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

27. Which of the following bad effects IS NOT mentioned in the text?

A) breathing hardly B) cancer C) acid rain D) car sickness

Though the tulip is closely associated with the Netherlands, it is not a native Dutch flower. Like many other products in western Europe, such as the potato and tobacco, tulips came to the Netherlands from another part of the world. The tulip was first seen by Europeans in Turkey. In 1556 A. G. Busbequius, the ambassador sent by the Austrian Emperor Ferdinand I to the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, saw the flowers growing in the gardens of Adrianople and Constantinople. Soon after Ambassador Busbequius noticed the flowers in the Ottoman Empire, tulips became one of the most favourite flowers in Europe. Antwerp, Brussels, Paris and Prague are among some of the cities were tulips first appeared. The popularity of the tulip in the Dutch Republic reached its high point in the years 1636-37.