OLIMPIADA DE LIMBA ENGLEZĂ

ETAPA JUDEȚEANĂ - 2022

CLASA a X-a - SECȚIUNEA A

SUBIECTUL A – USE OF ENGLISH (40 points)

I. Read the following text and put the verbs in brackets into the correct form. 10 points
Betty (1) ……… (HURRY) to school after she (2) ……… (SPEND) an hour waiting for Dana. ‘I’ll be late for the English class if I
(3) ……… (NOT/GET) the next bus.’ She looked at her watch and realised that she only (4) ……… (HAVE) 10 minutes more to get
to school. ‘What am I going to do? I wish I (5) ……… (NOT/WAIT) for Dana for so long.’ That very moment she (6) ………
(HEAR) somebody calling her name. It was Dana, who (7) ……… (WAVE) at her from across the street. Then she shouted to Betty:
‘Come here, there’s a taxi waiting for us.’ Betty crossed the street and they both got in the taxi. ‘Sorry for being so late, but I’d rather
you (8) ……… (NOT/ASK) me now. I (9) ……… (TELL) you everything as soon as we (10) ……… (GET) to school.’

II. Use the word given in brackets to form a word that fits in each sentence. 10 points
Cash rewards are a common form of motivation used by parents with high 1 ……… (EXPECT) to encourage their children to work
hard at exam time. Some youngsters receive 2 ……… (PAY) of as much as 100 pounds for each A grade they obtain at GCSE. But
should such ‘bribes’ be based on exam 3 ……… (PERFORM) or should they, as many parents and teachers feel, be offered in 4
……… (RECOGNIZE) of a child’s effort, regardless of results? The latter approach would solve the problem of how parents reward
children with different levels of 5 ……… (ABLE); imagine, for example, a family with one child who is 6 ……… (ACADEMIC)
gifted and another who has learning 7 ……… (DIFFICULT). The dangers of result-related incentives for the second child are clear;
with little hope of obtaining the higher grades, the withholding of promised 8 ……… (FINANCE) rewards would only compound the
child’s feeling of 9 ……… (FAIL). However, some leading educational psychologists believe that parents should rely on their own
10 ……… (JUDGE) in such matters. They maintain that if parents know that money will motivate their child, then they should not be
condemned for operating a system of cash.

III. Read the following text and decide which answer (A, B, C or D) best fits in each gap. 10 points
It was over 100 years (1) …… , on October 25th 1911, that the London General Omnibus Company ran their last horse-drawn
omnibus (2) …… the streets of the capital. Since then, the big red motor bus (3) …… London’s “king of the road”. Today, every day,
thousands of Londoners (4 ) …… the big red buses to move - often slowly - around town. (5) …… tourists know that a one-day
London bus pass, valid on all regular bus routes, offers a wonderful (6) …… to see Britain’s capital city. The idea of the “double
decker” is actually much (7) …… than the motor bus. It is a continuation of the system that was used for public transport in the (8)
…… of horse-drawn vehicles, when some of the passengers sat inside, and the rest travelled on the roof. Too bad if it was raining!
Today the only open-topped buses are the special tourist buses. It wasn’t until the 1930’s that all new buses came equipped with roofs
over the upper deck! Increasingly (9) …… engines meant that buses could be bigger and heavier. (10) …… trams, they could then
have roofs.
1 A.before B.ago C.later D.until
2 A.among B.through C.between D.over
3 A.had been B.has been C.was D.would be
4 A.use B.have used C.will use D.used
5 A.Much B.Lots C.A few of D.Lots of
6 A.way B.road C.street D.lane
7 A.elder B.ancient C.older D.antique
8 A.eras B.age C.ages D.year
9 A.forceless B.powerless C.powerful D.forceful
10 A.Similar B.As C.Like D.Compared

IV. Read the text below and think of the word which best fits in each gap. Use only one word 10 points
in each gap.
They were all wiped out before science had a chance to discover them, but only the dodo’s name has lived on. However,
experts have now been able to reconstruct the appearance of dozens of long-extinct birds and animals from the same remote
tropical isles (1) …… the dodo lived. The islands of Mauritius, Reunion and Rodrigues in the Indian Ocean were home to
hundreds of unique and rare creatures before humans first set foot (2) …… in 1598. In about 150 years, (3) …… least 45
species had been lost forever (4) …… a result of hunting and the introduction of other species. ‘(5) …… happened on these
islands is a sad tale,’ says Dr. Julian Hume, a paleontologist who worked on the project. Now researchers have recreated
what the extinct animals and birds would have looked (6) …… from fragments of bone, fossils and descriptions made by
travellers at the time. Following 30 years of research, they have managed to produce detailed pictures of (7) …… the extinct
creatures looked and behaved for a new book called ’The Lost Land of the Dodo’. Among the species that vanished from the
islands were 31 birds found (8) …… else. Many of them were flightless, like the dodo. A combination of hunting by people
(9) …… the arrival of rats, cats and monkeys, (10) …… attacked and robbed the birds’ nest, caused many birds that lived
on the ground to become extinct.

SUBIECTUL B – INTEGRATED SKILLS (60 points)

Read the text below and do the tasks that follow.

Six months ago, I made a rash promise. The leader of the youth club in our village rang me in March saying, ‘We’re
thinking of running a children’s playscheme for a day in October half-term. Would you be prepared to help?’ My response
was ‘Sure, why not?’ In truth I was a little flattered to be asked, even though working as a care assistant with old people
hardly qualified me for the role. Still, I duly put the date in my diary and of course I forgot all about it. I don’t know if
you’ve noticed this but time has a habit of speeding along faster than a police car chasing a robber and, before I knew it, the
day was dawning.
I arrived at the youth centre that morning feeling full of trepidation. There was a gang of 12 helpers including me and each
pair had been allocated a particular age group. Mine was the 10 to 11-year-olds. Even with the planning meeting I had
attended the week before, I worried about whether I was up to the task. Why hadn’t I read through the copious lesson plans
we were given beforehand? And wasn’t the average 10-year-old more interested in the latest Play Station game than making
things with paper and glue?
All too quickly the children began arriving. The look of relief on parents’ faces as they handed their offspring over to us was
quite comical. A handful of the children were already members of the club but the other forty-five or so were from the local
primary schools. Again, I asked myself why I had elected to spend a day with all these ‘little monsters’ especially when I
have two all of my own to contend with! I needn’t have worried, of course, as it turned out to be a marvellous day. We
watched entertaining DVD clips, learned ‘action’ songs, made clay pyramids, decorated biscuits, played memory games and
spent some time in quiet reflection. I say ‘we’ because I rediscovered my inner child and joined in all the activities.
The particular highlight for me was the final rendition of ‘He’s got the whole world in his hands’ in the closing part of the
day. The children knew the words and actions off by heart and sang so loudly it was almost enough to bring the roof down.
It’s difficult to explain those moments; only that the body tingles with the pleasure of having witnessed something so
magical.
Of course, there were also moments of great sadness. I found it difficult to stop thinking of one little girl, who mentioned
oh-so-casually that her mum was in hospital and would be there for a long time. It’s easy for us adults to idealise childhood
and forget that some children have their own burden of anxieties and concerns. When I got home utterly exhausted, still
with modelling clay under my fingernails, I reflected on what a privilege it had been.
There was one disappointment for the children and that was that the playscheme was only running for a day, and not the
whole week. As I said farewell to my group, one of the children turned and said, ‘Can we do it again in the next holiday,
Miss?’ My response was, ‘Sure, why not?’

I. For each question decide which answer (A, B, C or D) fits best according to the text. 10 points
1 When the first day of the job arrived, the writer was surprised
A. that the day had come round so quickly.
B. because she’d forgotten to write down the date.
C. because she witnessed a car chase on the way.
D. that she woke up at dawn.

2 When the writer arrived to start her job, she

A. put the children into pairs.
B. realised she should have done more preparation.
C. felt confident she could deal with 10 and 11-year-olds.
D. saw the children had brought their own electronic games to play with.
3 According to the writer, the parents were
A. happy to stay with their children all day.
B. worried about children from the other schools.
C. nervous that their children might not behave themselves.
D. glad to leave their children.

4 The writer’s best moment

A. occurred in the middle of the day.
B. took her by surprise.
C. was hard to put into words.
D. was when the day was over.

5 What is the writer’s attitude by the end of the day?

A. She could imagine doing the job again next time.
B. She was sad to say good bye to the children.
C. She was disappointed with the experience.
D. She hopes the playscheme will be longer in future.

II. Write a narrative-descriptive essay (200-220 words) ending with the sentence: I needn’t have worried, of course, as
it turned out to be a marvellous day. 50 points