Eindexamen engels vmbo bb 2006, tijdvak 1

SHELLEY, 16, MAY NEVER WALK AGAIN – BUT SHE'S STILL GOING FOR GOLD 1 Sport has always been an important part of my life. I was a member of my junior school athletics team and I've always loved being outdoors. One day, in August 1999, I was climbing a tall tree in the park when I lost my balance and fell. First I thought I had been lucky but when I tried to get up, I couldn't feel anything below the waist. Then I knew something was seriously wrong. After tests, the doctors told me I had broken my back and I was unlikely to walk again. 2 Friends' visits kept me cheery but when they left I wondered how many would stay mates with me now I was disabled. I'd already had to change my choice of secondary school because the one I'd chosen to go to had no wheelchair access. 3 I spent five months learning how to cope without my legs and I joined the basketball team at the hospital. Gradually I realised my life wasn't over yet. I joined a new school in January and, although I was the only person in a wheelchair, I fitted in easily. I made new friends who included me in everything. 4 I enjoyed basketball but it was athletics I really wanted to do. The Sugar

P AUL W RAY TALKS TO G ARY G ERO , THE CHIEF ANIMAL TRAINER RESPONSIBLE FOR THE OWLS H EDWIG AND E RROL IN THE H ARRY P OTTER FILMS 1 How did you get Hedwig and the other owls for the Harry Potter films? The owls were born in England. They come from a large network of owl breeders in England. We bought them when they were very young birds, so that we could prepare them for the film. Hedwig, Harry's white owl, is a snowy owl. Ron Weasly's owl, Errol, is a great grey owl. sometimes just chicken feathers. 6 The only actor the owl Hedwig sat on was Daniel (who plays Harry Potter) and we worked with him for weeks beforehand so that he knew how to handle the owl. He 2 Did you only have one of each animal? With cats, dogs and birds, there's usually one animal that plays the part. Stand-ins are at hand because sometimes special behaviour is needed, such as staying still . Some animals are better at certain things than others. We trained 16 owls for the first film and kept all of them for the second film. 3 So most of what we see in the films are real animals? The only scene that didn't have live animals was when Errol hit a window , that was a stuffed owl. But in the Great Hall we flew a real bird down over the food and he was trained to lie on his back carrying the letter. That was complicat ed 7 and took a long time to teach. We didn't need any computer-controlled owls. 4 People think owls are wise anim als. Is that true? That's what pe ople think. Owls are great animals but they are a lot of work. They are not always clever. They are interesting for an animal trainer… difficult and challenging. They are birds of prey, wild animals – so you have to treat them Funday Times like that. They have a mind of their own!

Schoolboy creates first robo-guide dog 1 Eighteen-year-old Matthew Wilson, a sixth form pupil from Stockport designed and built the country's first robo-guide dog to help his blind schoolmate Richard Howarth. The battery-powered machine d etects walls, steps and kerbs by using invisible laser b eams. If the robo-guide dog is going to hit an obstacle, the wheels stop and find an alternative route to carry on. 2 Up to now, eleven-year-old Richard was helped around at school by support worker Debbie Flint. But now Richard will b e the first person to benefit from this new invention. The orange-coloured dog is held on a lead by Richard and drives ahead of him, making sure he doesn't bump into things.