Model subiect olimpiada de Engleza, clasa a 10-a, faza judeteana

SUBIECTUL A – USE OF ENGLISH (40 points) 
 
I. Read the following text and put the verbs in brackets into the correct tense.     10 points 
 
Betty (1) __________ (HURRY) to school after she (2)___________ (SPEND) an hour waiting 
for Dana. “I‟ ll be late for the English class if I (3) ___________ (NOT/GET) the next bus”. She 
looked at her wa tch and realised that she only (4) ____________ (HAVE) 10 minutes more to 
get to school. “What am I going to do? I wish I (5) _____________ (NOT/WAIT) for Dana for so 
long.” That very moment she (6)____________ (HEAR) somebody calling her name.  It was 
Dana, who (7) ___________ (WAVE) at her from across the street. Then she shouted to Betty: 
“Come here, there‟s a taxi waiting for us”. Betty crossed the street and they both got in the taxi.  
“Sorry f or being so  late, but I‟d rather  you (8)___________ (NOT/ASK) me now.  I 
(9)____________ (TELL) you everything as soon as we (10)____________ (GET) to school.  
 
II. Use the word given in brackets to form a word that fits in each sentence.         10 points 
 
1. He proved so stubborn that it seemed (POINT) __________to me to insist. 
2. It is (LOGICAL) __________ to assume that everyone thinks the same way as you do. 
3. The witness gave (CONTRADICT) __________opinions about the accident. 
4. She showed great (PATIENT) __________ when she worked here as a nurse. 
5. In that novel, the (NARRATE) __________ was the main character. 
6. The arrival of Santa Claus caused great (EXCITE) __________ among the children. 
7. He proved to be a very (ENERGY) __________ man as Chair of the committee. 
8. You‟ll put on (WEIGH) __________ if you keep eating so many sweets. 
9. Apart from being a great experience, travelling also (BROAD) __________ the mind. 
10. Why are you driving so (CARE) __________? You might have an accident. 
 
III. Read the following text and decide which response A, B, C or D best fits in each gap. 10 points 
 
A noisy parrot called Peanut, who likes to imitate sounds, helped save Kenny Donovan and his 
four-year-old son from a house fire by mocking the (1) ___________ of a smoke alarm. The two 
had (2) _____________ asleep on the sofa in the living room of their semi -detached house in 
Birmingham (3) _______________ watching a movie. After hearing Peanut (4) _____________ 
the fire alarm they awoke to find their home on fire. „He was really screaming his head off ,‟ 
Kenny said. The smoke alarm had (5) _____ __________, but it was the bird‟s call that had  
caught Kenny‟s attention. Grabbing his son and his bird, he safely got them out of the house. 
The fire, (6) _______________ destroyed the kitchen and bedroom, (7) _ __________ under 
investigation. (8) _____________ Peanut, it was the fact that they fell asleep downstairs on the 
sofa that helped save them. They may not (9) _________________ the alarm or the bird if they 
(10) _______________ asleep in their bedrooms, wh ere an air conditioning  system drowns out 
most of the noise around the house.    
 
Olimpiada de limba engleză clasa a X-a, SECȚIUNEA A   Varianta 1 
 
1 A -sound  B -noise  C - shout D - call 
2 A -fall B – felt C - fallen D - feel 
3 A -during B – from C - while D - as 
4 A -imitating B - to imitate C - imitated D - has imitated 
5 A - set off B - turned off C - went off  D - gone off 
6 A -what B – which C - however D - that 
7 A -stays B - remains  C - stands D - returns 
8 A -Beside B - Apart from C - Out of D - Next to 
9 A -heard B – hear C - had heard D - have heard 
10 A -were B - would be C - had been D - have been 
 
IV. Read the text below and think of the word which best fits in each gap. Use only one 
word in each gap.                  10 points 
 
Then he turned philosophical, trying to make them understand that due (1) ______   the 
personnel shortage caused by the murder of Officer Magnella, they were being given a special 
opportunity to show their stuff. He could not remember, he told them (honestly) any other time 
when two untrained officers (2) ______  been sent out by themselves in a Highway car. If they 
performed well, he told them, it certainly would reflect well on the report Sergeant DeBenedito 
would ultimately write on them. And he (3) ______ the point that they should feel (4) ______ 
embarrassment, or reluctan ce, to call (5) ______   assistance or advice anytime they 
encountered a situation they weren‟t quite sure how to handle. 
 
 (adapted from W.E.B.Griffin, The Victim) 
SUBIECTUL B – INTEGRATED SKILLS (60 points) 
 
Read the text below and do the tasks that follow. 
 
How well do you take criticism? In “The Perfect Essay,”  John Kaag writes about how critique 
helped him become a better writer. 
 
Looking back on too many years of education, I can identify one truly impossible teacher. She 
cared about me, and my intelle ctual life, even when I didn ‟t. Her expectations were high - 
impossibly so. She was an English teacher. She was also my mother. 
 
When good students turn in an essay, they dream of their instructor returning it to them in 
exactly the same condition, save fo r a single word added in the margin of the final page: 
“Flawless.” This dream came true for me one afternoon in the ninth grade. Of course, I‟d heard 
that genius could show itself at an early age, so I was only slightly taken aback that I had 
achieved perfection at the tender age of 14. Obviously, I did what a ny professional writer would 
do: I hurried off to spread the good news. I didn‟t get very far. The first person I told was my 
mother. 
 
My mother, who is just shy of five feet tall, is normally incredib ly soft-spoken, but on the rare 
occasions when she got angry, she was terrifying. I‟m not sur e if she was more upset by my 
hybris or by the fact that my English teacher had let my ego get so out of hand. In any event, my 
mother and her red pen showed me ho w deeply flawed a flawless essay could be. At the time, 
I‟m sure she thought she was teaching me about mechanics, transitions, structure, style and 
voice. But what I learned, and what stuck with me through my time teaching writing at Harvard, 
was a deeper lesson about the nature of creative criticism. 
   
 
Olimpiada de limba engleză clasa a X-a, SECȚIUNEA A   Varianta 1 
 
First off, it hurts. Genuine criticism, the type that leaves an indelible mark on you as a writer, 
also leaves an existential imprint on you as a person. I‟ve heard people say that a writer should 
never take criticism personally. I say that we should never listen to these people. 
 
Criticism, at its best, is deeply personal, and gets to the heart of why we write the way we do. 
Perhaps you‟re a narcissist who secretly resents your audience. Or an elitist who exp ects 
herculean feats of your reader. Or a know -it-all who can‟t admit that stylistic repetition is 
sometimes annoying redundancy. Or a wallflower who hides behind sparklingly meaningless 
modifiers. Or an affirmation junkie who‟s the first to brag about a flawless essay. 
 
Unfortunately, as my mother explained, you can be all of these things at once. Her red pen had 
made something painfully clear. To become a better writer, I first had to become a better 
person. 
 
I. For each question decide which response (A, B, C or D) fits best according to the text.   10 points 
 
 
1. A synonym for save for in the second paragraph is 
A. without. 
B. irrespective of. 
C. except for. 
D. notwithstanding. 
 
 
2. When he received his first “flawless” remark on an essay, the author was slightly 
A. taken in by it. 
B. intimidated by it. 
C. taken by surprise by it. 
D. confused by it. 
 
 
3. We can understand from the text that, at some point in his life, the author was 
A. a university professor. 
B. a mechanic engineer. 
C. a Harvard student. 
D. a theatre critic. 
 
 
4. In the author‟s opinion, 
A. we should never accept the criticism of others. 
B. we should assume the criticism we receive. 
C. only envious people criticize others. 
D. critics never listen to pertinent arguments. 
 
 
5. A flawless essay is something anyone can 
A. be in doubts about. 
B. boast about. 
C. settle up with. 
D. come to terms with. 
 
 
II. Write a narrative -descriptive essay about a situation when creative  and constructive 
criticism taught you a valuable lesson. (200-220 words)          50 points