Self-study 1 Task

Task 5.2. READING. For questions 1-15, read the text below and decide which answer A, B, C or D best fits each space.
On your bike!
If you are getting fed up wasting time looking for parking space, my __(1)__ to you is to consider the bicycle as an alternative __(2)__ of transport. Cycling is probably the cheapest and healthiest way of getting __(3)__ in our congested city centers. __(4)__ it is convenient and environmentally desirable, it can be an unattractive __(5)__ on a cold wintry morning. It is much easier to __(6)__ onto a nice warm bus or jump into your car, __(7)__ the sight of cyclists as they weave their way in and out of the traffic may fill you with __(8)__ as you sit waiting in yet __(9)__ traffic jam. In spite of the __(10)__ that worsening pollution is getting many people __(11)__, causing more and more health problems, and __(12)__ it is fashionable to express one’s __(13)__ of the environmentally safe bicycle, it is hard to __(14)__ the danger cyclists face in sharing the road with cars. __(15)__ cycling is not as risky as it looks at first sight, there are more and more accidents involving cyclists.

1. A) advice B) warning C) plan D) solution

2. A) method B) way C) means D) instrument
3. A) on B) through C) over D) about
4. A) Despite B) In spite C) Although D) Even as
5. A) choice B) advice C) propose D) transport
6. A) enter B) be C) travel D) get
7. A) even B) however C) though D) and
8. A) approval B) envy C) angry D) criticism
9 A) other B) more C) another D) longer
10 A) truth B) reality C) fact D) event
11 A) round B) down C) over D) together
12 A) while B) despite C) as D) in spite of
13 A) favor B) agreement C) belief D) approval
14 A) refuse B) criticize C) deny D) think
15 A) Even though B) However C) Whereas D) Although
Task 5.3 Writing. Write the summary to the given text
Money
You have to go back a long way in history to find a time without money a time when there was no money.People exchanged goods and services for other goods and services. This system is still called barter, and some people still use only this system. They exchange goods and services with one another by bar­tering. In the middle Ages, the serfs, or people who worked the land, had a barter system. The serfs exchanged their labor for housing and food from the landlords.
Bartering, however, is awkward because everything has to be just right to make it work smoothly. Somebody that you know has to have something that you want and be willing to trade it for something that you are willing to give up. Bartering has other drawbacks, too. There is no common standard against which to measure the exchanges. Another problem with bartering that many items cannot be easily divided.
Money is better than swapping for a number of reasons. In the first place, money is accepted by people in exchange for goods and services. Therefore, it serves as a medium of exchange. Before it can do that, however, it has to be accepted by the people in the society. They have to believe in its value or it won't become a medium of exchange.
Paper money and coins, which together are called currency, are common form of money. They are a medium of exchange in most countries because they are accepted for their value. You will accept paper money or coins for your work, for example, in a sports equipment store.
A second reason why money works better than bartering relates to value in a cave society, jewelry was not considered as valuable as tools. How do you determine what the jewelry is worth? That's where money can be very helpful. In deter­mining the value or worth of one thing in relation to another, money becomes a standard of value. The jewelry is worth so much money. The tools are worth this much money. Money has become the com­mon standard of value. And it's much easier to compare values by looking at price tags than by comparing one item to another.
There is a third important function that money serves, which bartering cannot. In some tribal societies, cattle were swapped for other things. But cattle grow old, and as they grow old they are usually worth less. Eventually, they die. It wouldn’t be very useful, then, to save cattle as a means of increasing your future purchasing power. Money, on the other hand, can be stored or kept for later use. It has a store of value. By itself it is worth something. It can increase your worth or value. To be used as money, an item must be scarce. If the supply of an item is unlimited, or overly plentiful, it loses its value. Thus, it could not very well serve as money or as a story of value since it would have little worth. People would lose faith in its value as a medium of exchange. Coins and paper money serve well enough. They are convenient and long- lasting or can be easily replaced. They help to make and keep money valuable.