OLIMPIADA NAȚIONALĂ DE LIMBA ENGLEZĂ – ETAPA LOCALĂ

27 IANUARIE 2018
CLASA a X-a SECȚIUNEA A

SUBIECTUL A – USE OF ENGLISH

I. Read the following text and put the verbs in brackets in the correct tense (10
x1p = 10p)

Martin Backings, the magician, (1)................. (disappear) together with his precious
black hat. Yesterday everybody (2).............(wait) for him to come at the rehearsals for a
charitable show, but he (3) ................(fail) to arrive. Mr. Backings, who (4) ..............(live) in
Southampton, (5).................(leave) home at four o‟clock yesterday afternoon for St. Lawrence
Rehearsal Hall, a journey he (6)...............(make) several times the week before. Two people
who were walking past his home at the time saw him leave. But no one (7).................... (see)
him since then. For hours and hours, workmates and friends (8)....................(try) to contact
Mr. Backings, but they have had no success so far. The police (9)...............(take) the matter
seriously. However, everybody hopes that, in the next couple of hours, he
(10)...................(show) up without a scratch and happy that everything has been just a black-
humor trick.

II. Use the word given in brackets to form a word that fits in each sentence (10 x 1p =
10 p)
1. I wear a lot of make-up in order to feel ____________________(CONFIDENCE)
2. I am a very ______________ person. I can never wait (PATIENT).
3. I always have my cell phone with me. I am completely ___________without it
(HELP).
4. Mom hates those shoes. They are so ________________ (COMFORT)
5. My brother bought an outdoor jacket. It's so __________when he goes hiking
(PRACTICE).
6. It will be a _____________day today. The sun isn't going to come out. (CLOUD)
7. Eating chips is not very _______________ (HEALTH).
8. Most of our possessions are _____________. We could live just as well without them
(REPLACE)
9. She is really a ____________ person. She can play three different instruments and
sing as well. (MUSIC)
10. The manual is completely ___________. All the information is out-of-date (USE)

CLASA A X-A, SECȚIUNEA A

 III. Read the following text and decide which answer A, B, C or D best fits in each
gap (10 x 1p = 10p)

Children fed healthy diet at an early age may have a slightly higher IQ, while those on heavier
junk food diets may have a slightly (1)__________________IQ, according to new research
from the University of Adelaide. The study, led by Public Health researcher Dr. Lisa
Smithers, looked at the link between the eating (2)______________of children at 6 months,
15 months and 2 years, and their IQ at the age (3)______________eight. The study of more
than 7,000 children compared a range of dietary patterns, (4)____________ traditional home
– prepared food, ready-made baby foods, breastfeeding and junk foods.
“Your diet (5)______________the nutrients needed for the development of brain (6)
_________________in the first two years of life, and the aim of this study was to look at what
(7) _____________diet would have on children‟s IQs, Dr. Smithers said. She explained that
they had found that children who were breastfed at 6 months and had a healthy diet which
regularly included foods (8)____________as cheese, fruit and vegetables at 15 and 24
months, had an IQ up to two points higher by the age of eight. By (9)__________, children
who had a diet regularly involving biscuits, chocolate, sweets, soft drinks and crisps in the
first two years of life had an IQ (10)_______________ to two points lower by the time they
reached the same age. ”

1. A- less B - down C - reduced D – low

2. A- customs B - practices C - habits D- ways
3. A- in B - at C - for D - of
4. A – including B - consisting C -ranging D – offering
5. A – awards B - lets C - inputs D – supplies
6. A - nuclei B -sections C -parts D –tissue
7. A - impact B - results C - goals D – changes
8. A - like B - such C - rather D - similar
9. A - contrast B - change C - difference D - opposite
10. A - down B - up C - nearly D - about

IV. Translate the following text into Romanian (10p)

Just returned from a 3 day break here, and thought that the Coach Hotel was very good value
for money. I had requested a quiet room and this was noted at reception. I got a great room -
large, comfortable and clean, with a seating area overlooking the racecourse. The only
disappointing thing was that there were no tea/coffee facilities in the room - not even a kettle.
The furniture and decor was not particularly up-to-date, but that‟s what you would expect
from an old hotel. There was a wide selection of well-cooked food on offer. At breakfast I had
poached eggs, and they were done to perfection. In the evening, I had a delicious three-course
meal, and I wasn‟t kept waiting for ages between courses, which is definitely a plus when
you‟re dining alone. I found the staff friendly and always willing to help.

CLASA A X-A, SECȚIUNEA A

SUBIECTUL B – INTEGRATED SKILLS

Read the text below and do the tasks that follow.

One day last summer, when Joey had been arrested yet again for yet another burglary,
his solicitor went down to the police station to see him. He sat down opposite him in the
interview room, sighed and asked him straight: „Joey, why do you do it?‟ Joey looked straight
back and told him „I dunno. I gotta buy fags, drink. There‟s drugs and things. I gotta girl. It‟s
money, you know…‟ Joey shrugged, like any man with a weight on his mind: Joey was then
eleven years old.
Soon afterwards, he became a household name when, in October last year, he was
locked away in a secure unit outside Leeds where his peers weren‟t that far off from coming
of age. His incarceration required the personal authority of the Home Secretary. As he was led
away from court, he hurled insults at the press and then disappeared in a cloud of publicity.
He became a caricature – „the Artful Dodger‟, „Britain‟s most notorious crook‟,
„Crime baby‟. „the Houdini Kid.‟ He made all the papers. Soon his case was being used as
ammunition in a sustained assault which has seen the Home Secretary, the Police Federation,
the Daily Express and various Chief Constables campaigning to lock up more children.
They pointed not only to Joey but to a rash of other adolescent delinquents: the eleven-
year-old brother and sister whose attempted arrest caused a riot at a wedding party: the six
„Little Caesars‟ from Northumbria who were blamed for 550 offences: the thirteen-year-old
armed robber from Cheshire. Their solution was simple: these children had to be punished:
the courts needed more powers to put them behind bars.
Joey grew up with his father, Gerry, a Southern Irish labourer who has not worked
regularly for years, and his mother, Maureen, also Irish and barely literate, who was only
eighteen when she married Gerry, fifteen years her senior. The neighbours remember Joey
playing with his go-cart in the street, running around with his two smaller brothers, banging
on the door to scrounge cigarettes for Gerry. They say he was a nice kid. They remember him
skiving off school, too, and thieving, but they don‟t remember it well. Almost everybody‟s
kid skives off school, and a lot of them go thieving. Gerry says he‟s not sure when Joey first
broke the law. He thinks he stole some crisps for dinner when he was four. In Gerry‟s family
there has often been trouble with the law: petty crimes, handling the occasional fight, a
succession of brothers and uncles behind bars.
By the time he was 10, thieving was the only game Joey knew. He had 35 arrests
behind him and the social workers decided he had to be locked up. They had tried taking him
into care but he had simply legged it from where they put him so he was sent to the secure
unit at East Moor outside Leeds.
He liked it there. Everyone at East Moor agrees that Joey liked it. It is not like a
prison: there are no peaked caps or truncheons. It is more like a school with extra keys.
Tucked away there, far from the mean crescents of the housing estate, he was a child again.
He played with lego. He practised joined-up writing. He woke up feeling ill in the night and
cried on the principal‟s shoulder.
Joey is due to be released from the secure unit. Everyone who has dealt with him is
sure that he will go straight back to his old ways. They say they have given up on him. They
have two options: lock him up or let him go. Everyone in social services knows the danger of
putting away a child: it breaks up the family, it stigmatizes the child, it floats him in a pool
with older criminals.
Yet letting him go is no better, not when it means returning to the battered streets of
the city. Joey is not the only child like this. Every English city has them. Joey just happens to
be the famous one. He‟s bright and he‟s brave and the psychiatrists agree he is not disturbed.

CLASA A X-A, SECȚIUNEA A

He is, by nature, anxious to please. In the secure unit now, he conforms with everything
around him.
If you throw a child into the sea, it will drown. If you throw it into an English ghetto, it
will grow up like Joey.

I. For each question choose the correct letter A, B, C or D (5 x 2p= 10p)

1. Joey became famous because

A. he had committed so many burglaries.
B. he was always being arrested.
C. he was the youngest inmate in the secure unit.
D. he swore at the press photographers.

2. How did the Home Secretary and the police respond to the rise in juvenile crime?
A. They wanted to see more young criminals put in prison.
B. They believed that there should be a return to corporal punishment.
C. They thought that the courts had too much power.
D. They thought that the police force should be strengthened.

3. What can the neighbours recall about Joey?

A. He smoked cigarettes.
B. He was a bully.
C. He started stealing when he was four.
D. He played truant from school.

4. Why was it decided that Joey should go to secure unit?

A. He refused to give up thieving.
B. He kept running away from the homes.
C. He behaved better in a secure unit.
D. He was too old for the children‟s home.

5. What does the writer think is the main cause of Joey‟s behaviour?
A. He is a victim of his own circumstances.
B. He is unable to sort himself out.
C. He has been forced to behave in an anti-social way.
D. He has been badly treated by the police.

II. Read the text again and write a narrative-descriptive essay about one of Joey’s wild
adventures which fortunately had a happy ending. Your writing should refer to what
exactly happened, the atmosphere of the place or the places where the events took place
and his feelings and emotions. (200-220 words) 50 p.

Notă
Toate subiectele sunt obligatorii. Timp de lucru 180 de minute.

CLASA A X-A, SECȚIUNEA A

 OLIMPIADA NAȚIONALĂ DE LIMBA ENGLEZĂ – ETAPA LOCALĂ
27 IANUARIE 2018
CLASA a X-a SECȚIUNEA A

BAREM
SUBIECTUL A – USE OF ENGLISH

I. 10 x1p = 10p
1.has disappeared 2. was waiting 3. failed 4. lives
5. left 6. had made 7. has seen 8. have been trying 9. has taken 10. will
show

II. 10 x 1p = 10 p

1. Confident
2. Impatient
3. Helpless
4. Uncomfortable
5. Practical
6. Cloudy
7. Healthy
8. Replaceable
9. Musical
10. Useless

III. 10 x 1p = 10p
1. C; 2. C; 3. D; 4. A; 5.D; 6. D; 7.A; 8. B; 9.A; 10.B.

IV. 10 p. Obs. Se vor lua in considerare orice alte variante corecte.

Tocmai m-am intors dintr-o minivacanta de 3 zile acolo si parerea mea e ca hotelul Coach
reprezinta un raport pret calitate foarte bun. Am solicitat o camera linistita si acest lucru a fost
transmis la receptie. Am primit o camera excelenta, spatioasa, confortabila si curate, cu o
anticamera cu vedere la terenul de curse. Singurul lucru dezamagitor a fost faptul ca nu erau
facilitate pentru a servi ceai/cafea-nici macar un fierbator. Mobila si decorul nu erau deosebit
de modern, dar la asta te-ai astepta de la un hotel vechi. Exista o gama larga de mancare bine
gatita la dispozitie. La micul dejun am servit oua posate ce au fost gatite la perfetie. Seara am
servi o masa cu 3 feluri delicioase si nu am fost nevoit sa astept la nesfarsit intre feluri, lucru
care este cu siguranta un avantaj cand mananci singur. Am gasit personalul ca fiind prietenos
si mereu dispus sa te ajute.

SUBIECTUL B – INTEGRATED SKILLS

I. 5 x 2p= 10p
1. C; 2. A; 3. D; 4. B; 5. A

II. 50p For awarding points please see the general marking scheme

CLASA A X-A, SECȚIUNEA A