Part One: Reading

A. Comprehension
.Read the text carefully then do the activities

October 3rd is Children’s Day. At the United Nations in New York City, children from many countries
will meet to celebrate this special occasion. On that day, 75 to 150 million children between the ages
of eight and fifteen will get up to do adults’ jobs, at the cost of their health and education. Most, but
not all, of these children live in Third World countries. Some of these children find themselves
responsible to help their parents with their agricultural work. Some work as servants in the home of
rich people; others are employed in factories where they are often exposed to dangerous machinery
and chemicals. Statistics show that many of these children work more than 12 hours a day.
Factory managers like to employ children because they can pay them less than adults; and very few
children know enough about their legal rights to ask for better pay and working conditions. The
parents of working children rarely protest, they need the child’s salary to survive. The problem of
child labour is much more serious in the Third World, but it also exists in Europe and the United
States, where many children have part-time jobs to help their families or just to have some pocket
.money. Paradoxically, in countries where adults don’t have jobs, a lot of children work

Is there a solution to the international crime against today’s children and future generations? It is
clear that the exploitation of children from very poor families is easy and that it will continue. And
because these children are more vulnerable and often less capable of defending themselves; they
.need special legal protection and assistance from international organisations
1. Choose the main idea for the text.
a) Children and Exploitative work
b) Children’s educational problems
c) Working conditions in Third World countries

2. Are these statements ‘true’ or ‘false’?

a) 75 to 150 million children will meet in New York City to celebrate Children’s Day.
b) Not all working children live in Third World countries.
c) Factory managers pay children fairly for their work.
d) The only reason why children work is that their families are poor.

3. Answer these questions according to the text.

1. Which rights are working children deprived of?
2. What risks do working children face in factories?
3. Why do families allow children to go to work?

4. Number the ideas (a-d) from (1-4) as they appear in the text.
a) Parents of working hardly ever protest against exploitative work.
b) Child abuse won’t stop soon.
c) Working children are mostly from the Third World.
d) Child labour is also found in developed countries.

In which paragraph is it mentioned that working children are unable to protect themselves? ( 0,5pt) .5
?Who or what do the underlined words refer to in the text .6
a) this special occasion (§1) b) it (§3)

1/2

B. Text Exploration (7pts)

.1. Find in the text words or phrases that are closest in meaning to the following
a) rise (§1) b) obvious (§3)
2. Divide the following words into root and affixes.

Words Prefix Root Suffix

international
exploitation
agricultural

3. Rewrite sentence ‘b’ so that it means the same as sentence ‘a’.

1. a) You feel strongly that factory managers should stop employing children.

b) It’s high time………………………………………………………….……….…..

2. a) Many children are beaten and abused by cruel employers.

b) Cruel employers………………………………………………………….………..

4. Classify the following words according to the pronunciation of their final ‘-s’
. countries statistics ages generations

/s/ /z/ /ɪz/

Fill in the gaps with the words from the list below. (2pts) .5
risks development unaware deprive
Child labour does more than ……………(1)…….…… children of their education and mental and physical
……………(2)………….., their childhood is stolen. Immature and inexperienced working children may be

.completely ……………(3)…………… of the short and long term ……………(4)………….. involved in their work

Part Two: Written Expression (5pts)

:Choose One of the following topics

Topic 1: Large numbers of children work in extremely exploitative conditions. Write an article of
about 80 to 100 words to be published on your Facebook page, describing to your followers how
these conditions affect the physical, mental and emotional state of the child.
prevent children from attending school ●

damage children’s health ●

harm children’s mental well-being ●

cause loss of self-esteem ●

.face life of poverty / uncertain future / etc ●

Topic 2:
Many companies suffer from a decrease in their productivity because of some of their employees’
unethical practices. Write a composition of 100 to 120 words suggesting how these employees should
.behave to be more responsible and thus more productive