Річне оцінювання учнів-екстернів 9 класу

1. TV ads

By Sarah Stevens

I was watching TV the other night and – as usual – there were all those irritating advertisements in the middle of the film, disturbing my concentration! Well, I don’t usually take any notice of the ads, in fact I quite often turn the volume down when they’re on, as they’re so boring. But this time I’m not quite sure what happened to me. One ad caught my attention. It was for a smartphone, and I was actually thinking of getting one at the time. So anyway, I decided to go for it, and I ordered one. The advertisement made it sound so brilliant!

Well, it arrived the next day. It was super fast, and at first I was impressed. However, I really regret it now. I’m not at all happy with it, and I’m sure it’s faulty. For example, I texted a friend yesterday and the message went to the wrong person! That’s hopeless – and it could be quite embarrassing too. Another thing is, the battery doesn’t last for very long. I charged it last night but it’s almost dead again already. It’s very disappointing, and I hope they give me my money back

1) Sarah usually enjoys the adverts she sees on TV.  

2. Read the text and choose the correct answer, A, B or C.

MAN AND MACHINE

BY MARK RAVENS

Science and technology have developed a lot since the fifteenth century, when the artist Leonardo da Vinci drew mechanical figures that looked like men – the first known robot designs. Now, of course, robots are everywhere, from factories to space stations, and they safely carry out all sorts of tasks, from cutting the grass to performing surgery. However, until recently most of them haven’t looked like humans at all, as Leonardo imagined, and they certainly haven’t had feelings. But now all that is beginning to change.

Imagine a world in which robots not only look like us but also know our moods, and have feelings themselves. It might even be possible for robots to become our friends! Science fiction writers have written about a world just like that for many years, and scientists are now predicting that intelligent robots like these will exist quite soon. In fact, they’ve already produced one that recognizes sound, movement and touch. Its bright red heart, which you can see through its plastic body, beats faster if you are rough with the robot or shout at it. But its heart slows down if you are gentle with it. Although it can’t talk, it’s easy to believe the robot actually has feelings!

It’s true that so far ‘human’ robots do not really move, talk or respond in the way we humans do, but they are becoming more advanced all the time. At some point in the future, a robot will definitely be created that may not look like us, but will be capable of doing anything that we can. And then we will truly be in the world of science fiction stories!

2) What does Mark say about da Vinci’s robot drawings?

3. Take Me Back To Prison

There was a king who thought that he could paint very well. His pictures were bad. But the people to whom he showed them were afraid of the king. They all said that they liked his pictures very much.

One day the king showed his pictures to a great painter who lived in his country and said: “I want to know what you think of my pictures. Do you like them? Am I a good painter or not?”

The painter looked at the king’s pictures and said: “My king, I think that your pictures are bad and that you will never be a good painter”.

The king got very angry and sent the painter to prison. After two years the king wanted to see the painter again. “I was very angry with you,” he said, “because you didn’t like my pictures. Now I forget all about it. You are a free man again, I’m your friend”. For many hours the king talked with the painter, and even asked him to dine. After the dinner the king showed his pictures to the painter and asked: “Well, how do you like them now?”

The painter did not answer anything. He turned to the soldier who was standing near him and said: “Take me back to prison.”

3) The king was a great painter.

4. Read the text and do tasks.

A Laconic Answer

The Lacons lived in that part of Southern Greece which was called Laconia. The people who lived there were very brave. They loved their Motherland and defended it from all the enemies. Everybody knew that their life was very simple. They tried to follow the laws of their country and never spoke long. "The shorter the better," was their rule. "Never use more words than you need," was another rule. And nowadays as you probably know a very short answer is often called a laconic answer, because the Lacons usually gave such short answers.

In Northern Greece there was a land called Macedonia. King Philip ruled there. He was not very clever and he was not very brave, but he wanted to become king of all Greece. So, he collected a great army and soon he became master of all Greece. Only Laconia was not conquered. Then King Philip wrote a letter and sent it to the brave Lacons. The letter said: "If I win the battle with your army, I will become your king and ruin your great city."

A few days later an answer was brought back to him. King Philip found only one word in it. The word was very short, and that was "If".

Choose the correct variant:

4) Where was Laconia situated?

5. Read the text and do the tasks.

Thomas Alva Edison

The American inventor, Thomas Alva Edison, was born in Ohio in 1847. Tom, or Al, as his family called him, was one of those children who are always asking "Why?" He was always trying to learn how things worked or how they were made. The boy's education was limited to three months in the public school of Port Huron, Michigan. He started work in 1859 when he was only twelve. Young Edison began to travel on one of the trains between Port Huron and Detroit. He sold fruit, sweets and cakes to the passengers. The hours that he had to wait at Detroit before starting' back home, he spent in the library reading technical books. Several years later, in 1863, Edison learned telegraphy and he became a telegraph operator. He was soon one of the fastest operators in a large telegraph company in Boston. He wanted to improve the telegraph system and worked very hard at it. Night after night he read “The Book of Experiments”, by Michael Faraday, the inventor of the electric generator, in the hope that this would help him to solve his problems. He did not sleep more than four hours a night and sometimes he did not go to bed at all. He often did not even find time for breakfast. "Aren't you going to stop to eat your breakfast?" his landlady once asked him. "No", he answered, "I've got so much to do, and life is short". After a few months of work, he built a transmitter of a new kind. This was his first important invention. Edison was advised to go to New York where the opportunities were greater. He did so, but when he reached New York in 1869, he had no money left at all. "I had to walk in the streets all night because I hadn't the price of bed, and in the morning nothing to buy breakfast with", he said. But soon he opened a small workshop. In 1867 he had two inventions. One of Edison's greatest inventions was the gramophone, or the "phonograph", as he called it, which repeated his words. He told his assistants that this was the beginning. The time would come, he said, when this new instrument would record music. "It will play symphonies and whole operas, the world will hear again the great singers who are no longer living". Another of Edison's inventions was the electric lamp. Edison believed that only work could bring success. He continued active work until only eighteen days before his death in 1931, at the age of eighty-seven. That evening, Americans all over the country turned off their electric lights for a few moments — the light which, Edison had given them. 

5) Where was Edison born?

6. Read the text and do the tasks.

Thomas Alva Edison

The American inventor, Thomas Alva Edison, was born in Ohio in 1847. Tom, or Al, as his family called him, was one of those children who are always asking "Why?" He was always trying to learn how things worked or how they were made. The boy's education was limited to three months in the public school of Port Huron, Michigan. He started work in 1859 when he was only twelve. Young Edison began to travel on one of the trains between Port Huron and Detroit. He sold fruit, sweets and cakes to the passengers. The hours that he had to wait at Detroit before starting' back home, he spent in the library reading technical books. Several years later, in 1863, Edison learned telegraphy and he became a telegraph operator. He was soon one of the fastest operators in a large telegraph company in Boston. He wanted to improve the telegraph system and worked very hard at it. Night after night he read “The Book of Experiments”, by Michael Faraday, the inventor of the electric generator, in the hope that this would help him to solve his problems. He did not sleep more than four hours a night and sometimes he did not go to bed at all. He often did not even find time for breakfast. "Aren't you going to stop to eat your breakfast?" his landlady once asked him. "No", he answered, "I've got so much to do, and life is short". After a few months of work, he built a transmitter of a new kind. This was his first important invention. Edison was advised to go to New York where the opportunities were greater. He did so, but when he reached New York in 1869, he had no money left at all. "I had to walk in the streets all night because I hadn't the price of bed, and in the morning nothing to buy breakfast with", he said. But soon he opened a small workshop. In 1867 he had two inventions. One of Edison's greatest inventions was the gramophone, or the "phonograph", as he called it, which repeated his words. He told his assistants that this was the beginning. The time would come, he said, when this new instrument would record music. "It will play symphonies and whole operas, the world will hear again the great singers who are no longer living". Another of Edison's inventions was the electric lamp. Edison believed that only work could bring success. He continued active work until only eighteen days before his death in 1931, at the age of eighty-seven. That evening, Americans all over the country turned off their electric lights for a few moments — the light which, Edison had given them. 

6) When did he start work at the railway?

7. Read the text and do the tasks.

Thomas Alva Edison

The American inventor, Thomas Alva Edison, was born in Ohio in 1847. Tom, or Al, as his family called him, was one of those children who are always asking "Why?" He was always trying to learn how things worked or how they were made. The boy's education was limited to three months in the public school of Port Huron, Michigan. He started work in 1859 when he was only twelve. Young Edison began to travel on one of the trains between Port Huron and Detroit. He sold fruit, sweets and cakes to the passengers. The hours that he had to wait at Detroit before starting' back home, he spent in the library reading technical books. Several years later, in 1863, Edison learned telegraphy and he became a telegraph operator. He was soon one of the fastest operators in a large telegraph company in Boston. He wanted to improve the telegraph system and worked very hard at it. Night after night he read “The Book of Experiments”, by Michael Faraday, the inventor of the electric generator, in the hope that this would help him to solve his problems. He did not sleep more than four hours a night and sometimes he did not go to bed at all. He often did not even find time for breakfast. "Aren't you going to stop to eat your breakfast?" his landlady once asked him. "No", he answered, "I've got so much to do, and life is short". After a few months of work, he built a transmitter of a new kind. This was his first important invention. Edison was advised to go to New York where the opportunities were greater. He did so, but when he reached New York in 1869, he had no money left at all. "I had to walk in the streets all night because I hadn't the price of bed, and in the morning nothing to buy breakfast with", he said. But soon he opened a small workshop. In 1867 he had two inventions. One of Edison's greatest inventions was the gramophone, or the "phonograph", as he called it, which repeated his words. He told his assistants that this was the beginning. The time would come, he said, when this new instrument would record music. "It will play symphonies and whole operas, the world will hear again the great singers who are no longer living". Another of Edison's inventions was the electric lamp. Edison believed that only work could bring success. He continued active work until only eighteen days before his death in 1931, at the age of eighty-seven. That evening, Americans all over the country turned off their electric lights for a few moments — the light which, Edison had given them.

7) He started work at the age of twelve when the first telegraph company  appeared in the USA