Baccalaureate National Exam 2011 July Arts

Baccalaureate National Exam 2011 July Arts

[1] Facebook is a social utility that helps people communicate more efficiently with their friends, families, and colleagues. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, was born on May 14, 1984, in New York. He went to high school at the age of 15. There, he excelled in Latin, so he moved to Phillips Academy to study Latin classics. After Phillips Academy, he enrolled at Harvard University. As a student, he continually worked on computer projects from his dormitory room. He got into trouble because he used private and personal students’ information to create an online directory. Consequently, the computer services department wrote a complaint to the administrative board to take measures against Mark. This didn’t prevent him from working on his project. He built a program to help the workers in his father’s office communicate with each other and he created a version of the game called
Risk and a music player named Synapse.

[2] Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook from his Harvard dormitory room on February 4, 2004. The idea for Facebook came from his days at Phillips Academy which, like most colleges and preparatory schools, had a long tradition of publishing an annual student directory known as “Facebook”. It contained photos of all students, professors, and staff. After Facebook had become a success on his own campus, he and his roommate, Dustin Moskovitz, began spreading it to other colleges. In 2005, more than 30 university students were able to use Facebook. That year, Mark and Dustin moved to California and set up an office there. Although they originally intended to go back to Harvard at the end of the summer, their business flourished and they stayed on the west coast. Today, Facebook has four buildings in California

[3] Facebook is now the second most visited site on the Internet. Zuckerberg was offered $1 billion to sell the company, but he said no. His refusal to sell it out made people talk. Critics are comparing Facebook to Friendster, the first social networking website. In 2002, Friendster was offered $30 million by Google, and the offer was turned down. On December 2, 2009, Facebook claimed that it had attained over 350 million users

[4] A movie based on Zuckerberg and the founding years of Facebook, called The Social Network, was released on October 1, 2010. The film star Jesse Eisenberg played Zuckerberg in the movie. AfterZuckerberg was told about the film, he responded, “I just wished that nobody made a movie of me while I was still alive.” The film is based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich and won the Golden Globes award for Best Picture on January 16, 2011. Producer Scott Rudin thanked Facebook and Zuckerberg “for his willingness to allow us to use his life and work as a metaphor through which to tell a story about communication and the way we relate to each other.”

A. FILL IN THE CHART WITH THE RIGHT INFORMATION FROM THE TEXT. (3 pts)

B. ARE THESE STATEMENTS TRUE OR FALSE? JUSTIFY. (3 pts)

1. Mark moved to Phillips Academy to study computer science.
   ……………………………………………………
2. Synapse is the name Mark gave to a new computer.
   ………………………………………………………
3. Friendster refused to sell its website.
   …………………………………………………………

C. ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS. (3 pts)

1. Why did the computer services department complain to the administrative board?
   …………………………………………………
2. Where did Mark first start Facebook?
   ………………………………………………………
3. What is the film Social Network about?
   ………………………………………………………………….

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

1. There: …………………………………………
2. they: …………………………………………
3. it: …………………………………………

E. FIND IN THE TEXT WORDS THAT MEAN ALMOST THE SAME AS: (3 pts)

1. service (paragraph 1): …………………………………………
2. yearly (paragraph 2): …………………………………………
3. reached (paragraph 3): …………………………………………

II. LANGUAGE (15 POINTS)

A. MATCH EACH EXPRESSION WITH ITS APPROPRIATE FUNCTION. (2 pts)

B. FILL IN EACH GAP WITH AN APPROPRIATE PHRASAL VERB FROM THE LIST. (2 pts)

set up – write down – grow up – log on – stand for

1. You can’t …………………………… to your Facebook account if you forget your password.
2. Samir wants to ………………………. his own import-export business.

C. FILL IN EACH GAP WITH AN APPROPRIATE WORD FROM THE LIST. (2 pts)

1. Eddy Murphy, …………….. was born in New York in 1961, is a famous comedian.
   whose – who – which
2. My aunt promised …………….. me when she gets to Amsterdam.
   calling – to call – call

D. GIVE THE CORRECT FORM OF THE WORDS BETWEEN BRACKETS. (2 pts)

1. It is (danger) …………………….. to ride a motorcycle without wearing a helmet.
2. “Here’s your new computer, take (careful) …………………. of it,” Samir’s father said.

E. PUT THE VERBS BETWEEN BRACKETS IN THE CORRECT TENSE. (2 pts)
My parents (move) …………………….. to this city before I was born. By the end of 2012,
we (live)…………………… here for 20 years.

F. JOIN THE PAIRS OF SENTENCES WITH THE LINKING WORDS GIVEN. (2 pts)

1. Amine is a fan of Real Madrid. His two brothers like FC Barcelona. (whereas)
   ……………………………………………………
2. Najib and his friends collected money. They wanted to plant trees in their school. (in order to)
   …………………………………………………………

G. REWRITE THE SENTENCES BEGINNING WITH THE WORDS GIVEN. (3 pts)

1. Kamal doesn’t have a driving license, so he can’t drive his father’s car.
   If Kamal ……………………………………………………
2. The members of the association may elect a woman president.
   A woman president …………………….………….
3. “Don’t leave the window open at night,” the mother reminded her son.
   The mother reminded……..…………………………………

III. WRITING (10 POINTS)
You certainly like a person very much (sportsman, actor/ actress, inventor, painter, artist, singer, teacher, family member, etc. You are impressed by this person. Write an email to your English penfriend to tell him/her about this person.
(Approximately 300 words)

These questions may help you:
Who is this person? Where is he/she from? What does he/she look like? What’s he/she gifted in? What talents has he/she got? Why do you like this person?…etc

Key Answers to Baccalaureate National Exam Arts July 2011