امتحان البكالوريا التجريبي في مادة الأ نجليزية / دورة ماي 2008

Read the text carefully then do the activities:

Life On Other Planets ?

If there are living things on other planets, what are they like?
Scientists who try to answer this question are called astrobiologists.

Twenty years ago ,life on other planets seemed impossible. Astronauts
had visited the Moon and found no life on its surface. There were other
reasons too: some planets are so cold that there can't be any life on them ;
on some others there is such heat that life is unthinkable there. Most
planets have no water on the surface , and some planets have no atmosphere or
they have a toxic atmosphere.

However , in the 1990s scientists discovered some interesting species
on our own planet, Earth, They
discovered microbes living deep under the Earth's surface in temperatures of
160 degrees Centigrade (160◦C); they found worms that can live in ice, and
deep-sea animals that eat only toxic chemicals.

Scientists now think species like these may live on some other planets
or moons, perhaps under the surface.

One possibility is Mars, which is the most similar to our planet . It
is a small planet with a diameter of about 6,800 Km and a surface
temperature between -100°C
and 0°C .

Some other possibilities are the moons of Jupiter which is the biggest
planet with a diameter of 143,000
Km.It has a lot of moons ; one of them is called Europa. It has a
lot of water. There may be oceans under its surface of ice. If there are
oceans, does anything live in them?

Adapted from Basic Science/ Course Book

1-What type
of text is the reading passage?(1)

2- Answer
these questions according to the text:(4)

a) What prevented life to prevail on other
planets? Give two reasons.

b) Scientists made amazing discoveries on
earth. Which relation exist between those discoveries and life on other
planets?

c) What are Mars and Earth alike in?

d) Why is Europa one of the best
possibilities for life on other planets?

3-Are these
statements true or false according to the text? Put (T) for true and (F) for
false next to each one:(1,5)

a) Astrobiologists study the possible
conditions that facilitate life on other planets.

b) Scientists discovered many species
living over the earth's surface in temperature of 160°C.

c) Life may be possible on Jupiter's moons
because of the existence of a vital element
for life.

4-Find in
the text words or expressions that are closest in meaning to the following:(0,75)

a) poisonous(§2)= b) profound(§3)= c) identical(§5)=

5- Give the
opposites of these words by keeping the same roots:(0,75)

a) interesting=/= b) valid=/= c) appoint=/=

6- Add the
appropriate suffixes to the words between brackets to get a meaningful text:(1)

Satellites orbiting round the earth nave
provided (science) with a vast amount of ( inform) about conditions in outer
space. By comparison , relatively little known about the internal structure
of the earth. It has proved (easy) to go up than to go down. The (deep) hole
ever to be bored on land went down 25,340 feet. This
problem has now been solved.

7- Put the
verbs between brackets in the correct tense:(2)

* Satellites are used for ( guide) ships at
sea.

* If there (be) no rotation and no
differences in the density of the rocks , the earth (be) a sphere.

* He (
believe) that space exploration is a waste of time.

8- Classify
these verbs according to the pronunciation of their final /d/:(2-

seemed / visited / discovered / noticed

9- Fill in
the table below with the appropriate word:(2)

PART
TWO:WRITTEN EXPRESSION (5):

Choose one topic only:

TOPIC ONE: Using these notes, write an argumentative text
based on one of the categories of reasoning (analogy/ concessive or
deductive) to defend the usefulness of astronomy for the conservation of life
on earth.

Notes: -observe the Earth's atmosphere/ control
,follow the evolution, meteorology …of celsial objects

-
studying the ice crust /divert comets courses/ predict, prevent
natural catastrophes: tsunamis ,volcanic eruption ,earthquakes

-
provide precise signals for navigation/ weather forecast/….

TOPIC TWO: Suppose
extra-terrestrians invaded us or came to live on earth ,what would our life
be like?

GOOD LUCK AND BEST WISHES FOR

SUCCESS