INSPECTORATUL ŞCOLAR JUDEŢEAN

BRĂILA
_________________________________________________________________________________________

OLIMPIADA DE LIMBA ENGLEZᾸ

ETAPA LOCALᾸ, 15 FEBRUARIE 2020
CLASA a IX-a
SECȚIUNEA B

SUBIECTUL A –USE OF ENGLISH -40 p

I. Read the paragraph below and do the tasks (10 x2p=20p).

Notorious for their sharp teeth and voracious appetites, piranhas inhabit several of the major river
basins in South America. These omnivorous fish are known for their taste for meat, although attacks
on human beings are quite rare, despite breathless accounts from early explorers.
In a historic visit to Brazil, Theodore Roosevelt famously saw a group of piranhas shredding pieces
of a cow carcass in seconds. His dramatic account would color popular imagination for years, even
though it was based on a manipulated spectacle in which fishermen blocked off a group of the fish
and starved them beforehand.
The truth is that the piranha is really a much more nuanced animal than the mindless killer depicted
in the media. In fact, piranhas are a group made up of approximately twelve different species. Each
piranha species occupies its own ecological niche. One type of piranha takes chunks out of the fins
of other fish. Another type eats fruit falling from trees into the river. Piranhas are also hard to tell
apart in terms of species, diet, coloration, teeth, and even geographic range. This lack of knowledge
adds a bit of dark mystery to the creatures. Each piranha species plays a unique role in the ecology
of the rainforest floodplains. So what should you do next time you hear someone talking about the
“deadly piranha”? You can remind them that the piranha is not always the notorious killer fish that
the tough, muscular heroes of popular nature television shows would have us believe.

A. Answer the questions (4 X 2P = 8P)

1. Which is the primary purpose of the author?
2. What are piranhas known for?
3. Why do piranhas have a bad reputation?
4. Why are they considered to be mysterious?

B. Choose the right synonym: (3 X 2P = 6P)

unique: a) irreplaceable; b) important; c) individual; d) unusual
notorious: a) celebrated; b) disreputable; c) notable; d) renowned
niche: a) habitat; b) market; c) situation; d) kind

C. Rephrase the following sentences so as to preserve the meaning. (3 X 2P = 6P)

1. I don't have any money, so I can't come to Amazon rainforest with you.
If I …………………………..……………………………………come to the Amazon rainforest
with you.
2. What the marine biologist discovered when they studied the piranhas, was amazing.
The discovery …………………………..……………………………………when they studied the
piranhas was amazing.

B-dul Al. I Cuza, nr. 172, 810025 Brăila; Tel: +40(0) 239 61 91 60; Fax: +40(0) 239 61 40 60
www.isjbraila.ro, brailaisj@gmail.com
 INSPECTORATUL ŞCOLAR JUDEŢEAN
BRĂILA
_________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Although Benny was ill, he went on a trip to Amazon to see the piranhas.
Despite his…………………………..…………………………………… a trip to Amazon to see the
piranhas.

II. Read the text and complete the gaps with the words derived from the words in bold
(10x1p=10p).

THE SILK ROUTE

Follow in the (0) footsteps of the pioneering traders to experience one of the 0. FEET
world’s most (1) ……… overland journeys. This route goes through harsh 1. SPECTACLE
deserts and up into mountainous lands. A greater (2) …………. of 2. VARY
landscapes would be difficult to find. Although the silk route is (3) ……… a 3. STRICT
land-based route, it is worth making an (4) ……… in Cappadocia as this 4. EXCEPT
area is firmly established as one of the prime hot-air balloon destinations in
the world because of its (5) ……… wind conditions and agreeable 5. FAVOUR
geography. The bird’s eye views of the valleys are (6) ……… and the skill 6. FORGET
of the balloonists is breathtaking. In theory you can now travel the entire
silk route by train but in (7) ……… few foreign visitors use trains outside of 7. REAL
China because they are slow and unreliable. Some intrepid travellers take
the brave decision to do the route by cycling. One advantage of this is that
you can stop whenever you like and enjoy your (8) ………. There are 8. SURROUND
however, drawbacks to cycling, not least the fact that it can be very (9)
……… on some of the rough tracks and bumpy roads! Bizarre as it may 9. COMFORT
seem, it is actually (10) ……… to have more than one person on a bike in 10. LEGAL
China, so think twice before deciding to ride a tandem with a friend!

III. Read the text below and think of the word which best fits in each gap. Use only one word
in each gap. (10 X 1P = 10 p)
The islands of Mauritius, Reunion and Rodrigues in the Indian Ocean were home to hundreds of
unique and rare creatures before humans first set foot (1) ................. in 1598. In about 150 years, (2)
................... least 45 species had been lost forever (3) ................... a result of hunting and the
introduction of other species. '(4) .................. happened on these islands is a sad tale,' says Dr Julian
Hume, a paleobiologist who worked on the project.
Now researchers have recreated what the extinct animals and birds would have looked (5)
................ from fragments of bone, fossils and descriptions made by travellers at the time.
Following 30 years of research, they have managed to produce detailed pictures of (6) ..... ... ... ...
the extinct creatures looked and behaved for a new book called The Lost One Of The Dodo. Among
the species that vanished from the islands were 31 birds found (7) .................. else. Many of them
were flightless, like the dodo. A combination of hunting by people (8) ................ the arrival of rats,
cats and monkeys, (9) .................. attacked and robbed the birds' nests, caused many birds that lived
on the ground (10) .................... become extinct.

B-dul Al. I Cuza, nr. 172, 810025 Brăila; Tel: +40(0) 239 61 91 60; Fax: +40(0) 239 61 40 60
www.isjbraila.ro, brailaisj@gmail.com
 INSPECTORATUL ŞCOLAR JUDEŢEAN
BRĂILA
_________________________________________________________________________________________

SUBIECTUL B – INTEGRATED SKILLS (60 points)

Read the text below and do the tasks that follow.

Jill Heinerth grew up watching the Appollo space missions on TV, dreaming of becoming an
astronaut. Life, though, took her in the opposite direction. Whereas astronauts rocket into space, Jill
plunges into the ocean depths as one of the world’s top cave divers. She has had her stunning
photographs published worldwide and won awards for her documentaries, but in addition to all this,
she’s a record breaker. She spent 21 hours underwater to get the world record for distance travelled
underground and became the first woman to cave dive in the Antarctic.
It was that expedition to the Antarctic in 2000 that really made Jill’s name. She was heading to B-
15, the largest iceberg on the planet (about the size of Jamaica) to explore the caves in it even
though she didn’t even know if there were any there. This sounds like a big enough leap of faith,
but the iceberg had just broken away from the Ross Ice Shelf and was moving at the time and any
disturbance, even a few air bubbles, could cause the cave to collapse.
After sailing for 12 days in rough seas from New Zealand and following in the footsteps of Ernest
Shackleton and his historic expeditions, Jill and her team finally arrived at B-15. As she dived into a
deep crack in the ice, Jill descended over 130 feet, the only sound coming from her oxygen tank. As
the cave opened out, she discovered a diverse undersea world: ’’We found a dazzling world of sea
stars and other curious creatures.” But the threat of disaster was always there.
At one point, Jill felt a movement in the ice like an earthquake and it was only later that she found
out that a piece of ice had crashed into the entrance to the cave. If she had been near, she would
have been killed. On her final dive, Jill and her diving partner were trapped by strong currents and
only managed to escape by finding small handholes in the ice wall and pulling themselves along.
Just two hours later, the iceberg shattered, leaving massive pieces of ice floating on the surface and
two very relieved divers. As she rather calmly put it: “The cave was gone.”
This kind of incidents would put most divers off for life, but Jill freely embraces her fear. She often
gives multimedia presentations on what she learnt. She says that we mustn’t avoid doing things that
frighten and challenge us. To her, fear is an important part of life as she puts it “If you don’t chase
fear, then you’ll be running away from it for the rest of your life.”

For each question decide which answer (A, B, C, or D) fits best according to the text:10 p.
1. The first paragraph mainly focuses on
A. how Jill became a cave diver
B. Jill’s achievements so far
C. why Jill changed her career plans
D. how a cave diver compares to an astronaut

2.The writer describes Jill’s expedition to B-15 as a ‘’leap of faith” because of

A. The difficulty involved in reaching it
B. the danger other explorers had faced there
C. the huge size of the cave
D. the uncertainty of what could happen

3. During Jill’s first dive at B-15, she

A. felt amazed by what she saw below the ice
B. enjoyed the sense of calm she felt

B-dul Al. I Cuza, nr. 172, 810025 Brăila; Tel: +40(0) 239 61 91 60; Fax: +40(0) 239 61 40 60
www.isjbraila.ro, brailaisj@gmail.com
 INSPECTORATUL ŞCOLAR JUDEŢEAN
BRĂILA
_________________________________________________________________________________________

C. felt proud of the bravery of her team

D. felt privileged to be where a famous explorer had been

4. The fourth paragraph emphasizes

A. how skilled Jill is under the ice
B. how Jill felt after her dive
C. what an earthquake feels like underwater
D. how close to disaster Jill came

5. What does Jill say about fear?

A. It’s healthy and helps us stay safe
B. She doesn’t experience it any more
C. It’s important to face it
D. It has stopped her doing things

II. Read the text again and write a narrative essay (200-220 words) which starts with the
following sentence:
As she was plunging into the ocean depths, Jill suddenly realised ……………………

B-dul Al. I Cuza, nr. 172, 810025 Brăila; Tel: +40(0) 239 61 91 60; Fax: +40(0) 239 61 40 60
www.isjbraila.ro, brailaisj@gmail.com