Shark Fever

1 In 1975, the film Jaws came out and, at that time, it was the most successful film that had ever been made. It
2 was based on a novel about a giant shark which terrorised the beaches of a fictional American resort town in the
3 New England area. Jaws T-shirts are still a popular souvenir in these areas and the film is shown regularly during
4 the summer season. Now, however, the film’s storyline is dangerously becoming a reality.
5 In 2017, shark expert George Burgess forecast that a fatal shark attack would take place in New England
6 within five years. The main reason was because of the local seal population. Seals are the sharks’ main source
7 of food and have always been native to the area. However, they were endangered until 1972, when the Marine
8 Mammal Protection Act banned people from hunting them. Gradually, the seal population recovered, attracting
9 sharks back to the area.
10 Researchers have noticed more and more young sharks, a sure sign that the sharks are returning to the area
11 in groups. Due to the fact that adult sharks are very aggressive while looking for prey, the younger sharks end
12 up searching in other areas, including the shallow waters off the main tourist beaches. Sharks don’t usually eat
13 humans but they may attack them by accident, thinking they are seals.
14 George Burgess was proved correct very quickly. In August 2018, a man was attacked while swimming off
15 one of the beaches in New England. He survived but, a month later, a surfer a few kilometres to the south was not
16 so lucky and he became the first fatality in the area in over 80 years.
17 After the attack, emergency landline phones were installed on beaches with a poor mobile phone signal. Drones
18 now patrol the shores, spotting and filming sharks, and there is an app which shows if there are any sharks in their
19 particular area.
20 How will the attacks affect tourism? Will they reduce tourist numbers or, as in the film, will they attract people
21 eager to spot a ‘monster of the deep’ in real life and to take a selfie in front of one of the ‘Danger’ signs now found
22 on every beach.

I* COMPREHENSION (4 points)
CHOOSE AND WRITE THE CORRECT OPTION (A, B, C OR D). (0.5 each)
* No es necesario copiar la frase, sólo es obligatorio poner la letra
1. The film Jaws
(a) was made into a book. (c) is still the most successful film ever made.
(b) can be seen at certain times of the year in New England (d) is set in a real town in New England.
2. Shark numbers are increasing because
(a) their diet has changed. (c) it became illegal to hunt them after 1972.
(b) the number of swimmers has increased. (d) there is more food for them now.

WRITE TRUE OR FALSE. JUSTIFY YOUR ANSWERS WITH PRECISE WORDS FROM THE TEXT (0.5 each)
* La justificación debe llevar “ENTRE COMILLAS” la frase que se use del texto.
* Poner el nº de las líneas no es obligatorio, pero copiar la frase sí
3. Seals haven’t always lived in the New England area.
False: “Seals are the sharks’ main source of food and have always been native to the area.”(lines 6-7)
4. The seal population recovered because they were no longer prey for sharks.
False: “… the Marine Mammal Protection Act banned people from hunting them. Gradually, the seal population
recovered, attracting sharks back to the area.” (lines 7-9)
5. In September 2018, a surfer was killed by a shark.
True: “… a month later, a surfer a few kilometres to the south was not so lucky and he became the first fatality …”
(lines 15-16)
6. Beaches in the New England area all have a poor mobile signal.
False: “… emergency landline phones were installed on beaches with a poor mobile phone signal.”(lines 17)

FIND IN THE TEXT: (0.5 points)

7.1 ONE SYNONYM FOR “predicted” (verb). forecast
7.2 ONE SYNONYM FOR “unintentional” (expression). By accident
8.1 ONE WORD MEANING “small gift bought on holiday” (noun). souvenir
8.2 THE WORD WITH THE FOLLOWING DEFINITION: “An animal that is hunted and eaten by another
animal.” prey
II* USE OF ENGLISH (6 points)
FILL IN THE GAPS WITH THE CORRECT WORD (0,5 : 0,25 each)
9.1 There’s a risk OF (preposition) being attacked by a shark in this area.
9.2 Although / Even though (connector) shark attacks are rare, they can occur and people need to be careful.

FILL IN THE GAP WITH THE CORRECT OPTION (1 p: 0,5 each)

10.1 It’s not safe TO SWIM (swim) in the dark.
* Adjetivo + to infinitive
10.2 He wouldn’t have been attacked if he HAD SEEN (see) the danger sign.
* Independientemente de que la parte de IF vaya al principio o en la segunda mitad de la frase, va acompañado de past
perfect en la 3ª condicional.

REWRITE THE SENTENCE WITHOUT CHANGING ITS MEANING. BEGIN AS INDICATED. (0,5)
11. I’m not sure they noticed the danger sign. They might not have noticed the danger sign.
* Como en la primera frase nos referimos al pasado (noticed), al hacerla con el modal usamos el modal perfecto con
HAVE

COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING (CONDITIONAL) SENTENCE (0,5)

12. If they had noticed the danger sign, suj + would / could + have + past participle ….
* 3ª condicional

TURN THE FOLLOWING SENTENCE INTO THE PASSIVE VOICE (0,5)

13. “Swimmers have recently seen several sharks at this beach.”
Several sharks have recently been seen at this beach by swimmers.
* La pasiva deber tener el verbo BE en el mismo tiempo en el que estaba la activa (en este caso presente perfecto) y
detrás se pone el participio del verbo principal (seen).

GIVE A QUESTION FOR THE UNDERLINED WORDS. (0,5)

14. “John has been surfing from the time he started walking.”
How long has John been surfing?

TURN THE FOLLOWING SENTENCE INTO DIRECT SPEECH (0,5)

15. The Baywatch warned me not to swim that day.
The warned me, “Don’t swim today”.
* En la oración que nos dan tenemos el verbo está en infinitivo (not to swim) lo cual nos indica que es una orden. Al
ponerla en estilo directo, usamos el imperativo (Don’t swim)

JOIN THE SENTENCES WITH A RELATIVE PRONOUN (0,5)

16. We’ve met the shark expert George Burgess. You told us about him yesterday.
We’ve me the shark expert George Burgess, about whom you told us yesterday.
We’ve met the shark expert George Burges, who you told us about yesterday.
* Al tratarse de una oración de relativo con prepossición, tenemos dos opciones, una formal y otra informal.
- Preposición justo delante del relativo. En esta estructura si el relativo es WHO, cambia a WHOM.
- Relativo solo y la preposición se coloca detrás del verbo o detrás de los complementos (directo/indirecto) que lleve.

FIND TWO MISTAKES IN THE SENTENCE AND REWRITE IT CORRECTLY (0,5)

17. You need to don’t get your car fixed before the holidays because you had it chequed last week
You DON’T need to get your car fixed before the holidays because you had it CHECKED last week.

ORDER THE WORDS TO MAKE A SENTENCE (0,5)

18.
solve difficult social are extremely problems to
Social problems are extremely difficult to solve

REWRITE THE SENTENCE SO THAT THEY BOTH MEAN THE SAME. BEGIN AS INDICATED (0,5)
19. It is usually said that sharks are harmless creatures
Sharks are usually said to be harmless creatures
* Se trata de una oración activa tipo “People /They say that ….” Que al convertirse en pasiva tiene dos opciones. Una
de ellas es la que nos dan, y la otra es la que nosotros tenemos que hacer