School: Level: 3rd year (FL)

School-year: 2023-2024 Duration: 1h

The First Term English Language Test N°1

Reading.

Comprehension.
Read the passage below then do the activities that follow.

Around 2900 BCE, hereditary kingship developed in Mesopotamia as—to the minds of the people—the best
way to administer a region and its population. Once kingship had been invented, this institution wrapped itself so
securely around the concept of power and statehood that a state without a king was an anomaly.

The Mesopotamians believed that kingship had been invented by the gods and had come “down from heaven.”
Some later writers made a list of all the kings from the beginning of time to their own era. They called it “When
kingship came down from heaven,” which was its first line. Modern scholars call it “the Sumerian King List”. This
latter, however, was far from accurate. Many later kings rewrote history in favour of their own reign.

For all its faults, the Sumerian King List shows how important kingship was to the Mesopotamians, and how
much they wished their history had followed a regular pattern. The Mesopotamians were fond of order. It
reassured them that their gods were protecting them.

Adapted from Amanda H. Podany (2014) The Ancient Near East: A Very Short Introduction. New York:
Oxford University Press, p.48.

Write the letter that corresponds to the right answer.

Kingship was of extreme………………..….to the Mesopotamians.

unimportance b) significance c) irrelevance
The Sumerian King List was considered to be……………………..
man-made b) trivial c) divine
Protection from the gods brought…………………….to the country.
a sense of harmony b) utter chaos c) constant turmoil

Identify the paragraph in which the following idea is mentioned.

“The Sumerian King List was often altered by different rulers.”

Answer the following questions according to the text.

Who had the right to rule over the Mesopotamian region?
Did the Mesopotamians revere the Sumerian King List? Justify.
Why did some kings rewrite the King List in favour of their sovereignty?

Who or what do the underlined words refer to in the text?

this institution (§1) b. It (§3)

Give a title to the text.

Text Exploration

Find in the text words or phrases that are closest in meaning to the following.
a. govern (§1) b. deities (§3)

Give the opposites of the following words keeping the same root.
order - accurate - stability - qualified

Rewrite sentence “b” so that it means the same as sentence “a”.

a- The Sumerians weren’t unified under one single king, but they built a great civilisation.
b- Despite……………….…………………………………………………………………...

a- The wheel was invented in the 4th century BC by the Sumerian people.
b- The Sumerian people………………………………………………………………….….

Classify the following words according to the number of syllables.

invented - population - modern - reign

One syllable

Two syllables

Three syllables

Four syllables
Fill in the gaps with only FOUR words from the list given.
climatic – modern - geography – rivers – city - develop -

The name ‘Mesopotamia’ is now used for the land between the…........(1)………Tigris and Euphrates. The
Mesopotamian heartland was a strip of land wrested by human vigilance from
hostile………..(2)………conditions. Its ………(3)…….. is essential to the understanding of its history: it defines
the lifestyle of the agricultural community, and thereby of the………(4)………... .

Page: 2/2