ENLACES DE INTERÉS PARA SELECTIVIDAD

Exámenes de cursos anteriores

Práctica gramatical

Actividades de vocabulario

Para el miércoles 27 de mayo

1. Make sentences from the words in brackets:

a.    What’s Linda doing? I’m not sure (she may / watch / television)

b.    I wonder why Tom didn’t phone me. (he must / forget)

c.    Why did you go home so early? (you needn’t / go / home so early)

d.    Why didn’t you ask me to help you? (I would / help / you)

e.    Why weren’t you here earlier? (you ought / be / here earlier)

2. Rewrite the sentences starting with the words given.

a.    I’m sorry but I can’t repair this lamp.

I’m sorry, but this lamp…

b.    We won’t get there before dark if we don’t start out early.

Unless we…

c.    It’s too bad that Bernice isn’t here with us.

I wish…

d.    It was wrong to take that book without asking.

You shouldn’t…

e.    He found a job as a carpenter in 1995. He came to this country then.

In 1995, when…

f.     “I’m going to the cinema tomorrow”, Edward told me.

Edward told me that…

g.    I finally met the teacher. You had told me about him.

I finally met the teacher about…

h.    I’m sure that your son broke the window while he was playing.

Your son must…

i.      The athlete didn’t win the race because she fell.

She would…

j.      We’ll finish building our house in July.

By August,…

3. Translate into English:

a.    Al principio no pudimos ver la película puesto que el cine estaba cerrado.

b.    Por esta razón, creo que otro centro comercial en nuestra ciudad no es necesario.

c.    El dinero no es lo más importante del mundo. No obstante, todo el mundo lo quiere.

d.    En mi opinión, su blog no está bien escrito. Además, no estoy de acuerdo con sus opiniones.

e.    Fue difícil entenderlo debido a su acento.

4. Fill the gaps with the right preposition:

a.    They have always been very kind _________ me.

b.    Everybody was surprised __________ the news.

c.    I don’t enjoy my job any more. I’m fed up __________ it.

d.    Why are you always so jealous __________ other people?

e.    Who was responsible _________ all that noise?

f.     The film was different ____________ what I’d expected.

g.    Your writing is similar __________ mine.

h.    The letter I wrote was full ____________ mistakes.

i.      Let’s go! I’m tired _________ waiting.

j.      The city centre was crowded ___________ tourists.

“Why do we enjoy mysteries so much?”

            Have you ever thought about that? Detective stories and legal thrillers are among the most popular genres in literature. Murder mysteries are the only genre of literature which offers you the chance to figure out the story for yourself. Readers love to catch the killer before he or she is revealed. Detective stories are really a game, a puzzle to solve. The reader must put together the clues, and if you do this one step ahead of the detective, you feel really proud.

            In no other genre does a team of people spend so much energy to understand the identity of one person. We usually focus on the murderer, but it is really the dead who is the star. To solve the murder, the team of detectives must know the victim’s history. They have to find out who would want to kill them and why. In looking for the killer, they use their brain power to deduce the truth behind the appearances the killer has created. In a mystery, death is explained through reasoning. You can see the dark side of people, but you know that justice prevails. Good will defeat evil.

            People who like detective stories usually love forensics shows like CSI or Bones. They are a new variation on an old formula: instead of solving crimes with guns and car chases, the ‘good guys’ use microscopes and DNA, and the investigators, like any detective of the past—Sherlock Holmes or Miss Marple, for example—are intelligent guardians of justice, caught in a battle against an equally intelligent criminal.

I * COMPREHENSION (3 points; 0.5 points each)

ANSWER QUESTIONS 1-3 ACCORDING TO THE INFORMATION GIVEN IN THE TEXT. USE YOUR OWN WORDS.

1. _____________ are among the most popular literary genres.

a.    Murder mysteries         b. Legal thrillers       c. Detective stories       d. A, B, C are correct

2. In the new forensics shows there are...
3. a. No guns           b. No dead people       c. No crimes     d. No microscopes.

ARE THESE STATEMENTS TRUE OR FALSE? JUSTIFY YOUR ANSWERS WITH THE PRECISE WORDS OR PHRASES FROM THE TEXT.

3. In this type of genre, the protagonist is the dead.

4. You feel good when you discover the murderer before the detective does

5. In detective stories the criminal isn’t brought to justice.

5. Miss Marple is one of the CSI investigators.

II * USE OF ENGLISH (4 points)

6. FIND IN THE TEXT ONE SYNONYM FOR “opportunity” (noun).

7. GIVE A NOUN WITH THE SAME ROOT AS “proud” (adjective).

8. FILL IN THE GAP WITH THE CORRECT OPTION: “The police looked ..... the accident”(up/ after/ out/ into)

9. FIND IN THE TEXT THE WORD WHICH HAS THE FOLLOWING DEFINITION: “Something which serves to guide or direct in the solution of a problem or mystery.”

10. JOIN THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES USING A RELATIVE. MAKE CHANGES IF NECESSARY: “Agatha Christie was the best selling mystery writer of all time. Her husband was an archaeologist.”

11. REWRITE THE FOLLOWING SENTENCE WITHOUT CHANGING ITS MEANING. BEGIN AS INDICATED: “If your friend doesn’t come before ten, he will miss the train.” Unless.........

12. GIVE A QUESTION FOR THE UNDERLINED WORDS: “Agatha Christie wrote ninety-three books.”

13. TURN THE FOLLOWING SENTENCE INTO THE PASSIVE VOICE: “People were accusing me of the robbery.”

14. Rewrite the following sentence:  I´d prefer her to spend the night with us using RATHER.

15.  Write this sentence using Reported Speech: “Are you interested in detective stories?”, Ann asked.

III * PRODUCTION (3 points)

16. WRITE A COMPOSITION OF APPROXIMATELY 120 WORDS ABOUT THE PROPOSED TOPIC AND FOCUS STRICTLY ON IT:

Write a review or a summary of a book or film which you have enjoyed.

Para el lunes 25 de mayo

1. Complete each sentences with a suitable form of the verb in brackets (infitinive or gerund):

a.    I really miss ______________ (play) tennis like I used to.

b.    Martin failed ______________ (pay) the rent on time again.

c.    It’s not worth ________________ (buy) a return ticket.

d.    I promise I won’t forget ________________ (feed) the cat.

e.    Would you mind ______________ (look) after the baby?

2. Rewrite each sentence so that it contains the word in capitals:

a.    Jack said that he hadn’t cheated in the exam. CHEATING

b.    I think it would be a good idea to take the train. SUGGEST

c.    My neighbour said he would call the police! THREATENED

d.    I needed a drink of water and so I stopped running. TO

e.    Mark is too young to go to the disco. ENOUGH

3. Translate into English:

a.    Hoy en día la mayoría de los adolescentes se emborracha los fines de semana.

b.    Las personas mayores viven solas aunque tengan hijos solteros.

c.    Personalmente pienso que los estudiantes prefieren los ordenadores a los libros.

d.    Es un hecho que algunos anuncios son aburridos mientras que otros son inolvidables.

e.    En resumen, el concierto fue una pérdida de tiempo y de dinero.

4. Rewrite each sentence beginning as shown:

a.    I’d prefer you not to wear jeans to the office. I’d rather…

b.    We won’t get there on time without taking a taxi. Unless…

c.    “I wouldn’t go swimming on a day like this, if I were you, Tom”. Brian advised…

d.    Although she had twisted her ankle, Sally still won the race. Despite her…

e.    Mike enjoys playing golf more than I do. I don’t…

f.     I regret selling my car. I wish…

g.    Nobody has cut the lawn for weeks. The lawn…

h.    I’m sure Dick didn’t mean to offend you. Dick can’t…

i.      Have you got a smaller size than this? Is this…

j.      Would you like to go out for a drink? Do you feel…?

COMING DOWN TO EARTH

                A hot shower and a new wife helped two astronauts come down to earth after six months in orbit. Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and U.S. astronaut Edward Lu landed in Kazakhstan after an unproblematic flight from the International Space Station. The crew, accompanied by Spaniard Pedro Duque, who was on a one week mission, arrived as planned. Lu said the exciting life on the 16-nation orbital platform had amply compensated for not enjoying common comforts. "It's a small price to pay not to be able to eat your favorite food or take a shower if you have the opportunity to live and work in space," he told a news conference. "But that being said, that first hot shower felt really good." Having married his fiancée Ekaterina Dmitriev in August via a satellite video link from space, Malenchenko went straight into married life enthusiastically. "Life continues on earth and we've got lots of plans," he said. The astronauts said they had been able to keep in touch with their families from the station via e-mail and video telephone. "I missed my family and fiancée, but we had very good communications on board and we were able to talk," said Lu. "I didn't feel very much separated from my loved ones on the ground."

COMPREHENSION (3 points)

a) MULTIPLE CHOICE:

1)      One of the daily comforts astronauts cannot enjoy in orbit is...

a. a nice talk with family                 b. a good film    c. a hot shower      d. a radio program

2)      Who was Ekaterina Dmitriev?

a. Malenchenko's fiancée             b. Malenchenko's wife               c. Duque's wife   d. Lu's fiancée

b) ARE THESE STATEMENTS TRUE OR FALSE? JUSTIFY YOUR ANSWERS WITH WORDS OR PHRASES FROM THE TEXT. (0.5 points per answer)

3)      Pedro Duque was in orbit for six months.

4)      The orbital platform was exclusively a Russian and American enterprise.

5)      Living in the orbital platform was so stimulating that astronauts could manage without ordinary comforts.

6)      The Russian astronaut got married while in space.

(B) USE OF ENGLISH (4 points)

7) Give one opposite for EXCITING (adjective) (line 5) (0.25 points)

8) Give one synonym for CONTINUE (verb) (line 9) (0.25 points)

9) Find in the text the word which has the following definition: “a group of people working on a spaceship” (noun) (0.25 points)

10) Give an adjective with the same root as ENJOY (verb) (line 5) (0.25 points)

11) Give one synonym of FILTHY (0.25 points)

12) Give a noun with the same root as ENTHUSIASTICALLY (0.25 points)

13) Rewrite the sentence as indirect speech: “You can't park here” The police officer told me...

14) Give a question for the underlined words: (0.5 points) Edward Lu met his fiancée after Christmas.

15) Use the words in the boxes to make a meaningful sentence. Use all and only the words in the boxes without changing their form. (0.5 points)

                        station had a Malenchenko walk the around

16) Turn the following sentence into passive: The astronauts are giving the journalists a lot of information (0.5 points)

17) Complete the following conditional sentence: If I ever went to space… (0.5 points)

(C) PRODUCTION (3 points)

18) Write a composition (80-100 WORDS) Choose ONE of the following options. Specify your option.

a) Are dangerous professions attractive for young people today? Why?

b) Do you like science fiction stories/films? Why?