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Reading 2st semester B1 (2022-2023 10Г)

Last updated almost 3 years ago

12 questions

Read the text. Complete the sentences 1–5 with one or two words from the text.

SELF IMAGES

As you prepare to go out, you check yourself in the mirror. Everything looks good. The hair style is right, yourcomplexion is tanned and your smile could make Liam Payne jealous. Later in the evening, when friends take photos, you are happy to pose for the camera. The next day, however, when the photos are uploaded to the Internet, you areshocked. You don’t recognise that person. It can’t be you! The facial features are all wrong, the skin too pale and thehair is horrific. So just why do we look different in photos to how we imagine ourselves to be?
There isn’t just one reason. Firstly, people often look better early in the evening than later on. You have probablyjust come out of the shower, brushed your hair and put on your elegant clothes. If there was something wrong, youwould do something about it and then admire yourself again. When the photos are taken, you may be tired orperhaps full after a good meal. Your hair may not look quite so good as it did. Often, when people get home and lookin the mirror, they think: ‘I look terrible’. It’s just that, being home and alone, it doesn’t matter.
Another reason is to do with angles. In the mirror, we see our nose, mouth and chin from above. This is moreflattering than looking up from below. We also turn slightly and smile trying to get the best look possible.Unfortunately, our friends probably aren’t as careful. Photos are taken when we aren’t ready, often from the wrongposition. You could watch carefully to see when someone is going to take a photo and pose for it but, althoughthe photos might look better, your evening won’t be very relaxing.
Finally, there is the comparison with the people around you. Why do they all look so good in photos compared to you?Even those who aren’t as attractive or slim as you? The reason is that you know exactly how they looked all eveningbecause you could see them. There are no surprises. However, you are comparing yourself not to how you reallylooked but to an image of yourself that was in your head. An image in which your complexion is clearer, your eyesbigger and even your clothes are more stylish.
So what can we do about it? On the one hand, for all the reasons above, photos of ourselves will rarely please us.There’s a reason why many celebrities do everything they can to not be photographed in public. On the other hand,you should remember that your friends feel exactly the same. So, when they look at photos of you, they will be asjealous of you as you are of them. Take comfort from that but maybe avoid looking at photos taken of you whichappear on other people’s social networking pages.
1  The article says that people ________________ _______________ when they realise what they looked like the night before.
2  When we are home alone, it ________________ _______________ if we look good or bad.
3  Our facial features look more flattering when we look at them _____________________________.
4  The way you look in photos is different to the way you look in __________________________.
5  According to the article we should ___________ _____________________ at photos of us which are uploaded online.

Read the text. Complete gaps 1-5 with sentences A–F. There is one extra sentence.


A She was able to do this in 2005 when a   youth group asked for volunteers to go to   Thailand.
B She loved it from the start, and she won her   first competition at the age of eight.
C  She also works hard to promote healthy   lifestyles and diet.
D  She has never wasted time feeling sorry for   herself.
E She was rushed to hospital, where doctors carried out emergency surgery.
F   At first, she wasn’t keen on all the publicity.



BETHANY HAMILTON  –  SOUL SURFER


Bethany Hamilton was definitely born with the sea in her blood. Her parents, who were enthusiastic surfers, had moved to Hawaii before she was born so that they could spend more time in the water. With her parents and two older brothers, she started learning to surf almost as soon as she could walk. (6) ______ So, it was no surprise when, on the night before Halloween in 2003, she went for an evening’s surfing with her friends. The waves weren’t very high and she was just lying on her board, relaxing, when a three-metre-long tiger shark came up from below and bit off her left arm.
Thanks to her quick-thinking friends, Bethany survived despite losing a large amount of blood. (7) ______ When she came to after the operation, her first words were ‘When can I surf again?’ She didn’t have to wait long. On November 26th, she returned to the sea on her surfboard and, in January 2004, she entered her first competition since the attack.
Around the same time as she was returning to surfing competitions, Bethany was also busy with appearances on television and in newspaper interviews. (8) ______ She was a modest person by nature, and didn’t enjoy all the attention. But, eventually, she realised that it gave her an opportunity to tell people about her life and her beliefs.
In the same year, 2004, she wrote her autobiography: Soul Surfer: A true story of faith, family and fighting to get back on the board. This brought her story to a much wider audience. Despite still being a young teenager with her own disability, Bethany was determined to help others who had even worse problems. (9) ______ This country had suffered badly from a tsunami in December 2004 and desperately needed international help. Bethany went there and was able to help local people overcome their fear of the water.
Bethany won her first national surfing competition in 2005 and she turned professional two years later. Although surfing takes up a lot of her time, she has other passions. She works hard to raise money for several charities. (10) ______  In 2011, her amazing story was made into a film and, once again, Bethany was able to reach an even wider audience and has become a role model for many people with disabilities. When a journalist asked what she would do if she could get her arm back, her reply was immediate. She wouldn’t want to change her life as it was the loss of her arm which made everything that she has achieved possible.