Przykładowe Materiały Egzaminacyjne JĘzyk angielski poziom 3 Czytanie
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- Soldiers Taking Wing
A Nation of CriminalsBritain may have slipped down many world league tables over the past few decades, but it beats all other rich countries (except Australia) in one activity: crime. According to a new victimisation survey of industrialised nations, people in England, Scotland, and Wales are at greater risk than anywhere else of having a car stolen. And apart from Australia, people who live in England, Scotland and Wales are at greater risk of being assaulted, robbed, sexually attacked and having their homes burgled than are people in any other rich country. The results of the 2000 International Crime Victims Survey (ICVS), published by the Dutch Ministry of Justice, are deeply embarrassing to a government, which has promised to be "tough on crime and the causes of crime." That perhaps explains why the Home Office, which co-operated on the English part of the survey, says it has no plans to publish the findings.
The home secretary, Jack Straw, says that almost half of all crime is committed by a hard core of 100,000 offenders. He has already forced through legislation introducing longer sentences for persistent burglars and he is now proposing to introduce "special drug courts” for drug offenders who are responsible for more than a third of all property crime. But whether any of this will change this country's position in the crime league tables remains open to doubt.
Text 10Towns in TerrorWhen the Uzbek government announced the arrival of U.S. soldiers at the airbase in Khanabad last month, most locals were eager to meet their new neighbours. Today many wish the Americans would go home. Not that the Americans themselves are the problem. They are ensconced in their own ‘city’ behind concrete walls, and almost no one has even seen them. The problem is the virtual reign of terror that the Uzbek security services have unleashed on the inhabitants of Khanabad and neighbouring villages: whole villages sealed off by police, visits by outsiders forbidden, regular house-to-house searches and police at checkpoints taking taxi license-plate numbers, interrogating those drivers unlucky enough to have transported a foreign journalist and confiscating their cars. Intense secrecy, repression and the complete information blackout by Uzbekistan’s state –controlled media have left locals anxious about Taliban or terrorist attacks on the nearby base. The media have even raised concerns about the possibility of a biological-weapons attack since American troops were recently seen carrying gas masks, but this is seen as unlikely. What really scares the local people are rumours that villagers living near the base may be forcibly evicted in order to further enhance security for the Americans. Still, the U.S. military isn’t doing much in terms of damage control. Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. Craig Quigley says there are no plans to station U.S. public-affairs officers in Khanabad to handle their neighbours’ questions on the nature or extent of the U.S. presence or anything else. The U.S. military seems willing to go along with the host’s philosophy: if you grab people tightly enough by the neck, their hearts and minds will follow.
Text 11 Soldiers Taking WingFaced with recruiting shortfalls and retention problems, the Air Force has decided it too could use some hard-charging Army soldiers. Though some will laugh at the thought of former soldiers putting on Air Force blue, the plan makes sense from a Defense Department perspective. The Army needs a high ratio of junior enlisted troops. The Air Force, on the other hand, needs more midlevel people and it relies on second – and third – term re-enlistments to bolster its ranks. By drawing veterans from the other services, the Air Force can get hundreds of “new” airmen who already know the military basics. It’s not like Air Force recruiters will lurk outside Army forts trying to lure soldiers away. Prospective prior-service airmen would have to have honorable discharge papers in hand to be eligible for the program. In years past, the Air Force limited its prior-service recruiting to former soldiers, sailors and Marines with specific skills, such as military police or linguists. In its new policy, released May 3, the Air Force welcomed all eligible veterans – including infantry troops – to sign up. If necessary, the Air Force will provide technical training for the prospective airmen. The Air Force policy change may present a challenge for Army personnel planners who are currently 2,500 re-enlistments short of their goal for first-term and mid-career soldiers whose contracts expire this fiscal year. But for those soldiers who decide to leave the Army, the Air Force’s offer gives them another opportunity to serve their country. Some will certainly take it.
Text 12 Directory: plik -> file -> Do pobrania - Mat. Egzaminacyjne -> Angielski Angielski -> Two texts. For questions 1 to 6 plik -> March 4th-8th 2000; ustroń, poland Download 1.02 Mb. Share with your friends:
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