How did Nike designers’ react to the experts’ advice?

Завдання І туру Всеукраїнської учнівської олімпіади з англійської мови 2015-2016 н.р.

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Writing Test for 10^h Form Students

You should use your own ideas, knowledge and experience and support your arguments with relevant evidence. Write at least 250 words.

I. Fast food is very popular and saves time for busy working people. However, many experts say that it is not completely healthy.

II. Some teenagers think that clothes make the man, while others do not care much about what they wear.

III. A number of people believe that pocket money teaches teenagers to be responsible. Others say that teenagers are too young to deal with money and that their parents should just buy them what they need.

Reading Comprehension Test for 10^th Form Students

You should do the tasks following a text on the basis of what is stated or implied in that text.

Text 1

Read the text below. Choose from (A-H) the one which best fits each of (1-6). There are two choices you do not need to use.

Best Teen Jobs Advice From Bill Gates

By Sonja Mishek

Whether you love or hate Bill Gates...he sure hit the nail on the head when he recently gave a speech at a high school graduation.

Here Are 10 Job Advice Rules Your Teens Are NOT Learning in School:

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it! Life is especially not fair at work. (1)_____.

Rule 2: The world doesn't care about your self-esteem. Neither does your boss. (2)_____.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. Or become a vice president out of college. If you don't believe me, just ask any recent graduate.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. Or obnoxious co-workers you're stuck working with 8 hours a day.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping; they called it opportunity. I think every teen should be required to work at a fast food restaurant. (3)_____.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault. So don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them. (4)_____. And not make excuses for them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. (5)_____.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time. There's no spring break either. You'll be lucky if you get 2 weeks of paid vacation.

Rule 10: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one. (6)_____. No one does.

If you agree with these rules...pass it on. If you can read these rules...THANK a teacher!

A The best thing you can do for your kids is let them make their own mistakes.

B He wants the job to get done - and done well.

C Your boss doesn't care if you were popular in high school.

D There's no extra credit at work if you screw something up.

E They got that way from paying your bills, doing your laundry, and listening to you talk about how cool you are.

F Some work harder than others for less pay...some work less for more pay.

G They'll learn the meaning of hard work and be motivated to further their education!

H And if you don't do your job - you'll be fired.

Text 2

Read the text below. For questions (1-7) choose the correct answer (A, B, C or D).

Running Free

Barefoot Training

By Mike Ryan

In the world of running shoes, the trend has been toward more cushion, more support, more comfort. But, to a small group of running coaches and foot specialists, modern athletic shoes are doing to feet what plush living room sofas and TV remotes have been doing to people: making them lazy, physically underdeveloped and more prone to injuries.

A few years ago when Nike was looking for the next big advance in running shoe design, they asked some of the world’s most respected track and field coaches for advice. A common response must have made their heads spin a little: We don’t need any more shoes, we need fewer shoes, in fact, and maybe we need no shoe. Give us the bare human foot.

Legendary Stanford track coach Vin Lananna said, “I believe that athletes that have been training barefoot run faster and have fewer injuries. It’s just common sense.” Vin regularly put his athletes through their paces barefoot on the grass of the university’s practice golf course. Other coaches agree, and point to the foot/ankle strength and resistance to injury seen in African and Caribbean runners who have grown up playing and running barefoot much of the time.

So, the research and development team at Nike set out to make a shoe that acted like it wasn’t there; one that trained and worked the foot as nature intended. What’s the point, you may ask? Why not just train in your bare feet?

Well, that’s fine if you have a finely groomed golf course to run on, but most athletes train in the street, in the gym, on the track, or out on the trails. This still calls for a shoe that not only offers protection from glass and pebbles, but also from the strike of the foot on hard bruising surfaces.

The first step was to measure exactly what happened to the bare foot when it ran: what the contact areas were between the foot and the ground, how the ankle and toes moved. Once they collected the data, the next step was to create a shoe that could reproduce the natural foot movement. The design team, led by Toby Hatfield and Eric Evar, struggled through innumerable concepts and finally came up with an entirely new kind of shoe. Deep slices in the sole, virtually no ankle support and room for the toes to spread out and move; all head-turning designs. Then it was off to testing again, to make sure the shoe really imitated barefoot running. There was a lot of “back to the drawing board” fine tuning but eventually the Nike Free was created and ready for real-world testing.

Earlier this year, in Germany at the University of Cologne the results of a season-long research study of university track athletes showed enhanced performance and speed by training in the Nike Free shoes. One key point is that Nike Free is a “training shoe,” and Nike Free and barefoot training are tools to make you stronger.

1 The author compares sneakers with plush sofas and TV remotes to argue that modern athletic shoes may ______________.