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

SUBIECTUL A – USE OF ENGLISH (40 points) 
 
I. Read the text below and do the tasks that follow. (10 points) 
 
Civic engagement involves working to make a difference in the civic life of one’s community and 
developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference. It 
means promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and non -political 
processes.Civic engagement includes both paid and unpaid forms of political activism, 
environmentalism, and community and national service.  
 
Youth civic engagement includes activities which enrich the lives of youths and are socially 
beneficial to the community. Volunteering is only one form of civic engagement included, as 
defined above, in the construct of civic action and civic commitment or duty, but research has 
also shown a connection between youth who volunteer and other forms of youth civic engagement. 
The findings suggest that, among youth, volunteering plays a valuable role in shaping how youth 
learn to interact with their community and develop the skills, values, and sense of empowerment 
necessary to become active citizens. 
 
Another possible form of civic action and civic commitment and duty is service -learning. Unlike 
civic engagement, service-learning does not have to include a civic dimension and all forms of 
civic engagement are not service -learning. It is a broader concep t that may encompass, but is 
not limited to, service-learning. Service-learning differs from community service or volunteerism in 
two distinct ways: the service activity is integrated with academic curriculum and content and 
students engage in reflection a ctivities after their service experience and apply their learning in 
real-life activities. 
 
A. Choose the right synonym for the words given below, according to their meaning in the 
text.            3 points 
 
1. construct  a) endeavour b) framework  c) backbone  d) venture 
2. findings   a) results b) breakthroughs c) detections  d) allegations 
3. encompass a) encourage b) embrace  c) enthral  d) encounter 
  Ministerul Educaţiei  
Centrul Naţional de Politici și Evaluare în Educație 
 
Probă scrisă la limba engleză   clasa a X-a secțiunea B 
Pagina 2 din 5 
 
 
B. Rephrase the following sentences so as to preserve the meaning. Use the word given 
WITHOUT changing it.         3 points 
 
1. It means promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and non -political 
processes. DOES 
What ............ promote the quality of life in a community, through both political and non -political 
processes. 
2. Research has also shown a connection between youth who volunteer and other forms of youth 
civic engagement. BY 
A connection ............... researchers between youth who volunteer and other forms of youth civic 
engagement. 
3. Volunteering plays a valuable role in shaping how youth learn to interact with their community 
and develop the skills, values, and sense of empowerment necessary to become active citizens.  
ONLY 
Not .............. a valuable role in shaping how youth learn to interact with their community but it also 
develops the skills, values, and sense of empowerment necessary to become active citizens. 
 
C. Four words have been removed from the summary of the text above. Choose the right 
words to fill-in the summary. There are four extra words which you do not need to use.  
4 points 
 
involves, cultivates, springing, shaping, focuses, relies, enhance, enlarge 
 
Civic engagement involves actively participating in community affairs to (1) ....  quality of life 
through various means, including political and non -political avenues. Youth civic engagement 
particularly (2) ..... on activities benefiting both youths and communities, with volunteering being a 
significant aspect. Research indicates volunteering (3) .....  skills, values, and empowerment 
crucial for active citizenship. Service -learning, integrating service with academics and fostering 
reflection, extends beyond volunteerism in (4) ..... civic commitment. 
 
II. Use the word given in brackets to form a word that best fits in each sentence. 10 points 
 
Plastics are polymers: long-chain molecules made of repeating links, or monomers. The chains 
are strong, light, and (1) ........................ (DURATION), which makes them so useful — and so (2) 
.............................. (PROBLEM) when they’re disposed of (3) ............................. (CARE) . The 
polymer here is PET, a type of polyester, the stuff of bottles and clothes. 
The (4) ................. (GROW) of plastic production has far outstripped the (5) ……………… (ABLE) 
of waste management to keep up  – that’s why the oceans are under assault. “It’s not (6) 
.................... (SURPRISE) that we broke the system,” Jambeck says. “That kind of increase would 
break any system not prepared for it.” In 2013 a group of (7) ................... (SCIENCE) issued a 
new (8) ................. (ASSESS) of throwaway living. Writing in Nature magazine, they declared that 
(9) ............................ (DISPOSE) plastic should be classified, not as a housewife’s friend, but as 
a (10) ......................... (HAZARD) material. 
  Ministerul Educaţiei  
Centrul Naţional de Politici și Evaluare în Educație 
 
Probă scrisă la limba engleză   clasa a X-a secțiunea B 
Pagina 3 din 5 
 
 
III. For questions 1-10, read the text below and look carefully at each line. Some of the lines 
are correct and some have a word that should not be there. On your response sheet, if a line 
is correct, put a tick (√) by the number on your response sheet. If a line has a word which 
should not be there, write the word down next to the number on your response sheet.  
10 points 
 
(0)  like    It feels like unfair to be asked to change your day-to-day life to solve what is,  
(00) ..√... by all scientific accounts, a global environmental crisis, especially when  
(1) .......   fossil fuel emissions continue unabated and celebrities famously take in 
(2) ......    private planes to cross distances they could easily drive. I get by it—it’s exhausting.  
(3) .......  I’m not here to tell you to give up the hot shower you earned at the end  
(4) .......  of a long day. And if everyone needs a plastic water bottle now and then!  
(5) ......   But if you’re like me and the state of our planet sends you into a mental tailspin,  
(6) ......   I’ve found that mindfully tending to your little slice of Earth can help it keep that  
(7) .....    existential dread at bay. You, individually, can’t to stop sea levels from rising,  
(8) ....... but you, individually, can provide a small backyard refuge for some endangered  
(9) ....... monarch butterflies by planting a few milkweed bulbs. How sweet is that? 
(10) .....  And science shows up these individual actions can even make a difference. 
 
 
IV. Translate the following text into English.      10 points 
Multă vreme, cartierul dintre Piața Victoriei și „Lupoaică" a fost un cartier decorativ și pașnic. Se 
născuse pe un teren - parcul Bonaparte - aflat la marginea orașului, așadar într -o zonă aerisită, 
nezgomotoasă, foarte atrăgătoare pentru burghezia prosperă care își dorea case pitorești și 
confortabile. După revoluție, vecinătatea cu clădirea Guvernului a transformat, brusc, zona într-o 
culisă tulbure a politicii stradale. Am ghinionul să locuiesc peste drum de un stabiliment, „Saga", 
care la început avea aerul unui experiment decent. Lucrurile s -au degradat galopant, se 
organizează mari petreceri de gașcă, se programează nun ți și se pune muzică. Tare. Asurzitor. 
Nerușinat. De vreun an, ascult seară de seară, laolaltă cu o  sumedenie de vecini terorizați, 
aceleași casete cu Armstrong și Pavarotti (deveniți, firește, pe această cale, odioși).  
(Andrei Pleșu, Comedii la porțile Orientului, adaptat) 
  Ministerul Educaţiei  
Centrul Naţional de Politici și Evaluare în Educație 
 
Probă scrisă la limba engleză   clasa a X-a secțiunea B 
Pagina 4 din 5 
 
 
 
SUBIECTUL B –Integrated Skills (60 points) 
 
I. Five paragraphs have been removed from the following interview. Choose from the 
paragraphs A-F the one which fits each gap 1 -5. There is one extra paragraph which you 
do not need to use. Put your response down on your response sheet.   10 points 
 
 
Do you see a bird right now? Can you hear one chirping? If so, you might be getting a mental 
health boost. A study recently published in the journal Science found that being in the presence 
of birds made people feel more positive.  
(1) .... 
 
Emerging from the app’s data was a discernible trend —study participants who saw birds were 
more likely to report a better mood. Research is increasingly finding that getting outside is good 
for our brains, which is why scientists want to know more about wh at aspects of nature may be 
the most therapeutic.  
(2) .... 
 
Why study birds? Andrea Mechelli, a psychologist at King’s College London and one of the paper’s  
authors, found himself studying the natural world by accident. “I don’t have a particular agenda 
focused on nature myself. I wasn't thinking we were going to demonstrate nature has a strong 
effect,” says Mechelli.  
(3) ..... 
 
“Our first finding was that nature has a very powerful effect,” says Mechelli. He and his colleagues 
then wondered if some aspects of nature were more beneficial than others. In August, they 
published a study finding a positive effect from walking along canals or rivers. To study the effect 
of wildlife, they turned to birds for their ubiquity in rural and urban environments. (4) ..... 
 
The mental health benefit was true both for people who disclosed a depression diagnosis and 
those without any diagnosed mental health conditions. Nature, Mechelli notes, isn’t a cure all. The 
presence of trees and birds, for example, didn’t result in a better sense of wellbeing if participants 
also noted their neighborhood felt unsafe. 
 
When analyzing the data, researchers also combined the app’s options for positive and negative 
emotions into two broad categories, which only allows a glimpse into an individual’s wellbeing.  
Yet, James and other scientists note the study provides an interesting insight into how specific 
parts of nature may influence wellbeing.  
(5) .... 
 
The second theory is called attention restoration theory. Similar to the first, it theorizes that the 
constant strain of daily life—stressful commutes and constant Zoom calls—requires intense focus. 
Nature allows us to disengage that focus and engage in a sort of open -eyed meditation as we 
watch a bird flying from branch to branch.  
  Ministerul Educaţiei  
Centrul Naţional de Politici și Evaluare în Educație 
 
Probă scrisă la limba engleză   clasa a X-a secțiunea B 
Pagina 5 din 5 
 
 
A. Scientists have two main theories for why nature may be a soothing balm for our overworked 
minds. The first is that because homo sapiens evolved in nature, urban environments create a 
constant background stress. “And we can recover from that stress in nat ural settings because 
that’s what we evolved for,” James says of the theory. “We as human beings like nature because 
that’s where we’re meant to be.”  
 
B. Instead, he was searching for responses to why people who live in cities seem to be more prone 
to mental illness, particularly psychosis. In 2015, he created the smartphone app Urban Mind to 
search for patterns in users’ environments. How crowded was their city? Did they feel safe in their 
neighborhood? Could they see trees?  
 
C. For two weeks, study participants using a smartphone app were prompted to fill out a 
questionnaire three times a day. They were asked questions about their surrounding environment 
and their mental state.  
 
D. A study first published in 1984 found that hospital patients recovering from surgery took fewer 
painkillers and had a shorter recovery if they also had a room with a view of nature. Another study 
looking at COVID -19 lockdown habits found those who spent ti me in nature reported less 
depression, anxiety, and stress. 
 
E. “This kind of study helps us understand how people’s everyday experience with specific 
elements of nature, such as birds, can be restorative,” says Lisa Nisbet, a psychologist at Trent 
University in Canada, who was not involved with this research. 
 
F. Their latest study included 1,292 participants, mainly in the United Kingdom and Europe, some 
of whom disclosed a professional mental health diagnosis such as depression. With the data he 
collected, Mechelli performed a statistical analysis that found a d iscernible improvement in 
wellbeing when birds were present, even when eliminating other factors like the presence of trees 
or waterways.  
 
 
 
II. You are the secretary of the student council in your high school. The principal has asked 
you to write a report on the wellbeing of students. Starting from the text above, write a 
report in which you should consider how schools could integrate spending time in natural 
environments to promote wellbeing among students.     50 points 
 
Write a 220-250 word report.