00106 ‘SRI LANKA INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION (SLIDA) FIRST EFFICIENCY BAR EXAMINATION FOR OFFICERS IN THE SRI LANKA ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE, SRI LANKA SCIENTIFIC SERVICE, SRI LANKA ENGINEERS’ SERVICE AND SRI LANKA ARCHITECTURAL SERVICE — (2013/11) Time: 3 hours Index No: Answer all the Questions ENGLISH LANGUAGE (07) 1. SELECT ANY ONE OF THE FOLLOWING TWO TOPICS AND WRITE A LETTER OF NOT MORE THAN ONE PAGE. a. Your division in the Ministry/department is going to be relocated. Your SAS/Director Gen/Director or Head of Department wants details on an advertisement in the Sunday Observer on 21 December 2013 regarding a building which is available on lease. You have been asked to write a letter to the address given and ask for further information on the following: Extent of the building Details of facilities you need Distance from the main road Details of rentalflease & other terms and conditions Property Sales Manager Prime Land Sales No. 65, Baseline Rd, Borella b. You have found a brochure about a course of study conducted by an institute. Write a letter to the address given below and ask for more information on the following. Details of course you need Duration/ fee/payment mode When/where/what time the classes/lectures are held The faculty/teaching staff Selection criteria/exam/interview Director Studies Australian Higher Education Center No 65, Poorwarama Rd. Colombo 05 (20 marks)2. STUDY THE TABLE GIVEN BELOW. WRITE A PARAGRAPH OF ABOUT 75-100 WORDS USING THE INFORMATION. Andaman is a small harbour in the Indian Ocean and it has three container terminals. The figures of container handling are given below. Write a paragraph giving details as to how the productivity of each terminal has increased or decreased during the period under review. Give reasons for changes if possible. Container Terminal 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 A 70000 | 120000 | 80000 | 45000 75000 23000 ‘44000 65000 70000 | 90000 c 76000 | 33000 | 50000 | 65000 11000 (15 marks) 03. READ THE FOLLOWING LETTER. WRITE THE CORRECT FORM OF VERB (PRESENT SIMPLE OR PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE) IN THE BLANK. Dear Mary, I'm having/ | have starting/ doesn’t start eoccnnnnnnenetintil the Autumn, so I’m taking/ | take the opportunity to improve my English. I’m staying /I stay... with some English friends who are owning/own a farm, On weekdays, Iam catching/I catch .. I think/ 'm thinking a great time here in England. My university term isn’t 1.3 bus to go to Torquay to go to language classes. that I’m making/! make mgo0d progress. My friends say/ore saying my pronunciation is much better than when | arrived, and I'm understanding/I understand ... almost everything now. At weekends ‘m helping/I help on the farm. At the moment they harvest/they are harvesting seni the corn and they are needing/they need ... all the help they can get. It’s quite hard work, but I’m liking/! like And I'm developing/! develop some strong muscles!Do you come/Are you COMING. .....ussnnnentO Visit me in Christmas? J’m spending/! spend the winter holidays here at the farm. My friends are wanting/ want to you and there’s plenty of space. But you must bring your warmest clothes. It’s getting/It gets very cold here in winter. Let me know as soon as you're deciding/you decide sot canescens and tell me what you're doing/you do these days. Do you miss me? Love Paul (20 marks) 4. USE THE WORDS GIVEN TO JOIN THE SENTENCES TOGETHER TO MAKE A MEANINGFUL SENTENCE, REMEMBER TO PUNCTUATE THE SENTENCES CORRECTLY. a. so; because The price of petrol goes up in the market. Car manufacturers have begun to produce smaller cars. Smaller cars use less petrol. because; however Television has undoubtedly been useful to people. Television both entertains and informs people. Television has broken down communication in families to a great extent. . yet ; consequently The dangers of smoking are discussed in both electronic and print media. ‘The public awareness of its dangers has increased. People continue to smoke, d. whether or not; when ‘The lecture finished. Amember of the audience asked the speaker. ‘There are plans to produce a more affordable car in Sri Lanka.e. accordingly; while; moreover In families where both parents go to work children are left to themselves at home most of the time. Their parents are at work They grow up to be extremely independent. They may also do some housework. (20 marks) 05. READ THE FOLLOWING TEXT AND FILL IN THE BLANK WITH THE CORRECT WORD OR UNDERLINE. HIV Breakthrough Scientists believe that they have made a 1) breakthrough in fighting HIV- they have shown what happens when an infection-fighting antibody attacks a 2) in HIV's 3) defences. Finding a vaccine against HIV has been very difficult because the Proteins on the surface of the virus are continually mutating, but they have shown an antibody, called b12, attacking a weak spot of the virus where the protein is 4) . The virus is able to 5) rapidly to avoid 6) by the immune system, and is also covered in sugary molecules which block access by antibodies. 7) certain parts of the virus must remain 8) unchanged so that it can catch hold of and enter human cells. One protein that sticks out from the surface of the virus and binds to receptors on host cells is one such region, which makes it a target for vaccine development. Previous analyses of the 9) of people that have been able to keep HIV from developing into AIDS for long periods of time 10) revealed a 11) group Of antibodies - including b12 - that seem to fight HIV with some degree of 12) . The latest study showed how the antibody and 13) protein interact. Scientists hope that revealing the 14) of this bond in such 15) detail will provide clues about how best to attack HIV. 1. majority major solution final 2. gap space fine shape 3. consider considerate considerably considerable 4, stable instability unstable stability 5. mutation mutate mutant mutating 6. detective detect detecting detection 7. Though However Also Even though8. relatively relative relatives relation 9. bleed bleeding blood bloody 10. was has have were 11, seldom rare rarely occasional 12. succeed successful successfully success 13.a the these 14. stricture structure blueprint plan 15. pre exacting quite e (15 marks) 6. READ THE FOLLOWING PASSAGE AND ANSWER THE QUESTIONS THAT FOLLOW. Social classes In the eighteenth — century one of the first modern economists, Adam Smith, thought that the ‘whole annual produce of the land and labour of every country’ provided revenue to‘ three different orders of people: those who live by rent, those who live by wages, and those who live by profit’. Each successive stage of the industrial revolution, however, made the social structure more complicated. Many intermediate groups grew up during the nineteenth ~ century between the upper middle class and the working class. There were small ~ scale industrialists as well as large ones, small shopkeepers and tradesmen, officials and salaried employees, skilled and unskilled workers, and professional men such as doctors and teachers. Farmers and peasants continued in all countries as independent groups In spite of this development, one of the most famous writers on social class in the nineteenth century, Karl Marx, thought that there was a tendency for society to split up into huge class camps, the bourgeoisie (the capitalists) and the proletariat (the workers). Influential as was Marx's theory of social class, it was much over ~ simplified. The social make ~ up of modern societies is much more complex than he suggested, During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the possession of wealth inevitably affected a person’s social position. Intelligent industrialists with initiative made fortunes by their wits, which lifted them into an economic group far higher than that of their working ~ class parents. But they lacked the social training of the upper class, who despised them as the “new rich’. They often sent their sons and daughters to special schools to acquire social training. Here their children mixed with the children of the upper classes, were accepted by them, and very often found marriage partners from among them. In the same way, a thrifty, hardworking labourer, though not clever himself, might save for his son enough to pay for an extended secondary school education in the hope that he would move into a ‘white-collar’ occupation, carrying with ita higher salary and a move up in the social scale.The tendency to move down in social class is less obvious, for a claim to an aristocratic birth, especially in Europe, has always carried a certain distinction, and people have made tremendous efforts to obtain for their children the kind of opportunities they had for themselves. In the twentieth century the increased taxation of higher incomes, the growth of the social services, and the wider development of educational opportunity have considerably altered the social outlook, The upper classes no longer are the sole, or even the main possessors of wealth, Power and education, though inherited social position still carries considerable prestige. Many people today are hostile towards class distinctions and privileges and hope to achieve a classless society. The trouble is that as one inequality is removed, another tends to take its place, and the best that has so far been attempted is a society in which distinctions are elastic and in which every member has fair opportunities for making the best of his abilities, A. SELECT THE ANSWER, WHICH IS MOST ACCURATE ACCORDING TO THE INFORMATION GIVEN IN THE PASSAGE. 1. Adam Smith’s eighteenth — century defi a). Karl Marx. b). the nineteenth ~ century working class. ¢). the social influence of farmers and peasants. d), successive stages of the industrial revolution. ition of class was invalidated by 2. During the nineteenth century, many intermediate groups grew up.. a). between the upper class and the middle class. b). between the working class and the upper middle class. c). within the working class. d). within the aristocracy. 3. The writer regards doctors and teachers as. a). middle class. b). working class. ©). upper class d). independent groups outside society 4. Karl Marx developed his two ~ class theory. a). in spite of the farmers and peasants. b). even though new subclasses were appearing in his day. ©). making special allowance for doctors and salaried employees. 4d). with reference to European societies only. 65. Marx’s theory of social class was.. a). oversimplified by the bourgeoisie. b). influential because it was oversimplified c). influential in spite of being oversimplified. 4d), not widely known in the nineteenth century. 6. The ‘new rich’. a). often married into the upper class. b). despised the upper class. c). were often men of initiative and intelligence. d). seldom allowed their children to mix with the upper class The children of the ‘new rich’, a). were accepted by the upper class because of their education. b). were accepted by the upper class in spite of their education. c). despised their parents. d). secretly hated the aristocracy. 8. A ‘white ~ collar’ occupation... a). is mainly suitable for labourers b). is an upper class occupation ©). represents social advance for a labourer’s son. d). was regarded as unmanly by the labouring class in the nineteenth century. 9. In the twentieth century class differences have been partly smoothed out by. a). decreased taxation b). taxation, social services and education 0). education, women’s rights and industrial development 4d). government enforcement of equal rights 10. Though a classless society has yet to be perfected, an attempt has been made to provide. a). equal opportunity b). equal rights ©). equal classes numerically d). equal pay for all workers. (10 marks)7. STUDY THE FOLLOWING SITUATIONS IN 5 SHORT TELEPHONE CONVERSATIONS. COMPLETE THE CONVERSATIONS/DIALOGUES USING CORRECT TELEPHONE LANGUAGE. ADD DETAILS TO DIALOGUES IF NECESSARY. a. You want to contact one Mr. Rathnayake in an office. Talk to the receptionist. You: b. You want to reconfirm a certain appointment with one Ms. Perera at the Treasury. Her private secretary answers. Private Secretary: You... Private secretary: c. You want to talk to police emergency. By mistake, you have phoned a wrong number. You: d. You want to verify whether a certain book is available at Sarasavi book shop. You: Sarasavi: You... e. You have not received the admission for an examination. You contact SLIDA for information. SUDA: You: SLIDA:- (10 marks)8. COMPLETE THE SENTENCES WITH THE SUITABLE FORM OF THE VERB GIVEN IN BRACKETS. ‘THE VERBS ARE EITHER IN THE PRESENT SIMPLE OR PAST SIMPLE. Natasha is talking to Pradeep who recently came to work in the same office. Natasha Pradeep : Natasha Pradeep Natasha Pradeep : So Pradeep, you .. {be) with us for nearly two months now. Are you settling in okay? ‘Oh yes. Everyone (be) very friendly and helpful. 1... (expect) to have problems but 1 {have not) any really. Not at work, anyway. Do you mean there ......mn{be) other problems? Well, | ..n.nn- (move) toa flat when I first came but! (have) to move since then. It (be) very noisy there and I... (cannot) sleep well at night. Sol . (move) out to a place just round the corner from here. Everything is fine now. I'm glad that everything is okay with you. See you later. See you. {10 marks)