Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.

The International Conference on Population and Development ICPD calls for four major programmatic actions.

1-The Eradication of Illiteracy: a number of demographic and health studies have provided some evidence to show that wherever a woman has achieved an eighth grade education, she has half the number of  pregnancies as her uneducated sister. There must be a concerted effort to ensure that every child in the world has an opportunity for at least a basic education. And special attention must be given to extending this opportunity to girls. For mainly it is the girl child who has been denied and deprived of the fundamental human right of a basic education.

2-Full Employment Opportunities for Women: studies have also shown that wherever women are empowered to participate in the paid economy of a country , they opt for a smaller family size than women who don’t have paid employment; they become a more important part of family decision making , and they achieve gender equality that matters more. There is no rational explanation or excuse for gender inequality or inequity in a world where women perform two-thirds of the world’s work, earn only ten per cent of the world’s income, and own less than one per cent of the world’s property. This problem has to be addressed.

3-Reduction of Infant Mortality: where parents can be reasonably assured that their children will survive beyond age five, they again opt to have fewer pregnancies. Substantial progress has been made in the area of reducing infant and child mortality and morbidity. We have seen some of the impressive declines in fertility rates in the very same countries that have made the greatest progress in lowering infant and child mortality.

4-Universal Access to the Knowledge and Affordable Means by which to Prevent Unintended Pregnancies: family planning options should range from natural methods, for those for whom they work, to more medically approved methods. More research is required to develop an even wider variety of safe, effective means of mobilization on the matter. As family planning methods are available, we can go a long way toward assuring that couples have only the number of children they want to have and are able to nurture and care for. The key to stabilizing our human numbers can be summed up in a single sentence “every child, a wanted child.”

Accomplishment of  these goals will see world population leveling off at around eight billion, or even less, rather than what some demographers believe could be 9.5 billion or higher. A concerted effort by national governments as well as by civil society to transform the Cairo ICPD rhetoric into reality will lead to the improvement of the quality of life on this planet. Such an effort is essential to the realization of development goals for those countries currently on course to double their populations within the next 25 to 30 years.

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Full name:…………………………………….

Class:……………………….

I/ READING COMPREHENSION: (08pts)

A. Find in the text words which mean the same as: (1 pt)

1. Choose (paragraph2): …………………………………..

2. Child (paragraph 4): ……………………………………

B. Say whether these statements are true or false: (3 pts)

3. The more educated women are, the less pregnancies they have.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

4. Nowadays, all girls are allowed to go to primary school.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

5. Men and women earn the same income for the same amount of work.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

C. Answer these questions according to the text: (3 pts)

6. Why should we focus mainly on providing basic education for girls?

………………………………………………………………………………….………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………

7. How does the reduction of infant mortality lead to less pregnancies?

…………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………….

8. What is the result of achieving the four development goals mentioned in the text?

…………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………

D. Complete the following sentences according to your understanding of the text: (1 pt)

9. Studies show that literate women have half ……………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………..

10. Girls have been denied …………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………..

II/ LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE: (07pts)

E. Fill in the gaps with the right form of the word in parenthesis (0,5x4) = 2pt

Many girls have dropped out school because they were…………………..(pregnancy). And the……………………(responsible) people who did these…………………(fair) acts are their own mates and teachers. These……………………(to want) pregnancies are obstacles to their success.

F. Complete this dialogue meaningfully (0,5x6) = 3pts

A: Many women die while they are giving birth,…………………………?

B: Of course,……………………but…………………….……………(the government/to take) some adequate measures?

A: Yes,……………………

B:………………………………………those measures?

A: It has built many hospitals and led awakening programs to sensitize people.

B: Well, …………………the most affected populations?

A: It’s people who are living distant and poor area. They have problems of transportation.

G. Put the verbs in the right form and tense (0,5x4) = 2pt

From the death of my parents till now, I……………………………(to suffer) from a terrible pain I……………………….(not/know) when they were alive. Due to their absence, I………. …………...(to live) hell in this house. If they were living, I…………………………(know) this suffering.

III/ ESSAY WRITING: (05pts)

H. Choose one of the following topics and write about 150 words

Topic1: You have read an article about gender equality in a magazine. Write a letter to the editor of the magazine giving your opinion about the importance of equality between men and women.

Topic2: A man said: “I am not going to sacrifice myself for the education of my daughters because when they succeed it’s not for you, all their fortune will be for their husband and children”. Do you share his opinion? Why or why not?