10th grade English Language Department Taldykorgan Task for Olympiad 11

Bidge Hanson and his neighbours in the world's most northerly university town spent yesterday pretty much in the dark, again. It may have been one of the shortest days in Britain, but in Tromso, 200 or so miles north of the Arctic Circle, it was yet another day when the sun failed to put in an appearance. Between 21 November and 21 January the Norwegian town and its 60,000 population live life in a permanent night, and in the summer they switch to spending months in perpetual daylight.

'We tested 1,000 people on a battery of cognitive tests, including memory, attention, recognition time, memory recall and confuse-ability. We didn't look at depression, we were only interested in cognitive performance. We tested them in summer and in winter, and we were sure that we would be able to pick up the winter deficit that is so often talked about,' he says.

Even on the simplest of the tests — measuring the reaction times to a circle being flashed on a computer screen — the winter performances were better. The reaction times of the volunteers were on average eleven milliseconds quicker in the winter tests. The problem that Dr Brennen and his colleagues now have is explaining what kind of body mechanism could possibly be at work to produce the unexpected phenomenon of superior thinking in winter. It is! at odds with many assumptions about health and the winter. A National Institute of Mental Health survey of 1,500 American ₍ SAD patients found that more than 90 per cent reported decreased activity in winter, as well as difficulties with work. They also reported extreme fatigue and lack of energy, and an increased need for sleep.

Some suspect that a change in the environment, especially the arrival of long dark nights, affects personality — that when it gets cold and dark man becomes more introverted and more focused on the task in hand.

'One possible explanation is that we are less distracted by other things in winter. There is not so much to look at and therefore a greater opportunity for you to attend to your tasks,' she says.

But just how light works is not clear. 'Although the cause of SAD is not known, research so far suggests that it is triggered by a seasonal disruption in the cycling of the hormone melatonin, which throws the circadian rhythms off balance,' says Professor William Regelson of Virginia University and author of The Melatonin Miracle.

A. 'It is a quite surprising and counter-intuitive finding that requires a lot of thought,' says Professor Anne Farmer of the Institute of Psychiatry in London, who specialises in treating
affective disorders, including SAD

B. 'If you read a lot of the literature on SAD, the biological psychiatrists expect concentration to be worse in winter, that speed of thought and memory will be poor, and that people will feel sluggish. But we found no trace of that. Clearly the belief that people get groggier and more forgetful in the winter months is unfounded. The findings contradict some of the claims found in the literature on SAD.'

С And they may be implicated in the mechanism behind the Tromso results for cognitive performance, because a similar finding of depression and improved or unaffected mental performance is found in one other body cycle.

D. For psychologists, the extremes in this Arctic Circle environ ment made it the perfect place to study the effects of the seasons on the mind and on performance, and to investigate whether there is any foundation for long-held views that in winter, human thinking, memory recall and performance slow down. If the theory was right, any effect would, they figured, be magnified at a latitude of 69 degrees north.

E. For the treatment of the depression associated with SAD, Professor Farmer and an increasing number of doctors are advising using light boxes. It's been found that exposure to bright artificial light can substantially reduce the symptoms of depression by as much as 80 per cent in some patients. Research on people with SAD has also found that their symptoms improve nearer the Equator.

F. SAD which affects between one and 25 per cent of people, depending upon which study is looked at, is accepted as a condition where depression is linked to the arrival of the winter months. But depression and improved cognitive performance are strange bed fellows, so the hunt is now on to find out what could be happening in the brain to produce such a paradox. Investigators are looking at whether light or temperature, or even some other trigger, may be at work.

G. But when measured by cognitive performance, it was found that the people of Tromso were brighter and quicker in the winter months, a result that put a large spanner in the works of those that hold that man is mentally duller and slower in the winter. For Dr Tim Brennen, who led the research and briefly escaped the winter blackness of Tromso University this week to present his findings at the London conference of the British Psychological Society, the results were a big surprise.

(Use of English) 11^th grade(a,b,c,d)

Task 1

For questions 1—15 read the text below and decide which answer А, В or С best fits each space. There is an example at the beginning (0).

English Spelling

English (0) ________first written down in the 6th century. At that time, writers (1)_________use the twenty three letters of the Latin alphabet to write down (2)___________they heard. Because English has sounds that do not exist in Latin, they added letters to represent the forty-four sounds of English. This resulted (3)___________some irregular spelling.

1. 
   A. was B. were С is
   
2. 
   A. had to B. were to С must
   
3. 
   A. what B. which С that
   
4. 
   A. to B. at С in
   
5. 
   A. had B. were С been
   
6. 
   A. followed B. follow С to follow
   
7. 
   A. of B. in С from
   
8. 
   A. invent B. invented С inventing
   
9. 
   A other B. another С others
   
10. 
    A. at B. to С on
    

10. 
    A. this B. these С such
    
11. 
    A. see B. saw С seeing
    
12. 
    A. by B. on С at
    
13. 
    A. like B. as С though
    
14. 
    A.There is no wonder B.It is no wonder С It is not wonder
    

1. 
   The knife was too blunt to cut the bread.
   

The knife wasn't sharp enough to cut the bread.

He had to his door.

I couldn't the noise any longer.

It arrived.

The return fare the single fare.

You will hear 6 speakers. Match each speaker with the definitions A-G below. You can use each statement once only. There is one statement you do not need. You will hear a recording twice.

1. 
   The speaker likes to hang out with friends.
   
2. 
   The speaker’s favourite activity is sending short messages to friends on the phone.
   
3. 
   Playing the musical instrument helps to the speaker both to earn money and relax.
   
4. 
   The speaker likes looking through glossy brochures more than visiting the real places.
   
5. 
   The speaker likes reading as well as sports.
   
6. 
   The activities depend on the country the speaker is in.
   
7. 
   The speaker spends time riding a horse.
   

Speaker 1- A

Speaker 2- B

Speaker 3 - C

You will hear a conversation between a customer and a shop assistant. Mark the following statements True, False or Not Stated.

1. 
   Susan tried on an old fashioned dress.
   

2. 
   The colour of the dress matched Susan’s eyes.
   

3. 
   Shop assistant’s wife had a dress like that.
   

4. 
   Susan could have her dress tailored in the shop
   

5. 
   Susan thought the dress was too tight.
   

6. 
   The shop offered discounts on some items of clothes.
   

7. 
   Susan bought the dress the next day.
   

You will hear an interview . In sentences 1-7 choose the correct option 1, 2 or 3. You will hear a recording twice.

1. 
   Claire says that she gets motivation from:
   

1. 
   films
   
2. 
   her job
   
3. 
   reality shows
   

2. 
   Claire characterizes herself as work as:
   

1. 
   a person who is easy to deal with.
   
2. 
   a person who follows advice with easy.
   
3. 
   a person who is ready to give advice.
   

3. 
   What role did singing play in her life?
   

1. 
   It helped her earn her living for some time.
   
2. 
   It helped her to go to a stage school.
   
3. 
   It helped her to love music.
   

4. 
   How does Claire fight with stressful situations?
   

1. 
   She has more relaxing tea.
   
2. 
   She takes a bath with a cup of tea.
   
3. 
   She takes relaxation in a bath.
   

5. 
   How health conscious is Claire?
   

1. 
   She looks regularly after herself.
   
2. 
   She never looks after herself.
   
3. 
   She looks after herself during the day.
   

6. 
   Claire says that she sees herself as:
   

1. 
   a follower of her instincts.
   
2. 
   not quite a spiritual person.
   
3. 
   an unbeliever in her faith.
   

7. 
   According to Claire, it’s better to regret:
   

1. 
   experience you have
   
2. 
   experience you don’t have
   
3. 
   experience you will have.
   

Task 1

•You have to write 100—120 words.

Speaking