Al Khawarizmi High School - Oran

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Part one: Reading (15pts)
A. Comprehension (7pts)

Read the following text carefully then do the activities.

I think that the primary goal of life is to find happiness, which means to find
interest. Education should be a preparation for life. Our culture has not been very
successful. Our education, politics and economics lead to war. Our medicines have
not done away with diseases. Our religion has not abolished corruption and theft.
The advances of the age are advances toward robotism, toward radio and television
and toward electronics and jet planes. There is a menace of new world wars because
the world’s social conscience is still primitive.
If we feel like questioning today, we can pose a few questions. Why does man
seem to have many more diseases than animals have? Why does man hit and kill in
wars? Why does cancer increase? Why does man think but not feel? Why are there so
many suicides? Why is there racial discrimination? Why, a thousand whys about our
vaunted state of technological progress?
I ask these questions because I am a teacher, the one who deals with the
young. I ask these questions because those so often asked by teachers are the
unimportant ones, the ones about school subjects. I ask what good can come out of
discussions about American or ancient history. These subjects do not matter a lot
compared to the larger question of life’s natural accomplishment, of man’s inner
happiness.
When I lecture students at teacher training universities, I am often shocked at
the childishness of these youths full of useless knowledge. They know a lot in
history, literature and sciences, but in their view of life many of them are still
children because they have been taught to know, but have not been permitted to feel.
These students are friendly, pleasant, but something is missing in them which is the
emotional factor, the power to subordinate thinking to feel. Their textbooks do not
deal with human character, or with love, or with freedom, or with self determination.
This is how our system works. Its target is book learning, that is to say, separating
the head from the heart.

1. Are the following statements true or false?

a. The writer is a psychologist.
b. The writer relates happiness to interest.
c. The writer regards youth’s knowledge as useful.
d. The writer is against the actual educational system.

2. Answer the following questions according to the text.

a. Is the writer satisfied with educational achievements? Justify your answer.
b. What does the writer mean by “Education should be a preparation for life”?
c. How does the educational system work according to the writer?

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 Al Khawarizmi High School - Oran
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3. What do the underlined words refer to in the text?
a. Which (§1) b. those (§3) c. its (§4)

4. Which of the three titles is the most appropriate to the text?

a. Book Learning b. A Thousand Whys c. Happiness or Interest?

B. Text exploration (8pts)

1. Find in the text words closest in meaning to the following.

a. instruction (§1) b. memorizing (§4)

2. Find in the text words opposite in meaning to the following.

a. lose# (§1) b. ignorance# (§4)

3. Complete the sentences with one of the following quantifiers.

some, a little, a great deal of, many, plenty of, few
a. Students generally make ……………………………………effort before exams.
b. …………………….students will certainly succeed this year.

4. Fill in the table with the missing words.

verb noun adjective

………………… education …………………
………………… ………………… successful

5. Complete sentence (b) so that it means the same as sentence (a).

A) a. I won’t start my research unless I find books in the library.

b. If …………………………………………………………………
B) a. I regret you didn’t come. The prize-giving ceremony was a success.
b. I wish……………………………………………………………………..

6. Classify the following words according to the pronunciation of their final ‘s’.

universities - teachers - students - sciences

/ s/ / z/ / iz/

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www.eltalgeria.webs.com
 
 Al Khawarizmi High School - Oran
__________________________________________________________________________ 
 
7. Fill in the gaps so that the passage makes sense.

Will - that –world –from

The information age is invading our ………(1)…….. with technological tools, which
sometimes prevents us ………(2)………. doing things we used to do. However,
technology ………(3)…….. never replace the pleasure and the happiness I feel when I
read a book. It is a hobby ……(4)……….. is worth preserving, isn’t it?

Part two: written expression (5pts)

Choose one of the following topics.

Either
Topic one: Write an e-mail to a pen pal telling him/her about the Algerian secondary
schooling and your studies. Use the following hints.
• Short greeting and introduction of the e-mail topic
• Tell about Algerian schooling in general
• Difference from primary to middle schooling
• Subjects studied in high schools
• Baccalaureate exam (how and when it takes place, how long it lasts, tested
subjects…)
• Short conclusion and salutation

Or
Topic two: “Education should be a preparation for life”. Do you agree with the
writer?
Write a short paragraph illustrating your opinion. Say if you are satisfied with the
kind of education you are receiving. If not, what are the reforms you can bring to
make it better?

Mrs. Akmoun

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