An English Exam

ENVIROMENT

 When we consider the subject of the enviroment, we often pay attention to the most tangible aspects: the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we put on the table. Those things are very important. But to me the enviroment is also about something less tangible, though no less important. It is about the sense of community; the duty we have to each other, and the discovery that natural beauty and wealth that took millions of years to develop could be damaged in a matter of decades.

Those are values I learn as a young boy on my family’s farm in Tennessee. As a teenager, one of the books that I read was Rachel Carson’s classic Silent Spring, about pesticide abuse. As it did for millions around the word, Carson’s book helped me understand that our planet’s life is too precious to waste.

Today, the threats to our enviroment are also evident. We live in a world where climate change, deforestation, holes in the ozone layer and air pollution are causing more and more concern.

Our challenge is to find new ways back to the oldest values of community and responsibility.

To do so, we all must do our part, as nations, as families and as individuals.

Al Gore is the author of the speech above. There have been a great number of natural disasters in the last time. Katrina (2005), Gustav and Nargis (2008) etc… all these and many more in a short period of time raise the question of whether storms are getting stronger and what is causing them. According to a recent article is the scientitific journal Nature, the answer is yes: global warming seems to be responsible. Experts believe that rising ocean temperatures are one of the main causes behind that change.

Whether or not warming will create more superstorms, we know that more natural disasters such as hurricanes will strike again. The question is, are we prepared for them?

 I.- COMPREHENSION (4 points questions 1-3, 1 point each; questions 4-5, 0.5 points each) ANSWER QUESTIONS 1-3 ACCORDING TO THE INFORMATIONN GIVEN IN THE TEXT. USE YOUR OWN WORDS.

            1. Is the problem of the enviroment something strictly material? Why?

            2. When did Al Gore realize that the enviroment was something important?

            3. According to the people who are specialists which is the main cause of the climate change?

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

            4. It is not clear enough that our enviroment is at risk.

            5. Only politicians have the obligation to save the enviroment.

II.- USE OF ENGLISH (3 points; questions 6-9, 0.25 points each; questions 10-13, 0.6 points each)

            6. FIND ONE SYNONYM IN THE TEXT FOR moral obligation.

            7. FIND IN THE TEXT THE WORD WHICH HAS THE FOLLOWING DEFINITION: “a period of ten years”

            8. FIND IN THE TEXT THE ONE SYNONYM FOR adolescent

            9. FIND IN THE TEXT A WORD WITH THIS MEANING: “a specialised newspaper”

            10. PUT THIS SENTENCE INTO THE PASSIVE VOICE:

We have to find out new ways back to the old and traditional values

            11. COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING SENTENCE WITH THE CORRECT FORM OF THE VERBS IN BRACKETS:

If I (have) the time, when I was younger, I (read) the novel that changed my life completely.

            12. GIVE A QUESTION TO THIS ANSWER: I grew up in Tennessee.

            13. PUT THE FOLLOWING SENTENCE INTO REPORTED SPEECH:

Al Gore said: “As a teenager, one of the books I read was Silent Spring.”

III.- PRODUCTION

            FOLLOWING OPTIONS AND FOCUS STRITLY ON IT. SPECIFY YOUR OPTION:

A)    Do you think that Spain has environmental problems?

B)     Does tourism destroy the environment? Why?