Class: 11th A grade

Deadline: Tuesday, The 24th of March

HOME ASSIGNMENT

SUBIECTUL A – USE OF ENGLISH (40 points)

I. Read the paragraph below and do the tasks that follow. (20 points)

The immediacy of e-mail is very tempting. It‘s all too common for someone to sit at his or her
desk, bang out an e-mail message on the computer, and then fire it off to the recipient. One
piece of advice is to treat e-mail with the same thoughtful consideration that you do with
letters or memos you send out. While it‘s tempting to send off an e-mail in response to
something that has angered and disappointed you, resist the urge. Sure, type out the e-mail
if you want to, but then use “the save draft‘‘function that most e-mail software allows. When
you‘re calmer about whatever triggered your wrath, go back and read the e-mail to see if it‘s
one you really want to send. There are no hard and fast rules about the appropriate length of
an e-mail, but a good rule of thumb is to keep the e-mail as short as possible and come
directly to whatever point you‘re trying to make. When you‘re using an e-mail in a
professional setting or e-mailing to someone in a business, you should follow the same rules
about grammar, usage, and the construction of your thoughts as you would if you were
writing a well-crafted business letter. While it may be faster to avoid capitalization and correct
punctuation, it‘s best to take the time to re-read your e-mail message and to make sure it is
correct, clear, and concise. While it‘s a good practice to do this with interoffice e-mail, it‘s
even more important to practise good writing skills with e-mail sent to outside parties. Just as
a letter will give an impression of your company, so will the e-mails you send.

A. Answer the following questions, according to the text. 8 points

1. Explain the phrase bang out an e-mail in your own words.

2. When should you use “the save draft‘‘function, according to the text?
3. What features must an e-mail have to make a good impression?
4. Explain the phrase a rule of thumb in your own words.
.
B. Choose the right synonym for the words given below, according to their meaning in
the text. 6 points

1. fire off: a. spark off b. glow c. send d. light

2. urge: a. appetite b. desire c. longing d. incentive
3. wrath a. hate b. vengeance c. tantrum d. anger

C. Rephrase the following sentences so as to preserve the meaning. 6 points

1. ―Type out the e-mail if you want to! ―

He urged us .............. .
2. When you‘re using an e-mail in a professional setting, you should follow the same
rules about grammar.
When an e-mail .............. , you should follow the same rules about grammar.
3. While it may be faster to avoid capitalization and correct punctuation, it‘s best
to re-read your e-mail message.
Fast .............. , it‘s best to re-read your e-mail message.
II. Use the word given in brackets to form a word that best fits in each sentence.
10 points

Journalists like myself are (1)______________ (USE) poor letter writers. I have heard it said,
that this is because of the (2)______________ (TASTE) we feel at writing something we are
not going to be paid for, but I cannot believe we have quite such mercenary characters. It is
more (3)______________ (LIKE) that, since in our work we are always striving to get the
greatest possible effect, the (4)______________ (ESSENCE) spontaneity of a letter
escapes us. The real (5)______________ (CREATE) artist, who does not consciously work
on the effect at all – though he may re-write a passage dozens of times – does not have this
problem. I believe that it is in this (6)______________ (INHERE) grasp of the effect of his
words that there lies the only sure test of the real (7)______________ (ART). When
Shakespeare wrote some of his (8)______________ (FAME) lines, he surely never thought
(9)______________ (CONSCIOUS) that it was the contrast between polysyllables that
made them so (10)______________ (EFFECT), as well as showing him to be a great writer.
III. Translate the following text into English. 10 points

Am avut, totuși, succes. Trebuia să aduc din culise o cafea pentru comisar. Cum am ieșit pe
ușă cineva mi-a întins o tăviță și m-a sfătuit să pășesc încetișor, ca să nu răstorn ceașca sau
paharul cu apă. Sfatul m-a îngrozit. Eu îmi scosesem ochelarii, pentru că așa voise regizorul.
Când m-am întors, deci, cu cafeaua șefului, am căutat să calc cât mai prudent. Am apărut pe
scenă cu capul în jos, cu brațele tremurând și picioarele nesigure. Toți au crezut că aceasta
era o “creație “ de-a mea și au apreciat-o.
(Mircea Eliade- Romanul adolescentului
miop)
SUBIECTUL B – INTEGRATED SKILLS (60 points)
Read the following text and do the tasks.
“I’m bored”. It’s a puny little phrase, yet it has the power to fill parents with annoyance
and guilt. If someone around here is bored, someone else must have failed to enlighten or
enrich or divert. And how can anyone — child or adult — claim boredom when there’s so
much that can and should be done? Immediately.
But boredom is something to experience rather than hastily swipe away. And not as
some kind of cruel Victorian conditioning, recommended because it’s awful and toughens you
up. Despite the lesson most adults learned growing up — boredom is for boring people —
boredom is useful. It’s good for you.
If kids don’t figure this out early on, they’re in for a nasty surprise. School, let’s face it,
can be dull, and it isn’t actually the teacher’s job to entertain as well as educate. Life isn’t meant
to be an endless parade of amusements. ―That’s right, a mother says to her daughter in Maria
Semple’s 2012 novel, “Where’d You Go, Bernadette.” “You are bored. And I’m going to let you in
on a little secret about life. You think it’s boring now? Well, it only gets more boring. The sooner
you learn it’s on you to make life interesting, the better off you’ll be.”
The ability to handle boredom, not surprisingly, is correlated with the ability to focus.
It’s especially important that kids get bored — and be allowed to stay bored — when they’re
young. That should not be considered “a problem” to be avoided or eradicated by the higher-
ups, but instead something kids fight with on their own.
We’ve stopped training children to do this. Rather than teach them to absorb material
that is slower, duller and decidedly two-dimensional, like a lot of worthwhile information is,
schools cave in to what they say children expect: fun. Teachers spend more time concocting
ways to “engage” students through visuals and “interactive learning” (read: screens, games)
tailored to their Candy Crushed attention spans. Kids won’t listen to long lectures, goes the
argument, so it’s on us to serve up learning in easier-to-swallow portions.
But surely teaching children to endure boredom rather than increasing the entertainment
will prepare them for a more realistic future, one that doesn’t raise false expectations of what
work or life itself actually entails. One day, even in a job they otherwise love, our kids may have
to spend an entire day answering Friday’s leftover email. They may have to check
spreadsheets. Or assist robots at a vast internet-ready warehouse.
This sounds boring, you might conclude. It sounds like work, and it sounds like life.
Perhaps we should get used to it again, and use it to our benefit. Perhaps in an incessant, up-
the-ante world, we could do with a little less excitement.
I. For each question decide which answer (A, B, C or D) fits best according to the text.
10 points
1. How does the author feel about the saying ―boredom is for boring people‖ in paragraph 2?
A. It is true.
B. It is awful.
C. It is good.
D. It is false.
2. What does Maria Semple‘s character suggest in paragraph 3?
A. Children will be surprised.
B. Life isn‘t meant to be amusing.
C. Life will get less boring.
D. Children should challenge and entertain themselves.

3. What does the author mean when she refers to the students‘ ―Candy Crushed attention
spans‖ in paragraph 5?
A. Games have reduced their attention span.
B. Games have increased their attention span.
C. Games have increased their candy craving.
D. Games have become useless in class.

4. A good synonym for entails in paragraph 6 is

A. results.
B. involves.
C. consists.
D. comes from.

5. Why does the author believe that ―we could do with a little less excitement‖ in the
concluding paragraph?
A. Too much excitement damages young minds.
B. Less excitement makes us sadder.
C. Coping with boredom prepares us for the future.
D. Coping with boredom makes us less depressed.
II. Starting from the text above, write a for-and-against essay on the following topic:
There are times when monotony and boredom may inspire people to do something
creative. (200-220 words) 50 points