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2014 ‫מועד דצמבר‬ - 47 - ‫ פרק שנ י‬- ‫ אנגלית‬

12. The apparent simplicity of Jean-Simeon Chardin's paintings belies their artistic

intricacy.

(1) Jean-Simeon Chardin's paintings were once considered great works of art but are
now criticized as too simplistic.

(2) The power of Jean-Simeon Chardin's paintings lies in their extraordinary simplicity.
(3) Though Jean-Simeon Chardin's paintings look simple, they are actually complex

works of art.
(4) Jean-Simeon Chardin's paintings are admired more for their apparent simplicity

than for their artistic intricacy.

Reading Comprehension

This part consists of two passages, each followed by several related questions. For each
question, choose the most appropriate answer based on the text.

Text I (Questions 13-17)

(1) It is generally acknowledged today that the Wright brothers were the first to fly an
airplane, although their achievement was not universally recognized for many years.
One reason for this was the difficulty of defining what constituted a "flight." Several
people claimed to have flown an airplane before the Wright brothers, but their flights

(5) were only short, uncontrolled hops. Another reason might have been that the brothers
did not want anyone to watch their early flights so that their ideas would not be stolen.

From a young age, the brothers had been fascinated by the idea of flying. They read
with great interest about the gliding experiments conducted by Otto Lilienthal. After his
death in a gliding accident in 1896, they started to think seriously about the problems

(10) of flight. By that time, they had been working in the bicycle trade – manufacturing and
selling bicycles of their own design – for many years. Their successful business meant
that they could afford to finance their experiments themselves.

The Wright brothers studied the work of earlier inventors and learned from their
mistakes. For instance, Lilienthal had tried to keep his glider balanced by shifting his

(15) body weight. The Wrights decided that this was not an effective way to maintain an
airplane's balance. They studied the flight of birds and noticed that buzzards raised or
lowered their wing tips to keep their balance. They thought that by raising or lowering
parts of an airplane's wings, the same effect could be achieved. Throughout their
experiments, thoroughness was the key to the Wright brothers' success. They

(20) approached the problems of flight methodically, stage by stage.

Between 1903 and 1905, the Wright brothers conducted a number of flights; the
longest one, in 1905, lasted 38 minutes. No one else was able to match this achievement;
the longest flight made by anyone else during this period lasted only five minutes.

Thus, when the Wrights demonstrated their new Model A in 1908, observers were
(25) astonished by its performance: the flight lasted two hours and 20 minutes.

)‫© כל הזכויות שמורות למרכז ארצי לבחינות ולהערכה (ע"ר‬

.‫ בלא אישור בכתב מהמרכז הארצי לבחינות ולהערכה‬- ‫ כולה או חלקים ממנה‬- ‫ או ללמדה‬,‫אין להעתיק או להפיץ בחינה זו או קטעים ממנה בכל צורה ובכל אמצעי‬