Олимпиада по английскому языку
9-10 класс
READING
Time: 20 minutes
Task 1.
Read the text and questions 1‐5 below. For each question, mark the correct letter A, B, C or D.
My home is a windmill
My home’s different from where my friends live because I live in a19th century windmill! My parents saw it one day, and bought it. It was in poor condition, but it was repaired and now it’s fantastic! The windmill was once used to make flour from corn. The corn store used to be downstairs, where our kitchen is now, and horses came there to deliver the corn. The enormous 20‐metre sails are still on the front, but they don’t turn in the wind like they used to because it’s too dangerous, so birds live in them instead. There’s always a ladder up the side of the windmill so that dad can paint it and keep it a nice cream colour. He also cleans the windows, although a company comes to do the top ones as the ladder’s too short. Inside it’s like a tent with six sides, and it becomes more pointed towards the top, so the rooms get smaller. My room’s under the roof and I get a fantastic view – it’s like looking out of an airplane window. There are some other houses around now, and a new main road, but I can relax and make a noise when I play my guitar up there and no one can hear me! I can hear everything, though, like the birds when it’s quiet, which is really calming, or the very loud storms, which I can see coming towards us. And I actually find it easier to concentrate on my school work up there, as my brothers and sisters don’t want to climb up all the stairs, so they don’t disturb me! I can’t imagine living anywhere else!
1. What is Josh trying to do in the text?
A compare his home with his friends’ homes
B explain why his family chose to live in their current home
C tell readers about advantages of living where he does
D suggest how his home could be improved
2. What does Josh say about the outside of the windmill?
A Wild creatures have made their homes there.
B It’s covered in dark paint.
C There’s a ladder that goes right to the top.
D The windows frequently need cleaning.
3. Josh says that his room
A is a bit like an aeroplane inside.
B is a good place for practicing a musical instrument.
C is the largest one in the windmill.
D is better for relaxing in than doing school work.
4. What does Josh say about the different sounds he hears in the windmill?
A He dislikes the noise of the sails in the wind.
B He enjoys listening to all the birds.
C He feels nervous when a loud storm comes along.
D He’s pleased that he’s not disturbed by any noise.
5. What would a visitor from the 19th century say if they saw the windmill now?
A It’s great that they’ve kept the corn store as it was. The horses used to love coming
there.
B The sails are a lot smaller than they used to be. I suppose that’s for safety reasons.
C It’s still in the same condition as before. The owners never looked after it then, either.
D You can still see the windmill from miles away. Of course, there weren’t all these
buildings around it then, as a busy road going past.
Task 2.
Read the text and mark statements 6‐12 below as T (true) or F (false).
On 2 November 1982, the British public turned on their television sets for the arrival of the nation’s fourth TV station, called Channel 4. They were greeted by the smiling face of local TV news presenter Richard Whiteley, who welcomed them with the words: ‘As the countdown to a new channel ends, a brand new countdown begins.’ And with this sentence, the words and numbers game show ‘Countdown’ was launched. The rules of this new game show were as follows: two contestants faced each other over several rounds of games with letters and with numbers. Finally, there was the Conundrum round, where contestants had to work out the nine‐letter anagram. At the end of the show, the contestant with the highest score won and was invited back the next day to face a new challenger. However, despite the simplicity of the rules, those who watched the early editions of the 30‐minute show, which was on five days a week, could hardly have imagined that it would last any longer than the original seven weeks that had been planned for it. The first contestants and guests were not exactly the most exciting people on television. But luckily for ‘Countdown’, there were enough old people, university students and other people with nothing much to do each afternoon to keep the show alive. When the show began, Carol Vorderman won over fans with her amazing mathematical abilities. ’Countdown’ made a celebrity out of Carol, and these days she’s a familiar face on British TV. Despite her fame, Carol still loyally turned up on ‘Countdown’ each day to turn over the letters and show the contestants how to solve the numbers game until she retired in 2008. Yes, that is correct – nearly 30 years since it began, ‘Countdown’ continues to keep its audience’s brains working every afternoon. In fact, on 3 January 2006, it celebrated its 4,000th show. Other signs of its success include the increase in the length of each programme to 45 minutes, the addition of a show on Saturdays and the number of British celebrities who have made an appearance.
6. ‘Countdown’ was the first programme ever shown on Channel 4. ……………
7. Every day two new contestants compete to become ‘Countdown’ champion. …………..
8. Originally only 35 programmes of ‘Countdown’ were planned. ……………
9. The early shows were popular with working people. ……………
10. Carol Vorderman is no longer involved with the show. ……………
11. These days ‘Countdown’ is on for four and a half hours every week. ……………
12. More and more famous people like turning up on the programme. ……………
Task 3.
Read the text and match sentences 13‐20 below with paragraphs A‐F of the text.
The History of BMX Biking
A. BMX biking began in the late 1960s in southern California. It’s based on the sport of motocross, which dates back to 1924 and involves racing motorbikes across rough tracks. It started when children began to copy motocross riders by racing their bikes on tracks which they built themselves. This new form of bike racing was named bicycle motocross, or BMX.
B. In July 1971, a movie about motocross called ‘On Any Sunday’ came out. At the start of the film a group of kids from California are shown riding their bicycles as if they were riding motorbikes. This helped to make BMX biking more popular. Soon BMX races attracted hundreds of riders.
C. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the most famous BMX bike was the Schwinn Sting‐Ray; this was the bike every young rider wanted to own. At this time 70 per cent of all bicycle sales in the USA were either the Sting‐Ray or similar models. By the mid 1970s BMX design had improved a lot and there were many new models to choose from. But the bikes all had the same sized wheels and usually only one brake.
D. In 1977, the American Bicycle Association was formed to organize the competitions and to make the rules. The sport was also becoming popular in other parts of the world, particularly in Europe. The first BMX world championship was held in Indianapolis, USA, in 1978. Most of the 165 competitors were teenagers, but there were also children competing in special races for the under 8s and under 12s. There were separate races for boys and girls. There weren’t many nationalities present at this competition; apart from Americans there were only a few riders from Australia, Japan and Venezuela.
E. Since that time the number of races for adults has grown very quickly, but BMX racing didn’t become a full Olympic sport until the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Maris Stromberg from Latvia won the first ever Olympic men’s gold medal for BMX racing and Anne‐Caroline Chausson from France became the first women’s champion.
F. As the popularity of BMX grew, riders were constantly testing the limits of their bikes. BMX wasn’t just about racing any more. Riders began to take their bikes to skateboard parks and started performing tricks and jumps. This became known as ‘freestyle’ and riders soon began to practice this as much as racing.
13. There were races for different age groups at the first BMX world championships. ____
14. BMX freestyle started because BMX riders wanted new challenges. ____
15. BMX biking was invented by children. ____
16. The Schwinn Sting‐Ray was the favourite model of BMX riders to begin with. ____
17. More BMX bikes were sold than any other type of bike in the USA in the early 1970s.____
18. Many people learned about BMX biking from a film. ____
19. BMX biking appeared more than 40 years after its prototype – motocross. ____
20. Some riders from Asia and Latin America took part in the first BMX world championship. ____
USE OF ENGLISH
Time: 10 minutes
Task 1.
Match sentences 1‐10 with the way (a‐k) each person is travelling in Great Britain. There is one extra means of travelling.
1. I am often called to rescue people, because I can take off and land in difficult places.
2. When the traffic lights turned green, my dad drove away.
3. I got a flat tyre as I was on my way to school.
4. We had to wait for ages on the platform.
5. You get a seat upstairs and I’ll buy a ticket from the driver.
6. The waves are coming right over the side, so we’re all getting wet!
7. The driver will take us to our door, and we’ll pay when we get there.
8. I go very fast when I’m riding this, so it’s dangerous not to wear a helmet.
9. After we’d all got in, the door shut and we dived down under the water.
10. We climbed into the basket and took off from a field – it was really quiet!
a) motorcycle; b) boat; c) train; d) helicopter; e) submarine; f) hot air balloon; g) bus; h) car; i) bicycle; j) taxi; k) airplane
Task 2.
Complete the sentences with the prepositions from the box. The prepositions can be used more than once.
into with out of on to by off
11. The man got ……… his yellow car and walked away.
12. We’re going to Spain ……... sea – we’re taking the ferry.
13. The ship will leave as soon as everyone is …….. board.
14. We got …….. the bus when we reached our stop, and walked home.
15. The train left the station exactly …….. time.
16. My bike needs fixing, so I’ll have to go into town …….. foot.
17. We got ……… the car and drove to the beach.
18. We’ll be away …….. holiday for two weeks.
19. They both think that sharing a room ……… a brother or sister has advantages.
20. When your remote‐control model is ready, you can look forward ……… playing with it in a park.
WRITING
Time: 20 minutes
Comment on the following statement.
Some people think that computer games are better than life.
What is your opinion? Do you agree with this statement?
Write 100 ‐120 words.
Remember to
‐ make an introduction
‐ express your personal opinion and give reasons for your opinion
‐ make a conclusion.
