№15 прочитайте текст и выберите точные ответы на вопросы по его содержанию. укажите номера выбранных вариантов в талоне ответов под соответствующей буквой (a-e). mary smith was a perfect example of necessity as the mother of invention. she founded what was to become a multi-million-dollar enterprise because she was a poor typist. rather than lose her job, she cheated on her typing pool assignments by covering up her mistakes with white paint. by the time of her death in 1980, smith potion was a worldwide corporation and the staple of offices everywhere. mary left a $50 million fortune. the fact that half the money went to her son, producer mike smith, is one reason music video is so popular today. michael has invested his inheritance in pacific arts studio, a forerunner in the production of video music. in the early 1950s, while working as an executive secretary for a bank in new york, mary found that the new electric typewriters, with their carbon film ribbons, left a terrible mess behind when you tried to erase a typographical error. “i remembered trying to make a little extra money by helping design the holiday decorations at the bank,” recalled smith. “with lettering, an artist never corrects by erasing but always paints over the error. so i decided to use what artists use. i put some tempera waterbase paint in a bottle and took a watercolor brush to the office, and i used that to correct my typing mistakes.” my boss might not have approved, but the girls in the typing pool knew a good thing when they saw it. after the umpteenth coworker asked mary for a bottle of her magic potion, she went home and made the first batch of what the hand-painted label called “mistake out”. by the end of 1957, smith potion was selling 100 bottles per month – bottles that were filled out of squeezable ketchup and mustard containers by young michael and his friends in the family garage. after an article about the product appeared in a national office supply magazine, the hundreds of bottles became thousands of bottles. yet mary kept her day job until the morning she was fired for accidentally typing “the smith potion company” on the bottom of a letter - instead of her employer’s name. it took a long time for the company to become profitable. in 1966, michael was earning far more as a music and television producer than his mother as owner and founder of smith potion, inc. and then things started to take off. in 1968 smith potion grossed more than $1 million, producing in excess of 10,000 bottles a day. in 1979 the gillette corporation bought smith potion for $47.5 million - plus a royalty to mary smith on every bottle sold until the year 2000. a) why did mary decide to set up her own business? 1) because she was ambitious. 2) because she was a clever businesswoman. 3) because she was poor and inventive. 4) because she had to leave her job. 5) because she had come into some money. b) what was the original name of mary’s invention? 1) paint over. 2) mistake out. 3) magic potion. 4) waterbase. 5) cover-up. c) who was mary’s invention immediately popular with? 1) her boss. 2) the stationery industry. 3) the typing pool. 4) her son’s friends. 5) artists. d) how long did it take the company to become a multi-million-dollar business? 1) it was an immediate success. 2) as long as 43 years. 3) more than ten years. 4) it has never become one. e) what did mary do with her money? 1) she invested her entire fortune in music video production. 2) she left it all to her son. 3) she left only 50% of it to her son. 4) she set up a fund to support low-ranking office workers.

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