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Si Lakhdar H. School. School year:
2015/2016.
Level: 2nd
year F.L. Duration: Two
hours.
The Second Term Exam of English
PART ONE: READING AND INTERPRETING. (15pts)
A/ Comprehension (07,5pts)
Read the following text very carefully then do the tasks below.
The most famous radio broadcast in history took place at 8:00 p.m. on October 31, 1938. It was
Halloween eve, and millions of Americans turned on their radios to listen to a popular program
starring Orson Welles. The program that evening was a simple analysis of a science fiction story
called “The war of the Worlds”. (§1)
Let’s imagine that Orson Welles had thought that this story about a Martian invasion or attack
could have been a good one for the night before Halloween! He must have decided to make some
changes in the original story. For example, he might have changed the setting from London in the
1890’s to that-day New Jersey. (§2)
The program could have begun with an orchestra playing dance music. After a few minutes, the
music should have been interrupted with a ‘news bulletin’ reporting that a ‘huge flaming object’ had
landed in New Jersey! The music should have continued, but the ‘news bulletin’ must have k ept
interrupting with ‘live’ reports from the scene. Actors, pretending to be news-announcers and
policemen, would have described in great detail the terrifying invasion from Mars! (§3)
What would have happened? Americans would have been shocked and
afraid hearing that Martians had landed in the United States. Thousands of
those frightened Americans would have believed that an actual invasion of
Earth had been taking place. Some people might have packed their suitcases,
got into their cars, and attempted to escape. Others might have tried to
defend themselves from aliens by hiding in basements, loading guns, and even
wrapping their heads in wet towels to protect themselves from Martian
poisonous gas. (§4)
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1. How many interrogative sentences are there in the text?
2. The text is about :
a. predicting about future events.
b. imagining a present event to be different.
c. speculating about a past event.
3. Say whether these statements are true or false according to the text.
a. The famous radio program was broadcast on the night of Halloween.
b. The dance music was played continuously.
c. The purpose of the radio program was to scare the Americans.
4. Answer the following questions according to the text.
a. What was the radio program about?
b. Who was the star of that program?
c. How would the Americans have reacted if they had been attacked by Martians for real?
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5. In which paragraph is it mentioned that the story of the Martian invasion was adapted from an older
version?
6. What or who do the underlined words in the text refer to? a. he b. Others
B/ Text Exploration: (07,5 pts)
1. Find in the text words whose definitions are as follow :
a. Well known (§1)=
b. A creature from the outer space (§2) =
c. A TV program telling the news (§3) =
2. Complete the following table.
Verb Noun Adjective
……………. continuation …………….
To imagine ……………. imaginary
/ space …………….
3. Give the correct form of the verbs in brackets:
a. If I (can be) a character in a cartoon, I would choose to be Alice in the land of wonders.
b. If you put an iron bar at a 1000°, it (to melt).
c. Most Americans (to be) frightened if Martians had landed in the United States.
d. If astronomers discover another new planet, they (to take) pictures of it.
4. Classify the following words according to the pronunciation of their final “ed”.
interrupted - changed - packed - believed - landed
/t/ /d/ /Id/
5. Fill in the blank with the appropriate adjectives among the followings:
the first - highly accepted - well-known - well-established.
H.G. Wells is a ___1___ writer. He wrote ___2___ sci-fi novel “The War of the Worlds” which
was ___3___ and ___4____.
PART TWO: WRITTEN EXPRESSION: (05PTS)
Choose only one topic:
Topic One:
Imagine Martians attacked your town! Describe what would have happened in a short composition
of about 10 lines. You might use the following notes:
- Kill all human beings/ destroy everything
- Use human beings as slaves.
- Live together with human beings and help in solving problems.
Topic Two:
Imagine yourself being in a dilemma: you won a scholarship and you want to seize the chance to
study abroad but your parents don’t accept because they want you to study in Algeria.
Write a letter seeking advice to agony aunt in which you explain the problem and ask for advice.
Follow the plan below:
- Introduce yourself briefly.
- Say why you are writing the letter.
- Explain the problem in detail.
