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LISTENING COMPREHENSION TEST FOR 9^TH GRADE STUDENTS

In this section you are going to listen to the text about dreams and whether they reveal our secrets. You will listen to the recording twice. The task includes 10 TRUE/FALSE questions and 10 multiple-choice questions. Write the correct letters in boxes 1-20.

1.  It takes you a long time to understand that it was just a dream about you arriving at the job interview dressed not in a proper way. 

2. Dreams can give us some hints about our perceptions of our life. 

3. You can hardly believe dream analyst.

4. Sigmund Freud supposed that dreams touch our wants that are kept deep inside.

5. Dreams are not so much mysterious.

6. Dreams do not normally present the thoughts we have during the day.

7. The work of our brain while we are asleep is similar to its work when we are awake.

8. All parts of our brain are less active when we are asleep.

9. There are certain ways how to interpret dreams. 

10. Barrett was the second to introduce the idea that dreams are important.

11. If you look up your dream in interpretation dictionaries,

A  you will see the same meanings in all of them.

B  you will find different meanings.                   C  you will feel anxious.

12. Hollywood films as well as fiction works

A correctly demonstrate the connection between dreams and our life insights.

B together with some studies show that there is the connection between dreams and our life insights.

C are unlikely to have scientific proofs that there is the connection between dreams and our life insights.

13. According to Deirde Barrett

A  dreams are symbolic.   B  dreams are not symbolic. C dreams are rarely symbolic.

14. Greeks and Romans considered dreams to be 

A meaningful thoughts.  B messages from Gods.  C the prognosis of the future.

15. Since Freud the science on dreaming

A has remained the same.   B hasn’t changed much.         C has advanced. 

16. In dreams

A  we think about people dear to us.     B We do not think about our social life. 

C we avoid threats and fears.

17.  While we are asleep, the part of our brain that forms images in our dreams

A  works more               B works less                             C is asleep too. 

18. While we are asleep, cocktails of chemicals in our brains

A modifies.                 B does not become different.                  C does not alter.

19. Dreams are 

A  like Easter eggs. B cannot be interpreted using a formula.

C can be interpreted using a formula.

20. The idea that dreams can tell us about ourselves was introduced by 

A Freud                               B Barrett                       C Freud and

READING COMPREHENSION TEST FOR 9^TH GRADE STUDENTS

In this section you are going to read four texts.  The task includes multiple choice answers and gap filling.  Write the correct letters in boxes 1-30.

TEXT 1: The Mummy’s Curse

Egypt, Valley of the Kings, November 1922. In a dry, dusty valley, two men discover a sealed stone door that leads to an underground chamber. They make a small hole in the door and peer into the dark room. Priceless treasures lie everywhere –  golden chariots, thrones and chests. Two life-sized statues, carved in black, guard the chamber. In an adjoining room, still hidden from their eyes, is the golden shrine of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

This scene is history, not fiction. The men were Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon, both keen archaeologists. They had come to the valley because

it was the burial place of the kings of ancient Egypt, the pharaohs. Many royal tombs had already been found. Sadly, their treasures had been stolen centuries before. But Carter was convinced that one more tomb remained undisturbed

–  the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun!

Tutankhamun is a shadowy figure. When he died, details of his reign were erased from public monuments, and there are few surviving written records. He became king in 20 about 1333 BC. at the age of ten, and was married when he

was still a child, perhaps even to his sister. His mother may have been Queen Nefertiti, a queen of great beauty. Tutankhamun died when he was sixteen or seventeen. Archaeologists believe his enemies might have murdered him.

The ancient Egyptians believed their pharaohs were gods, whose spirits lived on after death. Their bodies were therefore preserved or ‘mummified’ and surrounded with objects for the afterlife. These included precious items such as golden chariots, statues and jewellery. Mummies and tombs were thought to be the earthly homes of the dead spirits. Disturbing or robbing a tomb made the spirit

homeless. Curses were therefore often inscribed at the entrance to a burial chamber, threatening anyone who entered it with terrible punishments.

Carter and Carnarvon must have known about 'The Mummy's Curse’. They ignored it at their peril! Days before discovering the tomb, Carter had bought a pet canary in a golden cage. His servants considered it a lucky charm. But on the day the tomb was found, a cobra killed the canary. Cobras were royal snakes, worn on the headdress of every pharaoh! Was this the start of the curse?

News of the new royal tomb spread quickly. But it was three months before Carter could open the burial chamber. Invited guests gathered around, eager to view the mummy that had been left undisturbed for 3,000 years. When the door was finally opened, everyone gasped in wonder. The mummy lay in a massive golden shrine. Symbols were carved along the sides to guard it from intruders. Did they include a curse? Subsequent events suggested they did. 

Carter was exhausted. He had been digging for months and was in a highly nervous state. One day he argued with Carnarvon and threw him out of his house. He may have regretted this later, but in just one month, Carnarvon was dead. A mosquito bite on his cheek had become infected and Carnarvon, never a strong man, developed pneumonia and died. The mummy was said to have a wound on its cheek, too! Could the curse have caused Carnarvon 's death?

Stranger events followed. At the lime Carnarvon died, the lights went out all over Cairo. At exactly that moment, over in England, Carnarvon's dog howled and dropped dead. Later that year, his younger brother died unexpectedly. Carter's assistant died suddenly, too. In time, more and more people who had entered the tomb met untimely ends. By now Carter must have been wondering if a similar fate awaited him! In fact, he survived, but his health was ruined and he eventually died a bitter man.

The excavation of the mummy’s tomb brought nothing but tragedy to the people involved. But was it the result of the mummy’s curse? We may never know.

1 In paragraph 2, the writer states that Carter

A was intending to rob a tomb.

B wanted to be the first to discover a royal tomb.

C had already discovered a number of tombs.

D believed he could find a particular tomb.

2 What does shadowy mean in paragraph 3?

3 Why did Carter buy the canary in a golden cage?

A Because it might bring him luck.            B To guard him in the tomb.

C So he could keep it at home.                   D To please his servants.

4 When the burial chamber was finally opened, the people present were

A disturbed.      B amazed.       C scared.       D puzzled.

5 What does the writer suggest about Carnarvon’s death?

A It was the result of exhaustion.            B It may not have been natural.

C It was caused by Carter.                       D It was due to malaria.

6 What does it refer to in paragraph 9?

A the excavation    B the mummy     C the tomb     D the tragedy

TEXT 2: Body talk

Questions 7 through 12. Choose from sentences A-G the one which fits each gap 7 - 12. There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use. Write a correct letter on your answer sheet.

A I'll tell you a secret.

B After a while l thought, hang on –  I feel fine in my body, so is this me or is it them?

C But Kate means what she says and is willing to take legal action against those who don't respect her wishes.

D From the earliest time she can remember, she wanted to be an actress.

E Most people respect her for her down-to-earth attitude, and her actor friends like Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean), love her for it.

F She doesn't diet; she just eats sensibly and gets lots of exercise.

G Some of the people who saw her on screen suggested she had a weight problem.

Most leading actresses think airbrushing is the ideal way to maintain the illusion of perfect looks. Kate Winslet does not agree. 

Kate is an Oscar-winning movie actress and celebrated beauty. She first came to fame when she starred in the film Titanic opposite Leonardo di Caprio. The image of her standing, arms out, at the front of the ship is familiar to millions of us. But Kate believes that today's media is giving us a totally false idea of what a normal woman should look like. This is why, unlike most other celebrities, she refuses to let anyone touch up her photos to remove wrinkles, to zap spots, to make her legs look longer or for any other reason.

Kate's fight against airbrushing is pretty unique in the cosmetics industry. Here, perfecting a model's image by artificial means is common practice. 

7. __________ A few years ago she threatened to sue a magazine that used digital imaging to make her look younger. And when she agreed to model for a perfume company, it was only on condition that the company promised not to airbrush her for their poster campaign.

Kate is clearly extremely comfortable with the way she looks and likes being normal. 'I'm not perfect,' she insists, 'and I don't want to be seen as someone who is. I hate the idea that women in films are perfect because they have some kind of

secret beauty that nobody else has. 8. _____________. The reason that women in films are perfect is because we've all been through three-and-a-half hours of hair and make-up!'

Kate grew up in a town not far from London. Both her parents were actors. Times were hard but although there wasn't much money around, there was plenty of love. 9._______________.  Other kids at school wanted to be air hostesses or hairdressers but acting was the only career she could contemplate. She wasn't star-struck or over-assertive. She just knew what she wanted to do. 

It was while making the film Titanic that Kate became aware of another Hollywood hang-up – body shape. 10,______________.  She didn't agree. She's not skinny, of course, but she's not fat either –  just naturally curvy with broad shoulders.

  'I didn't think I was overweight at all!' she says. 'I mean I know I'll never be a stick, but in order for me to be really thin, I mustn't eat anything –  and I'm not prepared to do that. I've always just been myself, and I thought I looked OK. But all of a sudden people were talking about my body image ... something I'd never even thought about before. 11._______________.  And at last I realised that it was them!'

Kate thinks it's wrong for women to be forced to conform to an image that is unrealistic and unhealthy. And she is convinced that men don't like ultra-skinny, bony women anyway. Her decision to speak out on such matters surprised a lot of people in the celebrity world, but Kate doesn't care about that. 12._____________. That's why she has become a perfect role model to thousands of women who want to look good without becoming stick thin.

TEXT 3: Jungle mystery

Sightings of mysterious animals have been reported from many remote regions of our world. But are they fact or fantasy? Steve Brown looks into the subject. 

Terrified villagers in India have recently reported seeing huge human-like

creatures roaming the jungle. They call them 'Mande, Burung', or 'Jungle Men'. The authorities, mystified by the reports, are considering a number of possibilities. Firstly, the villagers may have mistaken a common animal for something else (at a distance, identifying animals can be difficult). Secondly, they could all be lying. If neither of these explanations is true, there remains one more amazing possibility. A species unknown to scientists, but very like ourselves is wandering this planet, virtually undetected!

Of course, people in remote regions of the world have been claiming this for years.

Sightings of giant, man-like creatures have frequently been reported from places as far apart as the Far East, Africa, Australia and Europe. The 'monsters' are called 'Sasquatch' or 'Bigfoot' in the USA; in Asia they're known as ‘Yeti’; in Africa 'Kikomba'. The descriptions given in all these places are remarkably similar. The creatures are said to be tall and powerful, and covered in dark brown or red hair. However, some witnesses claim the beasts are about 10 foot tall, while others say they're shorter. This variation is not necessarily a problem given that some of the creatures might have been juveniles and thus not fully grown. 

Two Americans claimed to have seen and photographed a Bigfoot some years ago. They were travelling through a thick wood when they saw a huge, hairy creature walking on two feet. They ran towards it but it vanished into the trees. They said they were afraid to fallow it into the wood in case it turned and attacked them. But

when they described their experience and published a photograph of the creature, many experts dismissed it as a hoax.  They said it was the image of a man dressed in a monkey suit.

However, the photos did convince a few well known and reputable scientists. Having measured the distance between each footprint, they concluded that the creature’s stride was much longer than that of any human. They suggested it could be a member of an ape-like species that originally lived in Asia. The jawbones and teeth of this species have been discovered so its existence is not in doubt. The species was assumed to have died out millions of years ago. But maybe it didn't? Perhaps the animals survived and spread out across the world before Asia became a separate continent.

It's hard to believe that such creatures are living beside us, undetected. However, as recently as 1938 a species of fish called the

coelacanth was discovered swimming in the ocean, after being presumed extinct for millions of years! And the gorilla and giant panda were thought to be mythical creatures until they were discovered living deep in the forests. So maybe the suggestion isn't so crazy, after all.

If the animals really exist, it could explain why stories and beliefs about wild creatures which are half-ape, half-human, are so widespread in the folklore of many peoples. Native Americans see the giant creatures as caring 'brothers' who are aware that humans are hunting them and have worked out how to avoid capture. They only appear when they want to warn individuals, communities or humankind in general about some approaching danger.

But w1ille stories of the Bigfoot are part of Native American folklore, there is, as yet, no definite physical evidence to prove their existence. There are no records of great apes or monkeys ever having inhabited America. No Bigfoot bones or bodies have ever been discovered there either. Unless such fossil remains are uncovered, the mystery will remain. The Bigfoot may be the product of wishful thinking, or exaggeration, or just a way to attract more tourists to a region. But life has a habit of surprising us ... 

If these hairy giants are out there somewhere, we can be certain that they're shy and reclusive because they usually try to avoid all contact with humans. But from time to time people report that they have seen the 'monsters' in populated areas. If these giant cousins of ours really exist, it could be that they are just as

curious about us as we are about them! 

Questions 13 through 18 (on your answer sheet circle the correct letter A, B, C, or D).

13 Who does 'they' refer to in paragraph 2 of the text?

A the authorities  B the villagers C the creatures D the scientists

14 In paragraph 2, the writer suggests that witnesses who describe the height of the creatures may be

A telling the truth. B making a mistake. C exaggerating the facts. D telling a lie.

15 Why were some scientists convinced that the creature in the photograph was not human?

A Its feet were bigger than human feet. B Its footprints were too large.

C It took longer steps than humans. D Its prints were not a human shape.

16 According to the writer, the suggestion that a species of animal is living among us, unnoticed, is

A improbable. B ridiculous. C possible. D unlikely.

17 What do scientists need to find in order to prove that the Bigfoot exist?

A monkeys  B records C apes D bones

18 What does ‘reclusive’ mean in the final paragraph?

A aggressive B friendly C unsociable  D harmless

TEXT 4: Branding

Companies started branding products _____(19) in the 1800s. There were very _____(20)  laws to regulate manufacturing in those days, so there were plenty of   dangerous products _____(21) sale, including fake medicines!

Reputable companies _____(22) started branding their own goods to show they were safe and of good quality. In order to _____(23) these brands successfully, the companies turned to advertising. They discovered that good advertising can influence sales in a big way. Of course commercial advertising is big business ______(24). And it is everywhere! ______(25) on the TV, or go to the movies, and you'll see ads for nearly everything. Sometimes you don't even realise a product is _______(26) advertised. In the movie Minority Report, the character played by Tom Cruise owns a phone on ______(27) the Nokia logo is clearly displayed, _____(28) his watch is engraved with the Bulgari logo, so you have no doubt about the make. Similarly, in the Bond film Casino Royale, the vehicles James Bond drives and the gadgets he uses have clear brand ______(29) . Hidden advertising _______(30) this is very effective.

Questions 19 through 30 (on your answer sheet circle the correct letter A, B, C, or D). 

19  A long              B back                  C far                   D way

20  A a few            B a lot                   C few                 D lots

21  A on                 B in                       C at                    D by

22  A so                  B however            C although         D therefore

23  A show             B compete            C market            D appeal

24  A nowadays     B presently           C recently           D lately

25  A Press             B Log                   C Push                D Switch

26  A having           B getting              C being               D making

27  A that                B which               C whom              D where

28  A and                B but                    C also                  D except    

29  A titles              B signs                 C names              D signatures

30  A same             B alike                  C as                     D like

WRITING FOR 9^TH GRADE STUDENTS

Choose one of the topics given below and write a 130-150 word essay. 

1. “Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened,” said Anatole France. Why are pets so important in people's life? What kind of pets are more suitable for teeanagers? How having a pet can influence a teenager's life?

2. “... what you learn today, for no reason at all, will help you discover all the wonderful secrets of tomorrow,” said Norton Juster. What skills and knowledge have you got that you obtained completely on your own? What motivated you to learn new skills? How can you use this knowledge in the future?

3. “The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them,” said Ernest Hemingway. Do you support Hemingway's quotation? Why (not)? What does 'trust' mean for you? Is there anybody who you still trust despite their betraying you?