Прочитайте текст и выполните задания1218. В каждом задании запишите в поле ответа цифру1,2,3или4, соответствующую выбранному Вами варианту ответа. 12. The author describes the meeting with the woman as 1) the funniest event in his life. 2) a challenge to his open-mindedness. 3) a source of his knowledge of edible gold. 4) a very mysterious event. Edible Gold I like to think of myself as an open-minded person, someone who is tolerant to those with different beliefs, however wacky they may seem to me. Every rule has its exceptions, though. A few years agowhile traveling inEngland,I met a woman who asked me if Id heard of edible gold. I replied that I had, as Id seen a TV show about chefs using gold leaves as a decorative but edible garnish on dishes. I assumed thats what she was talking about. But she seemed very surprised and in a hushed, conspiratorial tone, began excitedly talking about how the ancient Egyptians had discovered that by eating powdered gold, one could become immortal. Very clearly, she believed this too. OK. I felt that all my good intentions of open-mindedness went out the windowthat was just way too strange for me. Later, when I consulted Google to see if I could learn more about this outrageous claim, I was shockedand dismayedto find thousands of Web pages describing, with great seriousness, a miraculous substance usually referred to as white powder gold. Even though I cant claim the slightest expertise in this esoteric field, I thought Idmakean attempt to distilthe essence of these claims for your consideration. Lets begin with culinary gold. If you walk into your nearest gourmet supply store, you can probably find, for about US$20, a box of gold leaf manufactured expressly to enable you to impress your friends at your next dinner party. These unbelievably thin pieces of nearly pure gold add an impressive touch to chocolates,soups, sushi,or just about anything else you can think of. Because the quantity of gold is so small, the price is reasonable; yet these gold highlights make a meal appear to be extravagant and give restaurants an excuse to charge exorbitant prices. Some purveyors of mineral supplements sell a gold colloid: a suspension of extremely tiny particles of metallic gold in water. In a gold colloid, each particle contains nine atoms of gold. Its daily dose is enough to provide a wide range of health benefits. Here, at least, there is some research behind it. A few studies found the product to be effective in managing rheumatoid arthritis and also, intriguingly, increasing I.Q. scores. These claims are at least plausible. Our next step is one decidedly outside the realm of scientific certainty. David Hudson, a farmer living inArizona, was trying to extract gold and silver from the tailings of an abandoned mine in the mid-1970s. In the process, he found amysterioussubstance that defied analysis, despite years of experimentation by reputable laboratories, undertaken at great personal expense.Hudsoneventually concluded the white powder was gold in a monatomic state and it has some amazing properties: when heated it can levitate and has a long list of incredible health benefits. Hudsoneven received patents inBritainandAustralia, though not in theUSA. I should interject that the awarding of a patent does not mean that a government agency has successfully reproduced the invention in question, or even that they have validated it as being scientifically sound. Interested in alchemyHudsonbecame convinced that his white powder gold was the stuff of many legends. He equated it with the philosophers stone, and the food of the gods, among other things.Hudsonbelieved he had rediscovered an ancient alchemical formula. And, naturally, numerous companies sell solid or liquid forms of white powder gold supposedly created using variants ofHudsons recipe.