Задания по английскому языку для 10 - 11 классов

READING

Part 1

Questions 1-7

Choose the most suitable heading from the list A-I for each part (1-7) of the article. There is one extra heading which you do not need to use. Transfer your answers to your Answer Sheet. There is an example at the beginning (0).

A. Views on academic results and assessment

B. Reasons for satisfaction at school

C. Where the pressure comes from

D. Views on the purpose of school

E. The most stressful types of work

F. A profile of the survey's respondents

G. Reactions to good results

H. The low percentage of students working for good results

I. The general results of the survey

 

0

I

It has long been known that Hong Kong's education system is strongly exam oriented. The results of a survey this week show us some of the effects of this system on those most involved in it, i.e. students. Unsurprisingly it reveals that students are concerned over their academic results and being put under pressure through assessments.

1

A total of 537 full-time students aged 12 to 29 were surveyed this month by the Federation of Youth Groups for a study entitled 'How important are academic results to students?'

2

With a system that frequently tests students of all ages every week, and sets exams at least once a term, it was no surprise to find that about 60% of those surveyed rated academic results as important or very important, and said mark-based assessments had put them under pressure.

3

The pressure comes not only from the assessments themselves but from how those concerned respond to the education system. More than 35% said the main cause of the pressure came from their parents' expectations while about 31% said their own ambitions were the cause. It seems that both students and their parents are as caught up in the exam system as one another.

4

Yet, in spite of the importance given to assessments and the pressure they create, surprisingly only about 14% of respondents said that good results made them happy.

5

Happiness at school seemed in fact to come from

other things: nearly half the respondents said good relationships with their schoolmates made them feel happy with school life while 4% said the sudden cancellation of tests by teachers would make them happiest.

6

The results also indicated that although pressures were great, this had not adversely affected students' attitudes to the value of schooling. Up to 70% believed the significance of learning was to obtain knowledge, establish an analytical mind and explore interests.

7

This may explain another finding: only about 11% of the students said they would study for high marks and good academic results. We may be putting our students under enormous pressure for little good effect.

 

Part 2

Questions 8-13

Read the text below about a famous American singer. For questions 8-13, choose the anwer (A, В, С or D) which you think fits best according to the text. Mark your answers on your Answer Sheet.

Tammy Wynette

The Heroine of Heartbreak

Tammy Wynette fulfilled many a girl's fantasy from the American South by moving from the cotton fields to become America's self-styled First Lady of Country Music. Along the way, she sold more records than any other female country-and-western star. But as well as 35 number one hits and White House 5 performances for four different presidents, the so-called 'Heroine of Heartbreak' also had five husbands and four children, seventeen surgical operations and once experienced a kidnapping.

Her life story, she freely admitted, was 'ridiculous — mostly because I've made it that way'. The best thing that perhaps could be said about Wynette's personal dramas was that they provided an endless source of good material. 'I write better when I'm depressed,' she claimed, and was once accused of setting to music 'every angry word and flying plate'.

As with everything else throughout Tammy's career, her beginnings in music were closely connected to a personal tragedy. Her father who'd dreamed of becoming a professional musician himself, was very ill when Tammy was born and he died when she was just nine months old. On his death bed, he made his wife promise to encourage their daughter to take an interest in music, if she showed any talent. Young Wynette, as she became known, began taking piano lessons at the age of eight, and she became so good at playing by ear that her piano teacher eventually gave up on her.

Tammy only really started to take her singing ambitions seriously, however, after the break-up of her first marriage to Euple Byrd. Now with three children and after several frustrating and fruitless trips to Nashville in search of a recording contract, she was persuaded that she would have a better chance if she moved there and so it was in 1966 that she packed her children and their few belongings in­to her car and drove to 'Music City'. Euple happened to drive past just as she was leaving. 'In your dreams, baby, in your dreams,' he said when she told him her plans. (Years later, when Euple asked her to sign a photograph, Tammy was able to return this sentiment in writing.)

Arriving in Nashville, Tammy would leave the children in the car while she did the rounds of the record companies. She eventually slipped past an absent secretary and into the offices of producer Billy Sherrill at Epic Records. He remembers her as a pale, desperate-looking girl but he instantly fell for her voice with what he called its 'teardrop quality'. And the rest, as they say, is history...

8. The opening paragraph suggests that...

A. Tammy's career was a short one.

B. Tammy kidnapped someone.

С Tammy enjoyed good health.

D. Tammy grew up in a farming area.

9. In response to questions about her difficulties, Tammy

A. pointed to her success.

B. blamed herself.

С called the questions 'ridiculous'.

D. refused to answer.

10. What is said about Tammy's songs?

A. They were written for plays.

B. They were criticised for the music.

C. They were based on her experience.

D. They were written by a friend.

11. Tammy moved to Nashville because ...

A. previous trips had been encouraging.

B. her ex-husband encouraged her to go.

C. becoming a singer might be easier there.

D. she could easily afford to.

12. 'This' in line 43 refers to ...

A. the photograph.

B. Tammy's dreams.

C. Euple's request for a signature.

D. Euple's comment on her plans.

13. The writer suggests that ...

A. Tammy kept her personal life and music separate.

B. Tammy relied too much on other people.

C. Tammy's personal life limited her success.

D. Tammy succeeded despite many difficulties.

Part 3

Questions 14-19

Six sentences have been removed from the article. Choose from the sentences A-G the one which fits each gap (14-19). There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use. Mark your answers on your Answer Sheet.

 

 

 

Child labour — a blessing or a curse?

When does childhood fun become an abuse of human rights?

Ten-year-old Lita Matundan sells flowers to motorists stuck at traffic lights. 'We are poor, so if I do not work we will not eat’, says Lita, who has six siblings. She was a victim of polio during her infant years and has never seen the inside of a classroom. (14)

Gerry Gueverra is another 'early learner' in the labour market. (15) He then goes to school at 10 am and after that returns to the market till 8 pm. 'I dream of having my own restaurant or food chain one day,' he says.

(16) He runs the family market stall both before school and after classes have finished for the day, when he should be doing his homework. 'I have no choice but to work so the family can eat,' says Ronald, who has five older brothers and sisters.

Many of these children work under 'exploitative conditions', but they go on working because of 'inadequate survival resources' within their families: parents are so poor the children have to work. (17)

There are other reasons which force the children to work, such as natural disasters or the geographical location of the home, or the simple fact that education is too expensive. Employers also like to hire children, seeing them as easy to manage and unlikely to complain.

Meanwhile, in another part of the world, Tejan, aged 9, who sings for money on commuter trains and picks rags off rubbish dumps, is taking part in a rally and shouting slogans demanding that youngsters like her be given the right to work. (18) 'If I'm not working, how can I survive?' ran one of her slogans. 'End poverty, provide employment for our parents, do something in the villages so we don't have to run to the cities (19), said Deepak Shukla, 15, another street child who helped organise the rally.

The organisers said that unless basic needs such as food, shelter and clothing were fulfilled, children should not be denied the right to work.

A. If they do not work, there will be no food on the table.

B. But don't stop us from working.

C. He wakes at 4 am to take goods to market.

D. She was one of 200 children who took part in the rally.

E. Ronald Acudo, aged 12, works longer days than most adults.

F. This work is hard, dirty and dangerous.

G. Her parents have no money for her education and her father cannot work because he's sick.