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English Olympiad Tasks
Listening Comprehension 9th Form
"The Box of Robbers" from American Fairy Tales by L. Frank Baum
Glossary:
tarnished – тьмяний, неяскравий;
brashheaded – жовтувато-мідний;
tanned – засмаглий на сонці;
laced - шнурований
No one intended to leave Martha alone that afternoon, but it happened that everyone was called away, for one reason or another. Mrs. McFarland was attending the weekly card party held by the Women's Anti-Gambling League. Sister Nell's young man had called quite unexpectedly to take her for a long drive. Papa was at the office, as usual. It was Mary Ann's day out. As for Emeline, she certainly should have stayed in the house and looked after the little girl; but Emeline had a restless nature.
"Would you mind, miss, if I just crossed the alley to speak a word to Mrs. Carleton's girl?" she asked Martha.
"'Course not," replied the child. "You'd better lock the back door, though, and take the key, for I shall be upstairs."
"Oh, I'll do that, of course, miss," said the delighted maid, and ran away to spend the afternoon with her friend, leaving Martha quite alone in the big house, and locked in.
The little girl read a few pages in her new book, sewed a few stitches in her embroidery and started to "play visiting" with her four favorite dolls. Then she remembered that in the attic was a doll's playhouse that hadn't been used for months, so she decided she would dust it and put it in order.
Filled with this idea, the girl climbed the winding stairs to the big room under the roof. It was well lit by three dormer windows and was warm and pleasant. Around the walls were rows of boxes and trunks, piles of old carpeting, pieces of damaged furniture, bundles of discarded clothing and other odds and ends of more or less value. Every well-regulated house has an attic of this sort, so I need not describe it.
The doll's house had been moved, but after a search Martha found it away over in a corner near the big chimney.
She drew it out and noticed that behind it was a black wooden chest which Uncle Walter had sent over from Italy years and years ago – before Martha was born, in fact. Mamma had told her about it one day; how there was no key to it, because Uncle Walter wished it to remain unopened until he returned home; and how this wandering uncle, who was a mighty hunter, had gone into Africa to hunt elephants and had never been heard from afterwards. The little girl looked at the chest curiously, now that it had by accident attracted her attention.
It was quite big – bigger even than mamma's traveling trunk – and was studded all over with tarnished brassheaded nails. It was heavy, too, for when Martha tried to lift one end of it she found she could not stir it a bit. But there was a place in the side of the cover for a key. She stooped to examine the lock, and saw that it would take a rather big key to open it.
Then, as you may suspect, the little girl longed to open Uncle Walter's big box and see what was in it. For we are all curious, and little girls are just as curious as the rest of us.
"I don't believe Uncle Walter'll ever come back," she thought. "Papa said once that some elephant must have killed him. If I only had a key – " She stopped and clapped her little hands together gaily as she remembered a big basket of keys on the shelf in the linen closet. They were of all sorts and sizes; perhaps one of them would unlock the mysterious chest!
She flew down the stairs, found the basket and returned with it to the attic. Then she sat down before the brass-studded box and began trying one key after another in the curious old lock. Some were too large, but most were too small. One would go into the lock but would not turn; another stuck so fast that she feared for a time that she would never get it out again. But at last, when the basket was almost empty, an oddly-shaped, ancient brass key slipped easily into the lock. With a cry of joy Martha turned the key with both hands; then she heard a sharp "click," and the next moment the heavy lid flew up of its own accord!
The little girl leaned over the edge of the chest an instant, and the sight that met her eyes caused her to start back in amazement.
Slowly and carefully a man unpacked himself from the chest, stepped out upon the floor, stretched his limbs and then took off his hat and bowed politely to the astonished child.
He was tall and thin and his face seemed badly tanned or sunburnt.
Then another man emerged from the chest, yawning and rubbing his eyes like a sleepy schoolboy. He was of middle size and his skin seemed as badly tanned as that of the first.
While Martha stared open-mouthed at the remarkable sight a third man crawled from the chest. He had the same complexion as his fellows, but was short and fat.
All three were dressed in a curious manner. They wore short jackets of red velvet braided with gold, and knee trousers of sky-blue satin with silver buttons. Over their stockings were laced wide ribbons of red and yellow and blue, while their hats had broad brims with high, peaked crowns, from which fluttered yards of bright-colored ribbons.
They had big gold rings in their ears and rows of knives and pistols in their belts. Their eyes were black and glittering and they wore long, fierce mustaches, curling at the ends like a pig's tail. []
Directions: In this test you will carefully listen to a text read aloud twice. The text is followed by 20 tasks. You should do tasks 1 through 10 following the first reading of the text on the basis of what is stated or implied in the text. The text will be read a second time and you should do tasks 11 through 20 following the second reading of the text on the basis of what is stated or implied in the text. For each task you will choose from four possible answers (a, b, c, or d), or two symbols (+ or -) as specified prior to each task. Choose the best answer and mark the letter or symbol of your choice on the Answer Sheet.
Statements 1 through 10 (on your answer sheet circle + if the statement is true, - if it is false).
1. Martha’s father doesn’t work a lot.
2. Martha didn’t want to be left alone in the house.
3. Martha first went to the attic to find a doll’s playhouse.
4. The author thought that Martha’s attic was very typical.
5. The doll’s house was in front of a black wooden chest.
6. Martha moved the chest before she opened it.
7. Most of the keys Martha tried in the lock were too big.
8. The first man to step out of the chest did so politely.
9. The second man to step out of the chest was the fattest.
10. The men had weapons.
Section 2. Multiple choice. For each question, listen to the story and decide which of the statements is the best answer.
Questions 11 through 20 (on your answer sheet circle the correct letter A, B, C, or D).
11. Mrs. McFarland…
A. was gambling.
B. was working.
C. was playing cards.
D. had the day off.
12. Emeline was Martha’s…
A. sister.
B. mother.
C. friend
D. maid.
13. All of these were in the attic EXCEPT…
A. rows of boxes.
B. windows.
C. odds and ends.
D. a basket of keys.
14. The chest…
A. had never been in the attic before.
B. had recently been sent from Italy.
C. had been in the attic for many years.
D. had come from Africa many years ago.
15. According to the text, Uncle Walter was many things EXCEPT…
A. a mighty hunter.
B. an alligator wrestler.
C. a world traveler.
D. a victim of a horrible elephant attack
16. Judging by the lock on the trunk, the key would have to be…
A. brass.
B. oddly-shaped.
C. long.
D. big.
17. The key that opened the chest was…
A. the first key Martha took out of the basket.
B. one of the first keys Martha took out of the basket.
C. one of the last keys left in the basket.
D. the last key left in the basket.
18. The men had…
A. dark skin and earrings.
B. short moustaches and rings on their fingers.
C. brown eyes and pig-tails.
D. plain clothes and swords.
19. The men’s clothing included…
A. red velvet trousers.
B. sky-blue jackets.
C. golden stockings.
D. hats with ribbons.
20. In this story, Martha is everything EXCEPT…
A. curios.
B. illogical.
C. independent.
D. amazed.
Як бачимо, формат Всеукраїнської учнівської олімпіади включає два види тестів: визначення правильності або неправильності твердження (перша частина завдання), та завдання з вибором однієї правильної відповіді. Пропоную додати завдання на заповнення пропусків у реченні.
Section 3. Fill the gaps in the sentences.
A. Sister Nell's young man had called quite unexpectedly to take her for a long ... .
B. Every well-regulated house has an attic of this sort, so I need not … it.
C. All three were dressed in a curious … .
D. While Martha stared … at the remarkable sight a third man crawled from the chest.
3.3 Розробка серії завдань для учнівських олімпіад (для учнів 10 класу)
Listening Comprehension 10th Form
Text: "The Birdmen" from A History of the US – An Age of Extremes by Joy Hakim
Glossary:
daredevil – шибайголова
apiary – пасіка
beekeeper – пасічник
Suppose, tomorrow, you open your front door and there before you is a flying saucer. A spaceman steps out and smiles.
The next day you go to school and tell your friends what you saw. Do you think they will believe you?
Today, it is hard for us to understand what people thought when they first heard that men had flown. Mostly, if they hadn’t seen it themselves, they didn’t believe it. Why, if people were foolish enough to say men could fly, the next thing they might say was that someday men would walk on the moon!
But on December 17, 1903, two men flew. They were brothers from Dayton, Ohio, and they owned a bicycle shop. They had attended school, but neither had graduated from high school. Their names were Wilbur and Orville Wright. It was not luck that made them the first people in all of history to build and fly an airplane that lifted off the ground with its own power. It was hard work and determination. Before they built the plane they studied all that was known about flying. They thought, argued, and experimented. They built a wind tunnel and tested 200 differently shaped wings. Then they drew plans and built carefully.
When they flew, it was from Kill Devil Hill at Kitty Hawk, on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. The Outer Banks are islands that run like a row of beads along the Carolina coast. Back in the 17th century, Sir Walter Raleigh planted a colony there, the Lost Colony. In the 18th century, the Outer Banks were home base to Blackbeard the pirate.
Today the islands are filled with tourists and hotels and cottages. But in 1903, Kitty Hawk was an empty sandy beach, with a few fishermen and a lifeboat station where men stood by to aid shipwrecks. Kill Devil Hill, which is just a big sand dune, was a good place to test an airplane.
On that windy December day, Orville won the toss of a coin. He got to fly first, lying flat on his stomach on the wing of the kite-like biplane. Wilbur ran beside him; the plane lifted a few feet above the sand and stayed in the air for 17 seconds. The brothers took turns and flew four flights that day. The longest lasted 59 seconds. It was enough. They had flown. The men from the lifeboat station had seen them and taken a picture.
The headlines in the morning newspaper in nearby Norfolk, Virginia – the Virginian Pilot – told of the flight, although most of the details in the story were wrong. The brothers were upset about the poor reporting, but it didn’t much matter: no one paid attention, and other newspapers didn’t carry the story. No one understood that birds now had competition: people would soon be flying.
Orville and Wilbur went home to Dayton and set to work. They knew they could fly, but they also knew their plane needed improving. They flew around a big pasture in Ohio. Neighbors saw them and talked about the flights. In 1904 a group of newspaper reporters came to see for themselves.
Now, the Wright brothers were not daredevils. They were very methodical and precise. They did everything as well as they could. They checked and tested and checked and tested again, each time they flew. That made sense.
When the reporters arrived, the brothers were having mechanical problems with the plane. The reporters stayed two days. The Wright brothers wouldn’t fly on those days; the plane wasn’t ready. The reporters left. Some wrote that the Wright brothers were fakes.
One writer did stay and see them fly. He was the editor of an apiary journal. An apiary is a place where bees are raised for their honey. Yes, you heard that right: the first long article about the Wright brothers’ flight was in a beekeepers’ magazine!
In September of 1908, in Virginia, Orville showed Americans that people could fly. He lifted his plane into the air and swung around an army field one and a half times before he landed. The crowd of watchers rushed forward "screaming as loudly as they could, overwhelmed by the miracle that had taken place before their eyes."
Try to imagine that scene in 1908. For thousands and thousands of years, men and women looked at birds and dreamed that they too could lift themselves into the air. Some tried. Mythical Icarus, back in ancient days, took birds’ feathers and a frame and made something like a hang glider. But when he soared into the air the sun melted the wax that held the feathers and Icarus fell into the sea. Others, who we know were real, had built gliders, or hot-air balloons that floated on the wind. What the Wrights did was different. They didn’t depend on the wind. They used their intelligence to build a machine that conquered the skies. They solved the problem of flight. Now everyone believed it – people could fly!
Section 1. True or False Statements (+/-). Listen to the story and decide which of these statements are true and which of them are false.
1. People have always believed that man can fly.
2. Orville and Wilbur Wright owned a shop that sold and repaired bicycles.
3. They were the first men to fly because they were very lucky.
4. The Outer Banks are islands that run along the Carolina coast.
5. Orville and Wilbur were comprehensive students of flight.
6. Orville sat on the wing when flying his first flight.
7. The brothers were pleased with what the reporters wrote about their first flight.
8. The first long article about the Wright brothers’ flight was in an apiary journal.
9. In Virginia, Orville flew around an Army field 2 times to prove he could fly.
10. The Wright brothers’ depended on the wind to help them fly their plane.
Section 2. Multiple choice. For each question, listen to the story and decide which of the statements is the best answer.
11. Orville and Wilbur…
A. graduated from high school.
B. didn’t finish high school.
C. graduated from vocational school.
D. the article doesn’t say.
12. Their first flight was...
A. at Dayton Ohio.
B. at Kitty Hawk.
C. at Norfolk Virginia.
D. in a big pasture.
13. The Lost Colony was established…
A. In the 18th Century.
B. To bring tourists to the area.
C. In the 17th Century.
D. The article doesn’t say.
14. The Wright brothers were…
A. methodists.
B. medical.
C. methodical.
D. merry.
15. Orville got to fly the plane first because…
A. he won the coin toss.
B. he could run faster than Wilbur.
C. he had more courage than Wilbur did.
D. he convinced Wilbur he should be first.
16. The newspaper article that appeared about their first flight…
A. was also carried by many other newspapers.
B. pleased Orville and Wilbur very much.
C. was talked about by everyone.
D. had most of the details wrong.
17. You could describe the Wright brothers as…
A. daredevils when it came to flying.
B. very thorough about everything having to do with flying.
C. men who enjoyed arguing with reporters.
D. being from Kitty Hawk.
18. The Wrights did NOT work in which U.S. state?
A. Nevada
B. North Carolina
C. Virginia
D. Ohio
19. The flight by Orville and Wilbur Wright took place approximately…
A. 86 years ago.
B. 125 years ago.
C. 106 years ago.
D. 150 years ago.
20. You could describe Icarus as…
A. a brave man.
B. having flown successfully.
C. having built a glider.
D. a mythical character.
Section 3. Fill the gaps in the sentences.
A. It was not luck that made them the first people in all of history to build and fly an … that lifted off the ground with its own power.
B. When the reporters arrived, the brothers were having … problems with the plane.
C. . No one understood that birds now had … : people would soon be flying.
D. They used their … to build a machine that conquered the skies.
Дата: 2019-07-24, просмотров: 357.