Date: Name:

IX-th Grade
RI SEMESTER PAPER I

I.Read the text below.Are the sentences 1-7 ‚Right’ (A) or ‚Wrong’ (B)? If there is not enough
information to answer ‘Right’ (A) or ‘Wrong’ (B), choose ‘Doesn’t say’ (C).(1,40p)

For John Shepherd, a cabbie who has been threading his way through London’s streets for the
past 30 years, keeping pace with all the modern day changes is no small task.”To do the Knowledge
now is taking up to three years,” he said, recalling the exam that London cab drivers have to take
before they can get their license, as we swept over Waterloo Bridge on our way to Peckam in the south
of London, where he was born.
“I left school at 15 and started work in the old Covent Garden flower market.”A short, well-
built man with a domed, balding head, blue-grey eyes, a close moustache, and a razor-sharp wit, John is
one of those archetypal Londoners who seem to have stepped straight out of Mary Poppins or East
Enders.
“An old cabbie once said to me, ‘John, my son, if you learn one thing a day while you’re doing
this job, by the end of your life’ – he paused meaningfully as a grey plaque marking the onetime home
of Charlie Chaplin flashed by – “your head will be full of rubbish.”
“I did the Knowledge in the afternoons while working at the flower market.In those days you
had what was called the Blue Book, which had all the different runs in it.You would get a map, and you
would study the route, with all the back streets, and write them down.Then you would go out on your
bike and follow the route.The hardest to remember were all the little alleys and backstreets.We used to
call them ‘rat runs’.He paused.”You can’t use most of them now.They are closing them off.”
(National Geographic)

1.John Shepherd has been a cab driver for 30 years.

A. Right B. Wrong C. Doesn’t say

2. He finds it easy to adapt to the changing times.

A. Right B. Wrong C. Doesn’t say

3. The Knowledge is a compulsory test for cab drivers.

A. Right B. Wrong C. Doesn’t say

4. John was born in London 30 years ago.

A. Right B. Wrong C. Doesn’t say

5. He didn’t drop out of school at the age of 15.

A. Right B. Wrong C. Doesn’t say

6. He starred in East Enders.

A. Right B. Wrong C. Doesn’t say

7. The Blue Book contained all the routes in London.

A. Right B. Wrong C. Doesn’t say

1
II. Put the verbs in brackets into the Present Simple, the Present Continuous or the Past Simple
Tense: (1,60p)

1. ……….……...Kylie…………..................in Los Angeles? (live)

2. The train for London ………………………..at 10:45 on Sunday. (leave)
3. I…………………………..……noisy students. (not like)
4. ……………...aunt Emily…………………….…..…..a sponge cake now? (make)
5. I live in Brasov but I ……………………………..…..in Bucharest this year.(live)
6. John and Mary………………………………….……to the dentist this afternoon. (not go)
7. Alexander……………………..………the teacher some pieces of chalk yesterday. (bring)
8. What……………..……your mother………………..…..…for lunch two days ago? (cook)

III. Translate:(1,20p)

1. Obişnuiau să-ţi placă basmele când aveai 5 ani?

2. Eu cred că Susan este mai grasă decât Alice.

3. Care este cea mai frumoasă fată din colegiul vostru?

4. Azi am mai puţin timp liber decât ieri.

5. Lui Jason trebuie să-i pară rău de ceea ce s-a întâmplat noaptea trecută.

6. Cred că va ploua torenţial în timpul zilei.

IV. Describe yourself. Include information about: name, age, height, build, hair, eyes, face, nose,
lips, the clothes you like to wear, character, likes, dislikes. Write your composition in 150 words
(15 lines).(2,80p)