INSPECTORATUL SCOLAR JUDETEAN VALCEA

OLIMPIADA DE LIMBA ENGLEZA – FAZA LOCALA – 15.02.2019 – CLASA A X-A, SECTIUNEA B

SUBIECTUL A – USE OF ENGLISH (40p)

I. Read the paragraph below and do the tasks (10 x 2p= 20p).
For most Londoners, the London bus is a nightmare. It’s the alternative option you never want to
take. Slow and meandering, the London bus (particularly in its nocturnal form) is more of a
mobile rubbish bin full of crumpled cans of Carlsberg and greasy half-eaten boxes of fried
chicken than a viable mode of transport. Yet to the rest of the world, London’s double-decker bus
is one of the capital’s most iconic features alongside the red telephone booth, the Queen, and
pubs bustling with pints at 10 in the morning. Where did these London vehicles come from? The
first double-decker bus did not originate from London, but from Paris. In 1828, businessman
Stanislas Baudry set up the route, picking up passengers in a horse-drawn double-decker
omnibus. Inspired by the success of the Parisian bus service, George Shillibeer started the first
London bus service in 1829, offering a route between Paddington and Bank. Shillibeer’s bus
could carry 22 people and cost 1 shilling per journey (the equivalent of 5 pence in today’s
money). While it seems cheap to us, the poor Victorians thought the shilling was far from a
bargain. The first engine-powered double-decker bus appeared in London in 1923 and by 1924
there were over 200 independent buses operating in the city, running along popular routes.
A. Answer the questions:
1. Why is the London bus the alternative option you never want to take?
2. Which are some of the symbolic features of London, according to the text?
3. Where did the first double-decker bus come from?
4. Was the bus journey at that time cheap?

B. Choose the right synonym:

1. Set up : a. display, b. plan , c. install, d. erect
2. Iconic: a. picturesque, b. religious, c. recognisable, d. enthralling
3. Bargain: a. windfall, b. low cost, c. purchase, d. rip-off

C. Rephrase the following sentences so as to preserve their meaning:

1.The first engine-powered double-decker bus appeared in London in 1923.
It...........................................................the first engine-powered bus appeared.
2. She wasn’t interested in travelling abroad when she was a child.
She wasn’t keen ………….....................when she was a child.
3. In Victorian London the bus fare was more expensive than it is today.
Nowadays the bus fare is......................................in Victorian London.

II. Use the word given in brackets to form a word that fits in each sentence: (10 x 1p = 10p)
1. On our (ARRIVE) .....we were greeted by the head of the department.
2. He bowed to us with elaborate (COURTEOUS) .....
3. A person with an (INFERIOR) ......complex is generally quite shy.
4. He is very anxious about his son's (LOSE)..... of memory.
5. All of us burst into (LAUGH).....at his joke.
6. The professor's explanation was out of my (DEEP)....
7. Romanian cuisine offers a great (VARY).....of dishes.
8. I wonder what they expect from this (INVEST).....
9. I can't understand his attitude; it is absolutely (EXPLAIN)....
10. Practising any sport definitely makes you (MUSCLE)...
 INSPECTORATUL SCOLAR JUDETEAN VALCEA
OLIMPIADA DE LIMBA ENGLEZA – FAZA LOCALA – 15.02.2019 – CLASA A X-A, SECTIUNEA B
III. Translate the following text into Romanian (10p)
To influence a person is to give him one's own soul. He does not think his natural thoughts, or
burn with his natural passions. His virtues are not real to him. His sins, if there are such things as
sins, are borrowed. He becomes an echo of someone else's music, an actor of a part that has not
been written for him. The aim of life is self-development. To realise one's nature perfectly -- that
is what each of us is here for. People are afraid of themselves, nowadays. They have forgotten
the highest of all duties, the duty that one owes to oneself. Of course they are charitable. They
feed the hungry, and clothe the beggar. But their own souls starve, and are naked. Courage has
gone out of our race. Perhaps we never really had it. The terror of society, which is the basis of
morals, the terror of God, which is the secret of religion – these are the two things that govern us.

(Oscar Wilde: The Picture of Dorian Gray)

SUBIECTUL B - INTEGRATED SKILLS

Read the paragraph below and do the task that follow:

Media like any big business venture today is an extremely competitive world of its own. In
providing material for its public it has constantly made sure it serves the right diet. No public
will waste time on your paper or your TV channel otherwise. The sad truth is that there seems
only one way to catch the audience - hit them right between the eyes. What started as a mild tap
has now become a sledgehammer blow that goes by the name of sensationalism.

A reporter chooses - has to choose - a new story because of its sensation value. The young
inexperienced cub reporter rings his news editor about air crash. He starts to explain the details
to him but the experienced editor asks the cub one question: "Anyone killed?" and to himself he
thinks "Why do we offer jobs to children?".

One may accuse newsmen of cynicism but they will quickly remind you of the hard facts of
survival in the world of the media. The favourite words the newspaper placards in the streets
bombard the public with are: "Surprise", "Sensation", "Drama", "Shock". You wonder, when the
papers batter the public with dramas and sensations day after day, that they haven't put an end to
sensation long ago. As a regular newspaper reader you also thank Heavens for the light relief of
the comic strips.

The newspapers, of course, blame it all on television. "Television's changed the whole concept of
presenting the news to the public", newspapermen and women argue. "We envy them and their
huge visual coverage. We just can't hope to compete with them over that. They can actually show
the public one man shooting another man". And they remind you of Vietnam , and Oswald and
Ruby at Dallas after the Kennedy assassination ...

I. For each question choose the correct letter A, B, C or D (5 X 2p = 10 p)

1. The passage hints that to appeal to public you have
a. to use physical violence
b. to give them serious problems to think about
c. to report violent happenings
d. to make them unhappy
 INSPECTORATUL SCOLAR JUDETEAN VALCEA
OLIMPIADA DE LIMBA ENGLEZA – FAZA LOCALA – 15.02.2019 – CLASA A X-A, SECTIUNEA B
2. Experienced news editors think that
a. children are useless as reporters
b. some reporters are like children
c. children make the best reporters
d. young reporters give too much details
3. The suggestion of the author is that newsmen can only keep their jobs
a. by being cynical
b. if they are really tough
c. by following a pattern
d. if they make comic strips
4. Newsmen feel that television's advantage lies in
a. being widespread
b. being widespread and pictorial
c. using so many pictures
d. being highly varied
5. "One man shooting another man" means
a. actors pretending to show
b. a real shooting
c. an assassination
d. a photographer at work

II. Starting from the text above, write a narrative-descriptive essay about a heart-
breaking scene (200-220 words) (50p).

Nota:
Toate subiectele sunt obligatorii.
Timp de lucru 3 ore.
Nu se acordă puncte din oficiu.