18*. Fill in the gaps with the appropriate words from the list.

18*. Fill in the gaps with the appropriate words from the list.

linking, regulate, potential, ensure, inappropriateness, criteria, impact, seek, construction, compensation, technological, contributor, shifting, maintain, registration, elementary, community, tradition.

1. Libya has long been a crossroads, _________ three continents. 2. _________ for fall programs begins on August first. 3. Eating plenty of fruits, vegetables, protein and dairy products will _________ your body gets the minerals it needs. 4. He received almost half a million dollars in _________ after an accident in which the brakes on his new car failed. 5. Potential immigrants to this country are evaluated using a point system which examines _________ such as age, health, work skills, and education. 6. The discoveries of Albert Einstein began a _________ revolution that has generated more change in a century than in the previous two thousand years. 7. Studies by Gradman and Hanania have shown that regular out of class reading is the most important direct _________ to success on the TOEFL test. 8. The _________ sands of the desert in some parts of Egypt can make for a difficult and dangerous crossing. 9. I would _________ a second opinion if you don't agree with what your doctor said. 10. The number and kind of animals and plants making up a lake _________ changes continuously. 11. Setting off fireworks on Halloween is a popular _________ in this country. 12. In the future, we may have tiny computers inside us to monitor, and even _________ functions such as heart rate or blood pressure. 13. I can’t understand why they hired him to work in the computer lab; at best, he has only very _________ knowledge of computers. 14. European diseases had a devastating _________ on the native people of Guatemala. 15. My uncle works in _________ as an electrician. 16. The _________ of his language continually causes great embarrassment at our weekly staff meetings. 17. Ensuring that a child’s basic needs are met helps to enable them to reach their full _________. 18. One of the goals of the United Nations is to _________ international peace and security.

WRITING

19. Translate one paragraph from the following text in the written form paying attention to its grammar, lexical, and stylistic peculiarities.

Iranians Turn to Telegram App Amid Protests

Nearly a decade ago, a then-fledgling internet tool played a starring role in a protest movement that swept Iran, with organizers and witnesses communicating with each other, and the rest of the world, via Twitter. Today, a loose-knit group of Iranian protesters has added a new tool: Telegram, a smartphone messaging app that people have used to share information about demonstrations and videos of gatherings. “Telegram has been the most important tool for many Iranians to access uncensored news and information, ” said Fereidoon Bashar co-director of ASL19, a Canada-based research and tech lab that helps people in Iran access information. Sharing news and information has become important during the protests, which have evolved without centralized leadership, Mr. Bashar said. Iranians’ use of social media to facilitate protests, and the government’s efforts to block them, represent the latest moves in a cat-and-mouse game that has played out in several countries in recent years.

The Iranian government has moved to rein in protesters’ ability to organize and communicate. It is restricting access to Telegram and Instagram, the photo-sharing site owned by Facebook Inc., state media has reported. The semi-official Iranian Labor News Agency reported over the weekend that authorities had ordered blockages of mobile and landline internet access in areas near protests or anti-government gatherings. In response, Iranians have ramped up their use of circumvention tools to allow apps like Telegram to function, according to activists and developers of the tools. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the U. S. is calling on Iran to stop blocking social-media sites and to respect the rights of protesters to speak freely in public and online. “When a nation clamps down on social media … we ask the question, ‘What are you afraid of? ” she said.

Telegram’s chief executive, Pavel Durov, said in a statement over the weekend that the government was blocking access to Telegram for the majority of Iranians. He said the move came after the company refused to shut down channels in which protesters posted information about gatherings, including one that was giving times and places for protests and distributing videos of unrest. He said Telegram shut down one channel that violated Telegram’s rules against calls for violence. Mr. Durov and a Telegram spokesman didn’t respond to requests for comment on Tuesday. A spokesman for Instagram declined to comment. An Iranian government representative didn’t respond immediately to a request for comment. Access to uncensored communication tools —including Twitter Inc. ’s service — helped fuel the protests that swept Iran in 2009, by allowing protesters to share news and organize gatherings using services outside government control. Protesters used Twitter, Facebook and other new platforms during the Arab Spring uprisings that erupted in 2011. Since then, Iran and other countries including China, Turkey and Russia have increased their efforts to police the internet. In many cases, they use technological filters — similar to those companies make to thwart cyberattacks - to spot and censor traffic they don’t like.

Those filters have led to a technical arms race. Governments make or buy subtler and more effective filters. Activists and protesters use an evolving set of technologies to redirect or obfuscate their internet traffic and thereby sidestep the blockades. Telegram has become a favourite because of its perceived privacy. It is a messaging app, similar to Facebook-owned WhatsApp, that can be used on a smartphone or computer. It touts its speed and security; users can set messages to self-destruct on its “secret chat” feature. Using this function, Telegram users can choose to have messages encrypted, so even Telegram doesn’t have access to the data. Non-“secret chat” messages are essentially split up and stored on Telegram servers throughout the world. Telegram says it would take court orders from several countries to force the company to give up data. In addition to sending messages to individuals and groups, users can create or join “channels” to broadcast to large audiences.

Telegram has come under fire in the U. S. and Europe, where authorities have accused it of helping disseminate terrorist propaganda, as well as allowing encrypted communication between terrorists. Telegram has said that banning encrypted messages to deter terrorism wouldn’t work because extremists would find other ways to covertly communicate. Mr. Durov, Telegram’s 33-year-old founder and owner, has marketed his privately held company to people suspicious of governments. He founded Russia’s equivalent of Facebook, VKontakte, but left Russia after government pressure. He started Telegram in 2013. Telegram, which is free, doesn’t sell ads and says it isn’t interested in making a profit. The company says it is supported by Mr. Durov’s personal money. In a 2016 interview, Mr. Durov said he and a small group of Telegram programmers didn’t have a permanent home in part because they didn’t want to be beholden to one country’s regulations. He said they rented accommodations in a city for weeks at a time before moving onto another. Recent homes had included Barcelona, Berlin, and London.