Задания FCE Reading and Use of English (Part 5)

Прочитайте отрывок из романа. Выберите подходящий вариант ответа (A — D) для вопросов 31-36. Во время экзамена перенесите ваши ответы на отдельный экзаменационный лист. 

You are going to read an extract from a novel. For questions 31-36, choose the answer (A, B, C or 0) which you think fits best according to the text. In the exam, mark your answers on the separate answer sheet.

Trip to Scotland

The four of us, my best friend Ruth, my parents and me, were walking over a piece of damp
moorland in Scotland. It was cold, in spite of the spring sunshine, and rather bleak. I have to
say, I’d been quite anxious about Ruth when we set out. I wasn’t sure how a New Yorker would
react to all this empty scenery. Although she’s lived in London for years, this was the first time
she’d ever been to Scotland, which was surprising. It was also the first time she’d been on a trip
with my family, which was not so surprising. My parents almost never go away.
My family runs a travel agency, so a holiday’s just like work for them — or so they say. Just
occasionally, though, something gets them moving. This time it was a small advert in the
newspaper. My father saw it in the travel section, which normally he only reads for research
purposes. It was a special offer — a long weekend in a farmhouse at a really good price. What
was crucial, though, was that it ended with the magic words ‘excellent bird-watching country’.
Suddenly, we were in the car heading north for Scotland.
‘I think I’ve just seen a sparrow-harrier,’ said Ruth, ‘but now all I’m getting is sky.’
‘Binoculars can be very tricky if you’re not used to them,’ said my mother.
‘So can bird names,’ I said. ‘You’ve just invented the sparrow-harrier. It must’ve been either a
sparrowhawk or a hen harrier.’
My father was struggling with one foot deep in a wet patch of mud. He heaved it free; it gave
(LINE 18) out a loud squelch. ‘In actual fact,’ he said, ‘it was a buzzard.’
I think Dad likes bird-watching the way some people like fishing. It gives him an excuse to go
somewhere lonely and stare into space. To be fair, though, he can get quite animated; when he
thought he’d spotted a firecrest up an oak tree, he brought the binoculars up so fast he blacked
both his eyes. I remember trying not to laugh. Somehow, though, I hadn’t expected Ruth to
find it appealing. Here she was staring at a disappearing dot in the sky and saying, ‘Okay. So
can I claim to have seen a buzzard? Even though I didn’t know what it was?’ My father bent
down and pointed to a small, boring plant, half-hidden in the grass. ‘What’s that?’ he said.
Ruth examined it carefully. ‘I have absolutely no idea,’ she said.
‘Neither have I,’ said my father, ‘but whatever it is, we’ve definitely both seen it.’
‘I think that was a «yes» to your buzzard question,’ said my mother.
We only had one more day away. Then it was back to reality for all of us. Ruth and I are both
taking a ‘year out’ between school and college. I have to admit things weren’t turning out
exactly as we expected — though bits have been really good. The idea was to work and save,
then travel and party. I got a job at once, as an assistant at the agency. I would like to point
out, here, that this only sounds like an easy option to people who have never worked for my
parents. It’s been hard for Ruth to find jobs though, so she never has much money. It’s a pity
because, wherever you want to travel, you have to pay — unless you’re my parents, of course. It
was on the walk back to the farm that they began to discuss all the free holidays they’d had over
the years. Which I have to say I thought was very tactless of them.