Variant 1 You could have come first and won the race if you … faster

14. – Why isn`t my computer working? – Because the screen`s … . That`s why.

A) away B) out C) on D) off

15. We`d like to get our photo … by a professional photographer.

A) to take B) taken C) took D) taking

16. The football game was very … because both teams played well.

A) excitement B) exciting C) excite D) excited

17. This is the factory … my father used to work.

A) where B) what C) that D) which

18. Although I have lived here for 2 months, I … my neighbours.

A) do not see B) saw C) did not see D) haven`t seen

19. Until last week I … never … motorbike before.

A) rode B) rides C) was riding D) had ridden

20. After the interval, Pavarotti went on … an aria from Tosca.

A) sung B) singing C) having sung D) to sing

Fertility rates in the West had been falling for more than a century, and so following World War II, demographers expected only a modest increase. What happened instead was “the baby boom”. Since then, scientists have been arguing about the causes. The best-known explanation comes from economist Richard A. Easterlin of the University of Southern California. He argues that the baby boom resulted from the unprecedented mix of three developments: an expansion of the economy, restricted immigration since the mid-1920s, and a relatively small group of new job seekers because of low fertility in the late 1920s and 1930s. This combination create unusually good job prospects for young people after World War II, and so feeling more prosperous than their parents, they married earlier and had more children.