Examination Card №24

I. Reading
An African farmer had been so excited by the tales about discovering diamond mines that he sold his farm and set off in search of diamonds himself. Finally, broke, worn out he threw himself into the river and drowned.

At the same time the man who had bought his farm saw a sparkling stone of a good size at the bottom of the stream as he was crossing it one day. The farmer thought that it was a piece of crystal, but one of his visitors explained him that the sparkling stone was one of the largest diamonds ever found. The farmer was astonished as he knew that his farmland was covered with sparkling stones of different size.

The moral is: if the farmer who had sold his property knew what diamonds looked like in their rough state he wouldn't look for them elsewhere; he would be rich and happy.

If all of us started exploring ourselves we would find out that we contain all the riches needed to become successful.

II. Writing
Dear Sir / Madam,
I am writing concerning your advertisement about the programme for secondary school students or school-leavers published in Learn English magazine (No 54 issue).
I am very interested in the course and would be most grateful if you could tell me where the course will be held and if there are different offices in Kyiv.
I also want to know the length of the course and when each training session starts.
What are the registration procedures and the deadline for sending the application form?
Thank you very much for your assistance and help.
I look forward to getting your prompt reply.
Yours faithfully,
Olha Semenchenko

III. Speaking
Email, the Internet, mobile phones and text messaging. All sold to use, free or not, to communicate with our relatives, and to stay in touch with our friends. How have modern communication, transportation, and technology changed the world we live in today? Has anyone noticed an over dependence on these technologies?

The invention of the computer has taken a lot of time away from the family. The problem with this is that many families spend all of their free time chatting and playing games on their computers and miss out the important family time. Each family member is in pursuit of their own computer happiness. The world without computers might put some of that family lifestyle back into action.

The invention of the Internet brought us great capabilities. We can now socialize with people all around the world. This has great benefits. We learn about different cultures among other things. However, the drawbacks exist as well. With so much socializing on the Internet, we sometimes forget how to socialize in real life. This drastically cuts the chances down of being able to just go out and have fun. I sometimes long to be able to sit in a coffee shop with a friend and have the same conversations I may have online. I want to pay attention to expressions and body language, hear the tone of voice, and not just read a text.

As an introvert, I like being able to hide behind my LCD display, typing away on my keyboard, talking with my fingers. Frankly speaking, I used to do so. Until the other day, I realized that sometimes, using a messenger, I may spend so much time actually trying to fix what I say rather than just saying what I mean.

I appreciate technology. It has solutions to all these dilemmas. Webcams, and voice chat, for example. I also acknowledge that a messenger has its advantages. It gives us a possibility to communicate cheaply across the country or the globe. It lets you stay in touch with grandma and save on an expensive telephone bill, once you convince her to buy a computer.

But, unfortunately, we lose touch with our friends we relate with as we type and text away. Even the Internet blogs can't help the situation I'm talking about. I think people used to have a better time in the corner coffee shop somewhere in their neighbourhood.

To sum it all up, real life has far more to offer than a computer can give us, although computers have more to offer than what humans can give us. Everything can work together harmoniously, can't they?

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