Sample questions and mark scheme Tasks

for Summative Assessment for term 2

LISTENING

Task.
1. Positive psychology focuses on people's problems.
True False
2. The professor asks the students to think about what a happy life is.
True False
3. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi believes that external events are the main things that make us happy or
sad.
True False
4. Csikszentmihalyi believes that a happy life means being very focused on what you do.
True False
5. Csikszentmihalyi studied depression, and from there learned about happiness.
True False
6. Flow means being completely absorbed in what you are doing.
True False

Total [6]

READING

Task. Read the passage.

Part 1. Which paragraph contains the following information?
1. a description of an early timekeeping invention affected by cold temperatures [1]
2. an explanation of the importance of geography in the development of the calendar in
farming communities [1]
3. details of the simultaneous efforts of different societies to calculate time using uniform
hours [1]

1
 A Chronicle of Timekeeping
A
According to archaeological evidence, at least 5,000 years ago, and long before the advent of the Roman
Empire, the Babylonians began to measure time, introducing calendars to co-ordinate communal activities, to
plan the shipment of goods and, in particular, to regulate planting and harvesting. They based their calendars
on three natural cycles: the solar day, marked by the successive periods of light and darkness as the earth
rotates on its axis; the lunar month, following the phases of the moon as it orbits the earth; and the solar year,
defined by the changing seasons that accompany our planet's revolution around the sun.

B
Before the invention of artificial light, the moon had greater social impact. And, for those living near the
equator in particular, its waxing and waning was more conspicuous than the passing of the seasons. 4 . In
more northern climes, however, where seasonal agriculture was practised, the solar year became more
crucial. As the Roman Empire expanded northward, it organised its activity chart for the most part around
the solar year.
C
In order to track temporal hours during the day, inventors created sundials, which indicate time by the length
or direction of the sun's shadow. The sundial's counterpart, the water clock, was designed to measure
temporal hours at night.5 . The falling water level denoted the passing hour as it
dipped below hour lines inscribed on the inner surface. Although these devices performed satisfactorily
around the Mediterranean, they could not always be depended on in the cloudy and often freezing weather of
northern Europe.
D
The advent of the mechanical clock meant that although it could be adjusted to maintain temporal hours, it
was naturally suited to keeping equal ones. 6 . The schemes that divided the day
into 24 equal parts varied according to the start of the count: Italian hours began at sunset, Babylonian hours
at sunrise, astronomical hours at midday and 'great clock' hours, used for some large public clocks in
Germany, at midnight. Eventually these were superseded by 'small clock', or French, hours, which split the
day into two 12-hour periods commencing at midnight.

Part 2. Three sentences have been removed from the article. Choose from the sentences A-D the one
which fits each gap (4-6). There are two extra sentences which you do not need to use.
A. Hence, the calendars that were developed at the lower latitudes were influenced more by the
lunar cycle than by the solar year.
B. One of the first water clocks was a basin with a small hole near the bottom through which
the water dripped out.
C. With these, however, arose the question of when to begin counting, and so, in the early 14th
century, a number of systems evolved.
D. The motion of a pendulum rocks this device so that it catches and then releases each tooth of the
escape wheel, in turn allowing it to turn a precise amount.
E. The revolutionary aspect of this new timekeeper was neither the descending weight that
provided its motive force nor the gear wheels (which had been around for at least 1,300 years)
that transferred the power; It was the part called the escapement.

4. [1] 5. [1] 6. [1]

Total [6]

2
WRITING

Task. Choose ONE of the topics and write

Topic 1. Write an article about the importance of job

interviews. In your article:
 Explain why employers do interviews
 Clarify why interviews are important
 Describe negative sides of interviews

Topic 2. Write an article about the importance of reading instructions.

In your article:
 Explain why and how following instructions is important
 Say what negative outcomes can occur when ignoring instructions
 Cite what people say about instructions as a key to success

SPEAKING
Task. You will work in pairs. Discuss the questions provided in the cardsduring3-4 minutes.

Card 1
 What are instructions?
 Why should people follow instructions?
 What are the main features of good instructions?
Card 2
 Most employers do job interviews before offering a position to a person. Do you think this
is the best way to learn more about a person, or are there any better alternatives?
 What is the best method of choosing employees in your opinion?
Card 3
 What makes a good interview?
 What advice would you give to an interviewee about appearance and body language?
 What else can an interviewee do in order to make the best possible impression on
the interviewer?
Card 4
 Do you think you have a good memory?
 What techniques do you consider to be effective when a person has to remember something?
 Do you believe that a person’s memory deteriorates with age?

Card 5
 What impact has clock had on society?
 To what extent are you a good timekeeper?
 What do you think of punctuality?

Card 6
 What was life like before timekeeping?
 What is the importance of timekeeping?
 What would happen to a society if all the clocks and timekeeping devices stopped working?