2012 National Students Olympiad in the English Language.pdf

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- N 18 (594) -
September 2012
Stage IV National Students
Olympiad in the English Language
ROUND I
LISTENING COMPREHENSION TEST
For 9th Form Students
Student's booklet
DO NOT OPEN THIS BOOKLET UNTIL ADVISED
BY THE TEACHER.
4. Children who watch a lot of television may have high
blood pressure, even if they are thin and active.
DICTIONARIES ARE NOT ALLOWED.
5. If you cut your TV watching time in half, you burn
more calories than someone who does not.
Directions
In this test you will carefully listen to a text read aloud
twice. The text is followed by 10 true/false statements and
10 multiple-choice questions.,
You should do the first 10 tasks following the first
reading of the text on the basis of what is stated or implied
in the text.
The text will be read a second time and you should
do tasks 11 through 20 following the second reading
of the text on the basis of what is stated or implied in the
text.
For each task you will choose from two symbols (+ or
-) or four possible answers (А, В, C, or D), as specified
prior to each task.
Choose the best answer and circle the symbol or letter
of your choice on the answer sheet.
6. Other casual activities, like reading books, are just
as damaging as watching TV.
7. In the US and Britain, people spent 30 minutes
on average watching TV.
8. Adults who watch less TV eat less.
9. Eating a healthy diet can counteract the effects of a
sedentary life.
10. Spending two or more leisure hours in front of a
screen doubles one's risk of a heart attack.
STOP. WAIT FOR THE SECOND READING
OF THE TEXT.
STUDENT NUMBER:
Questions 11 through 20 (on your answer sheet circle
the correct letter А, В, C, or D).
DO NOT WRITE IN THIS BOOKLET.
11. This text describes an article recently written
in which publication?
A. The Journal of the American Medical Association.
B. The British Journal of Health Sciences.
C. The National Cardiology and Pulmonology News­
paper.
D. The Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
From "The Hazards of the Couch"
by Ronnie Caryn Rabin, The New York Times, 2011
Statements 1 through 10 (on your answer sheet circle
+ if the statement is true, - if it is false).
1. People who spend most of their free time watching
TV have a low risk for developing health problems.
12. Which nationality is not mentioned in the text?
A. Irish.
2. According to the author, the results of the study were
unique and previously unknown.
C. American.
B. Scottish.
D. British.
13. The study followed how many men?
A. 2,215.
3. Squeezing in an hour at the gym can counteract the
effect of motionless sitting.
C. 400.
B. 4,512.
D. 4,000.
968372801.002.png
14. The author of the study works in which depart­
ment?
A. Cardiology and Pulmonology.
B. Epidemiology and Public Health.
C. Education and Psychology.
D. Landscape and Architecture.
B. It reversed heart disease.
C. It made their conditions worse.
D. It made them more likely to eat.
18. According to the article, time spent in front of the
television is...
A. mandatory for all Americans and British.
B. discretionary for everyone.
C. well-spent
D. a healthy alternative to board games.
15. Which activity bums the most calories?
A. Playing aboard game.
B. Watching TV.
C. Watching a computer.
D. Sitting in the car.
19. The article associates all of the following with
watching too much television, EXCEPT..
A. heart disease.
B. .burning fewer calories.
C. over-eating.
D. high blood pressure.
16. Participants in the study who watched TV four
or more hours a day..
A. received a reward of SO dollars.
B. had a high blood pressure reading.
C. were more likely to develop heart problems.
D. were more likely to die of any cause.
20. Children who watch more TY..
A. have more free time.
B. eat less.
C. have high blood pressure.
D. exercise more.
17. An exercise regimen had which effect on the blood
pressure sedentary people?
A. None.
Teacher's Booklet
LISTENING COMPREHENSION TEST
Fbr 9* Form Students
It didn't matter whether the men were physically active
for several hours a week—exercise didn't mitigate the risk
associated with the high amount of sedentary screen time.
The study is not the first to suggest that sedentary
activities like television viewing may be harmful.
A study last year found that men who spent more than
23 hours a week watching TV and sitting in their cars were
more likely to die of heart disease than those who sat for
11 hours a week or less, even if they exercised.
And a 2009 study reported that young children who
watch one and a half to five and a half hours ofTV a day have
higher blood pressure readings than those who watch less
than half an hour, even ifthey are thin and physically active.
Another small study found that when overweight adults
cut their TV time in half, they burned more calories than
those who watched five hours or more a day.
Children whose TV time is cut tended to eat less,
but that wasn't true for adults. And the light activities
adults filled their time with, like reading and playing board
games, actually burned more calories than watching TV.
In both the United States and Britain, people are
spending three to four hours a day on average watching
television, said the study's author, Dr. Emmanuel Stama-
takis, of the department of epidemiology and public health
at University College London.
"This is excessive," he said. "It is more than 20 percent
of total waking time for most people." And, he added, "it's
100 percent discretionary."
Please write the following words and translations on the
blackboard prior to reading the text.
Sedentary — сидячий.
From "The Hazards of the Couch" by Ronnie Caryn
Rabin
The New York Times, 2011
Many of us sit in front of a computer for eight hours
a day, and then go home and head for the couch to surf the
Web or watch television, exchanging one seat and screen
for another. Even if we try to squeeze in an hour at the
gym, is it enough to counteract all that motionless sitting?
A mounting body of evidence suggests not.
Increasingly, research is focusing not on how much
exercise people get, but how much of their time is spent
in sedentary activity, and the harm that does.
The latest findings, published this week in The Jour­
nal of the American College of Cardiology, indicate the
amount of leisure time spent sitting in front of a screen can
have such an overwhelming, seemingly irreparable impact
on one's health that physical activity doesn't produce
much benefit.
The study followed 4,512 middle-aged Scottish men
for a little more than four years on average. It found that
those who said they spent two or more leisure hours a day
sitting in front of a screen were at double the risk of a heart
attack or other cardiac event compared with those who
watched less.
Those who spent four or more hours of recreational
time in front of a screen were 50 percent more likely to die
of any cause.
968372801.003.png
LISTENING COMPREHENSION TEST
For lOtii Form Students
Student's Booklet
9. The humans answered many questions faster than
the computer.
DO NOT OPEN THIS BOOKLET UNTIL ADVISED
BY THE TEACHER.
10. Watson won the first question.
DICTIONARIES ARE NOT ALLOWED.
Directions
In this test you will carefully listen to a text read aloud
twice. The text is followed by 10 true/false statements
and 10 multiple-choice questions. You should do the first
10 tasks following the first reading of the text on the basis
of what is stated or implied in the text.
The text will be read a second time and you should
do tasks 11 through 20 following the second reading
of the text on the basis of what is stated or implied in the
text.
For each task you will choose from two symbols
(+ or —) or four possible answers (А, В, C, or D),
as specified prior to each task. Choose the best answer
and circle the symbol or letter of your choice on the
answer sheet.
STOP. WAIT FOR THE SECOND READING
OF THE TEXT
Questions 11 through 20 (on your answer sheet circk
the correct letter А, В, C, or D).
11. According to the article, questions in Jeopardy may
include all of the following EXCEPT...
A. cultural references.
B. riddles.
C. metaphors.
D.puns.
12. It took
years to prepare Watson for the
game show.
A. four
B. around four
C. fourteen
D. around fourteen
STUDENT NUMBER:
DO NOT WRITE IN THIS BOOKLET.
From "Humans lake on Computer in Jeopardy"
by Joyce Grant
Teaching Kids News, 2011
13. Watson's "brain" will be used by...
A. emergency dispatchers.
B. health care professionals.
C. computer programmers.
D. doctoral candidates.
Statements 1 throogh 10 (on your answer sheet circle
+ if the statement is true, - if it is false).
14. About which category did Watson answei a ques­
tion incorrectly?
A. US cities.
B. Canadian capitals.
CWorld War II.
D. Famous airports.
1. Jeopardy is a game show created by Brad Rutter
and Ken Jennings.
2. Watson helped show how complex the human brain is.
3. Watson's "brain power" is equal to a hundred home
computers.
15. Watson won the contest by about
aoi
lars.
A. $21,000
B. $24,000
C. $67,000
D. $77,000
4. Deep Blue is a chess program designed by IBM.
5. Computers can easily understand idioms in the
English language.
6. The computer incorrectly answered a question about
a famous city in Canada.
16. Choose the correct ranking of players, from last
place to first place.
A. Jennings, Rutter, Watson.
B. Watson, Rutter, Jennings.
C. Rutter, Jennings, Watson.
D. Watson, Jennings, Rutter.
7. The Jeopardy competition was two days long.
8. Watson was programmed to think very carefully
about the question's category.
968372801.004.png
17. The phrase "to get a lot of points on someone"
most closely means...
A. to earn more points than someone.
B. to receive points from an opponent.
C. to steal points from another player.
D. to transfer points to a different player.
19. Which US city's largest airport was named after
a World War II hero?
A. Ontario.
B. Chicago.
C. Boston.
D. Toronto.
18. The author would mostly likely agree that in the
future, computers will...
A. take jobs away from humans.
B. replace the need for human doctors.
C. help professionals in certain fields.
D. make game shows out of date.
20. If you had a "runaway victory," you could also say
that you...
A. crushed your opponent.
B. barely defeated your opponent.
C. celebrated your victory by running.
D. unfairly won the competition.
Teacher's
Booklet
LISTENING COMPREHENSION TEST
For 10* Form Students
answered Jeopardy questions.
So, how did Watson do? Great! In fact, the computer
won the two-day contest. But it wasn't a runaway victory.
In fact, the very first question was won by human con-
testant Brad Rutter. And Watson got some answers wrong.
For instance, the computer incorrectly answered this
question in the category "US cities":
"Its largest airport is named for a WWII hero; its sec-
ond-largest for a WWII battle."
Watson answered: "Toronto". Toronto? That's not
even a US city, it's the capital of Ontario, Canada! How
could Watson have gotten that one so wrong?
It turns out that Watson was programmed to not think
very much about the category, so it wasn't really thinking
of a US city - it was focused on the WWII part of the ques-
tion. Both humans answered correctly: Chicago. In any
case, Watson went on to win that game.
In the second game, Watson knew most of the answers,
but was just too slow buzzing in so the humans got a lot
of points on him.
The fact that humans could figure out answers and
buzz in more quickly than Watson, an extremely powerful
computer, shows how complex the human brain really is.
By the end of game two, Watson had won the match
with more than $77,000. Jennings came in second with
a two-game total of $24,000 and Brad Rutter came third
with $21,600.
What's next for Watson? Watson's Jeopardy win is his-
torical.
It means that computers can do much more than most
people thought they could. Watson's "brain" will now
be used in hospitals to diagnose and treat patients. It will
also be used to give doctors information.
From "Humans Take on Computer in Jeopardy"
by Joyce Grant
Teaching Kids News, 2011
In 1997, there was a very famous chess match. The
world champion chess player, Gary Kasparov, went
up against a special challenger: a computer.
The computer was called "Deep Blue" and it was built
by IBM just to play chess. Deep Blue won the six-game
chess match.
This year, IBM came up with a new challenge. They
decided to build a computer that could match wits with
two humans on a game show called Jeopardy. The com-
puter is called "Watson", and its "brain power" is equal
to thousands of home computers.
Playing chess is something computers can do very well
because it relies on quickly deciding between different
moves.
However, answering questions and understanding Eng-
lish is not something computers do well. In Jeopardy, the
questions may include riddles, puns and cultural refer-
ences. These are things humans are good at, but computers
are not.
That's because human language often uses pictures -
metaphors - that don't always make sense when they're
taken at face value.
For instance, if you said, "I ran like a deer!" your friend
would know that you ran fast - not that you had four legs
or were running through a forest. Computers need to
"learn" those kinds of word pictures.
IBM wanted to prove they could make a computer that
could understand many difficult things about the English
language. Watson took on Jeopardy's two biggest all-time
winners: Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings.
It took four years to get Watson ready to play humans
on Jeopardy. Its memory banks are filled with encyclo-
paedias, the Internet movie database, New York Times
articles and the Bible. It also knows thousands of correctly
968372801.005.png
LISTENING COMPREHENSION TEST
For 11th Form Students
Student's Booklet
DO NOT OPEN THIS BOOKLET UNTIL ADVISED
BY THE TEACHER.
8. Claudia Fritz thinks the quality of an instrument
is more important than its age or reputation.
DICTIONARIES ARE NOT ALLOWED.
9. Fritz's study was the first to compare the sound
of modern and antique violins.
Directions
In this test you will carefully listen to a text read aloud
twice. The text is followed by 10 true/false statements
and 10 multiple-choice questions. You should do the first
10 tasks following the first reading of the text on the basis
of what is stated or implied in the text.
The text will be read a second time and you should
do tasks 11 through 20 following the second reading
of the text on the basis of what is stated or implied in the
text.
For each task you will choose from two symbols
(+ or —) or four possible answers (А, В, C, or D),
as specified prior to each task. Choose the best answer
and circle the symbol or letter of your choice on the
answer sheet.
10. Roth concluded that the difference between play­
ing a Stradivarius and a modern violin is the musician's
mindset toward the instrument.
STOP. WAIT FOR THE SECOND READING
OF THE TEXT.
Questions 11 through 20 (on your answer sheet circle
the correct letter А, В, C, or D).
11. The purpose of the experiment was to discover...
A. if playing a Stradivarius affects the quality of a per­
formance.
B. if playing a Stradivarius affects the audience dif­
ferently.
C. if Stradivarius violins actually sound better than
modern instruments.
D. if Stradivarius violins actually sound better than
Guarnari violins.
STUDENT NUMBER:
DO NOT WRITE IN THIS BOOKLET.
Excerpt from "How Many Notes Would a Virtuoso Vio­
linist Pay for a Stradivarius?" by Ian Sample
The Guardian, 2012
12. Of the six violins tested how many were made
by Antonio Stradivari?
A. One.
B.Two.
C. Three.
D. Four.
Statements 1 through 10 (on your answer sheet circle
+ if the statement is true, - if it is false).
1. Stradivarius violins are considered the best in the
world and are worth hundreds of dollars.
13. The results of the study were surprising because...
A. Stradivarius violins are thought to be vastly superior
to modern instruments.
B. string instruments sound better with age.
C. Stradivarius violins are worth millions of dollars.
D. modern violins are usually considered to be better
crafted.
2. The violinists involved in the study could not tell
the difference between the sound of a Stradivarius violin
and a modern violin.
3. Claudia Fritz believes that the beauty of a Stradi­
varius justifies its price.
14. The musicians were prevented from knowing which
violin they were playing by..
A. wearing goggles and standing behind a curtain.
B. wearing a blindfold and standing in a separate room.
C. wearing goggles and standing in a separate room.
D. wearing a blindfold and standing behind a curtain.
4. Guarneri del Gesu and Antonio Stradivari were
Spanish violin makers.
5. The study was conducted by Kai-Thomas Roth.
6. Overall, the violinists preferred newer models over
the classic ones.
15. The best synonym for "commandeer" as it is used
in the article is...
A. to command.
B. to control.
7. Of the six violins used in the study, three were mod­
ern and three were made in the 1700s.
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