Завдання для І етапу

Всеукраїнської олімпіади з англійської мови

11 клас
Listening
A Miracle

Until a certain moment in my life, I had been a very carefree man whose main ambition
was to sleep and eat well, party like there was no tomorrow and earn a fortune. I worked
only when I needed more money, which was possible as I was an up-and-coming novelist.
So instead of writing books regularly, I used to waste my time away meeting my friends,
shopping or going on holidays.
Once a friend of mine talked me into visiting the Philippines, saying what a lovely place it
was to see. I agreed without hesitation and so we left. My friend was a doctor and we
learnt the value of this soon. Three days into our stay on the island, a terribly destructive
typhoon struck. Apparently, there had been warnings, but we must have been too busy
partying to take any notice. When the typhoon came, we were sleeping in our hotel and
were woken up by people screaming and buildings falling down. I was stunned that
something like that could happen to me, I really was. We ran downstairs and like most
people around us, we were trying to find a place to hide. The wind and rain were
overpowering and what we could see through a small window in our hiding place was total
chaos. After the typhoon died down, we were allowed out and what I witnesses has stayed
with me ever since. There were hundreds of people looking for their nearest and dearest,
crying and shouting their names out. Most people had some kind of injury, not to mention
thousands of people who, we learnt, had died while the wind was raging on the island.
Most houses and shops were beyond recognition. I just stood in the middle of the street
and was lost for words. My friend, likewise, felt unable to say anything. Then we heard
someone screaming ‘Doctor, doctor!’ and turned to where the voice was coming from. It
was coming from a young mother who had just found her missing daughter. The girl was
conscious but her leg was badly injured and she was losing blood. My friend took his shirt
off and used it to dress the girl’s leg. The bleeding stopped. ‘Uff’, I said with great relief.
We knew the girl needed hospital treatment but we did not know where the hospital was. I
asked a man who was just passing by and he said that the hospital had been destroyed and
there was no help for anyone. We decided to take the girl and her mother to our hotel,
which, to my total amazement, hadn't got damaged too much. We looked after them until
some rescue teams arrived on the island and were able to give the girl proper medical care.
Then it dawned on me how self-centred I had always been and how little I had contributed
to aiding people in need before. When I came back home, I decided to devote most of my
time to charity work. I metamorphosed into another being. Miracles happen, don’t they?

Words to the text

hesitation - сумнів
injury - травма
scream – кричати
conscious – бути притомним
to dress – прив’язати
bleeding - кровотеча
rescue teams – рятувальні команди
І. Mark the sentences true (T) or false (F)
1. The author’s main ambition was to entertain himself.
2. The author was a successful novelist.
3. His friend invited him to go to the island.
4. The friends knew about coming typhoon.
5. The author’s friend knew nothing of medicine.
6. Two men woke up at night because people were screaming.
7. After the typhoon died a lot of people survived.
8. Houses and shops weren’t destroyed.
9. An injured girl was taken to hospital.
10. The author decided to devote himself to charity.
ІІ. Choose the right answer.
11. Which of these sentences is false about the narrator.
a) he was a party animal
b) he was on his way to becoming a successful writer
c) he encouraged his friend to go to the Philippines
12. The narrator wasn’t interested in
a) literature
b) parties
c) medicine
13. The narrator
a) thought a lot before going to the island
b) he didn’t want to go
c) he accepted the invitation at once
14. The coming disaster was
a) a cyclone
b) a tsunami
c) a hurricane
15. What surprised the narrator the most?
a) the fact that he had been told of the coming typhoon
b) the fact that he was in the center of such a disaster
c) the strength of the wind
16. After the typhoon died out…
a) there were no people left
b) there were almost no buildings left
c) the island was out of danger
17. The two friends helped a young girl
a) by taking her to hospital
b) by dressing the girl’s leg
c) by stopping the bleeding
18. The young girl
a) was unconscious after the injury
b) was unable to walk
c) was safe and protected
19. From the text, we learn that the narrator:
a) changed after the incident
b) wasn’t able to give first aid
c) remained selfish despite the experience
20. The title of the text is «A Miracle» because:
a) their survival was a miracle
b) a person can change because of the disaster
c) he and his friend believed in miracles