Variant – 1 Choose the best answer

27. The word "consumers" in the “assage is”closest in

meaning to ...

A) sellers B) purchasers C) specialists D) experts
28. It is obvious form the passage that embargoes ...

A) should be imposed only on narcotic drugs.

В) аre not always beneficial for the customer.

C) provide a lot of choice for consumers of certain products.

D) are in the interest of consumers.
Read the text . Then choose the correct answer for each

question below (29-32).

One of the largest and most difficult engineering projects

ever undertaken, the Panama Canal shortcut greatly reduced

the time for ships to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific

Oceans, enabling them to avoid the lengthy, hazardous

Cape Horn route around the southernmost tip of South

America via the Drake Passage or Strait of Magellan.

In 1920, after some thirty-nine years of problems with

disease, high costs and politics, the Panama Canal was

officially opened. This linked the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans

by allowing ships to pass through the fifty-mile Canal Zone

instead of travelling some seven thousand miles around Cape

Horn. It takes a ship approximately eight hour s to complete

the trip through the canal, and costs a tenth of what It

would cost the average ship to round the Horn. More than

fifteen thousand ships use the canal annually.

29. The passage informs us that ...

A) it took much more than four decades to build the Panama

Canal.

B) all diseases have been combatted since theuarreletion of

the canal.

C) high costs and politics were the only obstacles to construct

the canal.

D) the Panama Canal built between the Atlantic and Pacific

Oceans is less than 55 miles.
30. Which of the statements is true according to the passage?

The Panama Canal ...

A) has been officially opened only for travelers.

B) makes it impossible to cover seven thousand miles in eight

hours.

C) reduced the distance between the Atlantic and Pacific

Oceans.

D) didn't succeed in cutti’g down the route between the

Atlantic and Pacific Oceans much.
31. One can conclude from the passage that before the

Panama Canal opened, ...

A) ships could travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean

every eight hours.

B) there was another route from the Atlantic to the Pacific

Ocean, but a rather long one.

C) if anyone wanted to undertake the journey by ship from

the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean it wouldn't take longer.

D)’fifteen thousand ships transported travelers around Cape

Horn every year.

32. The word "hazardous" in the “assage is”opposite in

meaning to ...

A) dangerous B) safe C) perilous D) slow