Name____________________________________________________Form____________Reading Term 1

The Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China is the only man-made construction that can be seen from space. It is 6,000 kilometres
long. It runs along China’s northern border and has an unusual shape. It looks as if its architects did not have
any specific plans. It looks like a snake or a long road. Nobody knows why its shape is like this but legend
states that it was built to imitate the movements of a dragon - a popular religious symbol in China. The section
of the Wall visited by most tourists is at Badaling Pass near Peking. Here, the building material is grey granite
blocks, 6 metres high. On both sides of its roof, there are low walls which protect you from falling off the Wall.
In the middle, there is a road which is wide enough for five horses running side by side. Other sections of the
Great Wall are built of various materials, often of poor quality, for example of wood or sand depending on
whether the wall crossed deserts, plains or the country. The people who were forced to build the Great Wall
were often those who could not pay their taxes, prisoners of war and criminals. There were about one million
slaves working on the wall. They lived in poor conditions, in places called work camps. They worked without
clothes during the summer and they wore only animal skins in the winter. They often died of disease and
hunger. Those who died were often buried in its foundations, making the Wall the ‘world’s longest cemetery’.
There are still many of the original 25,000 towers left. They are about 12 metres high and the distance between
two neighbouring towers is over 200 metres. The army usually lived in these towers. In the period of the Wall’s
glory almost a million men stayed there. Today the Great Wall is one of China’s tourist attractions. Where else
in the world can you see something built by man over twenty-two centuries ago?
Read the text and decide if the statements are true (T) or false (F).
1 _____ Astronauts can see the Great Wall of China from space.
2 _____ The Great Wall of China was designed to look like a snake.
3 _____ The Great Wall of China was built of one type of material.
4 _____ Prisoners and criminals were not allowed to build the Wall.
5 _____ The builders of the Great Wall of China wore poor clothes.
6 _____ The builders of the Great Wall of China had enough food to live.
7 _____ The Wall’s towers are over two hundred metres from each other.
8 _____ In the towers of the Great Wall there lived about one million slaves.
Choose a, b or c
1 The Great Wall is _________________. a) natural b) man-made c) painted
2 Its form is similar to the movements of the_________________. a) snake b) man c) dragon
3 What protects the wall from falling? a) Five horses b) Low walls c) The roof
4 Who lived in the towers? a) The army b) Slaves c) Prisoners
Listening Term 1
Listen to the interview and decide if the statements are true (T) or false (F).
1 _____ At school, computers are useful only in the language lessons.
2 _____ Students can find examples of real-life communication on the Internet.
3 _____ It takes a long time to find online publications.
4 _____ It is not easy to check the meaning of new words on the Internet websites.
5 _____ You can present your opinions on various topics over the Internet.
6 _____ Teachers may find it difficult to find lesson plans in the Net.
7 _____ Teachers can find collections of exercises on the Internet.
8 _____ It is easy to make students learn new things using computers.
Choose a, b or c
1 Susan has been a teacher for_______________years. a) two b) ten c) twenty
2 Computers are used to practice_____________. a) foreign languages b) physics c) biology
3 Most of the material on the Internet is in__________________. a) English b) French c) Russian
4 Students can join______________over the Internet. a) judo clubs b) rock bands c) discussion groups
Writing Term 1
1 Put the verbs in brackets in the correct tense.
1 The teacher saw them while they _______________ (kiss) in front of the school.
2 I hope I _______________ (have) more time for my hobbies next year.
3 George _______________ (break) his leg twice last year.
4 I’m sorry but Dr Harris is not here. He never _______________ (work) in the mornings.
5 The sky is very clear. It _______________ (be) a beautiful day.
6 It _____________________(snow) and everyone in the house was sleeping.
2 Underline the correct word in each sentence.
1 The teacher punishes/inspires them when they don’t do their homework.
2 Honest/Strict people don’t tell lies.
3 I can’t meet you now, but I may/shouldn’t have some time after lunch.
4 He’s as hungry as a bee/bear.
5 A snack is a small/great amount of food.
6 Paris is not as big/bigger as Tokyo.

3 Write an essay ‘An Ideal Teacher’

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Audio Script
Track 7
Computers in education
Interviewer (I): Susan, how long have you been a teacher?
Susan (S): Er ... for about ten years.
(I): What do you think about the role of computers in education?
(S): Well, recently, computers have become a very helpful teaching aid in the classroom. More schools provide
their learners with opportunities to use computer technology (the Internet in particular) to learn new and
interesting information. I think it’s useful not only for the teaching of subjects like physics, maths, chemistry,
biology and geography, but also for practising foreign languages, especially English.
(I): Why do you think teachers should use computers in the English language classroom?
(S): That’s an interesting question. First of all, most of the material on the Internet is in English. Students can
see examples of real-life communication, find out about the use of the grammar and vocabulary they are
learning in their lessons and find all sorts of online publications in a quick and convenient way. Secondly,
students can expand their horizons by getting to know a lot about people and far away places they will never be
able to visit. They can read texts on the websites, play videos, solve quizzes and join discussion groups. These
are only some of the options available to students. Additionally, they can become pen friends or rather email
friends and exchange personal information over the Internet.
(I): And how can the Internet be useful for the teachers?
(S): Oh, the Internet gives teachers many ideas for making their lessons attractive. It has popular dictionary
sites, pages with information about English-speaking countries, lesson plans and attractive collections of
exercises written by experienced teachers from various parts of the world.
(I): In other words, it helps teachers to make their lessons more challenging and interesting for students.
(S): That’s true. It is not very difficult to make students use the computers for learning purposes. I believe most
students would love the chance of having at least one lesson a week to surf the Internet.

Keys
Reading
1 T; 2 F; 3 F; 4 F; 5 T; 6 F; 7 T; 8 F
1b 2c 3b 4a

Listening
1 F; 2 T; 3 F; 4 F; 5 T; 6 F; 7 T; 8 T
1b 2a 3a 4c