It will be a little different than the examinations you are used to, however. First, it is about real world happenings which have occurred over the past two weeks. Secondly, I have given you enough information to get a perfect score. Wouldn’t it be nice if your teachers would do that as well?

I suggest you take the exam twice. First try to answer the questions without looking at the stories which accompany the exam. Then use the stories to correct any questions you might have answered incorrectly.

Then celebrate your perfect score. I hope you do as well on your real examinations. Good luck!

Test Questions For most of the questions below, you will choose the best answer. For question 10, however, you will have to supply the correct answer yourself. 1. Israel held an election for prime minister last week. Who won? Ehud Barak Ariel Sharon Shimon Peres Binyamin Netanyahu 2. Thailand also got a new prime minister last week, Thaksin Shinawatra. Unlike the system in Israel, however, parliament chooses the country’s leader, not the people. What was the vote in Parliament in Mr Thaksin’s favour? 255 for, 245 against 280 for, 200 against, 20 abstentions 310 for, 162 against, 25 abstentions 340 for, 127 against, 30 abstentions 3. Superstars Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were in the news last week. Why? They are going to star together in a new film. They have decided to leave the US for Nicole’s home country of Australia. They have decided to separate after more than ten years of marriage. They have bought a house formerly owned by Michael Jackson. 4. What career had Tom Cruise been planning on entering before he decided on acting? law the construction business the US Navy the Catholic priesthood photo — KOSOL NAKACHOL 5. These two men were reported by the Bangkok Post last week to have "buried the hatchet". One is Sanan Kachornprasart. Who is the other? Pol Gen Salang Bunnag Komane Patarapirom Prasong Kositanon Phipop Dhongchai 6. In what way did they bury the hatchet? They agreed to share an important position as joint head of a local race course. They agreed to support Chuan Leekpai as leader of the opposition in Parliament. They agreed to end a long-running conflict. They agreed to settle an unpaid debt of more than 45 million baht. 7. One event got a lot of attention last week, both in Great Britain where it occurred and throughout much of the rest of the world as well. What event was that? The final game of the FA Cup was played. For the first time ever, Prince Charles appeared in public at a function with both his son and his lover. The British Prime Minister Tony Blair failed to attend an important meeting of parliament. A major flood closed most of the airports in the northern England. 8. Two weeks ago, two Japanese Airline jets carrying almost 700 passengers came within 10 metres of colliding with each other. How did that mistake happen? A tired pilot did not hear an instruction telling him to take his plane to a lower altitude. An inexperienced air traffic controller told the wrong airplane to reduce its altitude. A drunken passenger on one of the planes tried to force the pilot to change direction. One of the planes was having engine trouble and was suddenly forced to reduce its altitude. 9. Where did the incident happen? near Tokyo near Bangkok off the coast of China over Malaysia 10. These people are currently in Thailand for a five-day visit. Who are they and where are they from?) 11. The normally bustling border town of Mae Sai was strangely quiet on Monday. What was the reason? Tourists were avoiding the area because of rumours that two people had died of Mad Cow Disease there. The Burmese closed the border in protest over a rise in the price of Thai oil products. Many people had left town after two people were killed the day before by stray shells fired by Burmese soldiers. Thai police ordered people to stay in their own houses so they could conduct a search for illegal drugs. 12. Thailand opened its defence of the King’s Cup on Saturday with a match against Sweden. who won and what was the score? Thailand 4, Sweden 1 Sweden 4, Thailand 1 Sweden 3, Thailand 1 Thailand 1, Sweden 0 13. An unusual vehicle named "Near" made history on Monday. Why? It landed on an asteroid 314 million kilometres form Earth. It attached itself to the International Space Station which is orbitting the earth. It completed the fastest around the world trip by a sail boat. It travelled more than 2,000 kilometres using the sun as its only power source. 14. In Bangkok, tonight’s the night for a very rare entertainment event. Who will be performing? The Newcastle United football team Britney Spears "Made in Paris" dancers The London Philharmonic Orchestra 15. (Continued from question 11) How many performances will there be?  a. one b. two c. three d. four

Actor Tom Cruise and his actress wife Nicole Kidman, one of Hollywood’s best-known star couples, said on Monday they have separated after more than a decade of marriage, citing the strains of their movie careers. The red-haired Kidman was born in Hawaii and raised in Australia, where she became a television star and made her US film debut in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm. The New York-born Cruise had planned to become a Catholic priest but developed a passion for acting instead. His breakout performance was in the 1983 film Risky Business, in which he plays a teenager who runs wild when his parents leave town. — Arthur Spiegelman, Los Angeles Times * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Tokyo – A mix-up by a rookie air traffic controller set in motion a series of events that almost led to a collision between two airliners over central Japan, aviation officials said. The two Japan Airlines jets, together carrying almost 700 passengers, passed as close as 10 metres from each other west of Tokyo on Wednesday. Civil aviation officials announced late on Friday that the first – and perhaps crucial – mistake was made by an air traffic controller in his third year of training who told the wrong airplane to reduce altitude less than a minute before the close call. — AP * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Crown Prince Philippe, the eldest son of King Albert II and Queen Paola of Belgium and his wife Princess Mathilde will be presiding over the Feb 12 – 17 Belgian economic mission to Bangkok. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Ariel Sharon’s crushing election victory cast a pall over Middle East peace prospects yesterday and sowed fear among Israel’s Arab neighbours. Mr Sharon’s triumph over outgoing Prime Minster Ehud Barak in Tuesday’s vote alarmed left-wing Israelis, delighted the invigorated right and deepened Palestinian gloom. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Veteran politician Sanan Kachornprasart and former deputy police chief Salang Bunnag, who have fought courtroom battles for years, have agreed to bury the hatchet. The two former foes appeared together with their mediators at a press conference yesterday, shook hands and hugged each other, with smiles all around, and then dined together. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Flying in directly from France, the spectacular "Made in Paris" French cancan dance troupe will put on a super-exciting performance on Feb 16 at the Royal Bangkok Sports Club as part of the club’s 100th anniversary celebrations. Don’t miss this spectacular event as there will only be one dinner show. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Heir to the British throne Prince Charles on Wednesday appeared for the first time in public together with his son Prince William and his love Camilla Parker Bowles. They put in the appearance at a star-studded party in London to mark the anniversary of a body which protects the royal family and others from intrusion by Britain’s notoriously assertive press. – London, AFP * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Thaksin Shinawatra received a landslide vote from member of the lower house to become Thailand’s 23rd prime minister. The vote was: For: 340 Against: 127 Abstain: 30 Absentee: 3 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Thai artillery retaliated against Burmese army gun emplacements across the border after mortar shells and stray bullets rained on Mae Sai town yesterday, killing two people and wounding 15 others. Streams of people were seen leaving the town as Thai troops retaliated with heavy artillery, aiming at Burmese positions thought to be the source of the stray shells. By noon, the Mae Sai market was deserted, all shops closed and all business activity stopped. Four temporary shelters were opened at schools about 5km from Mae Sai for the evacuees. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * COLUMBIA, Md. (AP) — With its rockets firing, an American spacecraft floated toward Eros, hit once, bounced high and then settled onto the barren rocky surface as mankind's first robot visitor to an asteroid. A strong radio signal, interrupted only briefly during the bounce, proved that the craft that was never designed to land had, in fact, come to a featherlight touchdown on Eros, more than 196 million miles (314 kilometres) from Earth, astounding even the officials overseeing the mission. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * photo — SOMCHAI POOMLARD Thailand’s defence of the King's Cup got off to a disappointing start yesterday as they were beaten 4-1 by Sweden in front of 20,000 fans at Suphachalasai Stadium.

TEACHER'S NOTE

As usual, I also have a second, more meaningful purpose to the lesson. I wanted to give your students a final reminder of the variety of information available in the Bangkok Post. That is why I have chosen my questions from various part of the paper.

To make this more interesting, you might want to have your students take the exam twice. First, let them take the exam without looking at the accompanying stories. Then let them scan through the stories and correct any answers they missed the first time.

Next week: note about next week's lesson

Exploring the Premier league Wimbledon's Damien Francis (left) is tackled by Middlesbrough's Paul Okon. After several replays, Wimbledon has finally succeeded in reaching the FA Cup's fifth round. It’s FA Cup time again FA Cup games this weekend (The home teams are listed first.) Bolton Wanderers vs Blackburn Rovers Tottenham Hotspur vs Stockport County Leicester City vs Bristol City Southhampton vs Tranmere Rovers Sunderland vs West Ham United Wycombe Wanderers vs Wimbledon Arsenal vs Chelsea Liverpool vs Manchester City Once again the regular Premier League schedule is being interrupted, this time for the fifth round of the FA Cup competition. At this stage, most of the 600 or so teams that began the competition have long since been defeated and only 16 remain. Ten of them are from the Premier League, a good indication why it is England’s number one league. Let’s focus on the non-Premier League teams and add them to our map. (See below for directions on how to get your map if you don’t already have one.) Read the information below and add each of the non-PL league teams mentioned to your map. The game between Bolton and Blackburn will be interesting because it features two of Division One’s top teams. Both teams are also from the same part of England. Bolton is about 10 kilometres northwest of Manchester. Blackburn, on the other hand, is about 30 kilometres to the northeast of Manchester. To find where Division One Stockport County plays, we have to stay in the Manchester area. In fact, it is right at the southwest edge of the city itself. Bristol City is one of the two remaining second division football teams in the FA Cup. To find Bristol City follow the Severn River down past the Birmingham area all the way to where it flows out into the sea. The city is just below that point a few kilometres to the west. Liverpool’s three teams are all within 10 kilometres of each other. Tranmere is slightly to the east of Everton and Liverpool, just across the Mersey River. Second division Wycombe plays its home games just outside the northeastern edge of London. First Division Wimbledon plays in the southernmost part of London, not very far from West Ham United. Note: This lesson requires a map. The best map for our purposes is available by clicking here.