School Olympiad in English Grades 8-9

TASK 1 LISTENING

You are going to listen to a text about the costs of an university education in Britain. For
questions 1-10 choose the best answer A, B or C.

You now have thirty seconds to look through the task. You will hear the recording twice.

1. What happened in 2006?

A. Universities introduced tuition fees.
B. Students were allowed to study free of charge.
C. Government gave some money to the universities.

2. When graduating from the university, students of Medicine have

A. less loan than other students.
B. more loan than other students.
C. the same loan as other students.

3. Financial problems make young people

A. find well paid jobs.
B. find less expensive flats.
C. stay with their families until they are 30.

4. British companies prefer to give jobs to those who

A. have the university degree.
B. have good job experience.
C. are over-qualified.

5. For many graduates life after university is

A. full of challenging and exciting ideas.
B. more interesting than they had expected.
C. less interesting they had expected.

6. According to the BBC, by 2008 the number of students

A. had not changed.
B. had gone up.
C. had gone down.

7. What will become less in the years 2009 -2019?

A. The number of university applicants.
B. The number of universities.
C. The amount of bank loans.
8. Student leaders’ reports say that students
A. become financially independent.
B. become more involved in criminal acts.
C. support themselves financially.

9. There are more foreign students coming to Britain to study because

A. the value of the British pound has decreased.
B. the value of the British pound has increased.
C. Britain has high quality universities.

10. Now the British Universities have

A. more places for British students.
B. less places for foreign students.
C. more places for foreign students.

TASK 2 READING

Read the text and fill the gaps with the appropriate words. Insert only ONE word in each gap.

Oscar Wilde - an Irish Writer

One of the most important Irish writers of (0) the nineteenth century, Oscar Wilde was ____________ (1) in
Dublin, Ireland, in 1854. His father was a doctor and his mother was ____________ (2) writer and translator.
He went to Dublin and Oxford Universities, where ____________ (3) was an unusually clever student.

At Oxford Oscar Wilde won an important prize but he was even more famous ____________ (4) his unusual
personal style. ____________ (5) long hair, bright clothes, amusing conversation and ideas ____________
(6) art and literature won him enemies. Oscar Wilde’s first book of poems appeared in 1881 but
____________ (7) did not bring him much money. He went on a tour to the United States, where he
____________ (8) talks on art and society. In 1884 Wilde married Constance Lloyd, ____________ (9) they
decided to live in London. Constance later gave birth to two sons, Cyril and Vyvyan.
Oscar Wilde began to work seriously at his writing in 1887, beginning ____________ (10) a story, The
Canterville Ghost. He wrote many other stories, among ____________ (11) The Picture of Dorian Gray
(1892). ____________ (12) also wrote plays about fashionable society, including Lady Windermere’s Fan
(1892), A Woman of No Importance (1893) and An Ideal Husband (1895). Most popular of all was The
Importance of Being Ernest, which many people think is ____________ (13) of the funniest plays written in
English. Wilde also ____________ (14) a play in French, Salome (1893), which takes the story of King
Herod’s daughter from the Bible.

But in 1895 everything changed and Oscar Wilde’s success in public life ____________ (15) over. For some
personal reasons Oscar Wilde was ____________ (16) to prison for two years. After this, many of his friends
turned their ____________ (17) on him and nobody was willing to put on his plays.

Wilde suffered terribly during his time ____________ (18) prison. He became ill and his confidence, both
____________ (19) a person and an artist, was destroyed. At first he was not allowed to do any writing
____________ (20) later he produced a long poem called The Ballad of Reading Gaol. It describes the crime
of a poor soldier and the cruelty of life in prison. ____________ (21) the poem appeared in 1898, it was a
best-seller.

In 1897, when his term was over and Wilde ____________ (22) out of prison, he was a broken man. He
wanted to go back to his wife but she refused to have him, although she ____________ (23) him some money
to live on. It was impossible for him ____________ (24) live in England, so he lived for a time in northern
France. A few loyal friends visited him ____________ (25).

Wilde ____________ (26) the last years of his life in Paris, living in cheap hotels and asking his friends for
money. During the years after leaving prison, he produced no literary work. He died in November 1900, at
the ____________ (27) of forty-six.

Today Oscar Wilde is ____________ (28) for his writings and for his daring ideas. As a thinker, he believed
strongly____________ (29) the value of beauty, in life as well as in art, although The Picture of Dorian Gray
shows the dangers of such beliefs. Wilde is admired for his imaginative stories, plays ____________ (30)
humorous sayings, which both shocked and entertained people.
Task 3 WRITING

Read the beginning of the story and finish it using your imagination and fantasy.

Write between 150-180 words.

It was late and time to go to bed. I switched off the lights and, suddenly heard the noise coming

from the street. I looked out of the window and ______________________________________________

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KEY/grades 8-10

Task 1: 1. A 2.B 3.C 4.B 5.C 6.C 7.A 8.B 9.A 10. C

Task 2: 1.born 2. a 3. he 4. for 5.His/This 6.about/on/in 7.it/this/that 8.gave

9.and 10.with 11.them 12.He /Wilde/Oscar 13.one 14.wrote 15.was 16.sent/put
17.backs 18.in 19.as 20.but 21.When 22.came/went/was/got 23.gave/lent/sent
24.to 25. there/sometimes 26.spent 27.age 28. remembered/known/well known/ famous
29. in 30.and