Task 1 Complete the story with appropriate articles

  1. I am from Winchester, Hampshire. Winchester is _____ city in _____UnitedKingdom. I live in ____ town called ____ Taunton which is on ____River Tone. I live in ____ house in ____ quiet street in the countryside. ______street is called "Hudson Street" and ____ house is old - more than 100 years old! I am ______English lecturer at _____ college near ____ centre of ____ town. I like ____ books, music and taking _____ photographs. I usually have _____ lunch at college. I usually go ____ home by ____ car. We have all kinds of food in ____ England. I like ____ Polish food very much. Sometimes, I go to ____ Polish restaurant in Bath. ______restaurant is called "Magda's". _____ Polish food is delicious
  1. ___ digital cameras store images on memory cards so pictures can be transferred easily to ___ computer. ___ lens focuses ___images on to ___ CCD unit or Charge-Couple Device where ___ film would normally be. So if you can aim ___ camera accurately, there is ___ optical viewfinder. So you can play back ___ images and decide which to keep and which to re-shoot, ___ images is passed to ___ small LCD screen on___ back of ___ camera.
  1. ___ hard drive with ___ capacity of two hundred gigabytes that uses ___ type of connection interface known as Serial ATA, i.e. it has ___ serial data connection rather than ___ original parallel connection. It rotates at ___ speed of seven thousand, two hundred revolutions ___ minute.
  1. ___ track info button gives you ___ information on ___ MP3 file’s tag. Other buttons may take you to ___ music library where you can organize ___ MP3 files by the performer or genre
  1. ___ ripper is ___ program that rips ___ songs from ___ CD in your CD-ROM drive and turns them into WAV files. ___ encoder converts WAV files into MP3 files or vice verse. ___ MP3 players incorporate rippers and ___ encoders and can do both steps in one.
  1. HTML is ___ application-specific derivation of SGML. It is ___ set of codes, generally used for ___ webpages, that creates electronics documents according to rules established by SGML. HTML is ___ language that is all about ___ presentation of your information, not what ___ actual data is.
  1. VoIP is ___ way of making calls using ___ internet. It could dramatically reduce ___ cost of long-distance calls, Japan has ___ most VoIP users but it’s likely that ___US and Europe will catch up first.
  1. Similarly, ___ computer virus is ___ very small program routine that infects ___ computer system and uses its resources to reproduce itself. It often does this by patching ___ operating system to enable it to detect program files, such as Com or EXE. It then copies into ___ files, this sometimes causes harm to ___ host computer system.

Task 2 Write the following paragraphs, inserting a, an, and the where needed.

  1. I have ___ horse of my own. I call her Pretty Girl. She is ___ intelligent animal, but she is not ___ thoroughbred horse. I could never enter her in ___ race, even if I wanted to. But I do not want to. She is ___ companion, for my own pleasure. I took her swimming ___ day or two ago.
  1. ___ Horse knows when he is going to race. How does he know? His breakfast was scanty. (He is angry about that.) He does not have ___ saddle on his back. He is being led, not ridden, to ___ grandstand. He is led under grandstand into unusual, special stall. Horse is nervous. Sometimes he does not know what to do when starting gate flies open and track is before him. If he does not begin to run instantly, other horses are already ahead of him. During race, when he sees another horse just ahead of him, he will try to pass him. Sometimes jockey holds him back to save his energy for last stretch. Eventually horse gets to run as fast as he can. Exercise boy, watching owner's favorite jockey riding horse he has exercised day after day, says nothing. Secretly, he is planning for day when he will be jockey himself, and his horse will be first to cross finish line.
  1. Most people have fewer hours to give to time-consuming activities of clubs than they used to have, but most people in small town belong to club or two. One of clubs is likely to be social and benevolent organization, such as Rotary or Elks. Business people are likely to belong, also to either Kiwanis Club or Lions. Such business people's organizations may meet as often as once a week in one of private dining rooms of town's leading hotel for lunch. They have good lunch, hear good program, and continue their fundraising program for worthy organization, such as local hospital.

Task 4 Fill in each blank with the appropriate article. If no article is required, put a "0" in the blank. The nouns that the articles go with are in italics.

  1. ______(a) Decline and Fall of ______(b) Roman Empire
  2. ______(a) complexity of ______(b) problem of ______(c) decline and fall of the Roman Empire is made evident by ______(d) wide variety of causes that are emphasized in varying degrees by ______(e) different authors.
  3. Fortunately, ______(a) concise formulation of Edward Gibbon serves as ______(b) widely accepted basis for ______(c) modern discussion of ______(d) problem.
  4. According to Gibbon, ______(a) empire reached its peak during ______(b) administration of ______(c) two Antonines.
  5. After that, however, ______(a) extent of ______(b) Roman conquest became too great to be managed by ______(c) Roman government, and ______(d) decline began.
  6. ______(a) military government was weakened and finally dissolved as ______(b) barbarians were allowed to constitute ______(c) ever-growing percentage of ______(d) Roman legions.
  7. ______(a) victorious legions began to dominate and corrupt ______(b) government, weakening it at ______(c) time when it most needed ______(d) strength to overcome ______(e) other problems.

ANSWER KEY

TASK 1

1.There is ______famous university in Oxford

2.There is ______modern sport center in ______London

3.There isn’t enough ______snow to go skiing

4.Is there anyone from ______Germany is here?

5.How many planets are there in our ______solar system

6.I have never seen ___ UFO

7.May I have your ___ phone number?

8.Stephen could you speak ___ little louder.

9.May I ask you ___ question?

10.What is ___ name of the next station?

11.My girlfriend has ___ my car today.

12.Is there ___ cashmachine near here?

13.Pandas and ___ tigers are both endangered animals.

14.Bornholm is ___ island in the Baltic Sea.

15.There were many dogs in the park. One dog was ___ Dalmatian.

16.I recommend you try ___ tomato soup at this restaurant.

17.Robert and Jessica went to ___ party last night.

18.Can you tell me how to get to ___ cinema from here?

19.___ college is closed today.

20.___ apple a day keeps ___ doctor away.

TASK 2

  1. I have a horse of my own. I call her Pretty Girl. She is an intelligent animal, but she is not a thoroughbred horse. I could never enter her in a race, even if I wanted to. But I do not want to. She is a companion, for my own pleasure. I took her swimming a day or two ago.
  2. A horse knows when he is going to race. How does he know? His breakfast was scanty. (He is angry about that.) He does not have a saddle on his back. He is being led, not ridden, to the grandstand. He is led under the grandstand into an unusual, special stall. The horse is nervous. Sometimes he does not know what to do when the starting gate flies open and the track is before him. If he does not begin to run instantly, other horses are already ahead of him. During the race, when he sees another horse just ahead of him, he will try to pass him. Sometimes the jockey holds him back to save his energy for the last stretch. Eventually the horse gets to run as fast as he can. The exercise boy, watching the owner's favorite jockey riding the horse he has exercised day after day, says nothing. Secretly, he is planning for the day when he will be a jockey himself, and his horse will be the first to cross the finish line.
  3. Most working people have fewer hours to give to time-consuming activities of clubs than they used to have, but most people in a small town belong to a club or two. One of the clubs is likely to be a social and benevolent organization, such as the Rotary or Elks. Business people are likely to belong, also to either the Kiwanis Club or the Lions. Such business people's organizations may meet as often as once a week in one of the private dining rooms of the town's leading hotel for lunch. They have a good lunch, hear a good program, and continue their fundraising program for a worthy organization, such as a local hospital.

TASK 3

I am from Winchester, Hampshire. Winchester is a city in the United Kingdom. I live in a town called Taunton which is on the River Tone. I live in a house in a quiet street in the countryside. The street is called "Hudson Street" and the house is old - more than 100 years old! I am an English lecturer at a college near the centre of the town. I like books, music and taking photographs. I usually have lunch at college. I usually go home by car. We have all kinds of food in England. I like Polish food very much. Sometimes, I go to a Polish restaurant in Bath. The restaurant is called "Magda's". Polish food is delicious!

TASK 4

  1. ______(a) Decline and Fall of ______(b) Roman Empire
  2. ______(a) complexity of ______(b) problem of ______(c) decline and fall of the Roman Empire is made evident by ______(d) wide variety of causes that are emphasized in varying degrees by ______(e) different authors.
  3. Fortunately, ______(a) concise formulation of Edward Gibbon serves as ______(b) widely accepted basis for ______(c) modern discussion of ______(d) problem.
  4. According to Gibbon, ______(a) empire reached its peak during ______(b) administration of ______(c) two Antonines.
  5. After that, however, ______(a) extent of ______(b) Roman conquest became too great to be managed by ______(c) Roman government, and ______(d) decline began.
  6. ______(a) military government was weakened and finally dissolved as ______(b) barbarians were allowed to constitute ______(c) ever-growing percentage of ______(d) Roman legions.
  7. ______(a) victorious legions began to dominate and corrupt ______(b) government, weakening it at ______(c) time when it most needed ______(d) strength to overcome ______(e) other problems.

1