Model Exam English

Model Exam English

 

UNIT 1“Black Gold”

                                                                                                                                           I.            Reading Comprehension

Read the following passage and then answer the questions

Using Oil Better

Not long ago, a litre of water at an American supermarket was often more expensive than a litre of petrol at the gas station next door. But not anymore. Americans — along with everyone else
— will never again pay just $20 per barrel, as they used to. The reason for this is supply and demand: supply can hardly keep up with demand. Global consumption is 85M barrels a day and rising. America is leading the world in this. With only 4% of the Earth’s population, its 280M people now consume 25% of the world’s oil. However, Americans are not alone. Demand is rising everywhere, and it is increasing particularly fast in the countries that are now industrializing — especially China. (Recently, the number of cars on Chinese roads grew from 2M to 3,5M in one year!). In the old days, nearly all the oil that Americans used was American, but that started to change in 1970. In that year, production began decreasing, and imports started increasing rapidly. New oilfields in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico have stopped the decline, but only temporarily. Scientists are still finding new oil around the world, but the search is getting harder. One day, global oil production will start falling, just as it did in America in 1970. At that point, however, the world will not be able to turn to other new resources of supply, as Americans did. There will be no other sources. When will that point come? The experts disagree. Some say that global production will peak in around 2040 and then start decreasing. Others are much less optimistic. They expect the peak as early as 2016. The exact year does not really matter. The fact is that demand will soon get steadily greater than supply if we continue as we are. And if that happens, oil prices will explode. Scientists everywhere are developing energy sources to replace oil though. They are doing this first to reduce oil’s polluting emissions and the related global warming. They are also working to avoid that disastrous energy gap. The oil alternatives include hydrogen (H) fuel cells to power our vehicles and ‘renewable’ energy sources such as windpower. However these energy sources cannot yet provide the cheap, reliable energy in huge quantities that oil does. The new technologies need more development time. The potential energy gap therefore remains — and to fill it we must make the oil last longer. This means reducing the amount we use in various ways. Take transport. People need to stop buying big thirsty vehicle and start using smaller more fuel efficient cars instead. Better still, we should instead use public transport where possible. Best of all, shorter trips can be made by bicycle or on foot. From oil, we also get the petrochemicals that give us thousands of products — everything from paint to plastic toys to cleaning products to medicines like aspirin. We will have to limit our use of these, too. Clearly, all this means difficult changes. The alternative could be much worse though. If a real energy gap opened up, the world could collapse into economic and social chaos. This is surely a rout to avoid.

1-Answer the following questions:

1.      Why has the price of oil risen in recent years?

Because demand is rising and supply can hardly keep up with the demand

2.      In what way is the world following America?

In consuming oil hugely. / In huge oil consumption

3.      What is the “energy gap”?

Oil production cannot meet human consumption, so there is a gap between them.

4.      What are scientists doing to prevent it?

They are trying to find and develop alternative sources of energy.

5.      What are the necessary changes that people have to do? Give examples

People have to limit their use of energy. For example, they should turn off lights, switch off machines, computers and TV’s, and take public transport.

2-Find the synonyms from the passage:

1.      in a difficult way: hardly

2.      look for: search for

3.      mess: chaos

4.      top: peak

5.      quickly: rapidly

3-Find the opposite from the passage:

1.      supply : demand

2.      production: consumption

3.      permanently: temporarily

4.      pessimistic: optimistic

5.      exclude: include

4-Choose the correct answer from a,b,c, or d:

1-     Supply can hardly keep up with demand.

a) hard                       b) hardship               c) hardly                    d) hards

2-     Scientists want to reduce oil’s polluting emissions

a) emissions  b) emit                                   c) emits                                  d) emissioned

3-     Renewable energy ,such as  windpowernever runs out.

a) wind power          b) windpower                       c)powerwind             d) power

4-     We get some petrochemicals from oil in the form of different products.

a) petro-chemicals   b) petrochemicals    c) chemicals               d) petro

5-     Global consumption of oil is 85M barrels a day and is rising

a) consume   b) consumbtion                   c) custom                 d) consumption

                                                                                                                                                                II.            Vocabulary

1.     Put in the suitable word from the box:

production          workers               oil              search               limit              coal

1.      Black Gold means  oil             

2.       The production  of oil  is polluting.

3.      Oil workers   usually get high salary.

4.      We must limit our use of oil.

5.      The search for oil is still going on.

2-Make pair of words from the box to complete the sentences:

fossil	computer	oil	power	steam
station	engines	fuel	screen	wells

1. Coal, gas and oil are all fossil fuels.
2. Old trains were run by steam engines.
3. A lot of oil wells are found in Saudi Arabia.
4. We get electricity from our power station.
5. What you type appears on the computer screen.

3-Rewrite the following sentences using the words in brackets and from the same word family:

                1. We study hard because we want to be successful(succeed)
                2. Oil pollutionis dangerous to life.(pollute)
                3. When in danger, always look for a safeplace. (save)
                4. Money makes our society rich and productive. (produce)
                5. On answering this question, you should take great care. (care)

4-Fill In the spaces with a suitable  word:

underground        gas           maintenance           hybrid           total

                1. The car that has two different engines is called hybrid vehicle.          

                2. Oil is found underground        
                3.British English says “petrol station” but American English says gasstation.
                4. The totalof the running cost is $20.
                5. This car offers good fuel economy and average maintenance           

                                                                                                                                                                 III.            Language

1-Change the following sentences into questions using the words in brackets

1. She comes from Australia. (where)

Where does she come from?

2. He is from Palestine. (where)

Where is he from?
3. Ali left school in 1995. (when)

When did Ali leave school?
4. He went to school on foot. (how)

How did he go to school?
5. Her first job was a research assistant. ( what)

What was her first job?

                                                                                                                                                                    III.            Writing

1)     You are the manager of a factory. Write a memo to your staff telling them to attend a meeting at 10:30 in the meeting hall. Your name is Saleem Hassan.

Memo To :Staff members From: The manager                      Date: 27th May ,2009 All staff members are to attend a meeting in the meeting hall at 10:30 a.m. Thanks. Saleem Hassan

2)     Write a report on the best TV set in the market. You may use the following guiding words:

 
In my view / best / suitable / family / big screen / price/ advantages / clear picture / a lot of channels/ remote control/ disadvantages / strong ray/ harm the eyes /away from it / not for a long time.

Best TV in the shops

In my view,’ SHARP 354’ is the best television set I found in the market among other sets. It has many advantages .First; it is suitable for a big family for it has a 50-inch screen, with wide and clear picture. Secondly, it provides a clear stereophonic sound with full remote control. Thirdly, it does not need an antenna or a satellite dish because it has a built-in receiver, with lots of channels. Fourthly, and more importantly, its price is average and most people can afford to buy it.

            Unfortunately, it has one disadvantage. It produces strong ray that is harmful to the eyes so people are advised not to sit close to the screen and not to watch it for a long time, especially children because it may hurt their eyesight.

                                                                                                                                            V.            Literature : The Bet Part 1

Section A:

1-Circle the correct answer:

1-The lawyer thinks that life sentence is better than capital punishment.

a)      death sentence is better than life imprisonment.

b)     life sentence is better than capital punishment.

c)      the state is not God.

d)     he would agree to take five year.

2-According to the banker’s belief, the bet proved to be nonsensical and meaningless

a)      of great importance to him.

b)     not important to the prisoner.

c)      nonsensical and meaningless.

d)     the reason for losing his money.

3-The banker thought that the bet was the caprice of a pampered man.

a)      the caprice of a pampered man.

b)     his greed for money.

c)      the main talk of the party.

d)     the cause of winning.

2-Decide whether each of the following is True or False :

1-     The lawyer gave a party one autumn night. (  F   )

2-     The banker was 25 years old. (F)

3-     The lawyer would stake his freedom. (T)

4-Complete:

“From the lawyer’s part, the bet was his simple greed for money.

“...the thought that you have the right to step out in liberty at any moment will poison your whole existence in prison”

a.      Who is the speaker? The banker

b.      Who is addressed? The lawyer

c.       What was the occasion? The banker was mocking the lawyer and trying to urge him to think again while they were at the beginning of the story, at the night of the party.

Section B:

1-Answer the following questions:

1.      What was the old banker doing at one autumn night?

He was walking up and down his study, remembering how the bet started.

2.      What was the main discussion about?

It was about capital punishment compared with life sentence.

3.      What was more moral for the young man?

Both were immoral but if he was to choose ,he would take life sentence “better than not at all”.

4.      What was the agreement?

The lawyer would stay 15 years in prison and the banker would stake 2 millions.

5.      Who were the people in the party?

They were all guests and among them, there were some journalists and intellectual men.