олимпиады по английскому языку для школьников
9, 10, 11 классов

---

LISTENING

Time: 15 minutes

Maximum points – 10 points

Прослушайте аудиофайл:

 

 

For items 1–10 listen to an interview with the astronaut Charles Duke, who is talking about his trip to the moon, and decide whether the statements 1–10 are TRUE according to the text you hear, or FALSE, or the information on the statement is NOT STATED in the text. You will hear the text twice.

 

 Questions 1 -10

[start-answers-block type=2]

1. As a child, Charles showed no particular interest in space travel.

[answer="*True#False#Not Stated"]

2. The Gagarins moved to Gzhatsk as they didn’t want to live in their house any longer after it had been dishonoured by the Nazi occupation.

[answer="True#*False#Not Stated"]

3. The hardest part of the training for Charles was endlessly practising the lunar landing.

[answer="*True#False#Not Stated"]

4. The interviewer is pretty sure Charles sailed through his training.

[answer="True#False#*Not Stated"]

5. When he first found out he was going to the moon, Charles was exhilarated.

[answer="True#*False#Not Stated"]

6. Charles had to stop doing all sports.

[answer="True#*False#Not Stated"]

7. During the process of landing, the crew panicked since they couldn’t find a landing spot because of the dust.

[answer="True#*False#Not Stated"]

8. After landing, the crew had to rest for 6 hours before going out onto the moon surface.

[answer="True#False#*Not Stated"]

9. The loneliness of the moonscape made the greatest impact on Charles.

[answer="*True#False#Not Stated"]

10. He didn’t return after the mission empty-handed, since Charles fetched a physical lunar souvenir.

[answer="*True#False#Not Stated"]

[end-answers-block]

 

---

READING

Time: 20 minutes

Maximum points – 15 points

Read a BBC article and answer questions.

Yuri Gagarin

On 12 April 1961, manned space travel escaped the pages of fanciful fiction and arrived blazing into the here-and-now.

The first space flight was a triumph for the Soviet Union and a political and diplomatic setback for the US. But Yuri Gagarin was an instant history-maker whose achievement transcended the politics of the time.

He was born in the village of Klushino, outside Moscow; his father was a carpenter,while his mother worked as a milkmaid. His family, like many others, had suffered at the hands of the Nazis in World War II. During the German occupation, the Gagarins were forced out of their home and had to live in a tiny «mud hut» nearby. Yuri’s brother Valentin and his sister Zoya were deported to labour camps in Poland.

When the future cosmonaut was just 13, he moved with his family to the city of Gzhatsk. His father dismantled the house in Klushino, moved it to the city and rebuilt it there. Friends and family remember a fun-loving boy, fond of pranks, but also keen on his studies. Yelena Kozlova taught Gagarin botany while the future cosmonaut was at school in the city. Now 91, she recalls that Yuri’s favourite subjects were maths and physics: «No-one was able to resist his smile! And girls always liked him, too», she explained.

Gagarin initially graduated from trade school as a foundryman. But he later chose to pursue his studies, enrolling for a technical degree at the Saratov Technical College.While studying here, Gagarin learnt to fly with the local «aero club».

«When he was a student at the Saratov Technical College, he didn’t have much money, and to make some extra cash he had to work part-time as a dock labourer on the Volga River — and he used the money to buy presents for his family,» his nieceTamara Filatova told BBC News.

In 1955, Yuri Gagarin entered the Orenburg Pilot School, and upon graduation joined the Soviet Air Force as a lieutenant. It was here that he met his wife, Valentina, a graduate of the Orenburg Medical School. Soon after the couple married, Gagarin began a tour of duty as a fighter pilot.

In 1960, Gagarin — along with 19 others — was selected as a candidate for the Soviet space programme. «Gagarin was a very clever young man. He was head and shoulders above all the other cosmonauts,» says Reg Turnill, the BBC’s aerospace correspondent from 1958-1975. «He was so quick to learn and had such an easy personality that he was very popular among the top brass, because he could be relied on to play ball and not to give away any secrets.»

The pool of 19 was eventually whittled down to two: Gagarin and fellow test pilot Gherman Titov. Some have suggested that Gagarin’s relatively humble background may have given him the edge over Titov.

On the morning of 12 April 1961, the 27-year-old Gagarin blasted off atop a 30m high rocket from the Tyuratam Missile Range (now Baikonur Cosmodrome).

‘Here we go’

The story goes that Gagarin yelled «poyekhali» («here we go») as his rocket blasted off from Earth. For many, the line embodied the impatience of all those who had for decades dreamed of exploring space. During the historic 108-minute orbital flight, Gagarin was able to consume food through squeeze tubes and kept mission control updated on his condition using a high-frequency radio and a telegraph key.

The mission came perilously close to disaster. During re-entry, cables linking the spacecraft’s descent module to the service module failed to separate. This caused violent shaking during the fiery re-entry through the Earth’s atmosphere. Gagarin baled out before his capsule hit the ground and parachuted to a safe landing near the Volga River.

He was subsequently bestowed the title of Hero of the Soviet Union by the USSR’s leader Nikita Khrushchev. Overnight, Gagarin achieved international renown. He toured the world in style, signed autographs, rubbed shoulders with world leaders and once happened to kiss the Italian film star Gina Lollobrigida.

Final flight

On 28 March 1968, Gagarin was killed on a routine training flight. He was 34 years old. His MiG-15UTI went into a dive and crashed into forest near the town of Kirzach, north-east of Moscow. Gagarin’s co-pilot Vladimir Seregin was also killed.

The cause of the crash is unknown, and many conspiracy theories have grown up in the intervening years. Among the more credible theories is that proposed by fellow cosmonaut Alexey Leonov, who believes that a Sukhoi jet – flying below its minimum altitude – passed within metres of Gagarin’s plane. This triggered turbulence which sent the MiG into a spin from which it did not recover.

Alternatively, a cabin air vent may have been left open by the crew or a previous pilot and this may have led to oxygen deprivation and an inability to control the aircraft.

Whatever the cause of the crash, since Gagarin’s epochal flight in 1961, more than 500 people have flown in space. They all follow in the footsteps of the slight young man from Klushino who took a leap into the unknown some 60 years ago.

---

For questions 1-8, сhoose option TRUE if the statement agrees with the information given in the text; FALSE if the statement contradicts the information given in the text or if there is no information given in the text.

[start-answers-block type=2]

1.    The first space flight brought Gagarin global fame in no time.

[answer="*True#False"]

2.    The Gagarins moved to Gzhatsk as they didn’t want to live in their house any longer after it had been dishonoured by the Nazi occupation.

[answer="True#*False"]

3.    Yuri Gagarin learned to fly a plane at the Saratov Technical College.

[answer="True#*False"]

4,    He met his wife after his graduation from the Orenburg Pilot School.

[answer="*True#False"]

5.    It is common knowledge that Yuri Gagarin’s social origin got him a head start over the other candidates for the Soviet space programme.

[answer="True#*False"]

6.    The first space flight took less than two hours.

[answer="*True#False"]

7.    Gagarin’s capsule landed safely near the Volga River.

[answer="True#*False"]

8.    Gagarin died in an air crash when his plane collided with another one.

[answer="True#*False"]

---

Choose option which best fits according to the text.

 

9.    What are we told about the family of Yuri Gagarin in the second paragraph?

[answer="There were three children in the family in the time of World War II#Yuri’s siblings grew up in Poland.#The Gagarins were forced out of Klushino by the Nazi invaders.#*Gagarin was not a native of Moscow."]

10.    Yuri's school teacher says that he…

[answer="used to play tricks on his friends.#*loved technical disciplines at school.#used to smile a lot.#was keen on botany."]

11.    Reg Turnill remembers that Yuri Gagarin was…

[answer="taller than the other cosmonauts.#good at playing ball games.#not secretive.#*favoured by senior ranks."]

12.    Gagarin’s “poyekhali” (“here we go”)

[answer="*reflects the aspiration to explore space.#was the signal to launch the rocket.#was translated into many languages.#was broadcast live."]

13.    Which one of the listed activities did Gagarin not do during his flight?

[answer="reporting his state of health to the control centre#maintaining radio contact with the earth#eating#*controlling his flight"]

14.    Which one of the listed events CANNOT be regarded as a LOGICAL follow-up of the first orbit flight?

[answer="Gagarin was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.#*Gagarin kissed Gina Lollobrigida.#Gagarin became world-famous.#Gagarin met the diplomatic establishment as part of his world tour."]

15.    Which one of the following statements is true according to the text?

[answer="*The cause of the crash of Gagarin’s plane is still not clear.#It has been proved that a previous pilot had left the cabin air vent open.#Alexey Leonov has evidence that another plane caused turbulence which sent Gagarin’s plane into a deadly spin.#Vladimir Seregin was the only one who survived the crash."]

[end-answers-block]

---

 

USE OF ENGLISH

Time: 25 minutes

Maximum points – 20 points

Task 1

Games in Space

Example

BORE

For astronauts on long missions into space,  (0)  BOREDOM  (BORE)  can be a real problem.


In order to help the astronauts, (1)  [SCIENTISTS]   (SCIENCE)  and doctors need to find out what this feels like.

As part of the (2)  [RESEARCH]  (SEARCH)  programme, six volunteers will be locked away for 520 days to see what effect this has on their mind and body. During their time in (3)  [ISOLATION]  (ISOLATE), the volunteers will be able to communicate with their controllers, but only in a way that replicates the astronauts’ experience. For example, the further away from ‘Earth’ they get, the longer the delay in the signal, so they will be (4)  [UNABLE]  (ABLE)  to have a conversation in real time.

As part of the experiment, the volunteers will be allowed to play computer games. There will be a (5)  [MIXTURE]  (MIX)  of solo games and (6)  [COMPETITIVE]  (COMPETE)  games available. Afterwards, they will be asked to give (7)  [FEEDBACK]  (FEED)  on how hard they found the games to play and what their (8)  [EMOTIONAL]  (EMOTION)  state was at the time.

As a result of the (9)  [INFORMATION]  (INFORM)  gathered, it may be possible to create special (10)  [SOFTWARE]  (SOFT)  for crews on future missions.

 

Task 2

[start-answers-block type=3]

 

Example
[first=" 'Let’s go to the cinema on Sunday,' said Ann." word="WANTED" beginning="Ann " answer="wanted us to go" ending=" to the cinema on Sunday."]

The answer:    wanted us to go

 

11. [first=" I am totally convinced that you will pass the exam." word="CHANCE" beginning="In my opinion, there " answer="is no chance of" ending=" your failing the exam."]

12. [first=" Not many people came to the wedding." word="NUMBER" beginning="Only " answer="a small number of" ending=" people came to the wedding."]

13. [first=" I do not have any money left." word="RUN" beginning="I " answer="have run out of" ending=" money."]

14. [first=" The play was shorter than we had expected." word="LAST" beginning=" The play did not" answer="last as long as" ending=" we had expected."]

 

 

[end-answers-block]