Baccalaureate National Exam 2012 July Humanities

Baccalaureate National Exam 2012 July Humanities

[1] My Name is Ayman, I am a 21-year-old Egyptian student from a village called Assadiya, in Egypt. I want to share my story with you as I am currently living the happiest times in my life! This is simply because I have just learned what “responsibility” means and I have made friends all over Egypt. I am a volunteer in the “Step Towards Our Future” program which is one of the activities of the Youth Association for Population and Development (YAPD), a non-governmental organization supported by UNICEF, Egypt.

[2] The year 2007 marks the beginning of this fantastic phase in my life! We traveled to Cairo with YAPD to attend a youth empowerment workshop. We learned to make field studies in order to understand the problems of our small community. My field study took me to houses of rich and poor people. In my village, I was touched and overwhelmed with what I have found out. I saw how the poor have compassion for each other. You can definitely learn a lot when you get closer to your community and feel for your people!

[3] We chose to start with an initiative that we called “Ayssin” which means moonlight. We viewed our problems as darkness, and we wanted to get light out of this darkness. We decided to start by marking our place, so we put large notices at the village entrance and built a fence around the Youth Centre. We also established a social club inside the Youth Centre and turned a deserted area there into a garden and called it Ayssin Garden for Children. We also arranged for a big medical convoy including 19 mobile clinics and a drugstore. The convoy provides medical specialties not available in our community for skin, eye, heart, and chest diseases.

[4] For me, the most important reward after taking part in all these activities is that one feels that his work has made a difference. I hope our ideas will reach all people in order to encourage them to volunteer for the benefit of their community. I hope a weekly or monthly TV program will present our lectures, workshops, and every step we take in “Step Towards Our Future” program. In this manner, parents will know what their sons and daughters are doing and they will then encourage them to contribute to solving our community problems. A UNICEF representative visited us to see the outcome of our efforts. Consequently, people are seeing for themselves how our efforts are respected and held in high esteem.

I. COMPREHENSION ( 15 POINTS) BASE ALL YOUR ANSWERS ON THE TEXT.

A. ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS. (4 PTS)

1. What does YAPD stand for?

2. When did Ayman travel to Cairo?

3. How did Ayman and his friends mark their place?

4. What diseases did the medical convoy treat in the village?

B. ARE THESE SENTENCES TRUE OR FALSE? JUSTIFY. (3 PTS)

1. In Ayman’s village, poor people care for each other.

2. Because of Ayman’s voluntary work, he has recently been invited to a TV program.

3. Ayman is satisfied with the results of the Ayssin initiative.

C. FIND IN THE TEXT WORDS OR PHRASES WHICH MEAN THE SAME AS: (3 PTS)

1. now ( paragraph 1) …………

2. discovered (paragraph 2) ………

3. result (paragraph 4) …………

D. WHAT DO THE UNDERLINED WORDS IN THE TEXT REFER TO? (3 PTS)

1. me ……………………… 

2. there ……………………… 

3. them ………………………

E. CHOOSE THE BEST TITLE FOR THE PASSAGE. (2 PTS)

a. Education in Assadiya

b. Voluntary work in Assadiya

c. Health care in Assadiya

The best title is: ……………………………………

II. LANGUAGE ( 15 POINTS)

A . FILL IN EACH GAP WITH AN APPROPRIATE WORD OR PHRASE FROM THE LIST. (3 PTS)

1. I suggest ………… our website to make it more attractive.

updating – to update – update

2. Maggie Knight is the only student …………. application has been accepted.

who – whose – whom

3. Workers ……………bring their old uniforms. The company will give them new ones.

need – not need – needn’t

B. FILL IN EACH BLANK WITH THE APPROPRIATE PARTICLE FROM THE LIST. (2 PTS)

across – up – over – about – for

1. We couldn’t set …………… a new company because our application for a loan was turned down.

2. New technologies have brought …………… big changes in our daily life.

C. REWRITE THE SENTENCES AS INDICATED. (4 PTS)

1. “We will attend the training session.”

The workers said that………………

2. Why didn’t you call the ambulance immediately after the accident?

You should …………………

3. The two partners have negotiated a new contract.

A new contract……………

4. Tim can’t get a better job because he doesn’t have enough experience.

If Tim ………………

D . FILL IN EACH GAP WITH THE APPROPRIATE WORD FROM THE LIST: (2 PTS)

schools – care – technical – poverty – projects – community

Helix International is a non-governmental organization. It aims at reducing ……… in the

developing world by running a number of ………. These include building roads and health………. centers. It also provides ………. assistance to governments and local NGOs.

E. FILL IN EACH BLANK WITH THE APPROPRIATE WORD OR PHRASE FROM THE LIST: (2 PTS)

as a result – due to – however – despite – so as to

1. Football fans often follow their teams to foreign countries ……… support them.

2. Air pollution is mainly ………… smoke from cars and factories.

F.WRITE AN APPROPRIATE RESPONSE TO THE FOLLOWING SITUATIONS. (2 PTS)

1. (Your classmate often comes late to school.)

You: (Give him/her advice) ………………

2. Michael: Could you please scan this document for me?

You: (Respond to this request) ……………

III. WRITING (10 POINTS)

An international company is planning to build a chemical factory near the area where you live. Some people like this project while others are against it. Write an article to be published in your school magazine about the advantages and disadvantages of the project, and give your opinion.

Keys to Baccalaureate National Exam 2012 July Humanities