PONTIFICIA UNIVERSIDAD JAVERIANA NAME: _______________________________

FACULTAD DE COMUNICACIN Y LENGUAJE

DEPARTAMENTO DE LENGUAS DATE: _______________________________
LICENCIATURA EN LENGUAS MODERNAS
BASIC ENGLISH - FIRST LANGUAGE USE EXAM (2017-3) SCORE: ______ /63 GRADE: ______ / 5.0

I. Grammar Section (31 points)

A. Read the article about possum, an animal invader in New Zealand1. Fill in the gaps with the correct form of the
verb: present simple, present continuous, past simple, or past continuous, in affirmative or negative form. (11
points: 0.5 points each)

Glossary: settlers: a group of people who build a place for themselves to live after arriving from somewhere else, nest:
a home built by birds, paws: the foot of an animal

An animal rights group 1_______________(call) for an end to New Zealands barbaric war on
possums. It said children 2______________(become) desensitized to violence as a result of the method of
killing an animal. It 3_______________(be) clearly inhumane. It was shocking that while hunters
4 5
_______________(kill) the possums, children _______________(witness) this violence.
6
_______________(say) Jasmin de Boo, manager at the animal rights group Safe.

Settlers 7_______________(bring) Australian

possums to New Zealand in 1837; they
8_______________(hope) to establish a trade in

possum fur. However, the animals quickly

9_______________(get) out of control because they
10_______________(have) no natural predators in

New Zealand. Their impact on bird life was

devastating, competing for food and habitat
resources, and climbing into nests to eat eggs and
baby birds. They also 11_______________(destroy)
native trees with their strong paws. Actually,
according to the New Zealand Fur Council possums
12_______________(consume) 21,000 tons of New Zealand vegetation every day.

The president of Federated Farmers, Katie Milne 13_______________(tell) the reporters that it
14_______________(be) essential to routinely reduce the number of possums to protect wildlife and stop
the spread of bovine tuberculosis to farm animals. Milne stated that the government methods to deal with
possums 15_______________(be) effective, and the native trees in her region on the west coast of the South
Island 16_______________(begin) to return. About 1,500 people 17_______________(work) in the possum fur
and skin business, and the industry 18_______________(generate) sales of between $100m and $150m a year.

Currently, De Boo 19_______________(consider) New Zealand 20_______________(go) through a

difficult situation, given the government promise to eliminate the species by 2050. The conservation of birds
21_______________(be) very important, but possums have been demonized as pests for a long time, de Boo

said. The word pests is problematic because it insinuates they are worthless objects that can be treated
without care. We need to get back to the idea that all animals are sentient beings that
22_______________(deserve) a cruel death even possums. De Boo has suggested exploring more humane

alternatives, such as mass sterilization.

1
Adapted from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/05/new-zealands-possum-war-barbaric-drowning-of-babies-at-school-fair-sparks-
outcry-
B. Read the excerpts about Amazing women. Then ask content questions (WH-questions) which answers are the
underlined parts of the text. (10 points: 2 points each)
AMAZING WOMEN
1. In Colombia there are some amazing women who have not only changed their country but the world through
contributions to politics, science, media and entertainment. One of those fearless leaders is Maria Angela
Holguin, a political scientist and diplomat who is currently serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

_______________________________________________________________________________________?

2. Another woman who has made history is Ruth Marina Diaz, the first female president of Colombias Supreme
Court. She graduated from the University of Santo Tomas with a degree in Law and Political Science.

_______________________________________________________________________________________?

3. Adriana Ocampo is the NASA Program Executive for the Science Mission Directorate in Washington D.C. From
1998 to 2002, she operated in the Office of Space Science as a Program Executive.

________________________________________________________________________________________?

4. Maria Jimena Duzan works as a chief investigator and columnist for the Bogota-based newspaper El Espectador.
She was the first Colombian woman to receive the prestigious Courage Journalism Award.

_________________________________________________________________________________________?

5. The first Colombian woman to receive the prestigious Courage Journalism Award was Mara Jimena Duzan.
Additionally, in 2005, she received the Simon Bolivar Journalism Award as journalist of the year.

_________________________________________________________________________________________?
Source: https://colombiareports.com/colombia-most-powerful-women/

C. Read the following text about Siberia2. Fill in the gaps with a/an, the, or if you do not need an article. (5 points:
0.5 points each)

Siberia, Russian Sibir, is 1_____ vast region of Russia and northern Kazakhstan. Siberia extends from
2_____Ural Mountains in 3_____west to 4_____Pacific Ocean in 5_____east and southward from 6_____Arctic

Ocean to 7_____hills of north-central Kazakhstan and 8_____borders of Mongolia and China. Siberia has
9_____enormous natural resources; its deposits of 10_____ petroleum are particularly notable.

D. Connect the following sentences about the first website3 with the appropriate relative pronoun. Use each
relative pronoun only once. (5 points: 1 point each)

1. On August 23, 1991, Sir Tim Berners-Lee launched the worlds first website.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee worked as a computer programmer at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear
Research).

2
Adapted from http://www.encyclopedia.com/places/commonwealth-independent-states-and-baltic-nations/cis-and-baltic-political-geography-76
3
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/08/06/the-worlds-first-website-went-online-25-years-ago-today/
 ________________________________________________________________________________

2. Berners-Lee wanted the World Wide Web to be a useful place.

People could share information across the world in this place.
________________________________________________________________________________

3. Berners-Lee built the infrastructure for the web and designed the first web page.
Berners-Lee's NeXT computer was the first server.
________________________________________________________________________________

4. He wrote the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

HTTP described how information would travel between computers.
________________________________________________________________________________

5. The site was a basic text page with hyperlinked words.

The hyperlinked words connected to other pages.
________________________________________________________________________________

II. Vocabulary Section (24 points)

A. Read the following quotes and fill in the gaps with the adjective or the noun formed from the word at the
beginning. (8 points: 1 point each)

1. Ha*: Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened.
_______________ never decreases by being shared.-Buddha

2. Det*: Your ability to shape your destiny is directly proportional to how ______________ you may be. James A.

3. Ki*: "Carry out a random act of _______________, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one
day someone might do the same for you." -Princess Diana

4. Har*: The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are: _____________, commitment, and common
sense. Thomas A. Edison

5. Cre*: The worst enemy of a _______________ person is self-doubt. Sylvia Plath

6.Br*: A _______________ man acknowledges the strength of others. Veronica Roth

7. Fri*: "________________ marks a life even more deeply than love. Love risks degenerating into obsession, friendship
is never anything but sharing." Elie Wiesel

8. Con*: You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the
face. Eleanor Roosevelt
B. Read the following facts about celebrities and social media and fill in the blanks with one word from the box.
There are four words you do not need to use (8 points: 1 each).

adverts bloggers headline social networking sites videos journalism

celebrities newspaper homepage journalists blogging front page

Source: https://storify.com/jsavsss/celebrity-social-media-use

1. It's no surprise that _____________________ have become a global phenomenon with hundreds of millions
of users all over the world. With such a large population of people logging on to Twitter and Facebook each
day, it's no wonder _____________________ use it to their advantage.

2. One of the main reasons these well-known people also like _______ ______________ is so that they can
communicate with their fans and even with_____________________. Celebrities write about their lives and
their thoughts, and ask the public for opinions on developments, projects, ____________________;
essentially any work, past or present, that they were or are currently involved in.

3. Celebrities also use their social media accounts to raise money for causes they support. In 2011, Ellen
Degeneres tweeted to spread the word for the Berry Family (this was the story of a tragic car accident involving
a family of five both parents were killed and two of the children became paralyzed) which was
_____________________ in different _____________________ in the US.

4. Social media is a great tool for self-promotion, _____________________, charities, gaining fan support and
interaction. However, it can also be damaging to your career and your personal health and well being.

C. Use each of the words below to write a sentence in which you clearly demonstrate your full understanding of
the word. (8 points, 2 each)

1. Spread
________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Success
________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Mild
________________________________________________________________________________________

4. Snail
________________________________________________________________________________________