Eindexamen Engels vmbo-kb 2023, tijdvak 1: vragen en antwoorden

1 It is one of the most forgotten and painful chores – taking out the trash. Now, SmartCan, developed by the firm Rezzi, eliminates the need for homeowners to drag their garbage cans to the curb by providing a motorized trash can attachment and corresponding mobile app. Users can set the specific day and time they need their trash to be at the curb for pickup, and the SmartCan attachment will get it there autonomously. Once picked up by collectors, the robotic trash can heads back to its base after having sensed the vertical movement.

2 ‘We want to help people eliminate unnecessary chores from their daily lives,’ said Rezzi CEO and SmartCan creator Andrew Murray. ‘We see an opportunity to take the ‘Internet of Things’ beyond just turning off lights or turning on music, and really help alleviate the burden of the mundane physical tasks that everyone faces.’

dailymail.co.uk, 2019

Brighton, East Sussex

1 As the winter chill returns to the air residents of UK cities may start to see strange things appearing on their trees. Don’t be alarmed if you spot hot water bottles hanging in a tree – they’re not a strange message or an art installation. A group is tying hot water bottles to tree branches to help homeless people as the temperature drops. The hot water bottles are labelled with directions to nearby businesses that have agreed to provide hot water. The scheme is run by the Hot Water Bottle Network, which operates in Bristol, Bath, Leicester, and Brighton, and depends on donations of hot water bottles and participation from local businesses.

2 It’s a kind gesture to those living on the streets, who will struggle with the cold. Each place’s network has its own Facebook group where people can offer up their hot water bottles or sign up their business to offer hot water. The network is keen to expand into more cities, starting with Cardiff, and hopes to get more people involved. If you’d like to help out, search for a Hot Water Bottle Network group near you on Facebook, and if there isn’t one, consider getting in touch with the organisers to start your own.

3 ‘It’s already cold on the streets,’ said Bristol organiser Pete Wentland. ‘We are taking this action as an emergency measure to try to make the winter that tiny bit more bearable for those who face the worst of it. In encouraging local businesses to help rough sleepers we also hope for a breaking down of the barriers that separate us.’

metro.co.uk, 2018

Emily and Seth Peterson of West Barnstable welcomed their sons in the early morning hours of November 6 at Cape Cod Hospital. Samuel was born 5 pounds, 13 ounces at 1:40 a.m., shortly before the 2 a.m. hour when clocks were turned back an hour. Brother Ronan arrived at 5 pounds, 13 ounces 30 minutes later. Because he was born after the clocks fell back one hour, his official time of birth was declared 1:10 a.m. instead of 2:10 a.m. So even though Ronan was born after Samuel, he is, at least on paper, the older twin.

“My husband was the first to say it, ‘Here’s a riddle for you!’” mom Emily Peterson, 32, told ABC News today. “It literally took me a day to wrap my head around it. I didn’t realize it was quite that big of a deal until my nurse turned around and said ‘I’ve been working here for 40 years and I haven’t seen anything like that.’” Samuel and Ronan Peterson have since joined big sister Aubrey, 2, at home with mom and dad.

ABC News, 2016

1 It took nine-year-old Kade Lovell longer than expected to finish his 5km race in Minnesota, but only because he was busy accidentally winning a separate 10km event. Kade’s mother, Heather, became worried when her son didn’t cross the finish line of the Francis Franny Flyer 5K in Sartell earlier this month. The St Cloud Times reports she drove along the route looking for him and found herself crying when he appeared to have gone missing. “I had everyone looking for him, even a fireman,” Heather Lovell said. “I was like, ‘You need to go find my son.’”

2 Eventually, a spectator phoned Heather Lovell’s brother-in-law, who was in the 10km race, to let him know there was a “little kid who was running really well” in the 10km event. Kade said a woman told him to keep going when he approached the 5km turn and he did, despite his confusion. “A lady told me to keep going straight. So I kept going straight,” he said.

3 Race organisers told Kade’s mother he had won. Initially she thought they meant he had won his age group – but he was first-place overall. He finished in just over 48 minutes, a minute faster than the 40-year-old second-place contestant. “He actually probably did better than he normally does because he was trying to finish and in panic mode,” Heather Lovell said. Even though he is only nine years old, Kade is already an experienced runner. He started running with a cross country club when he was six.

The Guardian, 2019

The world’s biggest fast food company McDonald’s is suffering a chip shortage in Japan. The firm has said it is experiencing delays of shipments of the potatoes used to make its famous French fries. As a result it will only sell small portions of its French fries in Japan. “McDonald’s Japan will temporarily limit sales of Medium- and Large-sized French Fries as a proactive measure to ensure customers can continue to enjoy McDonald’s French Fries. Customers will still be able to order Small-sized French Fries at all of our restaurants. To date, there have been no breaks in supply,” the company told the BBC. McDonald’s said it usually imports the potatoes it uses from a port near Vancouver in Canada. However, ships have faced delays due to flood damage. It will now turn to alternative measures, including flying supplies to Japan, the company said in a statement.

BBC.com, 2021

1 On a chilly afternoon deep in northern Germany’s Dodauer Forest, 100km north-east of Hamburg, a postman wearing a bright yellow uniform was walking through the woods. When he reached an open place, he rummaged through his bag and then slowly climbed a 3m-tall wooden ladder to deliver a purple envelope to a 500-year-old oak tree. “Just one today,” he told me, before crunching back through the forest and disappearing towards the next letterbox on his route.

2 The purple envelope was from Denies in Bavaria. She’s 55, isn’t afraid to laugh at herself and loves nature. She knows what she wants, doesn’t mind being alone but wonders if there’s a man out there who can surprise her. If so, she hopes that he, too, is looking for love inside the tiny knothole in this oak tree.

3 Known as ‘Der Bräutigamseiche’ (the Bridegroom’s Oak), this ancient timber outside the town of Eutin has been matching singles long before matchmaking platform Tinder, and is reportedly responsible for more than 100 marriages. Today, people from all over the planet write letters addressed to the tree, hoping that for the price of a postage stamp, they may find a partner.

4 “There’s something so magical and romantic about it,” said 72-year-old Karl-Heinz Martens, who delivered letters to the tree as its postman for 20 years, starting in 1984. “On the internet, facts and questions match people, but at the tree, it’s a beautiful coincidence – like fate.” Though retired now, Martens still keeps a scrapbook filled with photographs, letters and newspaper clippings from his time as love’s official messenger. In his two decades of service to the oak, Martens delivered letters from six continents, often in languages he didn’t understand. He explained that while today many people know about the tree, 128 years ago it was a secret shared by two lovers. The only rule, Martens explained, is that if you open a letter you don’t want to answer, you should place it back in the tree for someone else to find.

5 “The tree receives about 1,000 letters a year,” said Martin Grundler, spokesman for Deutsche Post. “Most come in the summertime. I suppose that’s when everyone wants to fall in love.” For those sweet on someone specific, there’s a legend that says if a woman walks around the oak’s trunk three times under a full moon while thinking of her beloved, without speaking or laughing, she’ll marry within the year.

6 Today the Bridegroom’s Oak remains the only tree in the world with its own mailing address. Six days a week for the past 91 years, a postman has walked through the forest – rain, snow or shine – and climbed the ladder to stuff letters from starry-eyed singles into the tree. To visit it in person, take the B76 road from Eutin towards Plön, turn right at the Alex Münster distillery and you’ll see a wooden sign pointing towards the tree on the left.

BBC.com, 2018

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1 Some people, like myself, love being around animals. Personally, I love dogs and cats. But I also recognize that there are people out there who just don’t like animals. When I saw this story of how much one woman disliked her boyfriend’s dog, I knew that it was worth sharing. I saw this story on Reddit. User Getzen decided that, after four years together, it was finally time to move in with his girlfriend. He just never realized that his girlfriend hated his dog Molly so much. Getzen’s girlfriend gave him an ultimatum and demanded that he get rid of Molly right away. After thinking about it, Getzen put up an ad. Here is Getzen’s advertisement:

2 FREE TO ANY WILLING HOME My girlfriend does not like my beagle Molly. So I have to re-home her. She is a pure-bred from a wealthy area and I have had her 4 years. She likes to play games. Not totally trained. Has long hair so she’s a little high maintenance, especially the nails, but she loves having them done. Stays up all night yapping but sleeps while I work. Only eats the best, most expensive food. Will NEVER greet you at the door after a long day or give you unconditional love when you’re down. Does not bite but she can be mean as hell! So… anyone interested in my 30-year-old, selfish, wicked, gold-digging girlfriend? Come and get her! Me and my dog want her re-homed ASAP!

littlethings.com, 2015

1 Curtis Whitson felt sick to his stomach when he realized that he, his girlfriend and his 13-year-old son were suddenly stranded on an isolated stretch of California’s Arroyo Seco tributary. They had reached the most difficult part of their four-day floating and camping trip over the summer, and they were trapped atop a raging, 40-foot waterfall. A rope that was supposed to be secured at the top of the waterfall – the only safe way down – was missing. There was no way to climb out of the gorge.

2 Thoughts raced through Whitson’s mind: Heavy spring rains had likely washed the rope away. There was no other way to get down safely. He had packed a rope in his camping gear, but he estimated that the water was too swift and high to attempt to attach his rope and abseil down. Friends knew they were in Arroyo Seco, but it might be several days before a search party was dispatched. There was no cell service. He desperately needed a plan.

3 Whitson looked at his lime-green Nalgene water bottle, and he suddenly had an idea: He scratched “HELP!” on each side of the bottle and scribbled an SOS note on a piece of paper with the date, June 15, and their whereabouts – then tucked it inside. He tossed the bottle over the waterfall and silently begged the universe for somebody downstream to find it.

4 It was a very long shot. “We’ve done all we can do,” he recalled telling his girlfriend and son after he dropped the bottle over the edge. “The only thing left to do now is wait.” Remarkably, they didn’t have to wait long. About midnight, they were awakened by a voice from a loudspeaker: “This is search and rescue – you have been found! Stay put and we’ll be back to get you tomorrow morning.” Whitson could barely believe that his message in a bottle was discovered within hours of tossing it over the waterfall.

5 The three of them later found out that about a quarter-mile downstream, two hikers had spotted the bright green bottle right away, read the note and hiked to the Arroyo Seco Campground to alert the manager to call a search and rescue team. Although it was growing too dark for a rescue operation, a California Highway Patrol helicopter pilot decided to do a flyover with his crew before the end of their shift. Using night vision goggles and infrared technology to detect heat from a campfire, they were able to spot the stranded trio. The next morning, a second California Highway Patrol helicopter crew arrived at 10 a.m. to lift each of them to safety. “As you can imagine, they were very happy to see us,” the pilot said.

Washington Post, 2019

1 When Becca Longo signed her letter of intent to play college American football on National Signing Day on February 1, she was excited about the personal milestone in her own life. Moments later, she discovered that it was a huge, history-making moment for women in sports, too. Longo is the first female to receive a college football scholarship. She signed with Adams State University in Alamosa, Colorado, as a kicker, the same position she played in high school. “I had no idea,” Longo tells People Magazine. “It didn’t really kick in until a couple of hours after, I just thought I was signing a piece of paper to go play the sport I love again. Even right now, I’m still shocked. It just doesn’t feel real.”

2 Growing up with a brother 11 years older than she was, 18-year-old Longo said there wasn’t much opportunity for shared interests between the siblings – except for football, their “happy medium”. Her older brother played on his high school team, and would pass around a ball with his sister on the weekends. There was a female player on his high school team, too, so he didn’t think anything of it.

3 So when high school rolled around, Longo tried out for the American football team. She started thinking that football was something she wanted to pursue at a higher level. She recorded a highlights film to showcase her skills, and sent it out to a number of schools. She received multiple responses, one of which was from Adams State University. After her season wrapped up, the offensive coordinator traveled to Longo’s hometown of Chandler, Arizona, to speak with her in person about attending the school – and a potential football scholarship. A month later, she visited Adams State, and “fell in love” with the school. “Everyone was so warm and welcoming,” she says of her visit to the school. “I just loved everything about it.”

4 Since her story has started gaining national attention, Longo says she’s received support from people all over the country. But that hasn’t always been the case. She received pushback for her decision to play football in the first place, and then, to pursue the sport at a higher level, “all the time,” she says. Before her first-ever high school football game, Longo, like the rest of her teammates, wore her jersey to school. Countless classmates made fun of her, asking her if she was wearing her own jersey or her boyfriends’. “I got a lot of negativity, and people saying I couldn’t do it,” she said. “But that’s just what pushed me to do what I’m doing.”

5 Her Basha High School teammates, whom Longo calls her “brothers”, and her high school coach have never treated her any differently than any other member of the team. They were even the ones who encouraged her to try to play in college. The experience of playing alongside them is one Longo says she’ll cherish forever. “It’s just like hanging out with your best friends every day after school,” she says. “That’s what they are to me, they’re my brothers. I’ve created memories with them that I’m going to carry for the rest of my life.”

6 And from the start, her Adams State experience was similar. Longo says that in her conversations with Timm Rosenbach, head coach for Adams State (and a former quarterback) and other Adams State coaching and recruiting staff, her gender was never a topic of conversation. “He didn’t treat me like a girl,” she says. “He treats me like a football player.” Rosenbach echoed that sentiment in an interview with the Arizona Republic. “I don’t look at it that way,” he said. “My wife is a former pro athlete. I see Becca Longo as a football player who earned it.”

7 As for life after Adams State? Longo says that she’s focusing on the present for now, but wouldn’t mind making history in the National Football League, too. “If the opportunity was provided, I’d definitely take it,” she says. “But I’m just trying to grasp what’s going on right now.” And for those who want to follow in her football boots? Longo says: “People need to stop listening to others and stop letting them influence their mindset. They just need to go and do what they love.”

people.com, 2017

1 He has always been willing to go the extra mile to save money – but this time he went 1,017 miles. Jordon Cox, 18, was so shocked by the cost of a train ticket from Sheffield to his home in Shenfield, Essex, that he decided to see if flying was cheaper. After ransacking the internet for a deal, he flew from East Midlands Airport to Stansted via Berlin and still saved cash, despite spending his seven hour layover on a super quick tour of the German capital feasting on currywurst. This extreme option may not be for everyone. Jordon’s journey took 13 hours door-to-door, while a train trip would have been just three-and-a-half.

2 Jordon, who blogs on how to save money, was dubbed The Coupon Kid by friends when he started saving money by using vouchers. He once got £600 of groceries for 4p. On the day of his Berlin trip, he had travelled from Shenfield to Sheffield by train to teach a class on couponing. The teenager had managed to book a cheap £19 ticket for the journey north. But when he discovered the cheapest fare back home was £47, he looked for alternatives. An open return from Shenfield to Sheffield would have set him back £97.70. He discovered he could fly home via Milan, Copenhagen, Dublin or Berlin with Ryanair and it would be cheaper than a single train journey in England.

3 ‘Even by my usual standards, I’ll admit this is a rather extreme way of saving money,’ he said. ‘In the end I chose to travel via Berlin as it was the cheapest and the furthest away so I would get my money’s worth. It is also a city on my bucket list that I have never been to before, so to have a short holiday there for less than the price of my train fare was brilliant. I know that flying is not environmentally friendly and I won’t do this every time I travel, but this was the cheapest way for me to get home and I got to enjoy a ‘free’ mini holiday to a city I’ve always wanted to visit.’

4 Jordon, who blogs for MoneySavingExpert.com, booked his flight around three weeks in advance, flew from East Midlands Airport to Berlin. Jordon’s extraordinary talent as a bargain hunter first hit the headlines in 2013 when it emerged he had bought his mother Debbie more than £100 of groceries for almost £100 off. On one occasion he got a Christmas dinner with all the trimmings for 10p. The teenager has since been turning his money-saving skills into a job. He began by holding seminars at his local theatre in Brentwood, Essex, to give adults tips on how to save hundreds of pounds on day-to-day purchases. He also set up Facebook and Twitter pages where he shared his top coupons and deals.

5 And though his single-minded pursuit of a bargain may seem a little unusual, Jordon originally did it to help his mum. She was struggling to make ends meet after a divorce. Though Jordon’s father helped with the mortgage, bills had become problematic. At the time, Debbie said: ‘When my husband and I separated I was panicking. I didn’t know how I’d cope financially. When Jordon mentioned couponing I was a bit sceptical. But he’s made some incredible savings and it’s really improved our lives. We had been spending around £120 a week before my husband left and now we’re down to just £10.’

dailymail.co.uk, 2016

1 The designers at Balenciaga must be big Ikea fans, because the French fashion house just unveiled a fancy new leather bag that looks remarkably like Ikea’s famous blue shopping bag – though the price tag looks a whole lot different. Balenciaga’s goes for $2,145. Ikea’s is just 99 cents.

2 This was too much comedy for Ikea to process silently. In Sweden Ikea whipped up a printed ad and a social post comically explaining to readers how to tell the difference between Balenciaga’s bag and Ikea’s. The printed ad reads:

How to identify an original Ikea Frakta bag

• 1 Shake it. If it rustles, it’s the real deal.
• 2 Multifunctional. It can carry hockey gear, bricks, and even water.
• 3 Throw it in the dirt. A true Frakta is simply rinsed off with a garden hose when dirty.
• 4 Fold it. Are you able to fold it to the size of a small purse? If the answer is yes, congratulations.
• 5 Look inside. The original has an authentic Ikea tag.
• 6 Price tag. Only $0.99.

3 Johan Holmgren, creative director, tells the magazine AdFreak that the response ad came together very quickly. “I wanted to act fast, so I called Morten Kjaer from Ikea. He loved the idea,” Holmgren says. “The day after the Balenciaga bag was launched, I said, ‘We’ll have the creative work ready within two hours.’ We then went to one of our fashion photographers and shot the bag in his studio, with that same feeling and lighting as the Balenciaga bag. That same day, we sent the finished work to all markets. We are deeply flattered that the Balenciaga tote bag resembles the Ikea iconic sustainable blue bag for 99 cents. Nothing beats the versatility of a great big blue bag!”

adweek.com, 2017

A BMW was retrieved from a river in the district of Yamunanagar, India, with a team of local police using ropes and a rubber boat to reach the partially submerged vehicle.

The police say a 22-year-old man received a BMW from his parents as a birthday present. According to local media, the man’s father is a wealthy landlord and the 22-year-old son already owned several SUVs. The son apparently had demanded a new Jaguar for his birthday and was unimpressed with the BMW, which he thought was too small. In an apparent protest against his parents’ refusal to buy him a Jaguar, he decided to push his brand-new BMW into a river.

Local police say the man filmed himself while pushing the car in the water and sent the video to his parents. Hundreds of local men watched the recovery effort from the riverbank as heavy machinery was brought in to retrieve the car.

Directly after the incident, the young man’s father told local media that his son had in fact not driven the car into the river 38 but had swerved to avoid an antelope on the road.

abc.net.au, 2019

Max Vredenburgh was just 10 years old when he placed a letter inside of an empty wine bottle and threw it into the ocean on August 21, ten years ago. The letter was short and sweet, and in it, Vredenburgh talked about the things he liked at the time, such as his favorite color and what he liked to eat. After so much time had passed, Vredenburgh likely never expected to get a response back. That’s why Vredenburgh was so surprised last month when he received a letter addressed to him from a stranger in Europe. In the letter, the sender – a man named G. Dubois – said he discovered Vredenburgh’s letter in a bottle along the coast of France, thousands of miles from where it had been tossed in the water. “My wish from when I was a 10-year-old just came true. Logistically, I think I have a higher chance of winning the lottery than this happening,” Vredenburgh said of the once in a lifetime occurrence. A news station said Vredenburgh and Dubois have now contacted each other on Instagram.

people.com, 2019