Прочитайте текст и выполните задания The Business of Weddings 1. Though the odds may be barely in th...: ответ на тест 864120 - Английский язык

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The Business of Weddings
1. Though the odds may be barely in their favor, every couple who goes to the altar believes that they will make that trip only once in their lives. They want the day to be perfect, and they are asking for much more than good weather. They want the most beautiful clothes, the freshest flowers, the prettiest music, and the best food. No one, especially not the bride — nor her family who will foot the bill — is in any mood to economize.
2. A quick look at any bride magazine will reveal that plenty of attractive goods and services compete for a share of the wedding budget. Beside the obvious choices of rings, dresses, flowers, and photographs, there are the less apparent expenses: a lavish cake, a rehearsal dinner, a reception, music for both the ceremony and the reception, tips, and even napkins and matchbooks printed with the couple's names and the wedding date.
3. As the arrangements are generally complicated, there are plenty of services that can be hired to help with the planning and execution of the ceremony. There is also an amazing amount of free advice covering every aspect of the wedding: planning the photographs, selecting the wedding rings, choosing the flowers, picking the honeymoon spot, and so on. One magazine lists over 350 such pamphlets that can be had for the asking, published of course by businesses who have something to offer. Considering that weddings do more than 12 billion dollars worth of business annually in the U.S. alone, such activity isn't surprising.
4. What is surprising, is that no one company dominates the industry. It seems that when people plan for a day as special to them as a wedding, they resist standardization. They turn instead to the small local suppliers known to them or to their friends. Family members or friends often serve as photographers, caterers and musicians. This not only helps bring the wedding cost down, it makes it more personal. What about the couple that doesn't want to take part in this billion dollar industry? They can go to city hall and get married for less than the price of a hamburger.
(World English)
Укажите, какой части текста (1, 2, 3, 4) соответствует следующая идея
Young couples make so much effort, spend so much money, hire the best wedding planners to make their wedding ceremony perfect, because they in fact believe that they marry first and only once in their lives.

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The Business of Weddings
1. Though the odds may be barely in their favor, every couple who goes to the altar believes that they will make that trip only once in their lives. They want the day to be perfect, and they are asking for much more than good weather. They want the most beautiful clothes, the freshest flowers, the prettiest music, and the best food. No one, especially not the bride — nor her family who will foot the bill — is in any mood to economize.
2. A quick look at any bride magazine will reveal that plenty of attractive goods and services compete for a share of the wedding budget. Beside the obvious choices of rings, dresses, flowers, and photographs, there are the less apparent expenses: a lavish cake, a rehearsal dinner, a reception, music for both the ceremony and the reception, tips, and even napkins and matchbooks printed with the couple's names and the wedding date.
3. As the arrangements are generally complicated, there are plenty of services that can be hired to help with the planning and execution of the ceremony. There is also an amazing amount of free advice covering every aspect of the wedding: planning the photographs, selecting the wedding rings, choosing the flowers, picking the honeymoon spot, and so on. One magazine lists over 350 such pamphlets that can be had for the asking, published of course by businesses who have something to offer. Considering that weddings do more than 12 billion dollars worth of business annually in the U.S. alone, such activity isn't surprising.
4. What is surprising, is that no one company dominates the industry. It seems that when people plan for a day as special to them as a wedding, they resist standardization. They turn instead to the small local suppliers known to them or to their friends. Family members or friends often serve as photographers, caterers and musicians. This not only helps bring the wedding cost down, it makes it more personal. What about the couple that doesn't want to take part in this billion dollar industry? They can go to city hall and get married for less than the price of a hamburger.
(World English)
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International Business – With a Twist
1. Some of the world's most accommodating businessmen specialize in getting you what you want at a fair market price. But they're businessmen with a difference — they're smugglers who deal only in what's illegal. A smuggling operation is complex, so it has to be businesslike. It has managers who plan trips, make deals, and arrange for purchases and pick-ups. It has travelers who deliver the goods, and specialists who recruit and train them. In fact, smugglers frequently have legitimate businesses on the side. A travel agency is helpful because the modern smuggler is a world traveler. When a gold smuggler was arrested recently, he had airline tickets "from Geneva to Bangkok by way of Frankfurt, Nicosia, Istanbul, Beirut, Vancouver, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Manila, and Jakarta."
2. The best places for smuggling operations are border cities and seaports. In one such city, annual sales at local stores amounted to $6,900 for every person in town. But the average person only made $3,575 per year. A tiny seaport is the world's third largest importer of Swiss watches — every year, it buys 50 watches for every person in the city. Obviously, the people in these cities are not buying all this merchandise — it is being bought by smugglers.
3. As one expert wrote, "the ingenuity of the smuggler's mind is virtually limitless." In addition to special vests for carrying gold, there are other types of smuggling equipment. A diplomat was arrested in London with 298 watches sewn into his coat lining. British officials discovered a car with a special gas tank containing 2,581 illegal watches. But some smugglers don't need special equipment. A good diamond smuggler can hide two or three small diamonds in his mouth and still carry on a normal conversation.
4. What makes people smuggle? Profit is definitely a motive. Over $1.5 billion in illegal gold alone is smuggled every year, not to mention a multi-million dollar art smuggling trade and a thriving business in illegal diamonds. But many smugglers love excitement as much as profit. As one said, "You don't feel happy unless you have a line open and somebody making a run for you".
(World English)
Укажите, какой части текста (1, 2, 3, 4) соответствует следующая идея
The present smuggling business has connections with legal businesses in many fields.

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Hyperinflation
1. Inflation is a sustained increase in the aggregate price level. Economists generally reserve the term hyperinflation to describe episodes where the monthly inflation rate is greater than 50 per cent.
2. Hyperinflations are largely a twentieth-century phenomenon. The most widely studied hyperinflation occurred in Germany after World War I. The ratio of the German price index in November 1923 to the price index in August 1922 – just fifteen months earlier – was 1.02 × 1010. This huge number amounts to a monthly inflation rate of 322 per cent.
3. Hyperinflations are caused by extremely rapid growth in the supply of «paper» money. They occur when the monetary and fiscal authorities of a nation regularly issue large quantities of money to pay for a large stream of government expenditures. In effect, inflation is a form of taxation where the government gains at the expense of those who hold money whose value is declining. Hyperinflations are, therefore, very large taxation schemes.
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Insurance
1. Insurance plays a central role in the functioning of modern economies. Life insurance offers protection against the economic impact of an untimely death; health insurance covers the sometimes extraordinary costs of medical care; and bank deposits are insured by the federal government. In each case a small premium is paid by the insured to receive benefits should an unlikely but high-cost event occur.
2. An understanding of insurance must begin with the concept of risk, or the variation in possible outcomes of a situation. A shipment of goods to Europe might arrive safely or might be lost in transit. A person may incur zero medical expenses in a good year, but if he is struck by a car, they could be upward of $100,000.
3. We cannot eliminate risk from life, even at extraordinary expense. Paying extra for double-hulled tankers still leaves oil spills possible. The only way to eliminate auto-related injuries is to eliminate automobiles. Thus, the effective response to risk combines two elements: efforts or expenditures to lessen the risk, and the purchase of insurance against the risk that remains.
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World Bank
1. World Bank or International Bank for Reconstruction and Development is a multinational institution set up in 1947 to provide economic aid to member countries - mainly developing countries – to strengthen their economics. The Bank has supported a wide range of long-term investments including infrastructure projects such as roads, telecommunications and electricity supply; agriculture and industrial projects including the establishment of new industries, as well as social, training and educational programmes.
2. The Bank's funds come largely from the developed countries, but it also raises money on international capital markets. The Bank operates according to 'business principles' lending at commercial rates of interest only to those governments it feels are capable of servicing and repaying their debts.
3. In 1960, however, it established an affiliate agency, the International Development Association, to provide low-interest loans to its poorer members. Another affiliate of the World Bank is the International Finance Corporation which can invest directly in companies by acquiring shares.
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