موضوع الإنجليزية — مناظرة التاسعة، دورة 2009

I. READING COMPREHENSION 6 marks

Read the text and answer the questions.

1- Since my father died, everything has changed. We were lonely and sad. There was no laughter in our home anymore.

2- Although my mother was depressed, she was always there for me. She was a wonderful, supportive and generous woman. She wanted me to work hard and become a doctor.

3- Once, my teacher asked me to obtain my parents' signature on the maths test paper. I got a 95 % score. I went home and showed my mother the test paper. Holding the paper and checking the score, she said : "you did a good job, John!". I said : "Mum, the teacher wants your signature". She said after a moment of silence : "But I can't sign !".

4- It never occurred to me that Mum was not able to write even her own name. I looked at her hands. They were good at almost everything, but not writing.

5- I held her hands and said : "Mum, I'll teach you how to write !" She was surprised. Her eyes brightened and she said : "Good, teach me !" It only took fifteen minutes and Mum was already writing her name. I gave her the test paper and she wrote her name. We looked at the test paper and smiled. Ever since, after doing my homework, I taught Mum some new words. We brought back laughter and happiness to our home.

Adapted from the Internet.
Support Education in Rural China
Program Series.

Comprehension Questions :

1.Are the following statements true or false ? Tick (√) the proper box. (0.5 x 4 = 2 marks)

2.Complete the following sentence with words from the text. (0.5 x 2 =1mark)

The son decided to ⓐ………… his mother how to write when he discovered that she was unable to ⓑ………… his test paper.

3.Find in paragraph 3 two words that nearly mean : (0.5 x 2 =1mark)

a.result : …………

b.get : …………

4.Circle two adjectives that best describe the mother. (0.5 x 2 =1 mark)

careless – helpful – aggressive – kind – severe.

5.What do the underlined words in the text refer to ? .(0.5 x 2 =1 mark)

a. she (paragraph 3) refers to…………

b. They (paragraph 4) refers to …………

II. LANGUAGE 8 marks

1.Complete the following paragraph with six words from the box. (0.5 x 6 = 3 marks)

We live in a throw-away society. On an individual level, we must do our own small part to ⓐ………… our environment. Change is possible and necessary. Unfortunately, a lot of people are too lazy or simply don't ⓑ………… about the fact that something they are throwing away ⓒ………… be used by someone else. There may be some perfectly good and useful things in the ⓓ………… . As parents, our role is to teach the next generations that it is not necessary to have the ⓔ………… model of everything, and to tell them that happiness does not always come ⓕ………… a store.

2. Match the sentence parts in Column A with those in Column B to get a coherent paragraph. There is one extra part in Column B .The parts in Column A are in the correct order. Write your answers in the space provided. (0.5 x 4 =2 marks)

3.Fill in the blanks with the right options from the margin. (0.5 x 6 = 3 marks)

Kayle had to move to another school after her first school failed to protect her from aggression.
ⓐ………… Kayle had serious stomach problems, a girl at her school ⓑ………… her in the stomach. The school ⓒ………… to consider this as an act ⓓ………… violence.
Though the headmistress assured the mother that Kayle would be ⓔ…………, the same girl followed her and pushed her ⓕ………… to the playground when she went back to school.

ⓐ Although, But, And.
ⓑ hit, met, argued.
ⓒ complained, refused, apologized.
ⓓ of, in, for.
ⓔ calm, safe, hard.
ⓕ violently, safely, slowly.

III.WRITING 6 marks

You learnt in your biology lessons that smoking is dangerous for our health and our environment. You decided to write a letter to your pen-friend, who is a heavy smoker, to warn him against the dangers of smoking and to advise him to give it up.

Write the letter.

The following hints may help you :

lung cancer, tooth decay, heart disease, polluted air, harmful, develop, healthy...

DO NOT WRITE YOUR NAME OR SIGN THE LETTER.

Dear Chris(tine)

………… Your friend
………… Karim(a)