2.1. Read the text below and decide which answer A, B, C, or D fits each space.

Lucky survivors
A couple from Miami, Bill and Simon Butler, (5) sixty-six days in a life-raft in the sea of central America after their yacht sank. They survived in very good (6) . Twenty-one days after they left Panama in their yacht, they met some whales. “They started to hit the side of the boat”, said Bill, “and then (7) we heard water.”Two minutes (8) , the yacht was sinking. They jumped into the life-raft and watched the boat go (9) the water. For twenty days they had (10) of food, biscuits, and bottle of water. They also had a fishing-line and a machine to make salt water into drinking water, two things which (11) their lives. They caught eight to ten fish a day and ate them raw. Then the line broke. “So we had no more fish (12) something very strange happened. Some sharks came to feed and the fish under the raft were afraid and came to the surface. I caught them with my hands.” About twenty ships (13) them, but no one saw them. After fifty days at sea their life-raft was beginning to break up. Then suddenly it was all over. A fishing boat saw them and (14) them up, their two months at sea was over.

Have you ever noticed advertisements which say “Learn a foreign language in 6 weeks, or your money back. From the first day your pronunciation will be excellent. Just send...” and so on? Of course, it never happens quite like that. One‘s mother language is easier to learn, but it also requires a lot of practice to be fluent. And think how much practice that gets! Before the Second World War, people usually learned a foreign language in order to read the literature of the country.
Now speaking a foreign language is what most people want. Every year many millions of people start learning one. How do they do it? Some people try it at home, with books and records of tapes; some use radio or television programmes; some use computers and network; others go to evening classes. If they use the language only 2 or 3 times a week, it will take a long time, like learning a foreign language at school. A few people try to learn the language fast by studying for 6 or more hours a day. It is clearly easier to learn the language in the country where it is spoken. However, most people cannot afford this, and for many it is not necessary. They need the language in order to do their work better. For example, scientists and doctors chiefly need to be able to read books and reports in the foreign language. Whether the language is learned quickly or slowly, it is hard work. Machines and good books will help, but they cannot do the student’s work for him.