ENGLISH OLYMPIAD SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Choose the correct answer:

Complete the conversations:

1. This cake is not .. good the cake my

mother makes at home.

11. Eve : How long have you been out of work?

Byron: Im not out of work now. Ive just
started a new job.
Eve:
Byron: I answered an advert in the paper.

A) more / than
D) such / that

B) so / that
C) on / at
E) as / as

2. After one year the university he gave

.. his studies because his family moved
.. another country.
A) in / out / up
B) at / up / to
C) for / off / in
D) by / away / into
E) with / out / towards
3. If you .. not to tell anyone else, I you how
much I paid for the jewelry.
A) would promise / will be telling B) promised / shall tell
C) promise / will tell
D) had promised / tell
E) have promised / would have told
4. In recent years, modern farming .. to many
parts of the world.
A) expanded
C) will be expanding
E) will have expanded

B) expands
D) has expanded

5. Primary education from the age of six is

in many countries.
A) abolished
B) deceitful
C) obligatory
D) privileged
E) informal
6. Only a mechanic can estimate the true of
the damage to the car.
A) depth

B) extent
C) access
D) admission
E) excess

7. If human beings come too close to a nest, the

birds it temporarily.
A) disperse
D) sweep

B) offend
C) evacuate
E) abandon

8. He was from his job for not coming

punctually every day at nine oclock.
A) deprived
B) retired
C) promoted
D) frustrated
E) dismissed
Choose the
sentence:

answer

that

best

completes

the

9. As soon as I phoned her .. .

A) I would hope to get a telephone call from her
B) she had waited at the station for over an hour
C) I would have told her what to do
D) she was very determined to quit her job
E) I apologized for my mistake
10. , I decided to get a taxi.
A) As I had no idea about the identity of the driver
B) Realizing I would never get on a bus during this rush
hour
C) No matter how practical it may seem
D) Once I understood that it would take me very few
minutes to walk to work
E) So beautiful was the weather that

A) Have you had any experience?

B) What sort of occupation did you have in mind before
you started the job?
C) How did you find the job?
D) Is it a full-time job in a newspaper?
E) How did you lose your previous job?
12. Thomas: Im hungry, Ill get two
hamburgers and a coke. Would you like something
to eat?
Julia
: .
Thomas: Oh, how about a cup of tea then?
Julia
: Sure, why not.
A) I dont want anything to eat
B) That sounds good, I want the same.
C) Im afraid I havent had anything to drink.
D) What do you mean?
E) Yes, please. I havent eaten anything since yesterday.
----------------------------------------------------------Choose the best option:
13. You havent been able to study and the teacher
asks you a question that you cant answer. You give
your excuse to the teacher apologetically:
A) Why do you always ask me?
B) I wont answer your question. Ask another student.
C) Excuse me, sir. I had a headache and I couldnt study.
D) I didnt study. I know Im going to fail anyway.
E) My father told me not to study, so I didnt.
14. You borrowed your sisters camera without her
permission and you broke it. You try to apologize to
her and say that you will get it repaired soon, but
she criticizes you for taking it without asking and
says:
A) Im terribly sorry; Ill buy you another one soon.
B) You should have let me know before borrowing it. Then
it would have been less upsetting for me.
C) Dont worry; you are always doing the same thing. Im
used to it.
D) If it were a good camera, it wouldnt have broken
down.
E) Why dont you get it repaired for yourself and I will buy
a new one for myself.
----------------------------------------------------------Insert the most suitable sentence:
15. Long ago the people of the South Seas sailed the
Pacific Ocean in giant canoes. .. . Today
these islands are known as Oceania. The 25 000
islands in Oceania are very small and only a few
thousand are inhabited.
A) They traveled great distances and settled on thousands
of islands, including Hawaii.
B) However, in 1893 Queen Mary agreed to give up her
throne to protect her people from overseas threats.
C) When people from places all over the world come to
live in the U.S.A. they enrich the nation.
D) The culture of the island is unique.

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ENGLISH DEPARMENT

ENGLISH OLYMPIAD SAMPLE QUESTIONS

E) The Queen is remembered today for her bravery and
struggle to keep Hawaii from being taken over by foreign
settlers.
16. In fact, the spider is a great engineer.
. . In a lifetime a single spider will
produce several kilometers of it. They use it to catch
food. They use it to wrap their eggs. And many
spiders use it as a lifeline, which stops them from
falling.
A) Spiders produce silk of strength , but only 0.005
millimeters thick.
B) Take the spider web for example, it is so common and
can be found in every garden.
C) It also bites and its bite is poisonous.
D) It is valuable to man because it eats large amounts of
insects.
E) The radials of the web are connected between the base
lines and the centre of the web.
-----------------------------------------------------------

D) Do you think it is a long way from London to Leeds?

E) Where will the new bridge be constructed?
----------------------------------------------------------Choose the best answer to fill in the blanks in the
text:
Cuba
has
great
potential
resources,
both
agricultural and mineral, but its mainly (21)
that (22) .. . The island is in normal years the
worlds largest producer of sugar, (23) . only
by the Russian Federation. When Castro came to
power, Cuban sugar accounted for about one-fifth of
world production and one-third of world exports.
The climate and (24) of the soil of Cuba are
very well suited for sugar-cane, and the island was
(25) .. source of supply to the United States.
21. A) one

B) the further
C) the former
D) latest
E) the later

Income in the U.S. is distributed unequally.

Although the U.S. is considered to be a middle-class
society, the poorest of the country earn only 5
percent of the income while the richest earn 44
percent of the income. In 1998, 11 percent of U.S.
adults and 21 percent of U.S. children were at
poverty levels. Many of these people lack the
education necessary to hold down a job in this
technological society. Prices for necessities like food
and housing have increased more rapidly than the
minimum wage. Consequently, the poor have
become poorer in terms of their ability to pay for
these necessities.

22. A) was developed

B) has been developed
C) have developed
D) has developed
E) have been developed

17. The main topic of the passage is the . .

-----------------------------------------------------------

A) rich living in the U.S.

B) poverty of poor children
C) unequal distribution of income in the U.S.
D) reason why the government provides food for the poor
E) ideal life of American citizens
18. According to the passage, being well-educated
is essential to .
A) find a good job
B) improve the understanding of society
C) overcome the problems of the environment
D) get food and shelter
E) distribute the income evenly
----------------------------------------------------------Choose the best sentence to complete the dialogue:
19. Ann: ..
Brian: No, thats not necessary!
A) Could you bring some more material?
B) Can you help me?
C) Shall I pack your suitcase?
D) Do you have any problem?
E) Is my partial success important for you?
20. A: .
B: Two miles downstream.
A) Couldnt it be built near here?
B) How long does it take to get there?
C) The rock formation here is suitable, isnt it?

23. A) rivalled
B) rivaling
D) has rivaled
24.

A) many
D) none

C) was rivalled
E) rivals

B) much
C) the number
E) plenty

25. A) the nearest

B) more
C) nearer
D) much more near
E) the most

Find the sentence that is closest in meaning to the

sentence given in bold:
26. I left her a note last time in case she thought
someone had pinched her watch.
A) I left her a note last time so that she would think
someone had pinched her watch.
B) So as to avoid misunderstanding, I left her a note last
time saying that someone had pinched her watch.
C) A note left by me last time could have prevented her
from thinking that someone had pinched her watch.
D) If only I had left her a note last time, then she
wouldnt think someone had pinched her watch.
E) I left her a note last time, otherwise she might have
thought someone had pinched her watch.
27. To me, the weather never seems as bad abroad
as it does at home.
A) For me nowhere abroad is the weather more pleasant
than it is at home.
B) The weather always seems better abroad than its at
home to me.
C) I dont expect the weather to be worse abroad than at
home.
D) When compared to the pleasant weather abroad the
weather at home seems quite better to me.
E) Everywhere Ive been, the weather doesnt seem any
better than its at home.