Eindexamen Engels vmbo-kb 2024, tijdvak 1: vragen en antwoorden

All families can get competitive when it comes to board games and it seems that the royals are no different. As the festive season approaches, many people will dust off beloved board games, bringing out the best – and often the worst – in family dynamics. However, there is one board game which won’t be making an appearance at any Royal Family get-togethers this Christmas as the Queen has imposed a ban on it, the Express reports. A clip on the family’s YouTube channel, titled Royal Rule Book: The Royal Family’s Strangest Rules, explains all. It says: “The royals love a good game, but Monopoly is off the cards.” It is banned as it gets too vicious. The royals will return to Sandringham this year for Christmas. The Norfolk home has hosted Christmas since 1988. The Royal Family are sticklers for tradition, and the festive period is no exception.

mirror.co.uk, 2021

noot 1 Deze tekst is verschenen voordat Koningin Elizabeth II overleed.

1 A few years ago, we went on a family trip to Tuscany. When we arrived, it was beautiful: a farmhouse with lavish grounds and a pool. The sun was shining, so we strolled to the nearest village. Walking back, the weather turned and a sudden rainstorm struck. We battled along the path that had become a stream to our accommodation to discover the downstairs had flooded.

2 The next day, the garden was so slick with mud that my adult niece slipped and broke her arm. We tried to make the best of it, so, during a rare burst of sunshine, we had a game of rounders, during which my wife twisted her knee, so she couldn’t walk. The following day, I took the kids on a trip to the Orrido di Botri gorge. It was a stunning place to walk around in, until my 10-year-old son slipped and fell, and another trip to hospital revealed a broken collar bone.

3 We decided that the four of us should shorten our trip; we rearranged our flights and said goodbye to the rest of the family. At Pisa airport, I handed over our passports, and I remember the look of confusion on the attendant’s face as she tried to match the photo to one of us. It was my father-in-law’s passport that we had picked up by mistake. We agreed my wife would still fly home with the kids, and I would retrieve my passport the next day. I had already returned the hire car, though, so I had to spend the night in a bunk bed, in a seedy backpackers’ hostel dorm, with my bag clutched to my chest.

theguardian.com, 2021

1 Dutch Afghanistan veteran Anton Nooteboom completed a 3,000-kilometer monster trek through Australia on Sunday. The “Barefoot Dutchman” from Goes in Zeeland who emigrated to Australia in 2015, walked an average of 25 kilometers a day for five months and raised 75 thousand Australian dollars (48 thousand euros) for men’s mental health. “It has been quite a walk,” Nooteboom said. “It was unbelievably heavy, especially because of all the stones that stick to your feet. People were a bit disappointed when they saw the soles of my feet because they still looked very good, but actually they were broken and bruised within.”

2 Nooteboom faced some mental problems and found relief in walking barefoot. “But also, by talking about it. You notice that there is a taboo among veterans on discussing their feelings. I made the trip to draw attention to this.” Nooteboom walked barefoot to increase publicity. “A normal 3,000-kilometer trip attracts much less publicity. I didn’t practise for it. Nothing can prepare you for such a trip. I wanted to show that you can do anything if you set your mind to it.” The journey took him from Cairns in the north of Australia to right outside his front door in Sydney and earned him two Guinness World Records, including one for the longest barefoot journey. A few hundred people walked the last kilometers with him. “I am incredibly wrecked, I will not do anything for the next two or three weeks but rest and recover,” Nooteboom said.

nltimes.nl, 2021

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When my second child was born, we arranged to meet our friends in Palma de Mallorca for a week’s holiday. He was 10 days old when I booked the flights, accommodation and hire car; sleep deprivation meant the small “La” in front of “Palma” went unnoticed. There were tears when, on arrival, I realised we’d flown to La Palma, in the Canaries, by mistake! We had no accommodation, car or friends to meet. But in fact we had a really lovely week: we hired a small cottage on the coast and it was just what we needed with a newborn and a toddler. Nine years later, I can definitely see the funny side.

theguardian.com, 2021

By Andy Hewson

1 I work in central London, and some years ago there was an animal welfare charity shop near my office called Paws. I’d go in there in my lunch break, mostly to chat to Michelle, the friendly lady who ran the shop. There was always loads of stuff in there: I guess to Michelle it was organised chaos. You’d see the same people come and sit in there every day for a bit of company. It was a real community hub.

2 I was there one day when I noticed a copy of The Hobbit. It was a nice book. The dust jacket had an illustration of trees and mountains in blue, green and black with Tolkien’s name beneath. I started reading it on the train back and forth to work. I’m not a fast reader so I was still getting through it a month or so later when, as I was leaving work, a woman from our finance team came up to me, having spotted it in my hand. She said it looked old and that I should look into whether it was worth anything.

3 I ended up down an internet hole looking at first editions of The Hobbit. I learned that there were 1,500 copies printed in the first run in 1937. You can check if you have one by looking for the reference to another writer called Charles Lutwidge Dodgson – better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll – printed in notes about the novel on the dust jacket. On the first edition, the name was misspelled as “Dodgeson” and had to be hand-corrected by the publishers. I checked the back and found the crossed-out e. I was thinking, “This can’t be.”

4 As luck would have it, my girlfriend Jenna was working as an event coordinator at auction house Christie’s at the time, so she put me in contact with a specialist in the books department. I talked him through the details and I remember him saying, “I think you might have a very valuable book on your hands.” I took it in to show him and he asked me what I thought it was worth. I’d done my research and said that I was hoping for about £7,000. He agreed that was a good estimate.

5 I had to wait four months for an auction. There was a lot of interest. The auction started at 2.30pm in one of the rooms at Christie’s, with about 40 buyers in attendance. Most of the lots before mine were going for about £2,000. I was thinking, even if I make 500 quid, it would still be amazing. I only paid 50p for it. So when it came to my book and the auctioneer said, “We’ll start the bidding at £3,000,” I was already 11. The bids started going up in jumps of £500: “£4,000, £4,500, £5,000.” My heart was racing. “£6,000, £6,500, £7,000…” I started to feel a bit nauseous, but was trying to hold it together. The bidding had reached £10,000 before I knew it. It was very quiet in the room. My girlfriend had come to watch with a couple of her colleagues. As it got to £13,000, they were mouthing, “Oh my gosh!” to me. It finally went for £16,000.

6 I was 28 at the time. My girlfriend persuaded me to put on a photography exhibition – something I’d always wanted to do. Then I spent the rest on a deposit for a flat. I would never have been able to get the money together to buy my own place without it. We’re still living here now. I carried on going back to Paws until it closed a couple of years ago. I made a small anonymous donation, but never told them what had gone on. I know it sounds strange, but I didn’t want to change the relationship. I just popped in the next lunchtime as if nothing had happened.

theguardian.com, 2020

1 Brad Gauthier, 38, knew something was wrong when he was left gagging while attempting to drink a glass of water after waking up early on Tuesday morning. When he leaned over he was able to recover, the water spilling out of his mouth.

2 He managed to get through the day, not realising the severity of what had happened overnight despite feeling a strange sensation in his chest. However, the pieces started to come together after his family, including his wife Heather and son Owen, helped him look for a missing earbud. When they heard something was wrong with his throat, they joked that maybe he swallowed it. Brad said: ‘We all laughed about it, but then something just clicked and I got a weird sinking feeling that I’d swallowed it in my sleep. At that point, we all determined it would be better to be safe than sorry and go to hospital.’

3 At the hospital, the staff at first suggested that food from his wife’s birthday celebrations from the previous night might be the cause of his discomfort. However, X-rays soon proved this to be wrong. Brad said: ‘It was pretty funny. When the radiologist left the room I could hear a bit of chatter outside – “No, it couldn’t be?” She came back in, looked at me and said: “I could not believe it, but you swallowed it.” She was stunned, looking at my X-ray on the screen where you could see it in such clear definition.’

4 Brad believes that after going to bed with his headphones in, the AirPod somehow entered his mouth while he was sleeping. It turned out he had been incredibly lucky, because the AirPod somehow became stuck in a position that had prevented it from causing serious damage. He said: ‘Had I inhaled it so that it constricted my airway, that could have certainly been a much more serious matter.’ The AirPod was removed successfully with Brad thanking staff for their efforts. He was even able to have a meal with his wife shortly afterwards. Sadly, he said jokingly, even though the headphone still works, the microphone function is now broken.

metro.co.uk, 2021

“a strange sensation in his chest” (paragraph 2)

A baby mouse-deer has been born at Warsaw Zoo, leaving staff delighted to hear the patter of extremely tiny hooves. The new arrival, who was born in December, is only around 10 centimetres tall, and its gender is not yet known, the zoo said. Warsaw Zoo got its first mouse-deer, Arnold, last year. He was joined by Linda in July. Zoo staff were pleasantly surprised by how little time it took the happy couple to become pregnant, and two visitors to the zoo were also taken aback when the birth happened in front of them. Mouse-deer are among the smallest hooved mammals on the planet and even as adults weigh only 1.5-2.0 kilogrammes.

Reuters, 2021

Knowing how to make friends online can greatly and positively impact your experience while attending an online college, and in general in your life, so here are some helpful tips.

[...23-1...] 1 The first tip is that you should start to be active in the group when you join a social media group. Like and comment on other people’s posts and then consider posting and sharing yourself. People will start to recognize your name as you recognize theirs. Some people may reach out first, but if not, you can at least begin to build a connection through consistent communication. Then you can take the next step to send a personal message.

[...23-2...] 2 Another tip is to go with the natural flow of the conversation and be patient. Although most people have their phones on them, they don’t always have time to respond to messages. Try to avoid messaging multiple times in a row if you are not receiving a response. If you seem too eager and demanding for responses or ask to meet too quickly, they may end up pulling back.

[...23-3...] 3 One of the many questions you might have about online friendships is probably if they are as meaningful as in-person relationships. Psychologists have found that even though the connection is made online, the emotional and psychological benefits of these friendships equal those of face-to-face relationships. The main components of friendship are intimacy, commitment and the freedom to choose to become friends with whomever you wish. Online friendships maintain these three things. Online friendships are also very useful for those who have social anxiety or are shy. Other perks of online friendships have a more practical nature; for students who attend online college, the online atmosphere that supports friendships allows for students to connect and work together, just like they would if they were geographically in the same place. This means that because of digital communication, you are now able to make friends from all over the world. Back in the day, this was not such an easy accomplishment!

[...23-4...] 4 When it comes to choosing friends online and using applications, you may narrow down your search to be very specific. You may see things you aren’t looking for and swipe left instead of right on what could potentially have become your next best friend. Sometimes, it pays to keep an open mind when online friendship matching. This is because it can mirror your experience in real life. Think of this: when you go out in public places, you never know who you will meet. The randomness of new connections is sometimes what makes them all the more worthwhile. As such, you should practice the same open-minded attitude when meeting people online. That way, you can expand your opportunities to meet new people. Only once you get to know them better can you truly assess whether or not it is a relationship worth pursuing.

5 The bottom line is that making friends online is equally important as having friends in real-life. Knowing how to make friends online can change your life! Online friends can become friends in person or remain digital. Regardless of how or where you meet them online, the depth of your relationship depends on your effort, time, and communication. Having a strong community of friends will improve your overall quality of life. When you’re attending online university, it is really beneficial to meet people in a similar situation so that you can share thoughts, rely on one another for support, and develop meaningful friendships over time.

uopeople.edu, 2020

1 The secret to protecting your seaside chips from scavenging seagulls is to stare at them, scientists have said. The birds are more likely to steal food when they can avoid the gaze of their victims, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of Exeter put a bag of chips on the ground and timed how long herring gulls took to approach when they were being watched. They compared this to how long it took for the gulls to strike when the person looked away. The gulls took 21 seconds longer on average when they were being looked at.

2 The scientists tried to test 74 gulls, but most would not participate. Of the 27 that approached the chips, 19 completed both the “looking at” and “looking away” tests. “Gulls are often seen as aggressive and willing to take food from humans, so it was interesting to find that most wouldn’t even come near during our tests,” said researcher Madeleine Goumas. She said the more daring seagulls may have had a good experience of being fed by humans, but the study did not examine the reasons for the different responses. “It seems that a couple of very bold gulls might ruin the reputation of the rest,” she added.

bbc.co.uk, 2019

Toys should not have a shelf life or be tossed away. We design toys to be loved, cherished and passed on from one generation to the next. We aim to make them from materials that can live on in new toys and in new ways. We also believe that parents should have guilt-free solutions for toys that have reached the end of their useful life. The Mattel PlayBack program helps put valuable materials back into play and out of landfills so that the fun comes full circle. With Mattel PlayBack, when possible, we’ll recover the materials and reuse them as recycled content in new toys. For materials that cannot be repurposed as recycled content into new toys, Mattel PlayBack will either downcycle those materials into other plastic products or convert them from waste to energy.

At launch, the program will accept Barbie®, Matchbox® and MEGA™ toys for recycling with other brands to be added in the future. Please see FAQs for more information.

mattel.com

1 Let’s talk about how integrating sports into your workplace can improve the mental health of your teams. Two-thirds of adults consider work to be the main cause of stress in their lives. Stress has two sides: while occasional levels of stress can push you to new levels of performance, an overload of stress does the opposite and is 27 to your health. When stress affects the brain, the rest of the body feels the pain. The good news is that sport can help: physical activity has a positive impact on the brain and reduces stress.

2 Exercise has been shown to reduce overall levels of tension, improve and stabilize mood, and improve sleep and self-esteem. That does not only include sports, but simple exercise routines like taking the stairs, yoga or a quick stroll through nature provide mental breaks from what creates stress. The advantages of taking breaks are many. Breaks work best if you stimulate the opposite of what you do all day. That means if you are sitting long hours, take a break to walk. Or if you’re thinking the whole day, spend your break meditating. Short breaks during the workday can actually boost your attention span and help you perform better.

3 Stress and burnout are lower among workers engaged in all types of workplace flexibility arrangements. Some examples include flexible working time, remote work, activity-based working, part-time work, job-sharing, extended leave and many more. All of them improve our ability to engage in physical activity. Imagine you can choose when you are active, when you would like to take a quick walk or work out, instead of having to fit your health routines around strict working hours.

4 That physical movement is important is not in question – the ability to exercise freely is. Everyone’s energy peaks and falls at different times. That’s why it’s crucial to make it possible for employees to choose when and how they work best and when is their best time to be physically active or recover. Employees with more access to workplace flexibility reported fewer mental health problems. They sleep better, report making better lifestyle choices and experience less stress.

5 Each employee is responsible to build healthy life habits, but companies should support their employees in that, to move more by building an active workplace. To create natural movement throughout the day, your workplace should accommodate spontaneity and flexibility. That can reach from swapping the elevator for stairs, to encouraging your employees to take lunch runs or walking meetings.

6 Working on our new workplace concept, we fought for the massive staircase which is now the heart piece of our building. It might sound simple, but if you look at the science behind it, you’ll be surprised how crucial it is to ramp up on easily accessible movement opportunities like stairs. We continuously dedicate ourselves to both, building naturally active workplaces and sporting fields. Buildings are generally farther apart, staircases at the center, walkways are wide, and employees can grab a bike to move between meetings. Lockers and showers in office buildings allow people to run or cycle to work. Our sports facilities include fields for soccer, tennis, yoga, volleyball, climbing, and many more. Additionally we are surrounded by nature which gives perfect access to woods, fields and trails for any outdoor exercise.

gameplan-a.com, 2019

adapted from an article by Monte Bovill

1 It’s not a normal Christmas gift you’d find under a tree, but one Tasmanian family were shocked to discover a snake hiding amongst presents. Felicity Richardson, from Glenlusk on Hobart’s outskirts, was woken by her dogs barking nervously around 1:00am on Monday. “I got up to find them all under the Christmas tree. I assumed they had spotted a mouse or rabbit,” she said. “I was on my hands and knees moving presents, ready to catch and release whatever it was, only to realise it was a snake.”

2 Ms Richardson said she moved her dogs – Roxy, Oreo and DJ – to another area of the house and then grabbed her largest pot from the kitchen. “I put it over the snake and then woke my daughter … she absolutely loves snakes and would have been devastated if she missed out,” she said. Ms Richardson and her 13-year-old daughter Ella slid chopping boards under the pot to move the venomous copperhead snake to a larger container while they waited for advice from reptile experts.

3 Justin Kneebone from Reptile Rescue Tasmania said it wasn’t the first time they’ve been called out to a snake under a Christmas tree. “It is not unusual for the phones to start ringing from early in the morning and going right through to evening. We receive between 40 to 50 calls a day, if not more. If snakes are out in the Australian summer’s heat, they’ll try and seek shelter wherever they can,” he said. Mr Kneebone said that due to the size of the snake, he advised the family to keep the reptile confined until a ranger could arrive. “I gave them some advice on how to safely confine it, but it isn’t something we recommend people do all the time with all types of snakes. A little copperhead is totally different from a large tiger snake,” he said. A ranger came to collect and relocate the snake later that morning. “The worst thing is having a snake in a house and then lose sight of it, because that can cause all sorts of problems,” Mr Kneebone said.

abc.net.au, 2020

1 Researchers in Japan have developed a new twist on the electric bike that’s small enough to carry in a backpack. Called Poimo – short for Portable and Inflatable Mobility – the e-bike was developed by a team at the University of Tokyo, who were interested in more efficient ways to handle short and medium distance transportation. They decided to focus on a design for a collapsible, lightweight e-bike that people could carry with them on public transportation and use for what they call ‘one-mile mobility’. This could include travelling to locations that aren’t close to public transportation routes or moving between neighbourhoods that don’t have any direct bus or train connections.

2 Poimo is built around an inflatable rectangular fabric frame made from thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) fabric, according to a report in Spectrum. The bike comes with a small electric pump that can fully inflate the frame in around a minute, reaching a pressure of between six and seven pounds per square inch, half of what a soccer ball would be. Two pairs of small rubber wheels attach to the bottom of the inflatable frame, along with a small electric motor, and a wireless controller that attaches to the bike’s handlebars.

3 The e-bike weighs just 12 pounds and can be broken down and folded to fit inside an ordinary backpack, making it ideal for carrying on public transportation and using for the last mile or less of a journey. While they hope Poimo could one day become a commercial product, the team says the current prototype isn’t quite ready for the masses yet. They’re working to make the bike even lighter, sturdier, and more ergonomic in the future. They are optimistic that future versions of the prototype will be able to make it smaller and more durable, allowing them to prepare a final version for commercial release.

dailymail.co.uk, 2020

In February, we stayed in a self-catering apartment in the Scottish Highlands, booked as part of a whale-watching tour. On arrival, the building was unlit, unstaffed and unwelcoming. When we were finally led to our apartment, we discovered a number of faults: doors would stick; drawer handles would come off in your hand; electrical switches would buzz when you tried to use them. At its lowest, the bedroom reached 5 degrees Celsius, so at night we wore all the clothes we had brought for the trip. It was so awful that we found it hilarious – and, to make matters worse, our whale-watching trip was cancelled the next morning due to a boat fault.

theguardian.com, 2021