STAGE II NATIONAL STUDENTS OLYMPIAD IN THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE
Listening Comprehension Test for 8th Form Students
Most people think that the cat is an unintelligent animal, fond of ease, and
caring little for anything but mice and milk. But a cat has really more character
than most human beings, and gets a great deal more satisfaction out of life. Of all
the animal kingdom, the cat has the most many-sided character.
He- or she- is an athlete, musician, an acrobat, a romantic, a fighter, a sport
of the first water. All day long the cat lies about the house, takes things easy, sleeps
by the fire, and allows himself to be pestered by the attentions of women and
annoyed by children.
To pass the time away he sometimes watches a mouse-hole for an hour or
two, just to keep himself from dying of boredom; and people get the idea that this
sort of thing is all that life holds for the cat. But watch him as night comes, and you
see the cat as he really is.
When the family sits down to tea, the cat usually puts in an appearance to get
his share, and purrs noisily, and rubs himself against the legs of the family; and all
the time he is thinking of a fight or a tree to climb that is coming in the night.
If there is a guest at the table the cat is very nice to him, because the guest is
likely to have the best dinner. Sometimes, instead of recognizing this kindness with
something to eat, the guest stoops down and pets the cat and says “Pretty cat, Nice
cat!”
“Ow!” says the guest, “the cat stuck his claw into me!” The delighted family
remarks, “Isn’t it sweet of him? Isn’t he smart? He wants you to give him
something to eat.”
The guest doesn’t do what he wants to do- kick the cat through the windowso, with anger and pain in his eyes, he acts like the cat is funny, and cuts out a
piece of fish from his plate and hands it to the cat.
The cat gingerly receives it, with a look in his eyes that says “Another time,
my friend, now you understand my control,” and purrs happily as he returns to a
safe distance from the guest’s shoe before eating it. A cat isn’t a fool- not at all.
STAGE II NATIONAL STUDENTS OLYMPIAD IN THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE
Listening Comprehension Test for 8th Form Students
Task 1. Choose the best option
1. According to the text, which of the following is not an assumption people
hold about cats?
a. Cats are lazy
b. Cats are dumb
c. Cats are cunning
d. Cats only want milk and mice
2. According to the text, why does the cat like to watch a mouse-hole?
a. To greet visitors
b. To avoid boredom
c. To catch a mouse
d. To guard the house
3. Why is the cat really nice to visitors?
a. He likes to meet new people
b. He wants to be petted
c. He wants to make a good impression
d. He wants visitors to feed him dinner
4. Based on the text, what does the word “gingerly” mean?
a. Angrily
b. Sadly
c. Slyly
d. Happily
5. What statement best expresses the main idea of the text?
a. Cats make the best pets
b. Cats are great hosts
c. Cats, unlike dogs, are really man’s best friend
d. Cats are much smarter than people think
Task 2. Decide if the statements are true or false
6. Cats are boring animals that do not have much character
7. According to the author, cats have many different professions
8. Cats do many different things to pass the time during the day
9. In general, cats are not interesting animals at night.
10.When the family has tea, the cat stays away and stays quiet
11.Cats act nice to guests because they want something
12.Cats will hurt a guest if they do not get what they want
13.The guest wanted to give the cat some fish
14.The guest gave the cat some fish because he didn’t want to get hurt anymore
15. Cats are much smarter than humans think.
STAGE II NATIONAL STUDENTS OLYMPIAD IN THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE
Listening Comprehension Test for 9 Form Students
Space Shuttle Endeavour Rolls To Its Resting Place
I'm Audie Cornish.
ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
And I'm Robert Siegel. They're calling it Mission 26. After 25 trips in orbit, Space Shuttle
Endeavour is making its final journey, this one through the streets of Los Angeles. For the next
two days, the shuttle will be towed from Los Angeles International Airport to the California
Science Center in downtown L.A. where it will become a museum piece. NPR's (name of radio
station) Carrie Kahn caught up with Endeavour along its route today.
CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: Endeavour's first stop was a bank parking lot in nearby Westchester.
It's just 2 miles from L.A.'s airport, but it took a couple of hours for the 170,000-pound space
shuttle to get there. Rosemarie Gunning and Maureen Taft were ready with lawn chairs and
snacks.
ROSEMARIE GUNNING: What time did we get over here?
MAUREEN TAFT: Six o'clock.
GUNNING: Six o'clock. And we live in Westchester, and we figured, well, we wanted to be able
to sit and enjoy and then stand when it starts moving, so we brought some breakfast and tea, and
it has been great and exciting all the people.
KAHN: Ever seen anything like this before?
GUNNING: No, no. We were - our kids used to call this Westchester, Deadchester, so...
(LAUGHTER)
GUNNING: ...so this is really something special, extra, extra special.
KAHN: By midday, the crowd swelled into the hundreds despite the light rain.
CHRISTIAN DELGADO: It's amazing. It's breathtaking. It's crazy to see it up close.
KAHN: Christian Delgado did get pretty close, about 50 feet away, close enough to see
Endeavour's well-worn heat-resistant tiles.
DELGADO: A little space dust for you.
KAHN: Well, you could see the dents and the bumps and everything.
DELGADO: That's travel - space travel for you. It's really amazing.
KAHN: In its 25 missions, Endeavour logged more than 123 million miles, orbited the Earth
nearly 4,700 times at a speed of more than 17,000 miles an hour. Heather Lemon and dozens of
other volunteers from the California Science Center were full of Endeavour facts for the curious
onlookers.
HEATHER: And it saw a sunset or a sunrise every 45 minutes. Isn't that amazing?
KAHN: Well, I think what's amazing is its last trip is 2 miles an hour.
: Yeah. Exactly. Down these streets.
KAHN: Crews are still cutting trees along L.A.'s streets to make way for Endeavour. Light poles,
traffic signals and street signs are being removed too. The loss of hundreds of trees has upset
residents living along Endeavour's final route, but today as the five-story-tall shuttle craft rolled
through town, all you heard were the oohs and ahhs. Carrie Khan, NPR News.
STAGE II NATIONAL STUDENTS OLYMPIAD IN THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE
Listening Comprehension Test for 9 Form Students
Space Shuttle Endeavour Rolls To Its Resting Place
Task 1. Choose whether the statements are True or False.
____ 1. The Endeavour has embarked on its final trip.
____ 2. This shuttle made 26 missions in orbit of our planet.
____ 3. It took the shuttle a couple of hours to move a mere two miles.
____ 4. A light rain prevented many people from coming to see the shuttle.
____ 5. The people who live near the airport had already seen the shuttle several times.
____ 6. In orbit, Endeavor's crew saw a new sunset or sunrise every three-fourths of an
hour.
____ 7. Although Endeavor's maximum design speed was 17,000 miles an hour, it never
reached such speeds during missions because of the rough conditions encountered up in
orbit.
Task 2. Choose the best answer.
8. Shuttle Endeavor is being ___ to its new home.
a) carried, b) pulled, c) lifted, d) pushed
9. ____ came to see the shuttle on its way down the street.
a) a couple of people, b) a few dozen people, c) hundreds of people, d) thousands of
people
10. The crowds were not ___ to see the shuttle.
a) thrilled, b) fascinated, c) impressed, d) infatuated
11. Why were some of the neighbors upset?
a) the shuttle was very noisy as it passed through,
b) it damaged the street that it was going down,
c) many trees had to be removed to make way for it,
d) NASA did not let the crowd get as close to the Endeavor as they had hoped
12. Endeavor's final resting place is going to be the:
a) Los Angeles International Airport
b) California Science Center,
c) Los Angeles Space Museum,
d) California NASA Airbase
13. During its space missions, Endeavor orbited the Earth ___ 47,000 times.
a) less than, b) more than, c) almost, d) not even close to
14. This recording is mainly about:
a) although the Endeavor moved very fast in space, it moves extremely slowly on
land,
b) people were very excited about the shuttle being relocated and being turned into
an exhibit,
c) after retiring the Endeavor, NASA is canceling its space shuttle program,
d) it is extraordinarily difficult to move the shuttle from one place to another
15. Future plans for the Endeavor include:
a) Modernizing her and sending her back into orbit for new missions,
b) transfering her back to the Los Angeles International Airport for an exhibition on
the history of air travel,
c) dismanteling her and using her parts for a new faster shuttle,
d) keeping her at the Science Center as a permanent museum piece
Listening Comprehension Test for 10th Form Students
Kathie Holmes
Good afternoon, this is Kathie Holmes in our programme, ‘Young and Brainy’. Today I’m going
to be speaking to Ryan Patterson, a teenager whose invention may bridge the communication gap
between the deaf and those that can hear. Ryan, tell us how it all started.
Ryan Patterson
It was two years ago. I was waiting to be served at our local Burger King and I noticed a group
of customers using sign language to place an order. They were obviously deaf. They
communicated with a speaking interpreter and he relayed their choices to a cashier. I thought it
would make things easier if they had an electronic interpreter instead. I remembered the idea
later, when I was thinking of a new project for a science competition. I called it Sign Language
Translator.It consists of a glove which is lined with ten sensors. The sensors detect the hand
positions that are used to shape the alphabet of American Sign Language. Then a microprocessor
transmits the information to a small portable receiver. The receiver has a screen similar to those
on cell phones, and this screen displays the words, letter by letter. In this way people can read the
words, even if they don’t understand sign language, and people who use sign language can
communicate without an interpreter.
Kathie
Are you impressed? So were judges at the 2001 Siemens Science and Technology Competition.
The project received top honours, along with a $100,000 college scholarship for the young
inventor. And now Ryan’s project is already patented. Ryan, how long did you experiment with
the invention before you finally produced the prototype?
Ryan
Around nine months. I started with researching how sign language works. Then I had to figure
out how to translate all that electronically. Fortunately, I’ve always had an interest in electronics.
I’ve liked wiring things together since I was four years old. I also had hands-on experience from
my part-time job at a robotic-equipment lab.
Kathie
Did you have problems finding appropriate materials?
Ryan
I’m used to hunting for hardware to build competition robots, but for this project I also had to try
on many different gloves. A golf glove turned out to be the best solution. It’s soft and flexible
and fits closely.
Kathie
According to the National Institute of Deafness, one to two million people in the U.S. are
profoundly deaf. And most of them use sign language to communicate. Will your invention
make an impact?
Ryan
There was a demonstration at our local deaf community centre and the people were interested.
What I have now isn’t ready for production. I’m sure it’ll be very different by the time it’s
actually manufactured. But I do hope to see it on the market one day.
STAGE II NATIONAL STUDENTS OLYMPIAD IN THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE
Listening Comprehension Test for 10th Form Students
TASK. Decide if the sentences are true or false.
1. The idea for the invention occurred to Ryan while working at a Burger King restaurants.
2. The deaf people Ryan saw were showing the cashier what they wanted to order.
3. Ryan used the idea when he entered a science contest.
4. A cell phone is used as the receiver when using the Sign Language Translator.
5. Ryan’s invention helps deaf people learn sign language.
6. The invention brought Ryan money to cover the costs of his further education.
7. Ryan had to learn how deaf people use sign language.
8. Ryan had no previous experience of building electronic devices.
9. Ryan had considered various types of gloves for his invention.
10. Ryan has sold his invention to a deaf community centre.
STAGE II NATIONAL STUDENTS OLYMPIAD IN THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE
Listening Comprehension Test for 11th Form Students
The biggest house of cards, the longest tongue, and of course, the tallest man: these are
among the thousands of records logged in the famous Guinness Book of Records. Created in
1955 after a debate concerning Europe's fastest game bird, what began as a marketing tool sold
to pub landlords to promote Guinness, an Irish drink, became the bestselling copyright title of all
time (a category that excludes books such as the Bible and the Koran). In time, the book would
sell 120 million copies in over 100 countries— quite a leap from its humble beginnings.
In its early years, the book set its sights on satisfying man's innate curiosity about the
natural world around him. Its two principal fact finders, twins Norris and Ross McWhirter,
scoured the globe to collect empirical facts. It was their task to find and document aspects of life
that can be sensed or observed, things that can be quantified or measured. But not just any
things. They were only interested in superlatives: the biggest and the best. It was during this
period that some of the hallmark Guinness Records were documented, answering such questions
as "What is the brightest star?" and "What is the biggest spider?"
Once aware of the public's thirst for such knowledge, the book's authors began to branch
out to cover increasingly obscure, little-known facts. They started documenting human
achievements as well. A forerunner for reality television, the Guinness Book gave people a
chance to become famous for accomplishing eccentric, often pointless tasks. Records were set in
1955 for consuming 24 raw eggs in 14 minutes and in 1981 for the fastest solving of a Rubik's
Cube (which took a mere 38 seconds). In 1979 a man yodeled non-stop for ten and a quarter
hours.
In its latest incarnation, the book has found a new home on the internet. No longer
restricted to the confines of physical paper, the Guinness World Records website contains
seemingly innumerable facts concerning such topics as the most powerful combustion engine, or
the world's longest train. What is striking, however, is that such facts are found sharing a page
with the record of the heaviest train to be pulled with a beard. While there is no denying that
each of these facts has its own, individual allure, the latter represents a significant deviation from
the education-oriented facts of earlier editions. Perhaps there is useful knowledge to be gleaned
regarding the tensile strength of a beard, but this seems to cater to an audience more interested in
seeking entertainment than education.
Originating as a simple bar book, the Guinness Book of Records has evolved over
decades to provide insight into the full spectrum of modern life. And although one may be more
likely now to learn about the widest human mouth than the highest number of casualties in a
single battle of the Civil War, the Guinness World Records website offers a telling glimpse into
the future of fact-finding and record recording.
STAGE II NATIONAL STUDENTS OLYMPIAD IN THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE
Listening Comprehension Test for 11th Form Students
TASK 1. Decide if the statements are true or false
1.
2.
3.
4.
The originators of the book were the explorers Norris and Ross McWhirter.
The book was created after people were discussing the world’s fastest bird.
The book was made to produce the Irish beer, Guinness.
The Guinness Book of World Records is the best-selling non-religious copyright title of
all time.
5. The content in the book has changed slightly over time to keep readers interested.
6. The book started by recording interesting facts about the natural world.
7. You can now find the Guinness World Records exclusively on physical paper.
8. The facts produced by the people of the Guinness World Records have become less
entertaining and more educational over time.
9. Material used in the Guinness Book of Records is quantitative.
10. In the text, the word “incarnation” means “desecration”.
.
TASK 2. Choose the best option
11. Which of the following provides the best definition for the word “empirical”?
A. Coming from nature
B. Resulting from experience
C. Recordable
D. Outstanding or fantastic
12. The Guinness Book of Records was created in which year?
A. 1855
B. 1865
C. 1955
D. 1965
13. The book was originally used for what purpose?
A. To collect world records
B. To record interesting facts
C. To help pubs promote an Irish beer
D. To create a record of Irish drinks
14. The Guinness Book of Records has been sold in how many countries?
A. 100 countries
B. Over 200 countries
C. Over 100 countries
D. 200 countries
15. What was the book’s original goal?
A. Impress people around the world
B. Satisfy peoples’ curiosity about the natural world
C. Collect facts from around the world
D. Impress Irish pub owners
16. One of the original Guinness Records documented was:
A. “What is the brightest star?”
B. “What is the biggest bird?”
C. “How long is the longest train?”
D. “How heavy is the biggest spider?”
17. The original “fact finders” were only interested in superlatives. What is a superlative?
A. Something that is strange and interesting
B. Something that is famous
C. Something that is fast and strong
D. Something that is the most in its category
18. Overtime the book began to change, and began recording:
A. More and more facts about nature.
B. Little-known facts and strange human achievements.
C. Important human accomplishments.
D. Entertaining facts about people.
19. Which of these is the best example of what the book may contain in the future?
A. How sunglasses are created
B. The most durable automobile tire
C. The biggest penny in South America
D. The effect of caffeine on rats
20. In this context, the word “deviation” is most closely synonymous to:
A. Combination.
B. Personification.
C. Implication.
D. Separation.