MINISTERUL EDUCAȚIEI

INSPECTORATUL ȘCOLAR JUDEȚEAN VASLUI

OLIMPIADA DE LIMBA ENGLEZĂ

Etapa județeană – 26 martie 2022
CLASA a XI-a, Secțiunea A

Subject I (40 points)

A. Fill in the text with the right form of the verb (10 points)

A 32-year–old man 1 (get) ....................... home from work on Friday to find that someone 2 (steal)
........................... the shed from his back garden. Martin Graham, who 3 (live) ..................... in Francis Road,
Darnely, 4 (tell) ............................ us he couldn’t believe his eyes. ”There was simply nothing there. I thought I
5 (go) ......................... into the wrong garden.” A neighbour who 6 (notice) .......................... the men while
they 7 (disassemble) ........................ the shed, 8 (assume) ........................ that Mr. Graham 9 (ask) ..............
them to do it. The two men 10 (drive off) ........................... in a white van.

B. For each question, fill the space in the sentence using the base word given in bold at the end. (10
points)

1. His eyes .......................... with surprise when I told him I was pregnant. WIDE
2. Everybody avoids her because of her self-important, ……..attitude. BEAR
3. It is an ............................. fact that the search will go on for another couple of months. DENY
4. It is impossible to .............................. everybody. PLEASURE
5. Don’t ........................! Nothing bad really happened. DRAMA
6. She promised …………………. that she would never leave him. FAITH
7. I’m unable to .......................between these perfumes, they all smell the same. DIFFERENT
8. “Will you ............................... your theory?” a curious student asked his professor. CLEAR
9. I ............................. this morning and was late for my English classes. SLEEP
10. We are great ........................ in fate and we believe we’re meant to be together. BELIEVE

C. For each question, choose which of the four possible answers fits the space best. (10 points)

The day began auspiciously. They 1 ____ lost no dogs 2______ the night, and they swung out upon the trail
and into the silence, the darkness, and the cold with spirits that were fairly light. Bill seemed to 3 ____
forgotten his forebodings of the previous night, and even waxed facetious with the dogs when, at midday, they
overturned the sled on a bad piece of trail. It was an awkward mix-up.
The sled was upside 4 _____ and jammed 5 _______ a tree-trunk and a huge rock, and they were forced to
unharness the dogs in order to straighten out the tangle. The two men were bent 6 ____ the sled and trying to
right it, when Henry observed One Ear sidling away. "Here, you, One Ear!" he cried, straightening up and
turning around on the dog. But One Ear broke into a run across the snow, his traces trailing 7 ______ him. And
there, out in the snow of their back track, was the she-wolf waiting for him. As he neared her, he became
suddenly cautious. He slowed down to an alert and mincing walk and then stopped. He regarded her 8
________ and dubiously, yet desirefully. She seemed to smile at him, showing her teeth in an ingratiating
rather 9 ____ a menacing way. She moved 10 ______ him a few steps, playfully, and then halted. One Ear
drew near to her, still alert and cautious, his tail and ears in the air, his head held high.
(Jack London - White Fang, Chapter III - The Hunger Cry)

1. a) have b) had c) haven’t d) hadn’t

2. a) during b) through c) at d) in

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3. a) be b) had c) have d) been
4. a) in b) down c) up d) on
5. a) between b) among c) into d) under
6. a) on b) over c) onto d) above
7. a) following b) beneath c) under d) behind
8. a) carelessly b) careless c) carefully d) careful
9. a) than b) then c) in d) for
10 .a) to b) forward c) toward d) onto

D. Complete the text using one word in each space. (10 points)
It is often the case that the principal street of an English town or city is called the
High Street, and in the past it ________ (1) have been there that people used to meet, do business and go
shopping. However, over the last few decades, Britain, ________(2) other developed countries, has seen
“giant” supermarkets and major new shopping centres springing ________(3) on the outskirts of urban areas or
in locations which are_______(4) reached by car and which have ample parking. The appearance of these new
temples of retailing is _______(5) the result and the cause of the phenomenon known as the “death of the High
Street”.

Subject II (60 points)

A. Reading (10 points)
Read the text below and answer the questions by choosing the correct variant:
The man who wants to teach the world
What Salman Khan, the founder of the non-profit online school Khan Academy has to say to the parent of an
eleven-year-old in the USA is frankly terrifying: „If your child is not placed in the fast track for math in sixth
grade, his chances of becoming a doctor or an engineer are probably zero. And it’s decided when he’s eleven
years old.‟
This is exactly what happened to his cousin Nadia. Usually a straight-A student, she had done poorly in a
maths streaming test in sixth grade because she had failed to understand one concept. This one test result,
Khan says, might have harmed her academic destiny. Nadia’s mother turned to Khan for help. Khan tutored
her remotely over the phone and Nadia passed her retake with flying colours. Soon, many more relations and
friends wanted Khan’s help. Unable to handle the volume of requests, at the suggestion of a friend, he started
to record his lessons on video and post them on YouTube. „At first I was dismissive,‟ Khan says. „I thought
YouTube was for dogs on skateboards.‟
Now Khan has more than 3,000 videos to his name, which are watched by nearly three million unique users a
month, via YouTube and his own website. His friendly style, coupled with his knack for making difficult
concepts seem simple, has helped children – and adults – all over the world move into the fast track. He says
his aim is to create „the world’s first free, world-class, virtual school where anyone can learn anything‟.
Many teachers embrace his approach and have started „flipping‟ the classroom, encouraging students to watch
Khan’s videos at home and then tackling maths problems together in class.
You might expect a man with such influence to have state-of-the-art headquarters but Khan’s premises are
surprising. Arriving at an unmarked red door, sandwiched between a clothes shop and a Chinese restaurant, I
decide I have the wrong address – especially after ringing the bell for ten minutes with no response.
Eventually, I rouse someone on the telephone and the door is opened. When his assistant shows me in, Khan
appears at first to be slightly annoyed at this interruption. Sitting on a leather chair behind a heavy oak desk
surrounded by pictures of his wife – a doctor – and their two

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young children, he continues to work for a few minutes. But once he warms up, it becomes clear that the initial
awkwardness is down to shyness, not rudeness. „I’m not very good when people want to meet me,‟ he says. „I
want to hide a little bit.‟
Khan believes that the rigidity of the school system is outdated and deadens a child’s natural curiosity. „Aged
one to four, kids are excited by anything new, they want to figure it out, then all of a sudden, when they turn
five, you start seeing fewer curious kids, by nine or ten you see very few with any curiosity, and by eighteen
it’s very much the exception. Curiosity is just stamped out of them. I’m convinced it’s indoctrination, not
genetic. Kids are herded together, the bell rings, you’re rewarded for passivity, you’re rewarded for
compliance, that’s what keeps you moving through the system.‟
Private school education makes little difference, he says. Nor does he believe that student-teacher ratio is an
issue. „The idea that smaller classes will magically solve the problem of students being left behind is a fallacy.
‟As he points out, if a teacher’s main job is lecturing to the students, it doesn’t really matter how many
students are in the classroom. What matters is the „student-to-valuable-human-time-with-teacher‟ ratio. What
his videos do, Khan says, is free teachers up for more personal interaction.
1. Why did Khan initially start to record videos?
a. It was easier to explain concepts in a video than on the phone.
b. It enabled him to advertise his services worldwide.
c. It was impossible for him to respond personally to each request for assistance.
d. It was a more popular medium for young people to use.
2. One value of the videos is that they can
a. be used as an additional tool for teachers in class.
b. be shown to students as a reward for hard work.
c. act as a substitute for formal learning.
d. help students prepare for a topic they will study.
3. When visiting Khan the writer is
a. annoyed by Khan’s lateness.
b. surprised by Khan’s choice of location.
c. embarrassed by the way Khan addresses him.
d. impressed by the style of furnishings in Kahn’s home.

4. The writer mentions different children’s ages to illustrate his idea that
a. it is quite natural for children to grow disillusioned with formal education.
b. the older a child is, the less able they are to assimilate new information.
c. a child’s growing lack of interest in learning is a result of experience at school.
d. younger children need more motivation to remain interested in education.

5. According to Khan, the idea that a lower student-teacher ratio solves the problem of ineffective learning is
a. illogical
b. unproven
c. unworkable
d. counterproductive

B. Write a for and against essay based on the following statement: The public school system of education is
rigid and outdated. Use 200-220 words. (50 points)

Notă: toate subiectele sunt obligatorii. Timp de lucru 3 ore.

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