidence that Mondays are sadder than Fridays.

31) According to Dr Burke, it depends on your attitude whether this day is sad.

0) A
24)
25)
26)
27)
28)
29)
30)
31)