Ali Bennour High School, Tadmait Timing: 2 hours level: 3 yrs Sc/TM/M/GE

First Term Exam of English

PART I: READING (15 pts)

Read the following text then do the activities that follow.

Childhood obesity is a growing global public health problem. One source of excess energy may come from children’s
increased purchasing power in today’s consumer culture. This may take the form of children’s own spending and, at
younger ages, their influence over adults’ spending. The latter can be achieved through persistent nagging by children.
The ability children have to annoy their parents into purchasing items they would otherwise not buy’ is known as ‘pester
power.

As children’s role in household purchases has increased, the marketing industry has responded by developing strategies
directed at children. Research from a large multinational database of children aged 9–14 years showed that brand loyalty
increases from the age of 10 years, creating an incentive for companies to attract young customers. Companies may
actively target children through television (TV) commercials, online marketing campaigns – often with the use of cartoon
or celebrity sponsorship.

Previous research from several countries has found children’s products in supermarkets to be high in sugar and fat.
Meanwhile, TV advertisements for food during children’s programming are often for unhealthy food items. One study
documented more than 12000 TV advertisements for food on popular children’s channels and found the most common
advertisements were for fast foods (12 %) and candy (12 %). Additional mechanisms for marketing to children extend to
the school environment as well as Internet and social media.

Advertising to children is worrisome due to the strong body of evidence demonstrating that marketing exposure has a
negative impact on diet and weight. In fact, in 2010, the WHO released a set of recommendations to restrict marketing of
foods high in saturated fat, sugar or salt to children.

Adapted from the net

I. Comprension/ Interpretation 8 pts

1. Copy the correct answer. 1 pt

A. The text targets the topic of: a. child obesity b. junk food c. children’s pester power and ads

B. The text’s main purpose is : a. to inform readers about pester power b. warn parents c. give recommendations
about children’s health

2. Reorder the following sentences according to their occurrence in the text. 1 pt

A. Unhealthy food shouldn’t be shown to children.

B. Children have the power to influence their parents’ purchasing choices.

C. Many advertised food items are unhealthy.

D. Children are an easy prey to ads.

3. Answer the questions according to the text. 4 pts

A. What is pester power?

B. How do businesses appeal to young customers?

C. Are children’s products unhealthy? Justify by giving statistics from the text.

D. What did the WHO recommend?

4. Who or what do the words in bold refer to in the text? 1 pt

This §1 their § 1

5. Give a suitable title to the text. 1 pt

II. Text Exploration: (7 pts)

1. Find in the text words opposite in meaning to: 1.5 pt

insufficient §1 repel §2 low §3

2. Complete the following table. 1.5 pt

verb noun adjective

................................ ................................ growing

.............................. excess .....................

To extend ................... ....................

3. Ask the questions that the underlined words answer. (3 pts)

A. Advertising to children is worrisome due to the strong influence of junk food on them.

B. The WHO released a set of recommendations.

C. One study documented more than 12000 TV advertisements.

4. How many syllables are there in the following words ? 1 pt

increased - source - advertisements - aged

Part two: writing 5 pts

Topic one: As the member of the healthydiet.com website, write a short article about the effects of junk food ads on
children’s health. Use the notes below:

- children’s pester power/ affect parents’ purchases

- TV commercials/ internet ads/ billboards advertise sugary and fatty foods

- children /become overweight/ couch potatoes (lazy) .... having chronic diseases (diabetes, blood pressure ..)

Topic two: There has been a debate over what the best diet is. As a teenager who is about to take the BAC exams, write a
short article about the diet any student should follow to succeed.