ВСЕРОССИЙСКАЯ ОЛИМПИАДА ШКОЛЬНИКОВ ПО АНГЛИЙСКОМУ ЯЗЫКУ
2014 г МУНИЦИПАЛЬНЫЙ ЭТАП.
7 - 8 классы
Time: 90 minutes.
READING COMPREHENSION
Questions 1-12 relate to Text 1.
Text 1
Parenting in America
Parenting in the USA has changed dramatically in the past half-century. When labour-saving products such as washing machines, dishwashers and ready meals started to spread, people naturally assumed that parents would soon have much more free time.
Not so. Although the average American couple spent eight hours a week less on household chores in 2011 compared with 1965, according to the Pew Research Centre, more than all of this extra time was gobbled up by child care. Women now devote an extra four hours a week to looking after their offspring; men devote an extra four and a half. This is largely a good thing. For most people, teaching a kid to ride a bike is more rewarding than washing dishes. A different Pew survey finds that 62% of parents find child care “very meaningful”, a figure that falls to 43% for housework and only 36% for paid work.
However, there are two worries about modern parenting. One concerns “helicopter parents” (largely at the top of the social scale), who hover over their children’s lives, worrying themselves sick, depriving their offspring of independence and doing far more for them than is actually beneficial. The other worry concerns parents at the bottom, who struggle to prepare their children for a world in which the unskilled are marginalised. This is far more important.
In a study in 1995, Betty Hart and Todd Risley of the University of Kansas found that children in professional families heard on average 2400 words an hour. Working- class kids heard 1,200; those whose families lived on welfare heard only 600. By the age of three, a doctor’s or lawyer’s child has probably heard 30m more words than a poor child has.
Well-off parents talk to their school-age children for three more hours each week than low-income parents, according to Meredith Phillips of the University of California, Los Angeles. They put their toddlers and babies in stimulating places such as parks and churches for four-and-a-half more hours. And highly educated mothers are better at giving their children the right kind of stimulation for their age, according to Ariel Kalil of the University of Chicago. To simplify, they play with their toddlers more and organise their teenagers.
Children with at least one parent with a graduate degree score roughly 400 points higher (out of 2,400) on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (a test used for college entrance) than children whose parents did not finish high school. This is a huge gap. It is hard to say how much it owes to nurture and how much to nature. Both usually push in the same direction. Brainy parents pass on their genes, including the ones that predispose their children to be intelligent. They also create an environment at home that helps that intelligence to blossom, and they buy houses near good schools.
Nonetheless, there is evidence that parenting matters. Richard Reeves of the Brookings Institution, a think-tank, concludes that it accounts for about a third of the gap in development between rich and poor children. He argues that the “parenting gap” is more important than any other.
The two aspects of parenting that seem to matter most are intellectual stimulation (e.g., talking, reading, answering “why?” questions) and emotional support (e.g., bonding with infants so that they grow up confident and secure).
From a public-policy perspective, nature is a given. Individuals can influence the genes their children inherit, but the state is concerned only with how children are nurtured. America lavishes public money on school-age children (more than $12,000 per pupil each year) but virtually ignores the very young, despite strong evidence that the earliest years matter most. Only 67% of American three- to five-year-olds and 42% of under-threes are enrolled in formal child care or preschool. In France it is 100% and 48%.
Government meddling in parenting is politically touchy. As Mr Reeves writes: “Conservatives are comfortable with the notion that parents and families matter, but too often simply blame the parents for whatever goes wrong. They resist the notion that government has a role in promoting good parenting.” As for liberals, they have “exactly the opposite problem. They have no qualms about deploying expensive public policies, but are wary of any suggestion that parents-especially poor and/or black parents—are in some way responsible for the constrained life chances of their children.”
Weak parents can learn to be stronger, and outsiders can sometimes help them. In West Virginia, for example, an organisation called Zero to Three (as in, 0-3 years old) sends “parent educators” to families. They find them via the local maternity clinic, visit their homes and identify the parents most in need of help by looking for simple clues. For example, are there fewer than ten books visible? Does the family go out less than once a week?
The parent educators don’t just nag parents to read to their offspring more and hit them less. They also teach them how to interact with their kids in ways that stretch their minds: reasoning with them, answering their questions and teaching them basic skills. “I see a lot of parents doing things for their children because it saves time,” says Heather Miller, a parent educator. “Even one mom who tied her 12-year-old son’s laces. You have to learn to stop and let him do things for himself.”
A home visit is supposed to be fun. Visiting a five-year old called Lily, Ms Miller brings a game called “Five Little Monkeys”, based on a popular nursery rhyme. It involves numbers, artful propaganda in favour of going to sleep and the thrill of watching plastic monkeys fall off a spring-loaded bed.
When Lily was 18 months old, she did not talk. Zero to Three had her checked out and found that it was nothing to do with her intelligence: she simply had weak muscles in her mouth. The cure was cheap and jolly: her mom was shown how to tear up little bits of paper, scatter them on a table and dare Lily to blow them off through a straw. This strengthened her mouth muscles; now she chatters non-stop.
Parent educators hand out books as presents for the kids and offer leaflets to the parents. The programme in West Virginia is cheap: about $1,800 per family each year. It has not been around long enough for its effectiveness to be assessed, but others have. A review of 11 home-visiting programmes by the federal health department found that seven led to at least two lasting benefits (e.g., making the child healthier or better-prepared for school). A pre-school programme called hippy, which aims to teach parents how to be their children’s first teachers, appears to boost reading scores significantly.
All this suggests that, when it comes to education, the best returns will come not from pumping yet more money into schools but from investing in the earliest years of life. And that includes lending a helping hand to parents who struggle.
Task 1. Read text 1 and say whether the statements below are TRUE (T), FALSE (F) or NOT GIVEN (NG).
An important aspect of child early development is learning a foreign language.
All French children between 3 and 5 years old are involved into early development.
Helicopter parents care very little of their children.
In the USA relatively little money is spent on pre-school development of children.
Better results of children of well-educated parents are connected with the inherited genes and stimulating learning environment.
The Conservatives think that the government is responsible for good parenting.
Canada invests more money into early development of children than France.
The results of the parent education programme in West Virginia are not evaluated yet.
American people rank child care higher in importance than household chores.
The profession of a teacher is a prestigious one in the USA.
“0 to 3” Organization helped little Lily to learn to read.
Most of home-visiting programmes of federal health department lead to at least two lasting benefits for pre-schoolers.
Questions 13-22 relate to Text 2.
Text 2
The Power of the Spoken Word
Arguments and debates can be exhilarating experiences. But those wishing to be more persuasive must first make sure they prepare.
| A | If you say “I am having an argument”, most people will assume that you are picking a fight. But this need not necessarily be so. The ability to argue in a controlled wav is a fundamental skill. It is used by lawyers, politicians, campaigners and many others every day of the week. Arguing well is part of the process of successful negotiation. It is far more likely to get you out of trouble than into it. Some people instinctively find that they are strong arguers. However, the art of arguing can be taught, and in many schools it is part of other subjects. Until the beginning of this century, many people considered arguing to be one of the essential elements in a proper education.
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| B | The Greeks and Romans, whose ideas about law, science, the arts and society have had such an enormous impact on our own culture, also influenced the way we argue. Aristotle (384-322 BC), the Greek philosopher, wrote a work called Rhetorica which laid down rules to follow in order to argue successfully. In these ancient societies, writing was used less widely than in ours and so public speaking was very | important. There were no newspapers and no television to help people decide what they thought about issues. Practised speakers, known as orators, who spoke on formal occasions and at public meetings, were critical in helping to form opinions. Orators used all the tricks of rhetoric to get their points across. In Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, Mark Antony is so angry about the assassination of Caesar, his friend, that he makes a powerful speech to the Roman people. Shakespeare, who knew from his reading about the Roman art of public speaking, gives his character powerful lines which win the people over to his side. Speaking like a true Roman orator, Antony addresses his audience with the lines, “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears ...”
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| C | If Anthony were transported in time and space to the Houses of Parliament in Britain today, he would almost certainly recognise what was going on. He would realise that when politicians “debate” bills or motions, they are following on from the lines that were laid down in the ancient world. Whether he would be impressed by what he heard is, of course, another matter.
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| D | To win an argument, you need to convince someone that you are right. To do that you have to make a good case, which requires organisation. Many people have suggested ways to do this. The same basic principles underlie most systems. Firstly, you should decide what you think. It is surprising how many people start sounding off about something without really deciding what they think about it. An opinion which has been formed without any real thought or inherited from others - friends or parents, for example - is really no more than a prejudice. Before you are able to argue on any subject, you need to understand what you are talking about.
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| E | Next, you should select your arguments. The whole process of talking about your opinion and showing why it is right is known as an argument. The individual parts of the process are also called arguments. Selecting your arguments means coming up with the reasons which best support your opinion. It often helps to think of specific examples to help illustrate them. You might want to argue that nuclear power should be banned. One of your arguments might be that it is dangerous. You might want to illustrate this by giving examples of accidents that have actually happened.
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| F | You should also anticipate your opponent’s arguments because, as well as coming up with reasons in support of your opinion, you need to think about the criticisms that might be made of it. You need answers for these criticisms. This is one of the most powerful ways of winning over your audience.
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| G | The order of your arguments is also very important. You might want to deal with the powerful and convincing arguments first. On the other hand, you might like to start with the less important ones and build up a more and more convincing case. Of course, there is more to winning an argument than just having a good case. You also need to present it properly. That means not just thinking about what you say, but also about how you say it. Over the years, people have thought up a number of techniques to make what they say persuasive. These include asking rhetorical questions (which are not meant to be answered), appealing to the audience’s emotions and making effective analogies.
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Task 2.
Which paragraph contains the following information from Text 2? You should choose one paragraph for each statement.
13. Ways in which public opinion was formed in the past
14. A reference to old ideas about education
15. A suggestion that ancient orators were superior to modern ones
16. A very good way to influence an audience with your arguments
17. A criticism of speaking without preparation
18. Someone who was familiar with ideas from ancient times
19. A popular misconception that the writer disagrees with
20. Positive and peaceful aspects of arguing
21. A slightly skeptical view of one group of public speakers
22. The idea that good arguments are always organized according to the same pattern
Task 3. Choose the correct alternative to complete each statement from Text 2.
23. The best starting point for developing arguments is
A) selecting your arguments
B) deciding what you think yourself
C) thinking of specific examples of the issue
D) developing a strategy of convincing your listeners
24. Why was public speaking so important in ancient societies?
A) there were no mass media
B) people couldn’t write
C) people couldn’t read
D) orators were considers celebrities
25. What you expect in an argument and respond well to?
A) cheers from the audience
B) questions from the audience
C) your opponent’s criticism
D) your opponent’s speech
26. Which stylistic device does Mark Antony use in his address to the audience?
A) hyperbole
B) antithesis
C) oxymoron
D) gradation
Questions 27-37 relate to Text 3.
Text 3
Whales
‘The whale has no voice’, wrote Melville in Moby Dick ‘but then again what has the whale to say? Seldom have I known any profound being that had anything to say to this world, unless to stammer out something by way of getting a living.’ Not so. Whales may not sing for their suppers, but some of them certainly do sing. Melville failed to hear them because they sing underwater. Others have heard them without realising it. If whales sing near a wooden-bottomed boat, sailors in their bunks or hammocks may hear an eerie melodious wail from they know not where. Hence, perhaps, the many sea-tales of lullabies sung by drowned colleagues.
Why do they sing? First, spot the singers. There are two sorts of whales: the toothed whales - such as killer and pilot whales - who are close relatives of the porpoise and the dolphin; and the toothless ‘baleen’ whales - such as the humpback, right and minke. The toothed whales usually live in stable and organised groups: a gang of killer whales may stay together for years on end. Such creatures make sounds, but have not been known to sing. Many dolphins produce ‘signature’ whistles - each one has a different call-sign from his neighbours. These seem to function as names: a dolphin will often produce his neighbour’s whistle when nearby. Similarly, each whale produces a distinctive series of clicks - known as his coda - and will sometimes mimic a nearby whale’s coda. Killer whales have identifiable dialects that are specific to each family. It is the baleen whales, especially the humpbacks, who break into song. At any one time, all the singing whales in a population sing the same song. It gradually changes over time and each whale learns and copies the new variations. This is a formidable feat because the songs, which can last up to thirty minutes, are highly complex. It is only the males who sing, and they do so chiefly during the breeding season. The songs seem - like many bird songs - to be a sort of display that males use in competing with each other for females.
Singing humpbacks have a wide vocal range: the notes can swoop down from a high-pitched factory whistle to a reverberating fog-horn. Play back a recorded humpback song at fourteen times the correct speed and it sounds like a nightingale. But birdsong is shorter - and more significantly - not so structured as whale song. Whale song can be broken down into regularly repeating phrases, which in turn are organised into themes that always occur in the same sequence. Unlike birds, whales appear to have studied some of the rules of classical composition.
By analysing these themes and phrases, two scientists have reached conclusions about whale culture that would have struck Melville dumb. Whales seem to use a structure like rhyme in poetry. And, like people, they may put in the rhymes to help them remember their songs. The two scientists, Miss Linda Guinee of the Long Term Research Institute in Lincoln, Massachusetts, and Mrs Katharine Payne of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, analysed 460 whale songs from the North Pacific and 88 from the North Atlantic. From their recordings they produced audio spectograms, converting sounds into strings of squiggles which can be classified by shape. Having a catalogue of whale songs helps marine biologists to track whale populations on their odysseys by showing where each singer comes from. It also lets them study the songs as they evolve. Since whales learn their songs, such songs are an example of culture; and the way they change is an example of cultural evolution.
It turns out that whales make much use of phrases with the same endings - i.e. rhymes. Miss Guinee and Mrs Payne found that songs with many differing themes were much more likely to contain plenty of rhymes. They found that rhymes were correlated not with the length of a song but with the amount of different material to be remembered. Simple songs did not contain any rhyming passages. The rhyming pattern then, could be a way to help the whale remember what comes next in a complicated song. A rhyming pattern helps people to learn and remember poetry by limiting the number of possible words in a given position. If you know that every third and fourth line of a stanza in a given poem rhyme, and that the third line of a stanza ends with ‘love’, you know that the next
line might end with ‘dove’ but cannot end with ‘sparrow’. Advertising jingles often use rhyme in the justified hope that people will remember the names of products. You do not have to know the meaning of a word or sign in order for rhyme to help you recall it (think of children’s nonsense rhymes). Poets use rhyme for all sorts of reasons: because they are attractive, musical, create a pleasing rhythm, or are merely ingenious or funny.
Miss Guinee and Mrs Payne realise that their evidence is inconclusive, because they cannot ask the whales what they are up to. Some will doubt their conclusion because it makes whales seem implausibly human. Maybe they have not made whales ‘human’ enough. Perhaps the rhyming sirens of the deep are simply trying to please themselves and their audience.
Choose the correct alternative to complete each statement from Text 3.
27. What did Melville believe about whales?
| A) | They didn’t produce vocal sounds. |
| B) | They had nothing to say. |
| C) | They couldn’t imitate the human voice. |
| D) | They couldn’t sing. |
28. Which sea creatures also make sounds functioning as name identifications?
A) sharks
B) walruses
C) dolphins
D) seals
29. What is known about the song of a humpback whale?
A) It is identical to that of a nightingale.
B) It could be taken for birdsong if it was slower.
C) It mimics sounds produced by musical instruments.
D) It is rather more complex than that of birds.
30. Which whales can not sing?
A) killer whales
B) humpback
C) right
D) minke
31. How many songs do the singing whales of a population sing at a given moment?
A) one
B) two
C) three
D) several
32. Why does the writer say “Whales appear to have studied some of the rules of classical composition?”
A) He believes whales are more intelligent than most people think.
B) He doesn’t take the research seriously.
C) He thinks there is evidence that whales have learnt through contact with humans.
D) He is trying to amuse the readers.
33. What did the two scientists discover?
A) There were 460 types of whale song.
B) Whale song varied according to how fast the whales were travelling.
C) Whales responded when music was played to them.
D) The songs demonstrated where the whales originated from.
34. Where are the rhymes most likely to occur?
A) in songs which are being learnt
B) in complicated songs
C) in songs which have changed
D) in long songs
35. Whale songs also have a ____ function about them.
A) healthcare
B) mathematical
C) cultural
D) entertaining
36. What the main reason that the advertising uses rhyme?
A) to make the ads funny
B) to make the ads pleasant
C) to make the ads ingenious
D) to make the ads memorable
37. What is the conclusion of the writer of the article?
A) That the scientists want to make whales appear too much like humans.
B) That the scientific work on whales is too inconclusive to be taken seriously.
C) That scientists may be missing a simple and obvious explanation for whale song.
D) That scientists may have found a way of communicating with whales.
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