STATE EXAM IN ENGLISH (2011/ 2012)

Video Listening Comprehension Test

Belarusian State University Date________ January 2012
International Relations Faculty Student’s Name _____________________________
IR, IL Departments Score: _________ out of 45
Mark: ______

Presentation Time: 10 min x 2

Time allowed: 40 min
Number of Questions: 45
Maximum Total Score: 45

Instructions:
You will watch the video featuring one EuroNews coverage. You will have to provide the information on
what you hear. Read the instructions to the test carefully before watching.

Questions 1-5. Mark the following statements as True (T) or False (F)
1. Almost 700 people have been killed by Typhoon Washi in the southern Philippines according to the
country’s Red Cross humanitarian organisation. F (500)
2. Reports claim passengers on the boat in Indonesia included at least 40 children. T
3. Rescuers have managed to save 24 people at a floating oil rig in Russia. F (14)
4. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev is blaming Muslims for provocations and chaos in the western oil
city of Zhanaozen F (hooligans)
5. Many Egyptians back the military as a necessary force for stability in the transition to democracy. T

Questions 6-20. Fill in the gaps using the words from the video:

“Those who want to recognise (6) genocide should take a look at their own dirty and (7) bloody history. If the
French National Assembly wants to take an interest in history, let it go to the trouble of highlighting and
looking at what happened in Africa, in (8) Ruanda and Algeria,” Erdogan said.

“I was right here with my (9) friend before it happened,” says this woman. “I’m very lucky compared to
others. I put myself in the (10) parents’ shoes and I find this very sad.”

The euro (11) coins and notes were formally (12) launched on 1 January 2002, but the countries involved
issued kits (13) beforehand swapping the old currencies for packs of euro coins, so their (14) citizens could
get used to the new money.

Bodies covered in (15) mud have been washed (16) to shore near devastated towns and larger cities on the
resource-rich island of Mindanao and in other southern (17) provinces.

The conflict left at least (18) 100 000 Iraqis and 4,500 Americans (19) dead. It cost the United States
nearly one (20) trillion dollars or 760 billion euros.

Questions 21-25. Answer the following questions (all of them are based on precise information from the
episode):
21. What did Barack Obama promised to do by the end of 2011?
To pull out the US soldiers

22. Why there are so many victims because of natural disaster in Philippines though officials claim that they
have warned people beforehand?
Because the region was unused to be in hit so hard

23. How many people have been arrested after the clashes in Kazakhstan?
More the 70 people

24. Have the first free elections already started in Egypt?

No (2nd round of voting)

25. What did Recep Tayipp Erdogan suggest to France?

To examine their own history before making laws about Turkey’s
 Questions 26-29. (Circle the right answer)
26. What is the country that has not been mentioned in this Euronews coverage?
a) Rwanda;
b) Congo;
c) Pakistan.
27. Norbert Raedel in Berlin recalls how he felt ___ years ago: “It was an unfamiliar feeling because you
could always rely on the strong deutschmark.”
a) 10; (?)
b) 15;
c) 20.
28. How many people were killed in eastern Tuykey from 1915 to 1917 according to Armenian data??
a) 1 million people;
b) 1.5 million people;
c) 3 million people.
29. For how long the state of emergency has been declared in Zhanaozen?
a) for 10 days;
b) for 20 days;
c) for 30 days.

Questions 30-39. Combine the words into phrases

30. mass security
31. insurgent poll
32. typhoon forces
33. wooden destruction
34. transit workers
35. oil boat
36. public attacks
37. security conference
38. parliamentary warnings
39. press point

30 mass destruction 31 insurgent attacks 32 typhoon warnings 33 wooden boat 34 transit point 35 oil workers
36 public security 37 security forces 38 parliamentary poll 39 press conference
Questions 40-43. Choose the right word

40. A deal for US troops to stay on and train Iraqi forces fell apart as both countries failed to agree on the
issue of ________ immunity.

a) pure; b) legal; c) diplomatic.

41. Authorities says the death _____ could rise further as an unknown number of people are missing.

a) numbers; b) victims; c) toll.

42. Many of the _________ are thought to have come from Middle Eastern countries including Afghanistan,
Iran and Saudi Arabia.

a) protesters; b) rebels; c) passengers.

43. A lot of Egyptians ____________ the military as a necessary force for stability in the transition to
democracy.

a) promote; b) back; c) condemn.

 Questions 44-45. Provide the definitions of the words given below.

44. smuggler – a person who imports or exports (goods) secretly, in violation of the law, especially without
payment of legal duty.

45. apartheid – a system of keeping groups of people separate and treating them differently, especially when
this results in disadvantage for one group: