Test: The English patient

“THE ENGLAND PATIENT”



Sven-Göran Eriksson, believes that modern football matches are not won on the ground, but inside the players' minds. This film examines not just how Eriksson got inside his players' brains, but how he is now starting a revolution in English football thinking.
Eriksson's plan has two critical elements: to eliminate the harmful effects of the fear of failure from the minds of the England players, and to encourage them to train mentally as well as physically to reach the highest levels of performance.
Psychologists from some of Britain's most prestigious universities believe anxiety and the fear of failure can make top professionals perform like amateurs. Medical surveys show that people use different parts of the brain to perform actions which they are learning and those which are instinctive. If the brain goes back to its learning mode, that 89th minute penalty kick goes right over the bar.
Eriksson has another psychological tactic: as he is not there on the field, he relies on “cultural architects”: players whose thinking is so close to their manager’s that they obey him without even realising they are doing so. The captain, David Beckham, is clearly one of these “architects.”
Sports psychology cannot predict whether England will win the World Cup. However, it does show that England is going into a major competition with an unprecedented degree of psychological preparedness.

(A) COMPREHENSION (4 points)
a) ANSWER QUESTIONS 1-2 ACCORDING TO THE INFORMATION GIVEN IN THE TEXT. USE YOUR OWN WORDS. (1 point per answer)

1) Why is the mind of football players important for their performance?
2) How does Eriksson carry his thinking onto the field?

b) ARE THESE STATEMENTS TRUE OR FALSE? JUSTIFY YOUR ANSWERS WITH THE PRECISE WORDS OR PHRASES FROM THE TEXT. (0.5 points per answer)

3) Eriksson´s plans mean a radical, complete change in English football.
4) Eriksson´s ideas are opposed by scientists.
5) A penalty is not converted if the brain is in its learning mode.
6) England did not receive so much psychological training in previous World Cup competitions.


(B) USE OF ENGLISH (3 points)

7) Find in the text one synonym for DAMAGING (adjective) (0.25 points)
Give one opposite for FAILURE (noun) (line 4) (0.25 points)
9) Give a noun with the same root as ENCOURAGE (verb) (line 5) (0.25 points)
10) Find in the text the word which has the following definition: (0.25 points)
“an action or strategy planned to achieve a specific end” (noun).

11) Fill in the gap with a correct form of the verb in brackets. (0.5 points)
Spain (beat) _________ Canada at football last year.
12) Join the following sentences using a relative. Make changes if necessary. (0.5 points)
Nowadays new kinds of sport attract more and more people. They seldom appear on television.
13) Turn the following sentence into Reported Speech: (0.5 points)
He asked: “Do you often play rugby?”
14) Give a question for the underlined words: (0.5 points)
The new manager stayed three months in England.


(C) PRODUCTION (3 points)
15) WRITE A COMPOSITION (80-100 WORDS). CHOOSE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING OPTIONS. SPECIFY YOUR OPTION.

a) Do you like practising some sport? Which one? Why?
b) Professional footballers are overpaid. Give your opinion.