Variant 12

1. Read the text and choose the correct item.

1. The author retired because he was...
b) tired.
2. The phrase making retirement possible means...
c) the author earned enough money to live on.
3. The author of the story was a...
b) writer.
4. The author had...
b) heart trouble.
5. The text prompts that the writer is...
a) successful.
6. ... advised him to write a new book.
a) The author’s wife

2. Complete the text with the correct words from the table.

Alysia’s sitting room is a beautiful room, very feminine and done in good taste. Upstage left is a large bay (1) window, from it, one can view a large tree with a birdhouse of unusual size and shape. The room faces south, s,o it is flooded with light. To the right is a door leading to the kitchen; there is another door leading to the bedroom. Downstage left is a door leading outside.

When the curtain rises, Alysia is sitting on the floor. It is before dawn, but a minute or so after the curtain rises, (2) light begins to fill the room. Alysia is cleaning the sitting-room carpet, an unusual task for this hour. She uses a (3) piece of cloth with quick movements, rinses and continues rubbing the carpet. (4) After a while, she stares at the cloth in her hand, drops it, raising herself to her knees, and then covers her face with her hands. She sits back on the floor leaning her head against a chair, looking (5) helpless and lost. She is sobbing quietly. Then she stares at the new streaming light from the window. The sound of a milk bell interrupts the silence. When she hears it, she jumps up, looks desperately about the room, wipes the traces of tears from her eyes and goes to the window and looks out.