Контрольная работа по Английскому языку на тему: "Big Tech is Thriving in the Midst of the Recession"

READING

Part I

• Read the article divided into paragraphs (1-6) and choose the best title (A-G) for each paragraph. Use each letter only once. A. Putting sales at risk B. Impressive progress over the past decade C. Cutting advertising costs D. Gaining ground E. The gravity of the situation F. Reaping the profits G. New ways of effective working Big Tech is Thriving in the Midst of the Recession 1. The technology industry has never been more economically important. Yet until recently no one had much idea of how these vast, essential businesses would fare in an economic downturn. When the last slump started in 2007, Facebook was only four years old, Amazon was a twentieth of its size today, and Apple made more cash from Mac computers than from iPhones. 2. So how is big tech doing? The industry is thriving amid a savage recession as people spend more time on screens and work remotely. Look closer, however, and the picture is more complex. The industry is tilting away from business models that ruled in the past decade, towards a new era of subscriptions, e-commerce and business infrastructure. 3. The level of pain being endured by more traditional big firms is hard to overstate. On April 29th Ford said that it would lose $5bn this quarter while Boeing is going through $4.7bn of cash every three months. Compared with that, the tech firms are on a roll. Alphabet, Google’s parent, saw sales rise by 13% in the first quarter compared with the year before, and profits reached $7bn. Facebook’s 3bn users are spending more time on its services. Microsoft, now the most valuable tech firm, booked profits of $10.8bn for the quarter. 4. Yet behind those figures are hints of vulnerability. Advertising revenue, the main source of income for Alphabet and Facebook, is under pressure. Google saw spending on search adverts drop by about 15% in March compared with the year before. Small-business clients, in particular, are forking out less as the recession bites. 5. Another area of weakness may be smartphone sales, which are typically sold through retail stores and rely on fiddly supply chains. Samsung and Qualcomm, which make money from handsets, have warned that sales of devices may fall. Among firms that rely on human contact, meanwhile, there is a brutal shake-out. 6. Just as some of the ingredients that defined the previous era are growing, new sources of growth are becoming clearer. Instead of bombarding consumers with advertising, subscriptions are booming. Netflix, a streaming giant, added 16m new subscribers in the quarter to March. Microsoft is providing the crucial infrastructure for remote working, alongside new stars such as Zoom. And Amazon has shown that many countries cannot live without its cloud-computing arm, AWS, and its booming e-commerce operation. 1 2 3 4 5 6

Part II

• Read the article with blanks and the sentences given below. • Choose one sentence (A-G) to fill in each blank (1–6). Help Me Put 3D Printers in UK Schools If I had my life again I know what I would do. (1) ...... . I can think of nothing more creative and intellectually rewarding than devising and making wonderful new products. After all, Blaise Pascal was 19 when he invented the world's first mechanical adding machine in 1642; another Frenchman, Louis Braille, was just 15 in 1824 when he developed an ingenious system of reading and writing by means of raised dots. Alexander Graham Bell started working on his ideas for transmitting speech at the age of 19. (2) …. . The 3D printer is a basic industrial robot that uses additive manufacturing to make solid objects following digital instructions. The technology has applications across thousands of fields, from engineering to medical devices. But it may be that its greatest impact will be in education. Such machines are capable of inspiring thousands of teenage "makers". (3) .... . The opportunity to learn how to build tangible products from scratch while using cutting-edge technology might help transform our culture in practical ways. This is all part of a desire to rebalance our economy away from an overdependence on sectors such as financial services. (4) … . After all, manufacturing contributes to exports, and stimulates research and development, as well as investment. Making things can lead to well-paid jobs and boost productivity. (5) ... I believe this initiative is so vital that I will part-fund the project. (6) ... . We will need not just 3D printers but training and materials. a. We should revive our manufacturing industries. b. Our manufacturing industries now make up less than 12 per cent of gross domestic product. c. Teenagers could become inventors. d. I need one or two co-sponsors for my drive to install machines this year. e. So as you see the list of inventors who had key insights at a young age is long. f. Productivity – a key contributor to long-term growth and higher living standards. g. I would be an inventor. 1 2 3 4 5 6

GRAMMAR •

Complete each sentence with the correct option (A, B or C) 1. I … of a new company today with which we should co-operate and do business with. a) have heard b) heard c) had heard 2. Shortly after he … from the firm he decided to set himself up in his own business. a) has been dismissed b) was dismissed c) had been dismissed 3. As soon as they heard what … , they made it their business to find out the truth. a) happened b) had happened c) has happened 4. I would ask you kindly not to interfere with what … as in all honesty it’s none of your business. a) I’m doing b) I do c) I have done 5. Despite all the alterations that … in the department store, the management wanted to explain it was business as usual. a) take place b) are taking place c) took place 6. She knew that there was some kind of funny business going on because strange things … . a) are going b) go c) were going 7. When the bomb went off, most of the injured … just ordinary people doing about their business. a) were b) are c) have been 8. I’ve warned you before that you … get involved in this matter. a) needn’t b) shouldn’t c) mustn’t 9. He was very keen that we kept in touch and for that reason he … me his business card. a) has handed b) handed c) had handed 10. Google … it’s pace of acquisition in recent months. a) has increased b) increase c) had increased 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

WRITING

• Read the part of a letter below from the editor of the advertising agency, Ms. Gray, who gives her consent to write an advertising article. Our firm manufactures a wide range of modern office equipment. We can offer certain goods at unusually low prices. Low prices do not imply low quality of our products. We hope that you will assess our offer and place the order as soon as possible. Write a letter to their important retailer Mr. Sew: • Drawing their attention to your latest products; • stressing that prices are lower than those of competitors; • Explaining the reasons that make such a favourable offer possible; • Offering a special discount on orders within next month. Write 150-200 words.