ДЗИ по английски език


МИНИСТЕРСТВО НА ОБРАЗОВАНИЕТО И НАУКАТА

ДЪРЖАВЕН ЗРЕЛОСТЕН ИЗПИТ ПО АНГЛИЙСКИ ЕЗИК
22 май 2017 г. – Вариант 2

 


12и клас - Английски език - Външно оценяване
Read the following text and mark the correct answer for questions 1. to 5.

Our pre-sessional University English course helps you to improve your English for successful study at an English-speaking university. Teaching is organised on a modular basis. The modules cover the essential academic English skills of writing, reading, listening and speaking; language and vocabulary development; and study and research skills.
Teaching takes place in small groups with no more than 18 students in a class. You will also have access to additional learning materials on Brookes Virtual – our online learning environment – to build on teaching in class.
You will be taught by highly qualified academic staff with many years of teaching experience in the UK and overseas. You will be provided with an academic adviser to guide you through the progression to your next course.
You will have 18 class hours per week. Classes are held Monday to Friday, between 9am and 5pm. The length of classes will be 2 hours each with a 1 hour lunch break.
You will need to spend at least 20 hours per week on independent study which includes homework, reading and preparation for classes (in groups or individually).
The course length is 12 weeks, with start dates in June and September 2017, and January 2018. For the exact dates and tuition fees, please visit our website.
The normal minimum age for this course is 18. We will admit 17-year-olds on a case-by-case basis if they turn 18 during the academic year in which the course runs.
Apply online directly to the University.


1. Besides language skills, the course trains study and research skills.




2. The groups consist of 18 students or less.




3. Classes begin at 8 o’clock every morning Mondays to Fridays.




4. No additional time for self-study outside class will be needed.




5. Accommodation for 12 weeks is provided by the university.




Read the following text and mark the correct answer for questions 6. to 10.

A college professor stood before his philosophy class at the start of a new semester. Silently, he picked up a very large jar and filled it with golf balls. Then he asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly, pebbles settling into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students again responded with a resounding “yes”. The professor then produced two coke cans from under the table and poured them into the jar, filling the empty spaces between the sand. The students laughed.
“Now,” said the professor, “I want you to understand that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things – your family, health, friends, and your feeling of well-being. If everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter – your job, your house, your achievements, etc. The sand is everything else – the small stuff. If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there’s no room left for the golf balls or the pebbles. The same holds true for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you’ll never have room for the things that are really important to you.”
“Pay attention to the things that are essential to your happiness. Spend time with your parents. Play with your children. Enjoy the beauty of existence. Take care of the golf balls first – the things that really matter. The rest is just sand.”
One of the students then raised her hand and asked what the coke represented. The professor smiled, “I’m glad you asked. The coke shows you that, no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of drinks with a friend.”


6. In this class, the professor’s intention was







7. What did the professor put in the jar first?





8. How did the students react to the strange demonstration?





9. What did the professor say the golf balls represented?





10. Which of the following statements expresses best what the professor wanted to teach?





Read the following text and mark the correct answer for questions 11. to 15.

Although we do not know the exact origin of the earliest Olympic games, we do know that the ancient Greeks had a festival in which athletes competed in sports. This celebration was held regularly every four years and was open to all men and boys who spoke Greek as their native language. These ancient games were simpler than our modern ones. They were not for professional sportsmen but for the common people. For the month before the festival, the athletes attended a formal course at the gymnasium in the city of Olympia. The competition itself consisted of a single footrace. Later festivals included such sports as jumping, discus throwing, and horse racing.
These early Olympic games were most popular around the fifth century B.C. At that time, winning at a sport brought the highest possible honour to the individual competitor, his family, and his city. The winner of the game received neither gold nor silver but a simple crown of olive leaves. Participation was reserved for amateur athletes, which meant that athletes were not paid to perform their sport. Later, however, the Greeks began paying athletes and, instead of participating in all sports, the competitors began to specialize; that is, they concentrated on only one Olympic event. Because of this interest in money and the growing specialization of athletes, the ancient games lost their original idea; they ended in 393 A.D.
The first of the modern Olympic games took place in the same country as the first known Olympic festivals: Greece. Two hundred and eighty-five athletes from thirteen countries competed in Athens in 1896.


11. In ancient Greece, the Olympic festivals took place every year.




12. No women participated in the early Olympic games.




13. At the very start the early Olympic games included running, jumping, discus throwing and horse racing.




14. At first, the Olympic winners got no payment but only moral reward for their victory.




15. Originally, only professionals could take part in the Olympic festivals.




Read the following text and mark the correct answer for questions 16. to 20.

The Secrets of a Very Long Life

There are several places in the world that are famous for people who live a very long time. These places are usually in mountainous areas, far away from modern cities. Doctors, scientists, and public health experts often travel to these regions to understand the mystery of a long, healthy life: the experts hope to bring to the modern world the secrets of longevity.
Hunza Valley, high in the Himalayan Mountains in the extreme northern part of Pakistan, is the home of the longest lived people on the planet. There, many people over one hundred years of age are still in good physical health. Men over ninety are new fathers, and women of fifty still have babies.
Vilcabamba, Ecuador, is another area famous for the longevity of its people. This region is also high in the mountains, far away from big cities. One reason for the good health of its people might be the clean, beautiful environment. The temperature is about 21 degrees Celsius all year long, and the region is rich in flowers, fruit, vegetables, and wildlife.
Experts find that the diets of the inhabitants of the two regions are similar in two general ways: (1) the fruits and vegetables that the people eat are all natural; they have no chemicals; and (2) the people consume fewer calories than people do in other parts of the world.
The inhabitants in these two regions have more in common than calories, natural food, and their distance from modern cities. Because these people live in the countryside and are mostly farmers, their lives are physically hard. They do not need to go to health clubs or fitness centers because they do a lot of exercise in their daily work. In addition, although their lives are hard, the people do not have the worries of city people. Their lives are quiet. Some experts believe that these must be the two most important secrets of longevity.


16. In context, the word ‘longevity’ most likely means ‘living for a long time’.




17. Researchers have travelled to about 20 mountainous places in search of people who have lived unusually long lives.




18. According to the text, the areas of the world where people live a very long time are usually coastal regions.




19. Both in Hunza and Vilcabamba people eat food with high calorie content.




20. According to the article, the two most important secrets of long life must be lots of rest and no hard work.




Read the text below. Then read the questions that follow it and choose the best answer to each question 21. to 25.

Miss Unsinkable


Occasionally, historical events are so strange that it seems impossible that they are factual. Such is the case with Miss Violet Jessop, the woman who survived the sinking of the sister ships the Titanic and the Britannic, and was also aboard the third of the trio of Olympic class vessels, the Olympic, when it had a major accident.
Violet Jessop enjoyed incredible luck from a young age. Born in 1887 in Argentina to Irish immigrants, she contracted tuberculosis as a young child and doctors gave her just a few months to live. Somehow, she managed to fight the disease and went on to live a long, healthy life.
When her father passed away, her mother moved the family to Britain, where she took a job as a stewardess on a ship. While her mother was working, Violet attended a boarding school. Unfortunately, her mother became ill, and to provide for her siblings, Violet decided to follow in her mother’s footsteps and become a ship stewardess herself.
In 1910 she was hired as a stewardess on the Olympic. Despite the long hours and minimal pay (£2.10 every month or about £200 today), she enjoyed working aboard the massive ship. In 1911, however, the Olympic collided with another big ship. Both sustained considerable damage, but miraculously didn’t sink. A couple of years later Violet decided to take a job on board the Titanic, which, as you know, struck an iceberg and sank, killing more than 1500 people. Violet was able to escape the disaster on a lifeboat and became one of the small percentage of Titanic passengers and crew rescued by the Carpathia.
You’d think she’d stop getting on ships at this point but not Violet. Much to the amazement of friends and family, she decided to serve as a nurse on board the Titanic’s other sister ship, the Britannic, which was operating as a hospital ship in the Aegean Sea in the lead-up to World War One. You can probably guess what happened next. The Britannic ran into a mine and, in a creepy repetition of the Titanic disaster, sank in a mere fifty minutes. Among those rescued was none other than Violet Jessop.


21. Violet is said to have been very lucky as a child because





22. Violet became a ship stewardess because





23. The reason why the Olympic got into trouble was that





24. Violet’s friends and relatives were amazed





25. The accident of the Britannic was similar to that of the Titanic in that





Read the text below. Then read the questions that follow it and choose the best answer to each question 26. to 30.

What’s in a Name


As companies go global, it is becoming increasingly important to find brand names that can travel from country to country. Yet, finding the right name for an international brand can be expensive, time-consuming and full of difficulties. In addition to the problems of meaning and pronunciation, all names have to be legally registered, which involves long and expensive searches to make sure that they have not already been taken by another company.
When a company has found a name that consumers seem to like, the naming process is still not over. They must then research the name to make sure that it is not the name of another product. They usually choose the best three or four names so that they can be certain of finding one that works. This research takes a long time because each name must be researched in every country. For example, if you wanted to name a laundry detergent “Fresh”, in addition to searching the names of laundry soap in each country, you would also have to look at the names of other types of products that you think might have that name. A search can cost \$500 per name per country.
One of the most famous stories about a brand-naming problem involves an American car. The legend goes that the marketing department of Chevrolet decided to name their new car Nova. The word ‘nova’ comes from the Latin ‘novus’ for new, and is used in astronomy for a new star (‘nova stella’) that suddenly grows intensely bright. As the word is connected with the idea of novelty, and also brilliance, the Chevrolet managers thought that they had found an excellent name. However, in Spanish, the two words ‘no va’ mean ‘doesn’t go’, which is not a very good name for a car. Latin American buyers avoided the car, forcing Chevrolet to embarrassedly pull their Chevrolet Nova out of the market.


26. Choosing a suitable name for a new international product is a serious undertaking.




27. For a brand to be successful, its name should be easy to pronounce.




28. “Nova” is an old Germanic word referring to an object which can’t move.




29. Despite its name, the Chevrolet Nova sold well in Latin America.




30. Chevrolet couldn’t sell any Novas in Spain.




USE OF ENGLISH

Read the text below and for each numbered gap choose the word or phrase that best suits the gap, marking your answers for questions 31. to 45.

Are Cell Phones Dangerous?


Is talking on a mobile phone hazardous to your health? It is difficult to know (31) _______ sure. Some research (32) _______ that heavy users of mobile phones are at a greater risk of developing brain tumors. (33) _______ , many other studies report no link between cancer and mobile phone use.
The main problem with the current research is that mobile phones have only been (34) _______ since the 1990s. This means that it is still too early to (35) _______ definite conclusions about the long (36) _______ effects of Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR) that mobile phone users are exposed to. Health professionals point (37) _____ that many cancers take (38) _______ ten years to develop. (39) ______ concern about these studies is that many have been funded by those who (40) ________ financially from the mobile phone industry.
A growing (41) ______ of health professionals worldwide are recommending more caution until more definitive studies can be (42) _______ . They use the example of tobacco to illustrate the potential risks. Many years ago, people (43) ______ smoke freely and were not concerned about the (44) _____ of cigarettes on their health. Today, people know that cigarettes (45) ______ lung cancer, though it is still unknown exactly how or why. Some doctors fear that the same thing will happen with devices such as mobile phones.


31. (31)





32. (32)





33. (33)





34. (34)





35. (35)





36. (36)





37. (37)





38. (38)





39. (39)





40. (40)





41. (41)





42. (42)





43. (43)





44. (44)





45. (45)





For each of the sentences below, choose the word or phrase that best completes its meaning, marking your answers 46. to 50.

46. Some parents fear that there’s ____________________ of the safety and efficacy of
vaccines.






47. Since ancient times elephants __________ for their ivory tusks.





48. Man cannot discover new oceans __________ the courage to lose sight of the shore.





49. You ___________ brought so much food – we have prepared more than enough for the party.







50. ___________ we reached the station, the train had left.





Sentence Transformations Complete the second sentence below so that it is as close as possible in meaning to the first one



It is more than a year since I last went to a party.

I haven’t ________________________ more than a year.


It’s possible for James to fall behind because his work is not efficient enough.

Unless James works more ____________, ___________ fall behind.


The difficulty of learning a new language increases with age.

The older you ________, ______________________ becomes to learn a new language.


I have never seen such a funny animal!

This is the _________________________ seen!


I regret spending all my money on those stupid games.

I wish _________________________ on those stupid games!


“Do you understand what this means?” the boss asked the managers.

The boss asked the managers _________________________________ .


They need to build a new bridge over the Hudson river.

A new bridge _________________________ over the Hudson river.


Despite the wind, the plane landed smoothly.

The plane landed smoothly ______________________windy.


George bought a new house only because his family grew in number.

George wouldn’t have _________________________________ in number.


“Can you describe the driver’s behaviour after the accident?” the inspector asked me.

The inspector asked me to describe how __________________________ .


WRITING

On your sheet write a text in standard English of about 160-170 words on ONE of the following topics.

1. “It was the most important day of my life.”
Why was it so important? Who was there? What happened? What thoughts were on your mind? What emotions did you feel?
Describe your experience.

2. What is school for?
To get you a job? To train your brain? To help you connect with people? Or what? How much does it fulfil its purpose?
Tell us about your views and your experience of the matter.