First Year Classes Beni Tamou High School March 2013

Literay Stream 1L2- 1L3 Final English Exam Duration: 2 hours

PART ONE: READING (15 pts) Read the text carefully then do the activities

I recently finished reading The Arabian Nights and can certainly call myself a big fan of this work. It
surprised me, I found myself having more than one sleepless night when I just couldn't put it down.
The book begins with the story of two brothers, Shahrayar and Shahzaman, who were Sultans; both
knew that their wives have been unfaithful to them. After killing his wife, Shahrayar swore to marry a new
bride each evening then kill her the following morning, thus ensuring she would be faithful. Shahrazed, the
daughter of the Vizier, married the Sultan. She started to narrate a story and the Sultan was interested. In
the morning, the story is not finished and the Sultan put off her execution until the following day so that she
could finish it the next evening. She completed that story but immediately began a new one which was also
left unfinished by morning. 1001 nights and 90 plus stories later, the Sultan announced that Shahrazed
wouldn’t be executed and thus all women of the kingdom were saved.
This book is amazing. It is a collection of stories, where the reader is taken from a story to four or five
other stories. Another key factor for which I liked it is that the stories are fairy tales – where fantastic things
like love, fame and riches happen to very ordinary people.
Of all the stories I read, Arabian Nights captured my attention and my imagination. It was creative,
enjoyable and original in plot. It was interesting to see how different people were portrayed. Besides, it helps
to illuminate the culture and era from which the work is taken.
A great book and one that I am glad to have finally read. If you have not yet read, I
wholeheartedly recommend it to you.

1/Choose the letter that best completes each statement.

a) The text is: 1) a book review 2) a blurb 3) a biography.

b) Its writer is: 1) Shahrazed. 2) Shahrayar 3) unknown.
c) The hero of the book is: 1) Shahzaman 2) Shahrazed 3) Sindbad.

2/ Say whether the following statements are true or false:

a) The stories Shahrazed told the sultan were not interesting.
b) The sultan planned to kill her
c) At last Shahrazed saved herself because of her intelligence.
3/ Read and answer the following questions.

a) Why did the sultan decide to kill every wife he married?

b) Did the sultan enjoy listening to Shahrazed’s stories?
c) Did the sultan kill her? What did he do instead?
4/ What or who do the underlined words in the text refer to?
a) Them (§2) b) This book (§3)
5/ Find in the text the synonyms of the following:
a) Killing someone as a legal punishment: (§2).
b) Surprising (§3)
6/ Give the opposites of the following words keeping the same root:
Capable - faithful- completed - moral.
7/ Rewrite sentence “b” so that it means the same as “a”:

1/ a) Shahrazad knew that the Sultan killed his wives but she decided to marry him.
b) Although . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2/ a) You are fond of magic, you like Arabian Nights’ amazing stories.
b) If. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3/ a) The book was amazing; therefore, I could not stop reading it.
b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .because . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8/ Join the following sentences using appropriate connector in brackets:

a) Shahzaman killed his wife. His wife was unfaithful to him. (whom/which)
b) The Sultan was fascinated by Shahrazed’s stories. He didn’t kill her. (so....that/
however)
9/ Classify the following words according to the pronunciation of their final “ed”:
Surprised- saved- helped- finished- completed- announced
/t/ /d/ /id/

10/ Complete the following dialogue:

A:..............................................................................................................................................................................................................?
B: My favourite book is “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland”.
A:..............................................................................................................................................................................................................?
B: I like it because it tells a striking story moreover it has strong characters.
A:..............................................................................................................................................................................................................?
B: Oh! It is Lewis Carroll.
PART TWO: Written Expression (05pts)
Choose one of the following topics.
 Topic 1: use the following notes to write a short review about the following short story:
 “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”/ fairy tale/author: The brothers Grimm (German).
 Tells the story/ orphan girl/ suffer/ bad treatment/ stepmother.
 Reward: to marry a prince/ to live happily.
 What did you learn from the story?
 Did you like it? Why?(speak about characters, the story itself and the setting)
Topic 2:
 Write a biography of any famous writer that you know.

Good luck & happy holidays

Faithfully yours
Ms Benziane