Examination texts 10-12 (11th form)

№ 10

1.  Read the article and say in 2—3 sentences what it is about.

What is a good family?

Building a successful family is like building a house. Both need a plan. The best way to be organised as a family is to talk about family matters. By doing this, families enjoy a special closeness and stability. Choosing to spend time with your family sends a message more powerful than words.

How much time should families spend together? That varies from family to family. Families with young children usually spend most of their time together because young children need a great deal of physical care and guidance. Families with teenagers may spend less time together because teens naturally want to spend more time with their friends. Healthy families keep a good balance between ‘too much’ and ‘not enough’ time together. They spend enough time to satisfy all family members.

Nothing unites a family more than its traditions which include different norms, ways of behavior, customs and views. In united families these traditions are deep-rooted and passed from generation to generation.

Strong families take time to be together and talk to one another. They share their hopes and dreams, feelings and concerns over common meals. Members of successful families feel they really belong to their family. They celebrate their victories and help each other learn from their mistakes. They do their household chores together and go to the theatre. At the same time, strong families adapt relationships and family rules when needs arise. Since no family knows what tomorrow will bring, being adaptive is a good trait for family members to develop.

Recent studies affirm the importance of love in families. Research shows that expressions of affection towards children reduce behaviour problems and help children’s development. Strong families notice and share positive aspects of each member. They notice the talents, skills and achievements, special qualities and characteristics that make the other person unique. They find ways to be positive even when another family member makes a mistake and make an effort to develop closeness and show love at home.

2.  The author explains what makes a successful family. Find this extract and read it aloud.

3.  What makes a family united?

4.  How much time should family members spend together?

№ 11

  I.  1. Read the article and say in 2—3 sentences what it is about.

PYTHAGORAS¹

Pythagoras is often described as a very important mathematician, yet we know little about his achievements. What we do know is that he was the leader of a society which was half scientific and half religious. It was a secret society and today Pythagoras is still a mysterious figure.

It is believed that Pythagoras was born on the Greek island of Samos. His father was a merchant, and as a child, Pythagoras travelled with him selling their goods. Pythagoras was well educated. He learned music and poetry and had three philosophers to teach him who introduced Pythagoras to mathematics and advised him to travel to Egypt to learn more about mathematics and astronomy. So in 535 BC, Pythagoras travelled to Egypt where he visited many temples and took part in discussions with priests. Many of the customs he learnt in Egypt he came to adopt. For example, the Egyptian priests refused to eat beans and wear animal skins, as did Pythagoras later in his life.

In 525 BC the King of Persia invaded Egypt. Pythagoras was taken prisoner and was transported to Babylon. It was here, taught by the Babylonians, that he reached perfection in arithmetic and music. When Pythagoras returned to Samos he founded there a school which was called ‘The Semicircle’. It seems that the people of Samos did not appreciate the teaching methods of Pythagoras and they treated him rudely and improperly. Furthermore, they wanted to involve Pythagoras in local politics against his will. For these reasons, he went to Italy.

Pythagoras believed that numbers rule the universe and that numbers are present in all things. He also connected mathematics to music and recognized the healing power of music. He used it as a kind of therapy to help those who were ill. Another of his beliefs was that there are three types of men: those who love wisdom, those who love honour and those who love wealth.

Pythagoras was a mathematician, an astronomer, and a philosopher. Today we remember him best for his famous geometry theorem, known as Pythagoras’ theorem.²

¹ Pythagoras [paɪˈθæɡərəs] Пифагор

² Pythagoras’ theorem [paɪˈθæɡərəsɪz ˈθɪərəm] теорема Пифагора

2.  Where did Pythagoras go to learn mathematics and astronomy? Read aloud the extract which says about it.

3.  Why did Pythagoras go to Italy?

4.  What are the three types of men according to Pythagoras?

№ 12

  I.  1. Read the article and say in 2—3 sentences what it is about.

AMELIA

Possibly the most famous female pilot ever, Amelia Earhart was born in 1897 in Kansas, the USA. Amelia had a difficult and unsettled childhood. Her family travelled a great deal so her father could find work. Although she often missed school, Amelia was nevertheless considered to be very bright academically. She enjoyed reading and poetry as well as sports, especially basketball and tennis.

After graduating from high school, instead of going to college, Amelia decided to study nursing. During the First World War, she worked as a military nurse in Canada. When the war ended she became a social worker back in America and taught English to immigrants. In her free time, Amelia enjoyed going to air shows and watching aerial stunts¹, which were very popular during the 1920s. Her fascination with flying began when, at one of those shows, she took a ten­minute ride, and from that moment on she knew she had to learn to fly.

Amelia took on several odd jobs to pay for the flying lessons and after a year, she had saved enough money to buy her own plane. She organised cross­country air races for women pilots and formed a now famous women pilots’ organisation, called the ‘Ninety­Nines’. One day Amelia received an invitation to be the first woman ever to make the flight across the Atlantic from Canada to Britain. Amelia made the flight in 1928 and, although she was only a passenger and two men flew the plane, it made her a celebrity. She also met there her future husband, George Putman, a publisher, who arranged the flight and organised all the publicity.

In 1932 Amelia and George decided Amelia should make the Atlantic crossing from America to Britain alone. She broke several records on this flight; she became the first woman to fly the Atlantic solo, the only person to have flown it twice and she established a new transatlantic crossing record of 13 hours and 30 minutes. Understandably, she became even more famous as a result earning respect for women pilots all over the world by proving that women could fly as well as men, if not better.

¹ an aerial stunt [ˈeərɪəl ˈstʌnt] фигура высшего пилотажа

2.  How did Amelia get interested in flying? Read aloud the extract which says about it.

3.  What invitation did Amelia receive one day?

4.  Why did Amelia become famous?