Testpapers: secondary

Victorians	Adrian Mole
Apartheid	the tower of Babel
Cloning	space station
Cry Freedom	immigration
Germany's Well of hate	the individual and the community
Mars Polar lander	the woman soldier
Teen Curfew	the women workforce
future career	work  & spare time
recycling	wrong date
discrimination	reality of teaching

Victorians
 

Read the following text very carefully.

THE VICTORIANS

When Queen Victoria became Queen in 1837, she was only 18 years old. The country was going through a deep transformation from an agricultural country to the world’s most powerful industrial nation.
The technological revolution the Victorians were born into was in its way as violently disruptive as that of our atomic age. Application of the steam engine to machinery early in the nineteenth century had drawn millions of people from rural cottage and manual labour to work in factories. Britain’s growing empire supplied the raw materials and was a huge market for its manufactured goods. But on the other hand, the problems of health and housing due to the sudden growth of cities were very serious.
Even more sharply than ours, their world was divided between “the two nations”, the rich and the poor. The aristocracy lived in castle, hall, or manor house, hunting, visiting or sitting as justices of the peace. In the towns workers lived in unspeakable slums near the factory, and the owner in his spacious house on the hill above, away from the smoke and filth and noise. Workers began organising themselves, but efforts to form unions or association to bargain with employers met brutal opposition. Thousands of unemployed workers demonstrated in the streets of the cities; in the country starving farmhands set fire to stores and barns. Heavy-handed justice, which sentenced offenders to long terms at hard labour, transportation, or even death, failed to end the violence. A powerful Labour movement representing the interests of the working class began to emerge.
By the end of Victoria’s reign, in 1901, conditions had begun to improve, more people got the vote and universal education was introduced.
 

    Gordon S. Haight, The Portable Victorian Reader, adapted and abridged

I

A - Say if the following statements are TRUE or FALSE.

1. During Queen Victoria’s reign Britain was best known for its the agriculture.
2. At that time, more and more people decided to move to towns and work there.
3. This rural exodus led to serious housing and health problems in the cities.
4. As workers who protested were severely punished, they stopped fighting for their rights.

B – What do these words refer to? They are underlined in the text.

1. she (line 1)
2. its (line 4)
3. its (line 7)
4. their (line 10)

C - Please answer these questions. Use your own words as far as possible.

1. The text refers to a strong ‘contrast’ in 19th century Britain, to “the two nations”. What does the author mean by this?
2. You know that during this century many inventions were made that contributed to our present technological development. Mention four of these inventions and their inventors.
 
 

II

A- Choose the best answer (a, b or c) so as to complete the sentences.

1. At the beginning of this marvellous era it was expected that inventions __________ lighten the work and improve the condition of the workers.
 a) shall                          b) would                         c) can

2. Adding to the developments and inventions an atmosphere of optimism and a spirit of enterprise and we have what __________ the Gilded Age and an Age of Excess.
 a) has been called         b) be called                     c) will be call

3. In Victorian England there were many rich people  __________ were willing to start a business and invest their money and money and many poor people who were exploited.
 a) where                         b) which                         c) who

4. At that time many __________ farm workers left their villages and tried to find work in the towns.
 a) unemployed               b) unemploied                 c) unemployment

5. Cities __________ overnight with the glut of immigrants from abroad and unhappy fugitives from failing farms.
 a) exploded                     b) explosed                     c) has exploded

6. People were __________ hungry, __________ dirty and scared of those who were in charge.
 a) neither ... or                 b) not only... but too     c) not only ... but also

7. Nobody was really kind __________ them.
 a) of                                 b) to                                c) by

8. __________ were considered second class citizens. They had to fight for their rights.
 a) womens                       b) womans                       c) women

9. If boys and girls did the same job, girls were paid __________.
 a) least                           b) little                            c) less

10. Everybody agrees that __________ the 19th century was a time of protest, it was also a time of reform and progress.
 a) although                       b) in spite of                    c) despite

B – Rewrite the following sentences, starting them as suggested. Make the necessary changes, but do not change their meaning.

1. Later on the new factories had required a large number of hands.
A large number of hands ___________________________________________________________

2. There was a great disparity between the wealthy and the poor, between progress and poverty. This exemplified a severe problem in the capitalistic system.
If there __________________________________________________________________________

3. “ Victorian morals were very strict”, said Thomas Hardy, in Tess of the D’Ubervilles (1891)
Thomas Hardy stated ______________________________________________________________

III

Write about ONE (and only one) of the following topics.

A. – Write about this point :

What about the situation of most workers today? Is it still as bad as it was at the time the text was written or have there been significant improvements for the better?

Mention the improvements and the things you still find bad and could be made better in the workers’ lives.

B. – Horrified with the terrible living conditions of the workers in the 19th century, you decide to write a letter to one of the factory owners, explaining the situation and asking for help and understanding, as well as for improvements in the working conditions.

Write this letter.
Remember it must be a formal letter; consequently, the heading, the text and the end have to be written in a formal style.
 

         Good Luck!!! Your teacher Dina Paiva
 
 

Adrian Mole

English Written Test Paper

Please read the following text very carefully.

This text was taken from the diary of Adrian Mole, aged 13 ¾.

Wednesday, January 14th

Joined the library. Got Care of the skin, Origin of Species ,and a book by a woman my mother is always going on about. It is called Pride and Prejudice, by a woman called Jane Austen. I could tell the librarian was impressed. Perhaps she is an intellectual like me. She didn´t look at my spot, so perhaps it is getting smaller. About time!
    Mr. Lucas was in the kitchen drinking coffee with my mother. The room was full of smoke. They were laughing, but when I went in, they stopped.
    Mrs Lucas was next door cleaning the drains. She looked as if she was in a bad mood. I think Mr and Mrs Lucas have got  an unhappy marriage. Poor Mr Lucas. (...) There is a new girl in our class. She is all right. Her name is Pandora, but she likes being called ‘Box’. Don’t ask me why. I might fall in love with her. It’s time I fell in love, after all I am 13 ¾ years old.

Thursday, January 15th

Pandora has got hair the colour of treacle, and it’s long like a girls’ hair should be. She has got quite a good figure. I saw her playing netball and her chest was wobbling. I felt a bit funny. I think this is it!
   The dog has its stitches out. It bit the vet, but I expect he’s used to it. ( The vet I mean; I know the dog is.)
   My father found out about the arm on the stereo. I told a lie. I said the dog jumped up and broke it. My father said he will wait until the dog is completely cured of its operation then kick it. I hope this is a joke.
   Mr Lucas was in the kitchen again when I got home from school. My mother is better now, so why he keeps coming round is a mystery to me.
   The dog has the same colour eyes as Pandora. I only noticed because my mother cut the dog’s hair. It looks worse than ever. Mr Lucas and my mother were laughing at the dog’s new haircut which is not very nice, because dogs can’t answer back, just like the Royal Family.
   I am going to bed early to think about Pandora and do my back-stretching exercises. I haven’t grown for two weeks.
   I will go to the doctor’s on Saturday if the spot is still there. I can’t live like this with everybody staring.
 

Sue Townsend,  The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 ¾
 

A.- Say whether these statements are true or false. Correct the false ones.

1.  Adrian went to the library and brought home four books.         ¨
2.  Adrian didn’t like the spot on his face. ¨
3.  Mrs Lucas was not very happy on January 15th. ¨
4.  Adrian knows why Pandora likes to be called ‘Box’. ¨
5.  The dog had an ‘accident’ before January 15th. ¨

B.- Answer the following questions on the text. Use your own words (as far as possible).

1.  How did Adrian feel about Pandora? Justify.
2.  He mentioned a curious episode that involved his dog and the vet. What happened?
3.  Adrian seems to be worried about some things... What is he worried about?

C.- Give me the infinitives and the past  participle of the following verbs from the text:

                                               infinitive                          past  participle

1.  was ( line 3 )          - ________________             ________________
2.  went ( line 5 )        -  ________________            ________________
3.  might ( line 9 )       - ________________            ________________
4.  felt ( line 13 )         - ________________             ________________
5.  found ( line 15 )     - ________________             ________________
 
 

D.- Complete this text with the correct form of the verbs in brackets:

 Sunday, January 17th
 Last night I___________( dream ) about a boy like me collecting pebbles in the rain. It __________ (be)
 a dead strange dream. Now, I ______________ (read) The Black Prince, by Iris Murdoch. I ________( can)
 only ______________ (understand) one word in ten. It _______ (be) now my ambition to actually _______
 (enjoy) one of her books.
 Monday, January 25th
 I__________(not can do) my Maths homework. Phoned the Samaritans. The nice man on the end of the
 phone _____________(tell) me the answer __________(be) nine-eighths. He ________(be) dead kind to  someone in despair.
 Tuesday, January 26th
 The stupid Samaritan ______(get) the answer wrong! It’s only seven-fifths!
 

E.-Put the following words in the correct order to form complete sentences.

1.  Pandora usually wears / flannel / white / blouses / and / mini-skirts / cotton / coloured.

      ______________________________________________________________________

2.  Look, she’s got / round / black / penetrating / eyes.

      ______________________________________________________________________

3.  Adrian has got / straight / hair / short / thin / but Pandora has got / dark-blond / long /
      wavy / beautiful / hair.

      ______________________________________________________________________
 

F.- Word - Formation ; Complete this chart.
 
 
 

 

III

G.- Do you still remember your first school-day this year ? Tell me about it . What  happened ?

     OR:

H.- Imagine you use a diary, too. write about what happened to you yesterday.
 
 

GOOD LUCK !
 
 

Cloning
 
 

I

Read this text very carefully:
 
 

Cloning: Good science or baaaaaad idea ?

Just before President Clinton heads to the hospital for knee surgery, he asks another Bill Clinton to meet Russian President Boris Yeltsin at an overseas meeting. Meanwhile, a third Bill Clinton is out playing golf, while a fourth is helping daughter Chelsea with a science project.
Sound far-fetched? That day may come. Scientists in Scotland recently announced that, for the first time, they have cloned an exact copy of an adult mammal. The cloned baby lamb, named Dolly, has the exact same genes as the adult sheep from which she was cloned. in other words, the two are identical twins; only Dolly is six years younger. The goal of embryologist Ian Wilmut, the lead scientist, is to develop a way to raise identical sheep that produce medications for humans.
A week after Wilmut’s announcement, scientists in Oregon disclosed that they had used a different technique to clone rhesus monkeys, primates that are close cousins of humans. Faster than you can say “ Frankenstein”, these accomplishments triggered a worldwide debate: Should scientists be allowed to clone animals? Will humans be next? Is cloning unethical and dangerous - or is it a valuable research tool?
So what makes Wilmut’s sheep unique? Instead of using early-stage embryo cells, Wilmut used cells from the udder of an adult sheep. In theory, that’s like using one of your skin cells to clone a new you!
Wilmut maintains that cloning animals has tremendous potential for helping people. Cloned sheep, he says, could be used as living drug factories. Scientists could “engineer” sheep that produce drugs in their milk. And by altering the proteins on the surfaces of animal organs to make them more like human organs, scientists believe they may be able to create a plentiful source of organ donors for people.
Why not clone humans as organ donors? Theoretically, Wilmut says, there is no reason his techniques couldn’t someday be used to clone people. Think about the possibilities: a whole team of Michael Jordans, a scientific panel of Albert Einsteins, a movie starring and co-starring Brad Pitt.
On a more serious note, some fertility specialists argue that couples who have difficulty conceiving a baby could make copies of themselves. And parents whose child has a fatal disease like cancer might be able to clone a child, creating a twin who is an exact match for bone-marrow donation.
Do you copy?
But even Ian Wilmut draws the line at cloning humans. “ All of us would find that offensive,” he says. Several countries, including Britain, Denmark, Germany, and Australia have outlawed all scientific work on cloning humans. The U.S. has no such law, but President Clinton has set up a panel of scientists and ethicists to study the issue. In the meantime, Clinton has imposed a ban on using Federal money to clone humans.
Humans are more than the sum of their genes, argues Mark Hanson, an ethicist at the Hastings Center, an ethics research institute in Briarcliff Manor, New York. Though they look exactly the same, clones are not necessarily carbon copies. The younger twin might grow up with different influences - say, unusual friends or special teachers. A cloned Albert Einstein might flunk physics. A cloned Madonna might sing off-key.
Say you were cloned. Would your twin live a shorter life because he or she started out with teenage genes? Scientists aren’t sure. And how could you prevent someone from taking a sample of your hair and making a clone of you? Again, no solutions.
Some opponents of cloning also object to the use of animals as research tools. “ Next, they’ll be cloning minks and foxes to make more fur coats,” says Cleveland Amory, president and founder of the Fund for Animals, an animal rights group.
 

Chana Freiman Stiefel , Science World, May 2, 1997
 
 
 
 

A.  Say whether the following statements are true or false according to the text you’ve just read. Justify your choice by underlining the corresponding passages in the text ( identifying the number, of course).

1.  There are four Bill Clintons in reality.
2.  Dolly has the same age as the other sheep from which she was cloned; that’s why they are identical twins.
3.  Cloning animals can help people.
4.  Cloning animals is possible, but cloning humans will never be possible.
5.  It’s illegal to clone humans in some countries, like Denmark or Germany.
6.  Scientists know what they will be doing if they start cloning humans.

B.  What do the following words refer to?

1.  she ( line7 )
2.  it ( line 14 )
3.  they ( line 33 )

C.  Answer this question on the text. Use your own words as far as possible.

1.  Do you think that by the means of cloning, we could avoid endangered species from being extinct?
2.  In what way can cloning animals be a “ potential for helping people”?

II

A. Here is part of a speech made by an environmental group. Using the following link words in the order in which they are listed, join these sentences together. Make the necessary changes.
 

“ The majority of people like to use cars. They don’t like air pollution. Motor vehicles cause most of our air pollution. They release dangerous gases into the air. They poison the atmosphere. We should use Bicycles. They are a bit slow. Green solutions aren’t somewhere ‘out there’. They’re in the hands of all of us. We must change our habits quickly. Our lives will be in danger.”

B.  Choose the correct modal verb underlined in each sentence.

1. Look at those clouds. I think it can / might / must rain.
2. This is impossible! It can’t be / mustn’t be / may not be the answer.
3. Well done! You may be / must be / might be  very pleased!

C.  Choose the correct word underlined in each sentence.

1. By 11.00 I felt so tired / tiring that I went to bed.
2. Being alone in an old house can be frightened / frightening.
3. Julie was so embarrassed / embarrassing that her whole face turned red.
4. Are you interested / interesting in going to the beach tomorrow?

III

 Answer to only ONE of the following two questions.

A. What do you think? Should we be cloning around? What are the social and ethical implications of animal or even future human cloning? What are the circumstances under which cloning should never be allowed?
 

B. Comment on the following statements, relating them.

“ The earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family.”
       Chief Seattle

“ We cannot say we love the land and then take steps to destroy it.”

       Pope John Paul II