TEST DE EVALUARE INITIALA

ANUL SCOLAR 2011 2012

LIMBA ENGLEZA
CLASA A XI-A L1

NUMELE SI PRENUMELE ELEVULUI:

DATA SUSTINERII TESTULUI: ..

I. Read the passage and answer the questions which follow. 10 points

PRIVATE SCHOOLS
Most countries have had, and some still have, educational systems that are, in one way or another, social
disasters. The English educational system is unique, however, in the degree to which it has created
educational institutions which perpetuate privilege and social division. Most countries have some private
schools for the children of the wealthy; the English have dozens of them. In fact, about 3,000. Some nine
million children are educated at state schools; just under half a million are educated at private schools.

What is the result of such a system? The facts seem to speak for themselves. In the state system, about eight
per cent make it to university; in the private system, almost half the students go on to university. But those
statistics are deceptive: middle class children do better at examinations than working class, and most of them
stay on at school after 16. Private schools are entirely middle class, and so this positive attitude creates an
environment of success.

Private schools are enormously expensive, as much as 18,000 a year for a boarder at somewhere like Eton or
Harrow to at least 8,000 a year almost everywhere. Why are parents, many of whom are not wealthy or even
comfortably off, willing to sacrifice so much in the cause of their children's schooling? One father replied to
this question by saying: "Everything is on the margin. If my son gets a five per cent better chance of going to
university, that may be the difference between success and failure." You can believe him if you like, but
50,000 minimum is a lot to pay for a five per cent better chance. Most children, given the choice, would take
the money. The real reason parents fork out the cash is prejudice: they don't want little Henry mixing with the
workers, or getting his accent wrong. And anyway, at your next dinner party it won't sound too good if all the
guests are sending their kids to St Swotting-by-the-Sea, and you say your kid is going to the state school
down the road even if, as a result, you are able to serve Chateau Margaux with the filet steak.

Of course, at many of the best private schools, your money buys you something. One school, with 500 pupils,
has 11 science laboratories; another, with 800, has 30 music practice rooms; another has 16 squash courts,
and yet another has its own beach. On investment in buildings and facilities, the private schools spend 300
per pupil; the state system spends less than 50. On books, the ratio is 150 to 50. One of the things that
your money buys which is difficult to quantify is the appearance of the school, the way it looks. Most private
schools are established in beautiful, well-kept country houses, with extensive grounds and gardens. They look
good in contrast with the state schools, the worst of which, like public lavatories, are tiled or covered in
graffiti, and the best of which have architectural design on the level of an industrial shed.

Leaving aside the question of money, the attitudes generally to be found in the private schools are repellent.
In a book published in 1988, some former Etonians were invited to talk about themselves and their old
school. One of them said: "At school you could point out the freaks very easily. Freaks were spotty or ugly,
freaks were scholars, basically people who had too many brains, and were looked down upon because they
didn't pay." Yet another talked of the hunger marchers of the thirties who came through Windsor like "some
sort of cloth-capped cavalcade", and went on "one was more aware of George V dying, because you were part
of the same village." Another said that saving up to send a son to Eton was "the wrong thing... you're bred in
terms of privilege and education to be a racehorse, and you end up having to toil in some office block
somewhere in the City..., it's a waste of an expensive training. You don't go and run a donkey in the Derby, do
you?"

One old Etonian tells how he was received by the printers when he went to work on a provincial newspaper.
Printers were well-known as belonging to the most left-wing of all unions, and yet: "They loved me, they
adored me... because I was nice and jolly with them, I was little Lord Fauntleroy, and they used to say, `Isn't it
marvellous, he was at Eton and he still talks to us, and he jokes and laughs and he's really quite a nice guy.'"

Some, perhaps many, private school pupils find life there unpleasant in the extreme. Such a one was Graham
Greene. Yet he still sent his own son to the same school. In another case, an Old Etonian admitted the school
was "a ghastly hideous place, it was a nightmare" and yet he too wishes the school upon his son: "I found it
was a reflex that, as soon as Alexander was born, within three weeks I went and registered him." Rather,
when one thinks about it, as one might register a pedigree dog with the Kennel Club.

One has to ask the question if such privileges and attitudes are relevant to a country in which there is almost
as great a chance of an individual attending psychiatric hospital as of going to university.

1. The English educational system is different from any other because

A. has a balance between state and private education
B. has more private schools than anywhere else
C. contributes to creating a class system
D. has so many things wrong with it
2. More private school children go to university because
A. they are better taught
B. their parents are middle class
C. the schools create success
D. they stay at school longer
3. Parents most often send their children to private school
A. for social reasons
B. for a margin of success
C. to show how much money they have
D. to pass university entrance examinations
4. Children at private schools
A. work very hard all the time
B. are conformist and prejudiced
C. are very clever and highly educated
D. are well-bred and cultivated
5. Former students of private schools
A. automatically send their children there
B. are inclined to think it is not worth the money
C. are worried that they might end up in psychiatric hospital
D. think carefully and then enrol their child in the best school

II. For questions 1 12, read the text below and decide which answer (A, B, C or D) best fits each gap.
There is an example at the beginning (0). 10 points
Example:
O A expressed B directed C indicated D guided

What we know about music and the brain

Work on the human brain has (0) .. how different parts are centres of activity for different skills,
feelings, perceptions and so on. It has also been shown that the left and right halves, or hemispheres, of the
brain are (1) .. for different functions. While language is processed in the left, or analytical hemisphere,
music is processed in the right, or emotional hemisphere. (2) .. of music like tone, pitch and melody are
all probably processed in different parts of the brain. Some features of musical experience are processed not
just in the auditory parts of the brain, but in the visual ones. We dont yet fully understand the (3) .. of
this.

The tempo of music seems to be (4) .. related to its emotional impact, with fast music often (5) .. as
happier and slower music as sadder. It is the same with the major biological rhythm of the body: our heart (6)
.. quickens when were happy, but slows when were sad. Military music may have (7) .. from
attempts to get us ready for (8) .. by using fast drumming to (9) .. our hearts into beating faster.
Music is perhaps one of the most complex experiences the brain (10) .. with and it has become an
absolutely vital part of our rituals and ceremonies. It has power beyond language to communicate mood and
co-ordinate our emotional states.

1 A amenable B dependable C responsible D reliable

2 A Views B Aspects C Factors D Pieces
3 A expectations B implications C assumptions D propositions
4 A surely B plainly C evidently D directly
5 A felt B endured C encountered D touched
6 A pulse B speed C pace D rate
7 A evolved B extended C advanced D elevated
8 A battle B fight C quarrel D struggle
9 A activate B motivate C stimulate D animate
10 A manages B copes C bears D holds

III. For questions 1 15, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each gap. Use only
one word in each gap. There is an example at the beginning (0). 30 points

Mosquitoes
According to the World Health Organisation, malaria, a disease spread (0) ...by..... mosquitoes, affects
millions of people every year. Everyone knows how irritating the noise made by a mosquito, (1) .. by a
painful reaction to its bite, can be. It is astonishing that so (2) .. is known about why mosquitoes are
drawn to or driven away from people, given (3) .. level of distress and disease caused by these insects.
We know that the most effective chemical (4) .. protecting people against mosquitoes is
diethyltoluamide, commonly shortened (5) .. deet. (6) .. deet works well, it has some serious
drawbacks: it can damage clothes and some people are allergic to it.

Scientists know that mosquitoes find some people more attractive than others, but they do not know (7)
.. this should be. They also know that people vary in (8) .. reactions to mosquito bites. One person
has a painful swelling while (9) .. who is bitten by the same mosquito (10) .. hardly notice.
Scientists have (11) .. discovered the reason for this, but they have carried (12) .. experiments to
show that mosquitoes are attracted to, or put (13) .. by, certain smells. In the future, scientists hope to
develop a smell that mosquitoes cannot resist. This could be used in a trap (14) .. that, instead of
attacking people, mosquitoes would fly into the trap and be destroyed. For the time (15) .. however, we
have to continue spraying ourselves with unpleasant liquids if we want to avoid getting bitten.
IV. For questions 28 37, read the text below. Use the word given in capitals at the end of some of the
lines to form a word that fits in the gap in the same line. There is an example at the beginning (0).
10 points
Example:
0comparison

An ancient tree
In Totteridge, in north London, there is a yew tree estimated to be between
1,000 and 2,000 years old. This tree, however, is a mere youngster in
0) .. with others of the species. The record in the UK is held by a yew in COMPARE
Scotland that is thought to be between 4,000 and 5,000 years old. However,
such trees are becoming (1) .. rare and the Totteridge specimen was INCREASE
considered of (2) .. importance to be named in 1999 as one of the 41 SUFFICE
great trees in London. Like many yews, the Totteridge tree (3) .. DOUBT
predates the buildings around it and its exact age is unknown.
The Totteridge tree needs little (4) .. . Some of its outer branches hang MAINTAIN
down so low that they have taken root. But this is part of the trees natural
architecture and contributes to its (5) .. in high winds. With the best of STABLE
(6) .. , ancient yew sites are often tidied up with no benefit to the tree. INTEND
Dead branches are not (7) .. shed by the tree and their wood harbours a READY
multitude of insects, an inseparable part of the old trees natural (8) .. DIVERSE
Something of the trees history is lost with the (9) .. of dead wood. After REMOVE
all, the decaying, twisted and (10) .. parts give the tree character. ATTRACT

V. Write a paragraph for and one paragraph against the following statement: Television - a modern
addiction.
30 points
I. Reading II.
1C
1. C 2B
2. B 3B
3. A 4D
4. B 5A
5. A 6D
7A
8A
9C
10 B

III. IV.
1 followed 1 increasingly
2 little 2 sufficient
3 the 3 undoubtedly/
4 for doubtlessly
5 to 4 maintenance
6 Though/Although/ 5 stability
While/Whilst 6 intentions
7 why 7 readily
8 their 8 diversity
9 another 9 removal
10 may/might/will 10 unattractive
11 not/never
12 out
13 off
14 so
15 being