Vizat

Inspector de specialitate
Biletul nr.1

Read the following text and answer the questions:

A huge explosion is taking place at this very moment. You can’t hear it. But it’s more
powerful than any other explosion in history. It’s an explosion of knowledge. In fact, if you are
14 years old, more knowledge has been gained in your lifetime than in all the previous history of
the earth. Two tools have contributed greatly to this knowledge explosion. They have helped to
develop knowledge and they have helped to put it to use. These tools are the computer and the
laser. Now they seem indispensable, yet they hardly existed when your parents were young. The
computer is one of the most important developments of this century and it has come a long way
since it first appeared. In fact, the first computer, built in the 1940s, weighed 30 tons and filled a
large room. Today, a small personal computer can do more jobs than that 30-ton giant. Yet some
are smaller than a big book.

1. What kind of explosion does the text mention?

2. What was the weight of the first computer?
3. How have the computer and laser contributed to this explosion?
4. Could you live without your computer? Why(not)?

Vizat
Inspector de specialitate
Biletul nr. 2

Read the following text and answer the questions:

What exactly do computers do? They store huge amounts of information and process it in
a very short time. They analyse and organise the information and they can provide a computer
operator with answers to almost any problem. Like the computer, the laser has also become a
vital tool in today’s world. Laser beams do important jobs in science, industry and medicine.
Laser lights cut, mend, guide, transmit, measure, and vaporize. Laser beams can measure the
distance of far-away planets or clean particles of dirt from precious oil paintings. A single beam
can transmit a million kilowatts of laser power in a pulse. With the help of these two tools,
scientists are developing new ways to build things, to produce energy, to improve means of
travel and communication, to fight diseases and to learn more about space. Almost too fast to
imagine, science is changing our world.

1. What are the two tools mentioned in the text?

2. What can lasers do?
3. In what way is science changing our world?
4. What do you use your computer for?
 Vizat
Inspector de specialitate
Biletul nr. 3

Read the following text and answer the questions:

What is New York City? It’s the Big Apple, a fantastic skyline; it’s dangerous streets, it’s
hustle-bustle, flash and dance, and it’s lots of energy! And most of all, New York is more than
seven million people that call it home…New York is where Justin, 14, lives and goes to school.
He lives in the heart of the city, Manhattan, and he loves it! “I think New York is a great place to
live in – there’s always something to do. There are always hundreds of movies, old and new,
theatres and good museums and it never stops being on the move. Everywhere you look, you can
see people rushing to work, shoppers hurrying from one department store to the other, and the
yellow cab drivers going like crazy. There are street performers and rappers dancing in parks or
along the streets, elegant business people in dark clothes, and homeless and poor people living in
shelters and begging on the streets.”

1. Where is the heart of New York?

2. Why does Justin think that “New York is a great place to live in” ?
3. How does the author describe New York?
4. Would you like to live in this city? Why (not)?

Vizat
Inspector de specialitate
Biletul nr. 4

Read the following text and answer the questions:

The game of football began in England in the middle of the 19 th century. But the Chinese
played a game like football over 2,000 years ago. Before there were rules, it was very violent and
dangerous. There was no limit on the numbers of players and there was always a lot of fighting.
In 1863 The Football Association was formed to bring rules to the game. Since then, millions
have played football, making it the world’s most popular spectator sport. It is strongest in Europe
and South America, but it is popular in Africa as well, and is now played also by women;
women’s football is one of the fastest growing sports in the world. The World Cup is the most
important trophy in international football. The contest takes place every four years at different
locations around the world. The first competition was held in 1930 and the winner was Uruguay.

1. Who were the first to play football?

2. Why was the Football Association formed?
3. Who won the first World Cup contest?
4. What is your favourite sport? Why?
 Vizat
Inspector de specialitate
Biletul nr. 5

Read the following text and answer the questions:

Australia is a huge land mass on the other side of the world from Europe. A jumbo jet
takes about 21 hours to get there! It is in the southern hemisphere between the Indian and Pacific
oceans. Being the only large piece of land in the continent of Australasia, it is sometimes
considered a continent itself. Together with the state of Tasmania, it is the world’s smallest
continent. It is almost as big as the USA, and is about 25 times bigger than Britain and Ireland. It
is also the flattest, the driest and the lowest of all continents. It is a land of great contrasts. Its
climate ranges from hot and tropical in the north, to cool and wet in the south. The inland region
is called the outback, a huge dry area where cattle and sheep graze, and wild animals such as
kangaroos and emus live. Very few people live there and life is very isolated.

1. Where is Australia?
2. How big is Australia?
3. Why do very few people live in the outback?
4. Would you like to live in Australia? Why (not)?

Vizat
Inspector de specialitate
Biletul nr. 6

Read the following text and answer the questions:

Yesterday police were joined by more than 20 volunteers in the continuing search for the
two missing teenagers, Vicky Gray and Tom Hunter, and their guide, Gavin Jones. The police
said that they had disappeared during an adventure tour to Cape York Peninsula. This was the
second day of the search and the police are now very concerned for the safety of the three
missing people. The police said that the search had covered a wide area, but the rain forest was
thick and their work was made more difficult by the recent rain. The three travellers left
Cooktown very early on Saturday Morning in a Toyota land cruiser. They took a small dirt road
that runs down a dangerous river full of crocodiles. Chief Inspector Fleet said that the tourists
wouldn’t have got into trouble if they had stayed on the main road.

1. How many people were missing?

2. What made the police work difficult?
3. Why did the tourists get into trouble?
4. Have you ever got lost?
 Vizat
Inspector de specialitate
Biletul nr. 7

Read the following text and answer the questions:

Raleigh College is one of the oldest public schools in London. It opened in the 1850s and
was a boys’ school. Now it is co-educational (both a boys’ and a girls’ school), even if there are
few girls compared to boys. It is a very expensive boarding school and fees are more than 10,000
pounds a year. The classes are smaller than those of the average comprehensive school. The
school has a lot of sports facilities – an outdoor swimming pool, a cricket ground, a football
pitch, five tennis courts, a gym and equipment for fencing, shooting and archery. Teachers
organise a lot of out-of-school activities: plays, concerts, sports, debates, music societies, visits
to the opera and to the theatre, clubs for railway enthusiasts, cooking or painting.

1. When did Raleigh College open?

2. What does co-educational mean?
3. What is cricket?
4. What activities mentioned in the text above would you like to take part in?

Vizat
Inspector de specialitate
Biletul nr. 8

Read the following text and answer the questions:

It all began in Atlanta, Georgia in 1885. Dr John S. Pemberton, a pharmacist, was not an
ordinary chemist. He did not like selling drugs but he enjoyed making them. And he was very
good at it! One day one of his friends asked him to create a new refreshing “family” drink,
without alcohol. He started working hard on a secret mixture. The first drink he made was a
delicious wine containing cola extracts, then he decided to cut out the wine but keep the cola-nut
for energy. He spent several years working on different potions. He mixed together cola-nut
extract, cola leaves, caffeine, sugar, vegetable extracts and other ingredients to make his secret
formula, and decided to make his recipe a secret so that nobody would ever know the
ingredients! In May 1886, he created a new mixture, and by adding some carbonated water to it,
made it taste fantastic!

1. Who was John S. Pemberton and where did he live?

2. What was he good at?
3. Why did he start working on a new drink?
4. What were the different steps in the creation of the new drink?
 Vizat
Inspector de specialitate
Biletul nr. 9

Read the following text and answer the questions:

One characteristic that an actor usually needs is good looks and Ashley Judd is very
pretty. Hollywood actresses, though, are not usually famous for being brainy. Ashley has both
beauty and brains and is proud of her success at the University of Kentucky. Ashley was born in
San Francisco in 1969. Her father left soon after she was born and her mother was a struggling
singer who moved so often that Ashley went to twelve different schools in thirteen years. When
she was 16, her mum and sister signed a contract with a large record company. They sold 15
million albums, which made Ashley famous while she was still studying at school. She was
always independent and wanted to be an actress rather than follow in her mother’s footsteps.
After leaving university, she went to Los Angeles and found work in television. Then came roles
in “Ruby in Paradise”, “A Time to Kill and Smoke” and “Heat”.

1. What does an actor need, according to the text?

2. Why did Ashley go to twelve different schools?
3. When did Ashley’s life as a teenager change?
4. Would you like to be an actor/actress?

Vizat
Inspector de specialitate
Biletul nr. 10

Read the following text and answer the questions:

If you feel tired all the time, you’ll be glad to hear that you’re not alone. In a recent
survey, students said that they were too tired. Here are some facts about what can make you feel
tired and what you can do to avoid it. You may think that lying in bed until 12 o’clock at the
weekend is good for you but you are wrong. Your biological clock tells you when you are tired.
A particular chemical is responsible for waking you up. It starts to work from 3 or 4 am until 11
am. If you sleep any later than this, you prevent the chemical from working, which in turn
prevents you from feeling wide awake. Human beings are not like some animals. We are
supposed to be awake during the day and asleep at night. Most lights in our houses are brighter
than they should be. Doctors say that the brain gets confused as it thinks you should be wide
awake when you should really be fast asleep.

1. Is it good for you to sleep until 12 at the weekend? Why?

2. What, according to the text, happens when you sleep later than 11 am?
3. When are humans supposed to sleep?
4. What do doctors say about bright lights in our houses?
 Vizat
Inspector de specialitate
Biletul nr. 11

Read the following text and answer the questions:

When I was a child, homework was the cause of many arguments between my parents.
My mother believed that homework was the only way for us to make progress. My father, on the
other hand, thought we should have learnt everything we needed to know while we were in
school. It is true to say that most students don’t want to know anything about homework. As a
result of recent research, many experts believe that homework is a complete waste of time,
especially when many children appear to get their homework done by someone else. In fact,
some people say that the only positive result of giving homework is that children become very
creative in finding new excuses for not having done it. Moreover, students have already found
ways to get their computers to do their homework for them.

1. What was the cause for many arguments between the author’s parents?
2. What is the opinion of the author’s mother about homework?
3. Why do experts believe that homework is a waste of time?
4. Do you like homework? How do you do it?

Vizat
Inspector de specialitate
Biletul nr. 12

Read the following text and answer the questions:

Alison decided to go hill walking. She didn’t tell anyone where she planned to go. When
she reached the top of the first hill she looked for her map. She thought she had packed it in her
jacket pocket but it wasn’t there. Suddenly a thick fog came down over the hills and she couldn’t
see anything. She tried to find her way home, but she kept coming back to the same place. She
was beginning to get very frightened. As she was stumbling along in the fog, her foot went down
a hole. It hurt terribly and she fainted. She had broken her ankle. Back at home Alison’s flatmate,
Serena, was getting worried. It was dark and Alison still hadn’t come home. Serena was afraid
something had happened to her friend. At ten o’clock Serena rang the mountain rescue service.
When Alison woke up it was light and she was freezing cold. She realised she had been there all
night. She heard a helicopter and she waved and shouted for help, but it was useless.

1. Why did Alison get lost?

2. Who was Alison’s flatmate?
3. Who did Serena ring? Why?
4. How do you think the story ends?
 Vizat
Inspector de specialitate
Biletul nr. 13

Read the following text and answer the questions:

Welcome to Backpackerland! Once you’ve left the airport you find yourself a cheap
hostel and sleep badly because it’s hot, much hotter than it was when you left home, and you
haven’t paid enough for an air-conditioned room. Besides, there’s the noise of the busy street and
some crazy tourist playing a harmonica all night. On top of that you’re jet-lagged because you’ve
crossed two time zones at least. All your worst nightmares have come true, but you don’t care,
because this is an adventure and you aren’t at home anymore. In the morning you feel exhausted
but more alive than you have for years. You go out on to the street and have your first cup of
coffee. Everywhere there are foreign vehicles, strange smells, different colours and people
wearing different clothes. As you look up and down the street you see more and more people just
like yourself – but they’ve been here for at least three days.

1. Why do you sleep badly?

2. Why don’t you care, even if your worst nightmares have come true?
3. Do you like going backpacking?
4. What do you think is Backpackerland?

Vizat
Inspector de specialitate
Biletul nr. 14

Read the following text and answer the questions:

When he lost his flat, writer CJ Stone decided to “go on the road”. Here’s his story.
I didn’t wake up one morning and say to myself, “I think I’ll go and live in a van.”It was
more accidental than that. First of all I lost my flat and then, at the same time, I discovered I
needed a new engine for my car. That meant that I would have to spend 1,000 pounds to get the
car back on the road. I suddenly found that I needed, first, somewhere to live and, second,
something to travel around in. I was trying to decide what to do when I saw the advertisement:
“Converted ambulance for sale, 1,600 pounds”. So I rang the number in the ad and arranged to
go and see it. It was love at first sight! I made my decision straight away. Two days later I was
the proud owner of a two-litre Ford Transit converted into a camper van.

1. What is CJ Stone’s job?

2. Where does he live?
3. Why did he choose to live there?
4. What does he think of it?