DIRECCIONES UTILES
http://www.aprendereso.com
http://www.santillana.es proyectos curriculares, unidades, etc
http://www.xtec.es/recursos/clic/esp (aplicaciones para todas las materias)
INGLES
profesores de alemán 
www.isabelperez.com
http://boj.pntic.mec.es/~mbed0005/index.html Relación de experiencias docentes en la enseñanza del idioma inglés a alumnos de Educación Infantil. Incluye ejemplos de desarrollos didácticos.
http://www.apinex.org/ enlaces de interés sobre lengua inglesa en E. I. Y E. P
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/tweenies/
http://www.sitesforteachers.com/
http://akidsheart.com/
http://www.gigglepoetry.com/
Direcciones Web Inglés - Primaria
http://www.dltk-kids.com
http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts
http://www.dltk-holidays.com/easter/games.html
http://www.dltk-teach.com
http://www.dltk-teach.com/minibooks/farm/index.htm
Se sacan dibujos para colorear, libros para imprimir, además de juegos on line
http://www.coloring.ws Páginas para colorear, juegos, puzles y películas.
http://www.kidzone.ws : manualidades, dibujos para colorear, juegos on line
http://www.first-school.ws Para niños pequeños
http://www.kidsrcrafty.com Material imprimible para profesores
http://www.xtec.es/recursos/clic/esp/act/eng.htm El rincón del Clic. Actividades para inglés.
http://www.kizclub.com Juegos, actividades, historias divertidas, etc. Material imprimible para profesores.
http://www.kizclub.com/link1.html Links a juegos on line.
http://www.britain.gov.co/ima100pre/intro.htm Información en español sobre el Reino Unido.
http://www.kidscorner.net Puzles, juegos, historias, canciones, cuentos, poesías, etc.
http://www.zoobooks.com Información y juegos sobre animales. Zoo virtual para que los niños aprendan sobre los animales en inglés.
http://agendaweb.webcindario.com/english.htm Muchos juegos para repasar vocabulario
http://www.vtech-abc.com Juegos on line
PRUEBAS PAU
Sally works in a shop selling gramophone records. One afternoon a middle-aged woman came in, sat on a stool in front of the counter, and smiled at her brightly.
"I want a record, dear," she began. "One I heard on the radio this morning."
"What was the record called?" Sally asked, without much hope. The woman shook her head.
"I don't remember. I should know it if I heard it, though. Perhaps if you play me a few records, I shall be able to pick it out."
She settled herself more comfortably on her stool.
"We have hundreds of records in stock," Sally pointed out. "It would take a very long time to play you even a little of each. Could you hum it to me?"
The woman shook her head again. "I can't even sing the National Anthem. We should only get into a complete mess if I started humming." She looked quite depressed, as if this reminder of her own lack of musical ability hurt her feelings. Then her face brightened.
"I've just remembered something," she said. "It comes from a play. There's a girl who speaks very badly, if you see what I mean. But after a time she learns to talk well. Something about - what do you call it? Phonetics."
This was enough for Sally. "If you ask me, it's from My Fair Lady", she said.
"That's it, dear. If you thought of it sooner, we wouldn't have wasted so much time. I suppose you are new in this job."
Q U E S T I O N S:
1. Was Sally a good shop assistant? Why?
2. How do we know that the woman was not in a hurry?
3. Imagine the customer said the following: "I asked you to play me a few records, but you said it was impossible. If...?"
How would you change the original sentence "If you play me a few records, I shall be able to pick it out" to complete the paragraph?
4. Put into your own words:
a. You are new in this job.
b. I shall be able to pick it out.
5. If you were Sally, how would you have reacted to this situation? In what situations do you lose your patience? (50 - 70 words).
I spent a good part of my early life at Wimbledon. We did not get rid of the house, a big one near the common, until soon after the end of the war; yet I can recall little or nothing of significance that happened there. But after the age of eleven or twelve I was always at some boarding school, and in the spring and summer holidays we went to the
country, so that I saw Wimbledon only at Christmas and for a day or two at the beginning and end of the other holidays. London lay half an hour away, yet I seldom went there. We were never taken to the theatre, even to pantomimes, and by the middle of the war I had been to the theatre exactly twice in my life, and then merely to children's plays, by courtesy of an aunt. My mother brought us up
to be serious and to benefit humanity in some practical way, but allowed us no hint of its dirtiness, intrigue, and lustfulness, believing that innocence would be the surest protection against them. She carefully censored our reading. I was destined to be "if not a great man, at least a good man".
Our treats were educational of aesthetic: to Kew Garden, Hampton Court, the Zoo, the British Museum, or the National History Museum. I remember my mother, in the treasure room at the British Museum telling us with bright eyes that all these wonderful things were ours. We looked at her astonished. She said: "Yes, they belong to us as members of the public. We can look at them, admire them, and
study them for as long as we like. If we had them back at home, we couldn't do better. Besides, they might get stolen". (FROM Town and Country by Robert Graves).
Q U E S T I O N S:
1. Who took Robert Graves to the theatre the few times he went when he was a boy?
2. What kind of education did Mrs. Graves try to give her children?
3. What is the meaning of we did not get rid of the house?
4. Write the last sentences of the passage into reported speech.
She said "Yes, they belong
5. Say in no less than five lines what you do during your spare time.
US. pop music has become a cultural powerhouse, almost beyond belief. American pop music, dances, and stars influence the lives of millions. Pop music shapes how people think, for many songs have something to say. It influences fashions in dress, for the styles WORN by today's pop stars often become the styles worn by young people tomorrow - from
shirts and trousers to beads and medallions. Some of this power FRIGHTENS people... TV and radio commercials today bombard millions with sales messages having a pop/rock BEAT. Cooking oils, cigarettes, and shaving creams are increasingly sold with a pop sound...
Pop has also become part of the political scene. Thus, you often hear new contemporary songs, folk songs, and/or rock songs at political rallies and demonstrations. During the Poor People's gathering in Washington, DC. in 1967, pop singers sang such songs as Turn, Turn and We shall overcome while the movement's leaders SOUGHT congressional support for more programs to take care of the poor in
America. Pop songs and singers have figured largely in the civil rights movement, and in the anti-Viet Nam war demonstrations.
You can hardly have any kind of demonstration without a guitarist singing something from today's political pop. Oddly enough, one of the first American songs Yankee Doodle, poked fun at the untrained American revolutionary soldiers. But the Americans liked it so much they WHISTLED it in battle.
Q U E S T I O N S:
1. What influence has pop music upon fashion?
2. What happened during the Poor People's gathering in Washington in 1967.
3. What is the meaning of the following words: WORN, FRIGHTENS, BEAT, SOUGHT, WHISTLED,
4. What do you think the author means when he says: "Pop music has become a cultural powerhouse, almost beyond belief"?
5. What do you think of pop festivals? Describe a pop music festival.
An English family were returning home after working for some time in a city on the Mediterranean coast. They had a cat, which they couldn't take with them, so they put it inside a bag and the bag in a boat. The husband then took the boat out to the sea and threw the bag into the water.
A few months later, the man went back to his old job in the same town, and to the same house the family had lived before. As he was having breakfast on the first morning, he heard a noise outside the window...
Now the important thing is not the cat's escape from death, nor why it returned to the family that had tried to kill it. The question is, how did the animal get back through the streets of the town to the house it knew?
Every year, as the seasons change, many animals start to move on land, in the air and under water. Some travel thousands of kilometres; but all of them know where they are going, and they never make mistakes.
This is migration. There are many things that help animals to travel. Birds and other animals notice changes in temperature and light. Birds and some insects watch the position of the sun from different places. But there are still many questions without answers. How did the cat find its way back? We know what happened to the cat and to other animals, but we don't know how or why.
Q U E S T I O N S:
1. What did the English family try to do to their cat?
2. What do you think made the noise that the man heard outside the window?
3. Why do you think the writer is not interested in the cat's escape?
4. Give the letters of two sentences you think are true:
a. As the seasons change, all animals start to migrate.
b. Some insects notice changes in the situation of the sun.
c. The English family saved the cat from death.
d. The temperature of the air is important for migration.
5. Describe in not more than 50 words what you understand by migration.
My neighbour's children love playing hide-and seek as well as all children do, but no one expected that a game they played last week would be reported in the local newspaper. One afternoon, they were playing in the street just outside the post office. Young Ian, who is only five years old, found the perfect place to hide. His sister Janet, had shut
her eyes and was counting up to ten when Ian noticed that the small metal door of the letter-box had been left open. The postman had just taken all the letters out and had gone into the post-office to see if there were any parcels. Ian climbed into the letter-box and pulled the door from the inside so hard it looked. Soon realizing what he had done, he became very frightened and started crying.
Meanwhile, Janet was looking for him everywhere and could not find him. It was lucky she happened to stop outside the letter-box and hear her brother's cries. She immediately ran to find the postman who hurried out to unlock the metal door. Ian was now free but he had had such a bad fright that he could not stop crying. The postman, however, soon found a way of making him laugh again. He told
him that next time he wanted to hide in a letter-box, he should remember to stick a stamp on himself.
Q U E S T I O N S:
1. Why was it possible for Ian to hide where he did?
2. How did Ian's sister find out where he was?
3. What would have happened if Janet had not heard Ian's cries?
4. a. Mark the two adjectives that better define the postman's attitude towards Ian.
1. friendly 2. hard 3. polite 4. kind
b. Describe a letter-box.
5. What does a postman do everyday? (50 - 60 words).
Visitors to Britain are often surprised that the weather is an almost inexhaustible topic of conversation. This is not because the British are too dull to think of anything else to talk about, but because there is always an element of surprise in the British climate. Perhaps the English have had to develop a sort of ingenuity in dealing with the
unexpected, an ingenuity which would be quite unnecessary in more predictable climates. There is an old story of a Devonshire man who was caught in a heavy storm when he was crossing part of Dartmoor with a friend, on his way to a wedding. They were miles from any shelter; there was not even a tree in sight. They had set out in bright sunshine and had thought the weather was set fair, but when
they were far from all habitation black clouds began to build up in the sky and it became clear that a storm was threatening. There was nothing in sight but rocks and low bushes and the men were wearing only suits, with no means of protecting themselves from the coming rain. One of them had an idea; he undressed completely and put everything neatly folded under a large rock. His friend, more
cautious, thought he had gone mad, but as the first big drops of rain gave way to a steady downpour he began to wish that he had done the same, especially when his companion, who had dried oft in the hot sun which followed the shower, finished the journey in a quite presentable suit, while his own clothes were as damp and shapeless as if he had spent the night in a very wet ditch.
Read the text carefully and then answer the questions m English. Give precise answers, don’t copy from the text and try to use the grammar points you have studied. The composition must have at least 3 of these structures and PLEASE UNDERLINE THEM.
QUESTIONS
1. Why do English people talk about the weather? Explain (1,5p)
2. Do you think the weather is so different? Explain. (l,5 p)
3. Write a summary of the story of the friends (3 p)
4. Write at least 90 words about one of these options: (4 p)
A story related to the weather which has happened to you
What would have been your reaction in the situation of the two men?
When the BBC asked me to give a talk a few weeks ago, I did not quite know which subject to choose. Well, I’m going to talk about the journalist.
We often talk about the journalist as if he were completely free to write everything he wanted. This is far from the truth. A journalist only writes news under certain conditions. The first condition is that most journalists write for a particular newspaper that has its own philosophy and ideas. Then the journalist is often limited by the space he is given by the editor. Next, there’s the fact
that news has a relative importance. For example, the Prime Minister made an important speech at the same time as news of an enormous railway accident was arriving. The editor would decide to print the news about the accident, of course.
His job is extremely important. He is responsible for informing the public. People say that many journalists interpret the facts and distort the truth. I believe that the journalist should state the facts and then comment on them. Both parts are essential to the information of public opinion. If he didn’t do them we, the public, would never be able to make our own points of view.
QUESTIONS:
1. Why isn’t the journalist free to write what he wants?
2. What job has an editor got do you think?
3. Explain in your own words what you think the author means by “relative importance” of news.
4. The author talks about the journalist’s responsibility for informing the public. What does he say exactly and do you agree with his opinion?
5. Write a résumé of the text in about seventy words.
U. O. junio 1985
A LETTER
Dear Marie,
How are you getting on now that you have cone to stay in England for a year or two? By this time, no doubt, you'll have discovered for yourself what kind and interesting people the Wisemans are, and how easy it is to help them in the house. You'll have made friends with the children too, and will also have found your way to the school. Have the English classes begun yet?
I am sorry I had to leave you before you could move in, but it was the only way to get a holiday up here with Tom and Valerie before going back home to look for a job. You can see from my address where we have got to.
Don't send any post here, however, since before it arrives we shall doubtless have moved on elsewhere.
What news have you had from home? I haven't heard recently, of course, but mother will certainly have come out of hospital and father will have finished decorating the house.
Now don't worry if you are homesick, it is a healthy sign. I thought I'd never get over it, when I first came, but I soon did. Just cheer up, and remember that by next autumn you will have learned English at least as well as I have, which isn't saying much perhaps.
Your loving sister,
Magda
QUESTIONS:
1.- What will Marie do in England?
2.- What will Magda have done before she goes home?
3.- Give another word or phrase to replace the following words as they are used in the passage:
"by this time" "post" "doubtless" "moved on"
4.- Rewrite this sentence starting with She said that..."We shall doubtless have moved on elsewhere"
5.- Write a post-card to your parents from England (50 - 70 words).
U. O. junio 1986
As Mrs. Grimble turned into Acacia Avenue late one night, she saw a crowd of people gathered outside her house. At first she thought that she had forgotten to turn off the gas and the house had caught fire, but she quickly realized that this was impossible because there was not any smoke.
She hurried down the avenue thinking of all the terrible things that might have happened. When she got nearer, she heard the crowd shout and some people held up their arms in the air, as if to catch something. Looking in the same direction, she saw Tiger, her cat, sitting on one of the thinnest branches of the tree in her front garden. The cat was looking down at the crowd, but it clearly had no
intention of moving.
"Thank goodness it's only the cat and not something much more serious", she thought.
"Mrs. Grimble, " said her next-door neighbour, "your cat has woken up everyone in the street. It has been up that tree for hours, making a shocking noise and nobody can persuade it to come down. We've even tried giving it some fish, but it doesn't seen interested at all."
Mrs. Grimble apologized and disappeared into the house. A few seconds later, the crowd was surprised to hear the sound of someone playing the piano. Without any hesitation, the cat came down from the tree and walked calmly into the house, leaving the neighbours outside looking at each other in complete amazement.
Q U E S T I O N S:
1.- Why do you think the crowd shouted and some people held up their arms?
2.- Why did the neighbours look at each other "in complete amazement"?
3.- Complete the following sentence, using information from the text: "Mrs. Grimble's neighbours were angry because the cat..."
4.- Explain, in English, what these phrases mean:
a) "The cat had no intention of moving"
b) "Mrs. Grimble apologized"
5.- Mrs. Grimble thought of "all the terrible things that might have happened". Explain, in 50 - 70 words, what you would think if you saw a crowd of people outside your house.
U. O. junio 1987
Some years ago an Australian journalist tried to travel round London in twenty-four hours, using the underground and visiting every station. He could not complete his plan. This is not surprising as there are 279 underground stations in London. To help the people travel around the city, there is also a bus service and a very important train service. Millions of people come to work in London
every day and leave the city in the evening; some of them live as far as a hundred kilometres away. This is called "commuting", an American word meaning "to use a monthly ticket to travel to and from work". For many people commuting is a way of life. Transport in London has three problems: strikes, too few workers and traffic jams on the roads. For example, authorities cannot find enough
drivers, guards, conductors and maintenance men to work in the underground and train services. So that a twenty-minute journey can sometimes take two hours.
People try then to avoid that problem by using their own car, which creates further problems: there are too many cars on the roads and it originates traffic jams. Many new ideas have been suggested: electric cars, free bus and underground travel, more car parks outside the city so that there would be fewer cars in the city centre. However, until someone finds an ideal solution, people will have
to wait and be patient.
QUESTIONS
1. What did the Australian journalist try to do?
2. Why can a twenty-minute journey take sometimes two hours?
3. Explain the meaning of traffic-jam and strike.
4. Complete the following sentence: If someone found an ideal solution, people
5. Imagine you are travelling in the underground. Write about that experience in no less than 70 words.
U. O. Septiembre 1987
Watching television is the most popular activity in Britain after gardening. People prefer the time between seven-thirty and ten o'clock in the evenings. The two groups which watch television most are children between five and fourteen and people over fifty. Children aged five to fourteen watch television on average for twenty-three hours a week.
Adults watch on average for seventeen hours a week. Television is divided between BBC 1 and BBC 2 and the commercial station ITV. There is no great difference between them but programmes on BBC 2 tend to be of a more intellectual or cultural nature; ITV programmes are interrupted every fifteen or twenty minutes for advertisements, such as chimpanzees drinking tea or space-men eating potatoes on
the moon. Programmes before nine p.m. are also appropriate for children, so programmes with scenes of violence or sex are usually shown after this time. Most people in Britain turn off the television after ten-thirty and go to bed. Those who want to stay up can often watch a film or a "chat-show" (interview with a famous personality) until midnight. A series called "The Midnight Horror-Movie"
was very popular. However, the most popular programmes of all are the news bulletins.
Television is financed not only by its advertisements (in the case of the ITV) but by taxes paid by all owners of television sets.
QUESTIONS
1. What are the differences between BBC 1, BBC 2 and ITV?
2. What are the contents of programmes before and after 9 p.m.?
3. Put this sentence into the Passive voice: Most people in Britain turn off the television set after ten-thirty p.m.
4. Give a synonym for each of these words: appropriate, popular, usually.
5. Imagine you are in charge of a "chat-show" on television. Who would you invite to your programme and what would you ask him/her? (70 words).
U. O. junio 1988
1.- Read the passage and then answer the questions:
A great wave took me and carried me on towards the shore: it left me on the land, badly hurt. I was very weak, but I got up on my feet and ran up to a dry place and lay there more dead than alive. After a time I was sick and threw up a great deal of sea water which had got into my stomach. Then I wanted to rest; but I did not dare to sleep on the ground because I was afraid that I might be eaten
by wild beasts.
So I climbed up into a tree, and remained there until morning. I was sure that all my friends had been killed and I alone had been saved. I was very tired and I quickly fell asleep.
When I woke, it was day. The sea was quiet, and the ship lay less than a kilometre from the shore. I had with me nothing - no food, nor anything with which I might get food. So I decided to go out to the ship to see what useful things I might find there. I took off my clothes and swam to the ship. I climbed through a hole in the side. The lower part was full of water, but the other parts were
dry.
I found four large pieces of board and tied them together to make a raft. Then I put on this raft the things that I might need from the ship.
QUESTIONS:
A.- Why did the author sleep in a tree?
B.- How do you think that the author felt when he arrived on the island?
C.- What do you think a "raft" is and what does he use it for?
D.- Give the opposite of the following words or expressions:
weak / dry / quickly / take off clothes / useful / full / large
E.- What three things would you take to a desert island and why? (70 words).
U. O. septiembre 1988.
Tom walked far into the country and entered a wood. There he sat down to think about life. Everything was very quiet and he felt sad. A light wind made soft sounds in the trees. Tom was afraid of spirits and did not like the wind. He wanted to die - but only for a short time. "How will I feel," he wondered, "if I go away? Where can I go?" Where
could he go? He could be a soldier. Then he could go far away to other countries. There was a better idea than that. He could join the Red Indians and hunt wild animals. He could travel far away into the great mountains. He could paint his face and wear feathers on his head. He could be a great chief. Then he could come back and rush into school one morning. He could surprise the teacher and all
the pupils together. But no! There was something even better than that. He could get a ship and attack other ships on the sea! He had heard about pirates, and he himself could be a pirate. Yes! That was the best thing of all. "I'll be a famous pirate," he thought. "When my ship comes home, people will see the black flag. They'll whisper my name! Yes! I'll be a pirate and sail the seas. I'll
attack ships and be rich and famous." But at half past nine he went to bed. He was back in his aunt's house. Tom lay awake, he heard the clock at ten o'clock. Everything was quiet. He heard a dog far away, and then he almost slept. But soon afterwards he heard the miaow of a cat. He was dreaming when he heard it, the miaow was also part of the dream.
Then he awoke.
QUESTIONS:
1) How is Tom feeling?
2) What does he think of becoming?
3) Complete the following sentence: "Tom didn't join the Red Indians, but if he had joined them and rushed into school one morning, teacher and pupils..."
4) Report Tom's speech in these lines: Yes! That was the best thing of all. "I'll be a famous pirate," he thought. "When my ship comes home, people will see the black flag. They'll whisper my name! Yes! I'll be a pirate and sail the seas. I'll attack ships and be rich and famous."
5) What would you do to surprise your parents or friends? (50 - 70 words).
U. O. junio 1989
The evening of October 30th, 1938, was just like any other quiet Sunday night to most of the people of America. Many families were at home reading the papers or listening to the radio. There were two programmes that night which many people liked. One was a comedy and the other a play produced by the actor-writer Orson Welles. He was presenting a dramatization of a science-fiction novel. The War
of the Worlds.
The listeners prepared themselves for an hour of comfortable excitement, but after the opening announcement, the play did not start. Instead there was dance music. Then, just as people were beginning to think that something had gone wrong, a man spoke. In an excited voice he said that
a professor in an observatory had seen some gas explosions on the planet of Mars. He then added that some Martians, armed with strange weapons, had landed near Princeton, New Jersey, killing about 1.500 people. The realism he used convinced nearly everybody. By nine o'clock there was panic all over the United States.
QUESTIONS:
1.- What was the reaction of the people when instead of the play they heard dance music?
2.- Why did almost everybody believe what the man said on the radio?
3.- Put the following sentence into the passive: A professor in an observatory had seen gas explosions.
4.- Find words in the text which mean the same as: begin / teacher / almost / employed / fear.
5.- What would you do if you saw beings ("seres") from another planet? (70 - 80 words approx.)
U. O. Septiembre 1989
Read the text and then answer the questions.
Galileo was born in 1564. He was an excellent mathematician and by 1589 he was a professor of mathematics at the University of Pisa. At this time the Church taught, and nearly everybody believed, that the Earth was the centre of the Universe and that the sun and the planets and the moon moved round it. Before Galileo was born, the Polish astronomer Copernicus published a book defending the
theory that the earth and the planets went round the sun. The Church condemned this and in 1600 they burnt a man called Giordano Bruno who said that he agreed with Copernicus.
In 1592 Galileo went to another University, Padua. He was very interested in astronomy and was sure that Copernicus had been right in saying that the earth moved round the sun. Thanks to the telescope, an invention of a Dutch man, Lippershey, he was able to write a very interesting book. This book, however, brought him a lot of problems.
QUESTIONS:
1.- What did almost everybody believe in 1589?
2.- What helped Galileo to write a very interesting book and who had created it?
3.- Write the infinitive of: taught / burnt / went / brought
4.- Put the following sentence into the passive: Galileo wrote a very interesting book in 1592.
5.- What would you do if nobody believed in something you had invented? (70 - 80 words approx.)
U. O. Junio 1990
When George's father was a young man, he was travelling with a friend through Wales and, one night, they stopped at a little inn, where there were a lot of people. They joined them and spent a pleasant evening together and didn't go to bed until very late. When the time came to go to bed, they were rather jolly too. George's father and George's father's friend had to sleep in the same room, but
in different beds. They took the candle and went up. The candle struck the wall when they got into the room, and went out, and they had to undress and find their way to bed in the dark. But, instead of getting into separate beds, as they thought they were doing, they both climbed into the same one without knowing it - one getting in from the opposite side and lying with his feet on the pillow.
There was silence for a moment, and then George's father said:
[ "Joe! There is a man in my bed. His feet are on my pillow"
"Well, it's an extraordinary thing, because there is a man in my bed, too!
What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to throw him out", replied George's father.
"So am I", said Joe bravely.]
There was a brief struggle, followed by tow heavy bumps on the floor, and then a rather sad voice said:
"How have you got on, Joe?"
"Well, to tell the truth, my man's thrown me out."
"So has mine!"
Q U E S T I O N S
1. What happened to the candle?
2. Who was in Joe's bed? Why?
3. Report the dialogue that appears in the text in brackets
4. Give the opposite of: jolly, dark, sad, true, bravely.
5. How would you spend a pleasant evening? (50 -70 words).
U. O. Septiembre 1990
Once upon a time a very beautiful girl whose Name was Arachne lived in Greece. Arachne was very good at weaving. She used to sit for hours weaving very beautiful cloth. One day she wove a very pretty piece of cloth. She was so proud that she said: "I am the best weaver in the world". The goddess Athena heard her. She was very angry, because she had
taught all the girls of Greece how to weave and do handwork. Athena dressed herself in old clothes and came down to the earth. She looked like a poor old woman. She knocked at the door of Arachne's house and went in. She said: "Good morning.
What are you doing?" "I am weaving, Madam. Have you seen anyone weave better than I do?"
[The old woman said: "You weave beautifully. But do not forget that the goddess Athena taught all the girls of Greece how to weave". Arachne answered, "I can weave better than the goddess Athena". Athena became angry and said: "Do you think so? If each wove something, we could see which was the better weaver". "That is a good idea", Arachne said.]
The goddess took off her old clothes and stood in front of the girl.
She said: "I am Athena. Do you still want to weave?" Arachne answered: "Yes. You can begin and I'll weave after you". Athena's weaving was very fine, but Arachne's work was much more beautiful. The goddess became very angry. She tore the piece of cloth Arachne had woven. She threw it at her and touched her with the magic stick she had in her hand. She said: "You shall change into a small, black
insect. You shall weave and weave and never finish weaving. You shall live alone in corners and under trees. Your weaving shall always be torn to pieces by other insects".
So poor Arachne grew smaller and smaller, and blacker and blacker. At last she became a spider, the common spider you see everywhere. And ever since that day, the spider has been weaving very beautiful, but very weak, cobwebs.
QUESTIONS:
1.- Why was Athena angry?
2.- What happened to Arachne in the end?
3.- Report the dialogue that appears in the text in brackets
4.- Write the infinitive of the verbs underlined in the text.
5.- What would you like to do really well and why. (50-70 words)
U. O. Junio 1991
In the Soviet Union several cases have been reported recently of people who can read and detect colours with their fingers, and even see through solid doors and walls. One case concerns Vera Petrova, who can perceive things with different parts of her skin, and through solid walls. This ability was first noticed by her father. One day she came into his office and happened to put her hands on the
door of a locked safe. Suddenly she asked her father why he kept so many old newspapers locked away there.
Vera's curious talent was brought to the notice of a scientific research institute and she was given a series of tests by a special commission. During these tests she was able to read a newspaper through an opaque screen and, by moving her elbow over a child's game of Lotto, she was able to describe the figures and colours printed on it; and, wearing stockings and slippers, to make out with her
foot the outlines and colours of a picture hidden under a carpet. During all these texts Vera was blindfold; and, indeed, except when blindfold she lacked the ability to perceive things with her skin. It was also found that although she could perceive things with her fingers this ability ceased the moment her hands were wet.
QUESTIONS:
1. What is extraordinary about Vera's ability?
2. Under what conditions was Vera incapable of perceiving objects with her skin or her fingers?
3. Write a sentence with each of the following verbs: to report, to lock, to be able to.
4. Write a dialogue between Vera and her father as it could have happened in the first paragraph.
5. Which extraordinary ability would you like to possess? Why? (50-70 words).
U. O. Junio 1992
If Rome is the city of the ages, Los Angeles is the city of this age. It arouses horror in the visiting European, condescension in people from the Eastern part of the States, ribaldry in those from San Francisco, and not much comprehension outside its city limits. Its shape and style were impossible to predict by the old essayists on city life, the pattern of its growth was unknown to the old
economic textbooks, its resources were inconceivable to the geographer.
For here is a city on a semi-arid plain protected from the interior desert by a barricade of mountains, which gets enough rain from the west wind to make Los Angeles the most productive farming county in the United States. It has lost that title today only because it chose to turn to industry, to house more people than farms, and to become the third most populous city of the land. It is a
metropolis whose growth is connected with the history of the automobile and those 453 square miles were the logical result of Henry Ford's popular car.
Today it has over two million residents, while at the beginning of the century it had no more than fifty thousand. "When I was a child" is any old person's preface to memories in any city on earth, in Los Angeles an old person who was there as a child is a Methuselah who can remember the Middle Ages and prehistoric facts beyond the reach of reality.
QUESTIONS:
1. How do people react to Los Angeles in the text?
2. Why did it expand so much, according to the text.
3. Why are old people in LA. called Methuselah?
4. Complete the following sentence: "If LA. had not chosen to turn to industry, it ..."
5. Write a meaningful sentence for each word: essayists, growth, resources.
6. Describe your reaction to downtown LA. when you visited it at the beginning of May, 1992. (75-90 words)
Universidad de Oviedo
People are always talking about “the problem of youth”. If there is one, then it is older people who create it, not the young themselves. Let us agree that the young are after all human beings, people just like their elders. There is only one difference between an old man and a young one: the young man has a glorious future before him and the old one has a splendid future
behind him. When I was a teenager. I felt that I was just young and uncertain, and 1 would have been very pleased to be regarded as something so interesting as a problem. For one thing, being a problem gives you a certain identity, and that is one of the things the young are busily engaged in seeking.
I find young people exciting. They have an air of freedom, and they have not a dreary commitment to mean ambitions or love of comfort. They are not anxious social climbers, and they have no devotion to material things. All this seems to me to link them with life, and the origins of things. It’s as if they were in some sense cosmic beings in violent and lovely contrast with us. All that is in my
mind when I meet a young person.
QUESTIONS:
1. Why would the writer have been pleased to have been regarded as a problem when he was young?
2. Name three qualities in young people which the author particularly admires.
3. Turn the three underlined sentences into passive.
4. Write a meaningful sentence for each word: link, climber, freedom, mind.
5. Suppose you are seventy years old, write 50-70 words on how you see young people.
Universidad de Oviedo Septiembre 1992
At Christmas I often get presents, but there is one present that I always like to get, and that is a book. It doesn't matter what kind of book it is. It can be a story book, a book of poems or a book of plays - I enjoy them all. I get some of my books from the Public Library. There is a very good one in the town where I live and the librarian knows a lot about literature. She gives me advice
about literature and helps me to get the books that I want.
But I buy quite a lot of books too, particularly those that I have read before and have enjoyed. I like to have them in my home so that I can read them -or at least some of them- not only once, but time and again. I like to sit in the room where my books are, and, even if I am not reading, I like to look at the books on my shelves and to feel that I have my friends round me.
My sister Lucy is also very fond of books, and we usually borrow books from each other, but her taste is somehow different from mine -she enjoys mystery and terror novels, while I prefer books about everyday life and common events, if you can call love and hate "normal" occurrences! Nevertheless, I often take E. A. Poe from Lucy's shelf and she often takes S. Maugham from mine, so that we can
embark in very interesting discussions after dinner.
QUESTIONS:
1. Why is my librarian good?
2. What do I like to do in my own study?
3. How is Lucy's literary taste different from mine?
4. Complete the following sentence: "If my librarian were not a professional, I ..."
5. Substitute the words underlined in the text for a synonym.
6. Which book did you particularly enjoy in the last two months? Why? (75-90 words).
U. O. Junio 1993
Jane Sommers had a bad accident, when she jumped from an aeroplane and her parachute didn't open. But she was lucky. Instead of being crippled for life, she was given a new arm, a new ear, and new legs that were much stronger and more efficient than her old ones. Before the accident, Jane was a professional tennis player, but after it she could do almost anything. She could run at 60 miles per
hour, lift an adult with one arm, and hear a very small electronic bleep from several miles away. That's why she found herself in the middle of some very strange adventures. Jane Sommers is a fictional character, not a real one. She is the main character in a very popular television series in Britain, The Bionic Woman. A bionic person may be science fiction, but bionic spare parts may
become a reality one day in the future. After all, people already have artificial hearts, hands and arms, plastic deaf-aids for their ears, metal joints in their legs and arms, and false teeth. Still, there might be some problems. When the actress playing Jane was sitting on an elephant's neck for some filming, somebody said, "It won't hurt him if you grip hard with your knees behind his ears."
The actress replied, "You're forgetting that I've got bionic legs".
QUESTIONS:
1. What are the main characteristics of the bionic woman?
2. Could a bionic person become a reality?
3. What would have happened to Jane Sommers after her accident in "normal" life?
4. What would have happened to the elephant in the text if the actress had done as she was told?
5. Complete
a person who cannot hear is ...
a person who cannot speak is ...
a person who cannot see is ...
a person who cannot walk is ...
a person without an arm is ...
6. "Scientists are working hard to create the bionic person". Agree or disagree with the idea. (75 - 90 words)
U. O. Septiembre 1993
Once upon a time there was a proud young prince. He was heir to the kingdom, he was handsome and healthy, he had been extremely well educated, and all the social graces that could reasonably be taught had been carefully inculcated. What was more, his father was a king, and his father's father, and his father before that, so that his right to rule was undisputed. Now, when it was time for this
young man to marry, he said to his father, "Father, you have already said that only the best was fit for me. I have the best falcons, and the best dogs and the best horses in all the world. But where will you find a bride who is worthy of me?" The king didn't think that this would be much of a problem. He had contests instituted throughout the kingdom. There were contests for beauty, and
contests for strength, and contests for knowledge and intelligence and wit, and there were skill-testing contests for other things such as archery and music. When the tests were done, the winners of the contests were presented to the prince. He looked them over. Their credentials were good. Indeed, he began to be afraid that some of their credentials were better than his. "These women have
excelled," he said to his father, "but they seem to be lacking in the womanly qualities." "Well, of course," said his father. "I have taken these out. You can now choose from those who did not compete."
QUESTIONS:
1. Why was the prince's right to rule undisputed?
2. What is the prince comparing a bride to?
3. What is the prince afraid of when he looks the winners over?
4. Complete this sentence following the sense of the text: Had those women not excelled, the prince ...
5. Find antonyms for four of the contests in the text.
6. You are looking for a life companion. Write about it. (75 - 90 words).
September '93
Reading comprehension
Let's meet a typical English family. Catherine White, a well-known surgeon in Colchester, is the new director of the medical school at the University of Edinburgh. Mrs White is intelligent and very pretty, with a good sense of humour. And she is only forty-four. Her husband's name is John. He is 50ish and good-looking, but he is not a very nice man. Mr White has a commercial pilot's licence
but he works as an assistant manager for an international bank.
The Whites have five daughters and three sons. Their son Dick, who is now twenty-five, is an allergy specialist in Leeds, and their daughters Linda and Jane, 23, are both policewomen. Cathy and Joe are Mrs White's children by her first husband and they are both called after their parents. Mr White also has a son from his first marriage. His name is Rod. He is married and has four
children. The Whites' daughters Diana, 12, and Mandy, 17, are students at a large Edinburgh comprehensive school. The family also has two more members: Pussy, their proud female Siamese cat, and Benjy, Linda and Jane’s spoilt spaniel.
The Whites live in a large, modern house in the suburbs. Their house is in front of the local library and has a splendid view over a big park. There are four rooms downstairs: two living-rooms, a big kitchen opposite the toilet and a small dining-room. The bedrooms are upstairs. The Whites' bedroom is at the top of the stairs on the left, the bathroom is opposite their room. The
children's bedrooms and bathrooms are on the first and second floors. Mrs White's study is in the attic.
Based on the ideas from the text answer the following:
1.-Which of the Following sentences about the Whites is false?
a Rod is younger than the doctor. b. Mr White doesn’t seem so attractive as Mrs White.
c. There are seven female members in the house. d. The twins have got a dog.
2.- Which of the following sentences is true?:
a. Mr White is six years older than Mr White. b. Cathy’s father’s name is Joe.
c. Mrs White is always happy. d. Mr White is an assistant pilot for an international bank.
3.-What (is / are) the reference(s) of “their” on the line 6 and on the line 7 ?
4.-Give a synonym or an antonym of the following words according to the text:
a. large (line 20) b. suburb (line 20)
5.-Which five characteristics of the Whites would seem unusual in a typical Spanish family? (75 to 90 words)
I-. Write the correct form of the verbs in brackets:
a) I ______________ (never / to hear) what you ____________ (just / to tell) me.
b) Jane’s used to _______________ (to drive) on the left because she’s Welsh.
c) The thief got into the house because I forgot ___________________ (to close) the window.
d) He ______________ (to sit) on the bank fishing when he ____________ (to see) a man’s hat floating down the river.
II. Embed the second sentence into the first one, omitting the relative pronoun if possible:
a) He poured some water on the burning oil stove. It was a crazy thing to do.
b) The student had a slight limp. She was dancing with him.
c) The car had bad brakes. We were in this car.
d) Ann said that she was having a terrible headache. Ann’s children were out in the swimming-pool.
III. Change the voice:
a) Did anybody see you at that point?
b) The layer can’t have given him the details of his uncle’s will.
c) What will be done with all this money?
d) M. Jackson is said to have committed child abuse.
IV. Report the following:
a) “Don’t touch the iron. You can get burnt.” (She / I)
b) “Why are you looking through the keyhole?” (I / he)
c) “If you saw my father, you’d recognize him at once. He is the most extraordinary-looking man". (He / I)
d) “Are you being attended to, sir?” said the shop assistant.
V. Translate into English:
a) Ella nunca tendrá éxito si no lo intenta.
b) No necesitas traer paraguas. No va a llover.
c) Mi padre tuvo que dejar la escuela cuando tenía quince años.
d) Me van a cortar el pelo esta tarde.
U. O. Septiembre 1994
I’ll tell you a strange thing about me - I never forget a face. The only trouble is that usually I’m quite unable to tell you the name of the person. I know what you’re going to say - you suffer from the same thing yourself. Lots of people do, to some extent, more people than not, perhaps. I can pass a fellow in the street one day and recognize him again months after. My friend says
sometimes that I ought to be a reporter for the newspapers and wait about at first nights at cinemas, looking for all the famous people who go to see the films. But, as I always say, I should not be able to do very well at that. I should see the famous people, but I should not be able to say their names. Of course, this trouble with names has put me in difficulties from time to time. But with a
little skill one can usually get out of it one way or another. In my work, moving round the City doing bits of business I have to be very careful not to let anybody see that I can’t remember whether his or her name is Smith or Carter. I’ve lost good business mote than once in that way; but on the whole, I think I gain more than I lose by this strange memory of mine, because I can always connect
a face with a place, and, therefore, start conversations which lead on to business within five minutes.
Questions
1. Why should the author be a reporter for the newspapers? (1,25 puntos).
2. What is the advantage for business in never forgetting a face? (1,25 puntos).
3. Explain one disadvantage. (1 punto)
4. Put the sentences underlined into indirect speech. (1,5 puntos)
5. Explain the meaning of the following sentence from the text: “Lots of people do, to some extent, more people than not, perhaps”. (1 punto)
6. Describe a situation in which you remember a face but have forgotten the name. (70 to 80 words). (3,5 puntos)
U. O. Junio 19995
The peaceful island of Madeira lies far out in the Atlantic off the north-west coast of Africa. It is a green, fertile island of volcanic origin, with a ridge of great mountains, rising to over 6,000 feet, running east to west. Great ravines run down from the mountains, and picturesque little fishing villages are usually found where the ravines reach the sea. Miles of levades, old artificial
water-courses, carry water from the wild, rugged interior to the closely-settled coastlands where every available patch of land is under cultivation.
The influence of the Gulf Stream gives Madeira a lovely climate. Exotic plants flower throughout the year. Bananas and sugar-cane flourish. And the grapes which produce the world-famous Madeira wine ripen gently in the warm sun. Miles of unfrequented roads, lined with trees, wind through Madeira’s varied landscapes on their way to fishing villages and to little villages in the hills. For those
people interested in walking, Madeira’s fantastic scenery is ideally seen on foot. Close to Funchal is the village of Camara where Winston Churchill loved to paint. Throughout the island you will often see women sewing outside their neat cottages.
Questions:
1. What would you enjoy most in Madeira? Why? (Write no more than 25 words) (1 punto).
2. Write down three things that you enjoy on holiday that do not seem to be possible in Madeira. (1 punto).
3. Where do people live in Madeira? (1 punto).
4. Turn the last sentence into the passive voice: Women...» (1,5 puntos).
5. What would happen if the Gulf Stream did not influence Madeira? (Write a complete sentence). (1,5 puntos).
6. Your friend likes walking and nature. Give her/him advice about coming to Asturias for a holiday. (70 to 80 words) (3,5 puntos).
U. O. Septiembre 1995
I was delicately brought up, and it soon became clear that I was not an ordinary boy. At the age of seven I won a prize for a drawing of an animal. We will forget the fact that I had intended my picture to represent Sunset over London. After that my proud parents provided me with plenty of pencils and paper and gave me the opportunity of studying under the Great Painters. At the age of twenty
One I started business as a painter of people, and painted eleven pictures of my own face. Nobody seemed to want them, so you will see them hanging sadly on the wall in my sitting-room, looking down at the Empty Chair which I will never sit in again. Nobody came to have their picture painted, and I had no heart to paint any more of myself. Although it may seem impossible, I could no longer get
any real pleasure from it after I had finished the eleventh, and this proves that one can get fired of even the most heavenly beauty... I had little money left, and I decided, after a severe struggle with myself, to forget my soul and paint for money. I determined to draw funny pictures for the newspapers. I know what you are going to say - if I had had the soul of a true artist...
QUESTIONS:
1. What was the first ironic event in this painter’s life? (1,5 puntos).
2. Was his business successful? why? (1 punto).
3. Explain the meaning of the following sentence: “I decided.., to forget my soul and paint for money”. (1,5 puntos).
4. Find a synonym in column B for each word in column A: (1 punto).
A B
Delicately authentic
True unoccupied
Heavenly carefully
Empty glorious
5. Finish the last sentence in your own words. (1 punto).
6. Think of yourself in 1999 and write about your situation at that point in your life. 70-80 words (4 puntos).
U. O. Junio 1996
Computers are machines that help people find answers to their questions. Some computers are very large; others are so small that we can put them in our pockets. The two main kinds of computers are analog and digital. They can do many things: solve mathematics problems, record airline reservations, help in space flights, even speak or make translations from one language to another. Most
importantly, though, they can make your life a lot easier.
Computers work through a programme, which is a set of directions that the machine needs to solve a problem. These instructions include a code which tells the computer what to do and where to find the necessary information in its memory. Analog computers measure physical quantities, such as the movement of electricity or temperatures. They often do only one job and are used in factories to
control machines, and to help ships and planes stay on course. Digital computers count numbers. They are very adaptable and can be programmed to work alone. As a result they are very popular.
We see computers almost everywhere around us. They are in businesses, stores, airports, schools, and homes. Young children learn to use them in their classes, and adults need them for work, and although some people are unhappy about the computer revolution, it is obvious computers are here to stay.
QUESTIONS:
1. What is the main advantage of computers according to the text? (1 punto)
2. What do computers need to solve problems? (1 punto)
3. Why are digital computers more popular than analog ones? (1 punto)
4. Put the verbs in brackets in the correct tense:
a) Computers (need) in airports, hospitals, factories. (1 punto)
b) If computers had not been invented, we (not be able) to land on the moon. (1 punto)
5. Choose four words from the text that are closely connected with the idea we have of a computer. (1 punto)
6. Write 70-90 words on one of the following topics (4 puntos):
a) “My computer, and what I do with it”
b) Write a letter to your grandmother, who wants to buy a computer and asks for your advice.
U. O. Septiembre 1996
Careton is a delightful village surrounded by fields and woods at the mouth of a river. The countryside around Careton is incredibly green, with fertile fields, eucalyptus and cypress trees. Though the village flows a wide clear river, with a fleet of fishing boats along its banks. The river is the home of a multitude of birds and other wildlife and you can easily see wild duck among the bushes.
If you are a nature-lover the walk through the countryside to Lake Kay is wonderful and takes less than an hour. This big lake which is fed by the melting winter snow off the mountains is great for swimming. The fishing is said to be excellent too! In the centre of Careton is the village square. Dominating the square are a couple of eucalyptus trees which in the spring are alive with nesting
birds. Around the square are a few inexpensive restaurants, a few bars and some little shops. Right in the middle of the square is a small kiosk run by an old lady, who sells everything from pencils to chewing gum. Local people and visitors sit for hours over a drink in one of the bars, watching nothing much happen. If you are 1ooking for peace and quiet and a lovely rural environment, then
Careton is the place to escape to before everyone else discovers it!
QUESTIONS:
1. Why is Careton a paradise for nature-lovers? (1,5 puntos).
2. Mention in two full sentences some advantages and disadvantages of living in a village like Careton. (1,5 puntos).
3. List four outdoor activities you can practise in Careton. (1 punto).
4. Give four adjectives to describe the atmosphere of the village square. (1 punto).
5. Rewrite the sentence underlined starting with “If you had (verb)...” (1 punto).
6. Write a description of a place, in 70 to 80 words, in order to persuade your friend to visit it. (4 puntos).
Junio 1999
Robert joined a small crowd to see what was happening; the centre of attraction was an old man with a performing monkey. The monkey’s tricks were very simple, so after throwing a few pennies in the dirty hat which the man had placed on the pavement, Robert began to move off, along with other members of the crowd. At this point the man suddenly let out a loud cry. Everyone turned to see what had
happened. The man was bending over his monkey, which now lay quite still on the pavement. He picked up the lifeless body and began to weep. A young man stepped forward from the crowd and dropped some money into the hat. Robert and several other people did likewise, until the hat was brimming with coins. A few months later, Robert came across the old man again; the man had a monkey, bought no
doubt with the money which the crowd had given him. Robert was pleased to see that the old man was still able to earn a living. After a short performance, as the people were moving away, the old man let out, once again, a loud cry. Once again the monkey lay still on the pavement. The man picked up the “dead" monkey and clutching it in his arms began to weep. The same young man stepped forward
and threw some money into the hat. Again the crowd followed suit - except for Robert. Smiling to himself, he went on his way, amazed at the man’s audicity.
QUESTIONS:
1. Why did the crowd soon begin to move of?? (1 punto)
2. Does the young man know the old man? Explain (1 punto)
3. Why does Robert smile to himself? (1 punto)
4. Complete the following sentences. Your answers must be related to the ideas contained in the passage (2 puntos):
a) The old man let out a loud cry in order to......
1) Robert thought that........with the money which the crowd had given him.
5. Find synonyms in the text for the following expressions (1 punto):
a) witout moving b) holding very tight c) did the same
6. Tell a story with an animal as protagonist. (80-90) (4 puntos)
Septiembre 1999
Mrs Brown was tired after her day’s shopping in London, so she went into a restaurant for a cup of tea before catching the train home. When she had ordered her tea, she suddenly remembered that she had to buy some medicine for her husband, who had a cough.
“Is there a chemist’s near here?" she asked the waiter.
"Yes, madam," the waiter said, "it's only three minutes' walk away. Turn right when you go out of the restaurant, then take the second turning on the left. You'll find a big chemist’s about a hundred yards up the road on the right-hand side. It closes at five, but if you hurry, you’ll just get there in time."
Mrs Brown followed the waiter’s directions carefully and found the chemist’s shop without any difficulty. She bought the cough mixture and started to make her way back to the restaurant. But after she had been walking for about ten minutes and there was still no sign of the restaurant, she realised she must have made a wrong turn.
“Oh! I am stupid!” said Mrs Brown. I’ve left alt my shopping in the restaurant and now I’m lost.”
She was still wondering what to do when a policeman came up and asked if he could help. Mrs Brown explained what had happened. The policeman suggested going back to the chemist’s and starting again, and soon they found the restaurant. Mrs Brown thanked the policeman for his help. He smiled and said that it was quite easy to get lost in a big city like London.
QUESTIONS
1. How far was the chemist’s from the restaurant? (1 punto)
2. Did Mrs Brown reach the chemist’s in time? Explain. (1 punto)
3. When did Mrs Brown realise tat she was lost? (1 punto)
4. Find words or phrases in the passage which mean mach the same as the following (1 punto):
a) instructions about how to get to a place b) to return c) to make a mistake
5. Write the dialogue between Mrs Brown and the policeman, following the information given in the last paragraph of the text. (2 puntos)
6. Describe your first visit to a big city. (80-90 words) 4 puntos.
Universidad de Oviedo Septiembre 2000
Read the text and then answer the questions:
When you want to do some shopping in England, you are at the mercy of the shop-assistants, now called sales ladies or sales gentlemen. Shopping here is different from shopping elsewhere.
1.- When you enter the shop, the assistants will for sure be chatting merrily with one another. You must wait until they turn their attention to you, and that may take some time. Under no circumstances are you to interrupt their conversation. You will not speak until you are spoken to.
2.- If there are other people waiting in the shop, you wait for your turn. If the death penalty is ever to be restored in Britain, it will not be for murder but for queue-jumping, the most horrible of all crimes.
3.- Few British people go shopping because they need something or because they have money and want to spend it. Shopping is a social occasion: an opportunity for a chat, an opportunity to display your charm. When your turn comes, the butcher's full attention will be yours. No one exists but you.
4.- On entering or leaving the shop you do not greet the shopkeeper. Your first words should be: “Have you got...” or “May I have...”. Your last ones: “Thank you”. In between, as explained, you may discuss any subject from the shopkeeper's grandchildren to Arsenal's chances against Liverpool, but never say “Goodbye” or “Hello”.
QUESTIONS:
Answer the following questions. Do not copy literally from the text:
1) Why is queue-jumping a “horrible crime”? (1 punto)
2) What are you to do on entering a shop? (1 punto)
3) What are the reasons most people have for going shopping in Britain? (1 punto)
4) Put the following sentences in reported speech:
a) “Hello”, said the woman, “I want a pound of tomatoes, but I don't want them green”.
b) The butcher said: “Excuse me, madam, but it's not your turn!” (1'5 puntos)
5) Find a synonym in the text for each of the following words or expressions: certainly / a while / conversation / topic / opportunities (1'5 puntos)
6) Imagine you were given 100.000 ptas. to spend freely in one of those big stores which have many shops of all kinds, restaurants, cinemas, etc. How would you spend a whole day there? Write an essay about it. (120-130 words) (4 puntos)
Septiembre 2001
Read the text and then answer the questions:
During the Mexican-American War (1846 - 1848) General Antonio López de Santa Ana lost every battle he fought, despite having studied Napoleon's strategy and made of the French general a model to follow.
At the age of twenty he attended lectures on his hero and for some years adopted Napoleon's hairstyle, combing it from the back towards his forehead. In fact, he looked noting whatever like Napoleon who was short and fat. Santa Ana was tall, skinny and had only one leg. What’s more, he lacked almost all of Napoleon's strategic abilities. In one inspired "surprise attack" he dressed all his
troops in enemy uniforms. The chaos was indescribable and the plan a total failure.
The Texans took him prisoner in the 1830s, but, in a move of tactical brilliance, they released him. On 20 April 1836, showing the calmness of a great commander, he set up a camp at the San Jacinto River overlooking a Wood where a Texan general was hiding a high number of men and ordered his troops to take a siesta. At half past three in the afternoon his entire army was wiped out
in only eighteen minutes. Santa Ana himself was enjoying a deep and refreshing sleep from which he woke up due to the continuing noise of the enemy. Realising that his entire army was being destroyed. Santa Ana didn't help matters by shouting "The enemy is upon us" and leaving on a horse.
QUESTIONS:
Answer the following questions. Do not copy literally from the text:
1.- Was the study of Napoleon's strategy of any use for Santa Ana? Why? Why not? (1 punto)
2.- Why does the author say that the Texans made "a move of tactical brilliance" when they released him? (1 punto)
3.- What did Santa Ana do when he realised that the Texans were destroying his army? (1 punto)
4.- Several sentences are underlined in the passage. Put them in the passive voice. (1’5 puntos)
5.- Find words or groups of words in the passage that mean: lame / thin / amazing / set free / whole / profound (1’5 puntos)
6.- Write an essay describing the funniest people you know. (100-120 words) (4 puntos)
|
Optimizada para resolución 1024x768 pixels
