Extra Readings 2º bachiller, Ejercicios de Inglés

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DEPARTAMENTO DE INGLÉS

IES SANTIAGO RAMÓN Y CAJAL

DEPARTAMENTO DE INGLÉS

IES SANTIAGO RAMÓN Y CAJAL

FUENGIROLA

EXTRA READING

2º Bachillerato

READING 1

Read the text and answer the questions that follow.

UNESCO World Heritage Site: A Blessing or a Curse?

I With its narrow streets and picturesque wooden houses, the historic port town of Hoi An, Vietnam looks just like it did centuries ago. But looks are where the similarity ends. Since it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999, nothing has really been the same.

II This may sound ironic, since the purpose of giving World Heritage status to a site is actually to preserve it. World Heritage Sites, from the Taj Mahal to the Grand Canyon, are considered to be of such great value to mankind that they must be protected from being torn down or replaced by skyscrapers or parking lots.

III However, small places like Hoi An can’t always deal with the consequences. Receiving the UNESCO listing encouraged a massive increase in tourism, from 160,300 visitors a year in 1999 to 1.6 million today. Most of the traditional structures, which were once people’s homes, now function as hotels, restaurants and nearly identical shops selling clothes, shoes and souvenirs.

IV For the locals, basic services are nearly gone; the last pharmacy selling traditional medicine is now a souvenir shop. Prices have gone up so much that residents can no longer afford basic foods or a ride in a rickshaw, the local bicycle taxi. Many have left for the newer part of town. The result is that precisely the quality that attracted visitors in the first place – the town’s unique, authentic local culture – is being destroyed. Even the tourists are beginning to notice, saying they feel like they’ve come to a Vietnamese-style Disney theme park, with no real life and soul. Will tourists stop coming someday because of this?

V Hoi An is just one example of many World Heritage Sites that have suffered in the same way, but UNESCO can’t take all the blame. With or without UNESCO, local cultures the world over are being lost as a result of modernisation and globalisation. As long as people keep seeking out fascinating new places to explore, it will take planning and effort to protect these unique cultures from the negative effects of tourism.

1 Choose the correct answer.

1. The first paragraph is ironic because ....... a. UNESCO has not achieved its goal in Hoi An b. Hoi An looks like it did in the past c. Hoi An has become a World Heritage Site
2. According to the text, how is Hoi An similar to a Disney theme park? a. It’s commercialised. b. The prices are very high. c. It has a unique local culture.

2 Complete the sentences.

1. A Site cannot be torn down or replaced if it .................................................... .........................................................................................................................

READING 2

Read the text and answer the questions that follow.

A Village of Tightrope Walkers

I In the mountains of Dagestan, Russia’s southern region, lies a remote village called Tsovkra. Several hours’ drive along dirt roads from the region’s capital, the village suffers from the same problems as all the others in the area – unemployment, migration of young people to the cities and political unrest. But there’s one tradition that makes Tsovkra unique: nearly every man, woman and child can walk the tightrope.

II This ability made Tsovkra famous back in the days of the Soviet Union. For decades, tightrope walkers from the village appeared in Russian circuses, entertaining crowds all over the world and winning prizes at international competitions. But with the collapse of the USSR over 20 years ago, funds dried up, leading to the decline of the famous art and of the village itself. There were 3, residents there in 1980; now there are only 400.

III No one is quite sure how the tightrope-walking tradition started. According to popular legend, young men courting the women in a village on a neighbouring mountain grew tired of trekking for days to get there. They came up with the idea of stringing a rope across the valley and the more daring ones learned to walk it, using this skill as an opportunity to show off their courage and manliness.

IV The circus work has ended, but the tightrope-walking tradition has been kept alive and every one of the village’s schoolchildren does it. This is mainly due to the efforts of Ramazan Gadzhiyev, who reopened the tightrope-walking school in 1999 in an attempt to breathe life back into the village and to create a new generation of tightrope walkers.

V Neither goal will be easy to achieve. As he searches for desperately needed funding, young people continue to desert the village in search of jobs in the city. But Gadzhiyev feels they’ve got something special that will survive even in the face of these obstacles. “I hope that one day they will be great again,” he says. “That Tsovkra’s tightrope walkers will once again perform in America, Britain and Japan.”

1 Choose the correct answer.

How is Tsovkra different from other villages in Dagestan? a. It’s difficult to find work there. b. Most people have acrobatic skills. c. Many people have left.

2 Answer the questions.

1. Why did Tsovkra’s tightrope walking decline?

.......................................................................................................................... ..........................................................................................................................

1. How did the young men of Tsovkra show off their courage?

.......................................................................................................................... ..........................................................................................................................

1. What effect does Gadzhiyev want his school to have on the village?

..........................................................................................................................

3 Decide if the following sentences are true (T) or false (F). Find evidence in the text to justify your

answers. ...... 1. The Tsovkra tightrope walkers were famous worldwide.

................................................................................................................... ...... 2. Gadzhiyev is looking for a way to make a profit from the school.

................................................................................................................... ...... 3. More people are staying in the village because of Gadzhiyev’s school.

................................................................................................................... ...... 4. Gadzhiyev is optimistic about the future.

................................................................................................................... ...... 5. Tsovkra’s tightrope walkers are scheduled to perform abroad.

...................................................................................................................

4 Rewrite the sentences without changing the original meaning.

1. “I hope that one day they will be great again,” he says. He said that he ............................................................................ ....................................................................................................
2. The circus work has ended, but the tightrope-walking tradition has been kept alive. Despite ........................................................................................ ....................................................................................................

5 Find words or expressions in the text that mean the same as:

1. tension (paragraph I) .............................................................
2. financial support (paragraph II) .............................................................
3. thought of (paragraph III) .............................................................
4. leave (paragraph V) .............................................................

6 Write a composition of about 100-150 words. Choose ONE option.

1. Young adults sometimes move far from their families in order to start careers. What are the advantages and disadvantages of such a move?
2. What are some problems in your village / town / city? Describe what could be done to improve things and make life better for residents.

1. In what way is the type of information provided by cameras different from that provided by maps?

.......................................................................................................................... ..........................................................................................................................

1. How might future generations feel about humans driving cars?

..........................................................................................................................

3 Rewrite the sentence without changing the original meaning.

Despite the setbacks, Google claims that its cars will be ready by 2019. Google claims that its cars will be ready by 2019 even though ........ ..........................................................................................................

4 Choose the correct answer.

1. Driverless cars won’t ....... a. detect all objects surrounding them b. go faster than legally allowed c. respond as quickly as people
2. The examples in the last paragraph show that the Google car is ....... a. safe in all kinds of weather b. not able to do everything a human driver can do c. almost ready for use
3. The writer of the article ....... a. disagrees with Sebastian Thrun b. feels the Google car isn’t realistic c. feels optimistic about the Google car

5 Find words and expressions in the text that mean the same as:

1. short sleep (paragraph I) .............................................................
2. happening (paragraph II) .............................................................
3. area (paragraph III) .............................................................
4. in advance (paragraph IV) .............................................................
5. not anticipated (paragraph V) .............................................................

6 Write a composition of about 100-150 words. Choose ONE option.

1. Think of an innovation that has changed the world. Describe it and write what changes it has caused.
2. There has been a proposal to lower the age for a full driving license to 16. What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of this?

READING 4

Read the text and answer the questions that follow.

Made to Fail

I Not too long ago, things were made to last. If your camera had a small mechanical problem, you’d go to a repair shop and get it fixed. Not any more. Your camera wasn’t built to be easily repairable. In fact, like many products today, it was probably deliberately designed to have a limited lifespan. This is called planned obsolescence.

II Designing products that don’t last began early in the last century, and has become an ever more common policy. From toys to TVs, parts deep inside the product are designed to wear out quickly. The customer is usually told that repairing the item would cost nearly as much as buying a new one, making it not worthwhile to repair.

III Sometimes obsolescence is actually pre-programmed into the product. Ink cartridges contain smart chips that block printing when one colour runs low, although enough ink remains to do the job. And products that don’t stop working can be made to seem outdated. Every year or so, people queue up to replace their perfectly functioning smartphones with new models, simply for reasons of fashion or for technological improvements that many could live without.

IV When planned obsolescence was conceived, the Earth’s resources were seen as infinite; today, we know they are not. Manufacturing new items uses up limited raw materials and uses huge amounts of energy, while each item thrown away will forever take up space on a planet which is running out of places to dump our trash.

V Lately, consumers have begun to take action against planned obsolescence. At hundreds of “repair cafés” around the world, community residents bring in things like broken chairs and hairdryers, to be repaired free of charge by expert volunteers. iFixit.com, a website set up to help people do their own repairs, provides hundreds of free manuals with instructions on repairing anything from blenders to smartphones.

VI Faced with decreasing resources, manufacturers themselves may soon be forced to adapt their products, giving them longer lifespans and making them easier to repair. With its own lifespan coming to an end, perhaps planned obsolescence will someday become obsolete.

1 Choose the correct answer.

1. Today’s cameras ....... a. are often repaired b. are difficult to fix c. are made to last
2. The examples of toys, ink cartridges and smartphones are used to show ....... a. products that wear out quickly b. products that have obsolescence programmed into them c. various kinds of planned obsolescence

READING 5

Read the text and answer the questions that follow.

Death Valley: Land of Extremes

I Death Valley, one of North America’s great national parks, is a desert wilderness which extends along the south-eastern part of the state of California and across the border to Nevada. This unique land of beauty and danger is known for its extremes. It set a world heat record, that stands to this day, when its temperature rose to 57°C on 10th July, 1913. It’s the lowest and driest place in North America. Parts of the park are 86 metres below sea level, yet it’s surrounded by the snow-covered peaks of two towering mountain ranges.

II Despite the dangers caused by the extreme heat and lack of water, visitors come to Death Valley to enjoy its pristine and rugged terrain. One of the area’s attractions has always been its mysterious “rolling stones”. These are groups of large boulders, some weighing as much as 320 kilos, which move hundreds of metres across the ground as if by magic. Behind them in the soil, their tracks leave geometric patterns of lines and zigzags.

III The most logical explanation would be that the land is at a slight incline, but the rolling stones are all located in a dry lakebed in the flattest section of the park. Therefore, the cause of these movements had confounded scientists for many years. Some theories proposed that the rocks were moved by ice, wind or even aliens from another planet.

IV In the winter of 2011, a team of researchers from the University of California fitted 15 rocks in the area with GPS devices to measure their locations. Then they prepared for a long wait of up to a decade, since the rocks move only once every few years. However, on 21st December, 2013 researchers found water in the lake bed, which then froze overnight. At noon the next day, the rocks began to move. The researchers could not believe their luck.

V The ice was melting and breaking up into pieces. Together with a light wind, these pieces pushed 60 rocks simultaneously for a distance of 224 metres. Incredibly, in one of the hottest, driest places on Earth, frozen water turned out to be a force that can move giant boulders. In Death Valley, the land of extremes, it seems anything is possible!

1 Choose the correct answer.

1. Death Valley ....... a. doesn’t allow visitors to enter b. is the largest national park in North America c. spreads over two states
2. The “rolling stones” are ....... a. rocks that move mysteriously b. a magic show for visitors c. mysterious lines in the ground

2 Decide if the following sentences are true (T) or false (F). Find evidence in the text to justify your answers. ...... 1. Temperatures higher than 57°C have been recorded in other places since 1913.

.............................................................................................. ...... 2. Some people thought that extraterrestrials moved the rolling stones.

..............................................................................................

3 Rewrite the sentences without changing the original meaning.

1. Death Valley is the lowest and driest place in North America. There is no place in North America that is .................................. ....................................................................................................
2. Despite the dangers, visitors come to Death Valley. Visitors come to Death Valley even though ................................ ....................................................................................................

4 Answer the questions.

1. How do we know that the rolling stones aren’t moved by gravity?

..................................................................................................... .....................................................................................................

1. Why did the researchers feel they were lucky?

..................................................................................................... .....................................................................................................

1. What did the researchers discover?

..................................................................................................... .....................................................................................................

1. Why does the writer say that this discovery is “incredible”?

..................................................................................................... .....................................................................................................

5 Find words or expressions in the text that mean the opposite of:

1. very low (paragraph I) .............................................................
2. smooth (paragraph II) .............................................................
3. significant (paragraph III) .............................................................
4. freezing (paragraph V) .............................................................
5. occurring at different times (paragraph V) ..........................................................

6 Write a composition of about 100-150 words. Choose ONE option.

1. Write a description of a beautiful or unusual place in your country.
   1. Imagine that you were once lost in the wilderness. Write a narrative telling what happened.

2 Complete the sentences.

1. If England were unable to keep its own nation together, other countries ....................................................................................................
2. No other oil reserves in the European Union are as ...................

3 Answer the questions.

1. In what way would the oil issue affect England if Scotland became independent?

..................................................................................................... .....................................................................................................

1. How might the border change if Scotland became independent?

..................................................................................................... .....................................................................................................

4 Decide if the following sentences are true (T) or false (F). Find evidence in the text to justify your answers. ...... 1. An independent Scotland would probably continue using the British pound.

.............................................................................................. .............................................................................................. ...... 2. After Scottish independence, it might be difficult for Scottish people to work in England.

.............................................................................................. .............................................................................................. ...... 3. A second Scottish referendum seems more likely than it did before September,

.............................................................................................. ..............................................................................................

5 Find words or expressions in the text that mean the same as:

1. joy (paragraph I) .............................................................
2. not deserving (paragraph II) .............................................................
3. popular (paragraph II) .............................................................
4. directly (paragraph III) .............................................................
5. now (paragraph IV) .............................................................

6 Write a composition of about 100-150 words. Choose ONE option.

1. Do you think that the voting age in national elections should be lowered to 16?
   1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of being part of the European Union?