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ЕГЭ по английскому языку

Прочитайте текст и выполните задания 12–18. В каждом задании запишите в поле ответа цифру 1, 2, 3 или 4, соответствующую выбранному Вами варианту ответа.

Пример ответа: 1

Stop buying stuff

Did you know that spending 1,000 rubles a day adds up to spending more than 365,000 a year? And I don’t know about you, but hardly anything costs under 1,000 where we live. So thoughtless spending can add up very quickly. As I try to live more simply, I have been trying to mend what we have and make what we need. I recently made linen napkins with some fabric we had. This way of living has required me to slow down and question whether what I want to buy is truly essential. If you also want to live more simply and stop buying stuff you don’t need, here are some tips that I’ve found useful.

First, you need to identify your motivation. Take a few minutes to think about why you want to buy less stuff. Your goal is to buy less, but why are you chasing that goal. Some reasons might be to save money, to reduce clutter, to live more sustainably, to get out of debt, or to live a more handmade and simple life. Once you have your motivation identified, you can refer back to it when you are tempted to buy something frivolous.

Next, it’s very useful to record your expenses. Don’t worry about setting up a fancy budget right now. Just write down everything you buy and how much you spend for one week. This is to make you more conscious of your spending habits and help you to stop buying stuff you don’t need. Also for one week, write down what prompted you to buy something. For example, imagine you bought a new
T-shirt. Write it down and think about what made you want to buy it. Did you see someone you follow on social media wearing it? Did you buy it late at night after a date went badly? The goal is to make your invisible purchasing habits more visible. As you write down what prompted you to buy something, think about whether the spending was emotional or not. Did you get a rush when you pushed ‘buy now’? That’s probably an emotional purchase. Try to identify which emotion you’re avoiding. Do you feel self-conscious? Or depressed? Once we can name what we’re trying to avoid, then we can take steps to meaningfully address it.

Have you heard about the One-Year Test? Look around your space. Do you see anything you haven’t used in a year? Strongly consider selling or donating it. Once you have an understanding of how much you spend and what your spending triggers are, it’s time to clean the slate. Unsubscribe from brands on social media and from email newsletters from companies or influencers. You want to set yourself up for success and protect yourself from being bombarded with emails promising ‘irresistible’ sales. Once you know when you are triggered to buy things, you can pre-empt the urge by filling the time with something else. For example, if you browse and buy late at night on your phone, you can do yoga or meditate or read a good book before bed. You don’t need to do this forever – just try to do it once to begin with, and see how you feel.

Another very good tip can be summed up as ‘cost versus work.’ Before you buy something, calculate how much you will need to work to cover the cost. If you get paid 300 rubles/hour and something costs 2,500, that’s more than 8 hours of work. Is it worth it to you?

Before buying something, wait 24 hours. This is a good way to weed out impulse buying. Instead of buying things every day, choose one day a week. Bookmark everything you want to buy and on the buying day, review all of your bookmarks. This is a good way to remove emotional or impulse buying, too.

So, buying stuff you don’t need is a major problem for a lot of people. The material possessions that you’ve desired and eventually purchased will lose their sparkle, and you’ll return to your happiness set point. Things can’t make you happy, but people can.

18. Which is the best summary of the article?

1) There are many ways to reduce purchases.

2) Buy only what makes you happy.

3) Buying less stuff is a way to happiness.

4) People tend to spend more than they can afford.

Прочитайте текст и выполните задания 12–18. В каждом задании запишите в поле ответа цифру 1, 2, 3 или 4, соответствующую выбранному Вами варианту ответа.

Пример ответа: 1

Shoppers

Can you spend hours and hours at the mall just looking, while hardly making a purchase? Or when you go to the mall, do you try to park, get in, and get out as quickly as possible? Whether we like it or not, we all have to shop at some point. It’s good to be aware of your money mindset so you can rein in your natural budget busters. Which kind of shopper do you most identify with?

The bargain shopper loves coupons, discount books and online codes, as well as store sales. The bargain shopper hunts down deals with the intensity of a rabid raccoon ransacking an unguarded trash can. And that’s a good thing. If there’s one thing you can count on with this kind of a shopper, it’s the fact that they’ll absolutely find the lowest price in town – or, if they can find it on the internet, in the entire world.

The next type is the researcher. Imagine you want to buy a new 42-inch LCD TV. So what do you do? You buy a few consumer magazines. You visit
14 different websites that offer television reviews. You spend five months researching every brand and every model of 42-inch LCD televisions. Based on that information, you might make a decision. Or you might wait until next year’s models come out because, after all, once you make the purchase, you can’t research TVs anymore. And what kind of life is that?

Probably, the worst type for your budget is the impulse buyer. Ooh, that sure is a pretty lamp over there. You know where that lamp would look nice? On the end table next to your bed. Such a pretty lamp. So cute. Sure, it’s $200, but you never spend that much money on lamps, and when will you ever see another lamp that cute again? So you know what to do – buy it! Right now! Buy it! This will be the best, most sensible purchase you’ve ever made – until tomorrow, when you wake up and realize you have $15,000 in debt and just spent $200 on a lamp. These are the kind of people who might actually have several credit cards and need professional help to stop them going on a shopping spree.

For another type, the negotiator, no price is set in stone. Everything is up for negotiation. “That’s not good enough!” is the negotiator’s mantra. Their sole purpose in life is to win the battle with every single salesperson they encounter. Or at least it seems that way, because they approach every negotiation like fighting. That’s a type of a person you really need to take with you to an Asian market where prices are cut twice or even more after bargaining.

The loyalist buys everything, and we mean everything, from the same store. They’ve got 14 different discount and membership cards of varying sizes for that one store. There’s the one for their wallet, their key chain, their smartphone, their purse, their back pocket – and don’t forget the one they customized into an earring for emergencies. When they enter that store, they’re greeted like a king or queen. Everyone there knows their name.

Last, but not least, is ‘the man on a mission.’ They have one objective: to go to the store and buy a new computer monitor. Their record for driving to the mall, buying one item, and returning home is 27 minutes and 42 seconds. Each time they go to the mall, their goal is to break that record. When the man on a mission shops, he or she’s like a laser-guided missile seeking out a target to destroy.

Many of us are addicted to shopping. And some of us can’t seem to get off the hedonic treadmill. Being conscious of your shopping habits is the first step to stop buying things you don’t actually need. Well, the next time you’re tempted to buy something, get out your smartphone to determine whether the purchase fits in your budget. If it doesn’t, all bets are off; don’t make the purchase!

12. The author thinks that knowing your shopper type will help you …

1) shop more quickly.

2) control your spending.

3) choose things carefully.

4) avoid going shopping.

Прочитайте текст и выполните задания 12–18. В каждом задании запишите в поле ответа цифру 1, 2, 3 или 4, соответствующую выбранному Вами варианту ответа.

Пример ответа: 1

Shoppers

Can you spend hours and hours at the mall just looking, while hardly making a purchase? Or when you go to the mall, do you try to park, get in, and get out as quickly as possible? Whether we like it or not, we all have to shop at some point. It’s good to be aware of your money mindset so you can rein in your natural budget busters. Which kind of shopper do you most identify with?

The bargain shopper loves coupons, discount books and online codes, as well as store sales. The bargain shopper hunts down deals with the intensity of a rabid raccoon ransacking an unguarded trash can. And that’s a good thing. If there’s one thing you can count on with this kind of a shopper, it’s the fact that they’ll absolutely find the lowest price in town – or, if they can find it on the internet, in the entire world.

The next type is the researcher. Imagine you want to buy a new 42-inch LCD TV. So what do you do? You buy a few consumer magazines. You visit
14 different websites that offer television reviews. You spend five months researching every brand and every model of 42-inch LCD televisions. Based on that information, you might make a decision. Or you might wait until next year’s models come out because, after all, once you make the purchase, you can’t research TVs anymore. And what kind of life is that?

Probably, the worst type for your budget is the impulse buyer. Ooh, that sure is a pretty lamp over there. You know where that lamp would look nice? On the end table next to your bed. Such a pretty lamp. So cute. Sure, it’s $200, but you never spend that much money on lamps, and when will you ever see another lamp that cute again? So you know what to do – buy it! Right now! Buy it! This will be the best, most sensible purchase you’ve ever made – until tomorrow, when you wake up and realize you have $15,000 in debt and just spent $200 on a lamp. These are the kind of people who might actually have several credit cards and need professional help to stop them going on a shopping spree.

For another type, the negotiator, no price is set in stone. Everything is up for negotiation. “That’s not good enough!” is the negotiator’s mantra. Their sole purpose in life is to win the battle with every single salesperson they encounter. Or at least it seems that way, because they approach every negotiation like fighting. That’s a type of a person you really need to take with you to an Asian market where prices are cut twice or even more after bargaining.

The loyalist buys everything, and we mean everything, from the same store. They’ve got 14 different discount and membership cards of varying sizes for that one store. There’s the one for their wallet, their key chain, their smartphone, their purse, their back pocket – and don’t forget the one they customized into an earring for emergencies. When they enter that store, they’re greeted like a king or queen. Everyone there knows their name.

Last, but not least, is ‘the man on a mission.’ They have one objective: to go to the store and buy a new computer monitor. Their record for driving to the mall, buying one item, and returning home is 27 minutes and 42 seconds. Each time they go to the mall, their goal is to break that record. When the man on a mission shops, he or she’s like a laser-guided missile seeking out a target to destroy.

Many of us are addicted to shopping. And some of us can’t seem to get off the hedonic treadmill. Being conscious of your shopping habits is the first step to stop buying things you don’t actually need. Well, the next time you’re tempted to buy something, get out your smartphone to determine whether the purchase fits in your budget. If it doesn’t, all bets are off; don’t make the purchase!

13. The author compares a bargain shopper with a racoon (paragraph 2) to illustrate this type’s …

1) passion for sales.

2) good intuition.

3) rare carelessness.

4) intense curiosity.

Прочитайте текст и выполните задания 12–18. В каждом задании запишите в поле ответа цифру 1, 2, 3 или 4, соответствующую выбранному Вами варианту ответа.

Пример ответа: 1

Shoppers

Can you spend hours and hours at the mall just looking, while hardly making a purchase? Or when you go to the mall, do you try to park, get in, and get out as quickly as possible? Whether we like it or not, we all have to shop at some point. It’s good to be aware of your money mindset so you can rein in your natural budget busters. Which kind of shopper do you most identify with?

The bargain shopper loves coupons, discount books and online codes, as well as store sales. The bargain shopper hunts down deals with the intensity of a rabid raccoon ransacking an unguarded trash can. And that’s a good thing. If there’s one thing you can count on with this kind of a shopper, it’s the fact that they’ll absolutely find the lowest price in town – or, if they can find it on the internet, in the entire world.

The next type is the researcher. Imagine you want to buy a new 42-inch LCD TV. So what do you do? You buy a few consumer magazines. You visit
14 different websites that offer television reviews. You spend five months researching every brand and every model of 42-inch LCD televisions. Based on that information, you might make a decision. Or you might wait until next year’s models come out because, after all, once you make the purchase, you can’t research TVs anymore. And what kind of life is that?

Probably, the worst type for your budget is the impulse buyer. Ooh, that sure is a pretty lamp over there. You know where that lamp would look nice? On the end table next to your bed. Such a pretty lamp. So cute. Sure, it’s $200, but you never spend that much money on lamps, and when will you ever see another lamp that cute again? So you know what to do – buy it! Right now! Buy it! This will be the best, most sensible purchase you’ve ever made – until tomorrow, when you wake up and realize you have $15,000 in debt and just spent $200 on a lamp. These are the kind of people who might actually have several credit cards and need professional help to stop them going on a shopping spree.

For another type, the negotiator, no price is set in stone. Everything is up for negotiation. “That’s not good enough!” is the negotiator’s mantra. Their sole purpose in life is to win the battle with every single salesperson they encounter. Or at least it seems that way, because they approach every negotiation like fighting. That’s a type of a person you really need to take with you to an Asian market where prices are cut twice or even more after bargaining.

The loyalist buys everything, and we mean everything, from the same store. They’ve got 14 different discount and membership cards of varying sizes for that one store. There’s the one for their wallet, their key chain, their smartphone, their purse, their back pocket – and don’t forget the one they customized into an earring for emergencies. When they enter that store, they’re greeted like a king or queen. Everyone there knows their name.

Last, but not least, is ‘the man on a mission.’ They have one objective: to go to the store and buy a new computer monitor. Their record for driving to the mall, buying one item, and returning home is 27 minutes and 42 seconds. Each time they go to the mall, their goal is to break that record. When the man on a mission shops, he or she’s like a laser-guided missile seeking out a target to destroy.

Many of us are addicted to shopping. And some of us can’t seem to get off the hedonic treadmill. Being conscious of your shopping habits is the first step to stop buying things you don’t actually need. Well, the next time you’re tempted to buy something, get out your smartphone to determine whether the purchase fits in your budget. If it doesn’t, all bets are off; don’t make the purchase!

14. According to the article, the researcher type finds most pleasure in …

1) taking final decisions.

2) comparing products.

3) reading magazines.

4) making a purchase.

Прочитайте текст и выполните задания 12–18. В каждом задании запишите в поле ответа цифру 1, 2, 3 или 4, соответствующую выбранному Вами варианту ответа.

Пример ответа: 1

Shoppers

Can you spend hours and hours at the mall just looking, while hardly making a purchase? Or when you go to the mall, do you try to park, get in, and get out as quickly as possible? Whether we like it or not, we all have to shop at some point. It’s good to be aware of your money mindset so you can rein in your natural budget busters. Which kind of shopper do you most identify with?

The bargain shopper loves coupons, discount books and online codes, as well as store sales. The bargain shopper hunts down deals with the intensity of a rabid raccoon ransacking an unguarded trash can. And that’s a good thing. If there’s one thing you can count on with this kind of a shopper, it’s the fact that they’ll absolutely find the lowest price in town – or, if they can find it on the internet, in the entire world.

The next type is the researcher. Imagine you want to buy a new 42-inch LCD TV. So what do you do? You buy a few consumer magazines. You visit
14 different websites that offer television reviews. You spend five months researching every brand and every model of 42-inch LCD televisions. Based on that information, you might make a decision. Or you might wait until next year’s models come out because, after all, once you make the purchase, you can’t research TVs anymore. And what kind of life is that?

Probably, the worst type for your budget is the impulse buyer. Ooh, that sure is a pretty lamp over there. You know where that lamp would look nice? On the end table next to your bed. Such a pretty lamp. So cute. Sure, it’s $200, but you never spend that much money on lamps, and when will you ever see another lamp that cute again? So you know what to do – buy it! Right now! Buy it! This will be the best, most sensible purchase you’ve ever made – until tomorrow, when you wake up and realize you have $15,000 in debt and just spent $200 on a lamp. These are the kind of people who might actually have several credit cards and need professional help to stop them going on a shopping spree.

For another type, the negotiator, no price is set in stone. Everything is up for negotiation. “That’s not good enough!” is the negotiator’s mantra. Their sole purpose in life is to win the battle with every single salesperson they encounter. Or at least it seems that way, because they approach every negotiation like fighting. That’s a type of a person you really need to take with you to an Asian market where prices are cut twice or even more after bargaining.

The loyalist buys everything, and we mean everything, from the same store. They’ve got 14 different discount and membership cards of varying sizes for that one store. There’s the one for their wallet, their key chain, their smartphone, their purse, their back pocket – and don’t forget the one they customized into an earring for emergencies. When they enter that store, they’re greeted like a king or queen. Everyone there knows their name.

Last, but not least, is ‘the man on a mission.’ They have one objective: to go to the store and buy a new computer monitor. Their record for driving to the mall, buying one item, and returning home is 27 minutes and 42 seconds. Each time they go to the mall, their goal is to break that record. When the man on a mission shops, he or she’s like a laser-guided missile seeking out a target to destroy.

Many of us are addicted to shopping. And some of us can’t seem to get off the hedonic treadmill. Being conscious of your shopping habits is the first step to stop buying things you don’t actually need. Well, the next time you’re tempted to buy something, get out your smartphone to determine whether the purchase fits in your budget. If it doesn’t, all bets are off; don’t make the purchase!

15. The author defines the impulse buyer as a person who …

1) loves buying beautiful things.

2) gives good advice on shopping.

3) is eager to spend a lot of money.

4) often shops uncontrollably.