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NIVEL INTERMEDIO B2 Final Score

/30
TAREA 1

Why Black Friday is No Longer Just One Day

Read the text about Black Friday and choose the right answer for each question (a, b, or c).
Question 0 has been done as an example. Write your final answers in the answer box below.

(8x1=8 points)

Black Friday is a discount sales phenomenon that arrived in the UK and Ireland
with something of a bang last year, and is due to fall this year on November 25. It's a
big tradition in the US, where shoppers flock to the stores the day after Thanksgiving
to snap up all kinds of goods in this one-day flash sales festival. Retailers offer big
oneday-only discounts on large numbers of products in an attempt to persuade you to
spend your hard- earned cash in the run-up to Christmas. Many retailers here jumped
on the bandwagon, although many others seemed to be unhappy about it, believing
the whole thing was more trouble than it's worth. Retail Excellence Ireland's (REI)
commercial and communications director, Lynn Drumgoole, says some of them were
taken by surprise at the heightened consumer expectations of huge bargains that the
phenomenon generated last year, particularly through social media.
"The feeling is that this year will be a little less manic, but certainly there is increased
pressure on retailers to get involved in something."
It's already shifted consumers' shopping habits here, judging by REI figures
released earlier this year that appeared to show a trend emerging of Irish shoppers
prioritising Black Friday sales over traditional giftbuying periods and post-Christmas
sales.
However, Drumgoole says some retailers have been taking a more pragmatic and
flexible approach to the phenomenon this year, such as by extending special discounts
over a few days or a week either side of November 25 or 28, in the hope of generating
interest, but at the same time avoiding the concentration of spend on a single day. But
while it's definitely tempting to hold back on shopping you might have done in
November or even October in the hope of bagging bargains on Black Friday and its
online shopping equivalent, Cyber Monday (November 28), it comes with a few
caveats. Dermott Jewell, the Consumer Association of Ireland's policy advisor, said:
"We found this last year that too often, the prices are not as attractive as they would
be in the US. In the US, they have a very, very different approach, but here it's just
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 being seen as an opportunity to make your presence felt on the retail side." On some
occasions, prices are low only because they're getting rid of some quite old stock that
they want to see the back of, he added. Some retailers will eschew the whole thing,
too, so "you'll get some bargains, but you won't get, if you like, a nationwide effort very
similar to that in the US, that's just not the way it's done here". In the UK, Black Friday
bargain hunters have been warned "do your research" after a watchdog found half of
last year's so-called deals were cheaper on other days.

0. Last Year
a) Black Friday appeared in the US.
b) Black Friday appeared in the UK and Ireland.
c) Black Friday exploded in the UK.
1. Shop owners in Ireland
a) consider Black Friday too complicated.
b) expect to find extremely low prices.
c) have mixed opinions about Black Friday.
2. A recent study by REI shows a growing popularity in
a) Post-Christmas sales.
b) Black Friday sales.
c) Traditional gift-buying periods.
3. According to Lynn Drumgoole
a) shoppers are more pragmatic this year.
b) shop owners are adapting Black Friday.
c) shops will remain open from November 25th to 28th.
4. Retailers intend
a) to focus on specific offers.
b) to generate a concentration of spend.
c) to maintain the interest over a period of days.
5. Cyber Monday
a) involves cheaper prices than Black Friday.
b) is for buying bargain IT gadgets.
c) is a similar concept to Black Friday.
6. According to Dermott Jewell
a) prices in Ireland are lower than in the USA.
b) bargains are very similar in Ireland and the USA.
c) prices in the USA are lower than in Ireland.
7. Some offers are due to stock being
a) of previous seasons
b) at the back of storerooms.
c) in bad conditions.
8. In Ireland
a) Black Friday involves the whole country.
b) some shop owners are not interested.
c) some cities will not get involved.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Total points 8

b Your score

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 TAREA 2
Letters to the Editor

Match each of the following statements with one of the letters (a, b, or c). Item 0 has been done as an
example. There are two extra statements that you do not need to use, so two of the boxes must be
left blank. Write your final answers in the answer box below.

(5x1=5 points)

A. Trees don’t just fall over, Humans damage them.

Dean Norton, Mount Vernon’s director of horticulture, said, of a 230-year-old oak tree that fell,
“Trees just give up, on occasion… It just was its time.” Not really. Photographs showed the base of
the tree had been damaged long ago, damage most likely caused by a human, and the tree had
been working to heal itself. But disease got in, and much of the wood at the base of the tree had
rotted away. That rot destroyed the tree’s ability to support itself.
The normal life span for oaks is 400 to 600 years. This was not a “tired” tree that “gave out.” Trees
don’t just fall over. To say this promotes an irrational fear of trees. Instead, we must acknowledge
that humans who damage trees can cause the death of trees. We desperately need those trees to
help mitigate climate change. Damaging trees damages all of us.

Catherine S. Tunis, Takoma Park

Adapted from the Washington Post “Letters to the Editor”
B. Time for Americans to see red and go green.

It is clear that Virginia’s new Democratic majority should not wait to take serious action on the
climate crisis.
The new majority is talking about gun safety, women’s rights, workers’ rights and more, but climate
change is apparently not a top priority. The message could not be clearer: Greenhouse gas
emissions must begin falling if we are to avoid the worst impacts of global warming. If Virginia’s
new Democratic majority is to rise to the challenge, the climate crisis must be a top priority.
Bold action means committing Virginia to getting to zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050; it
means committing to getting to carbon-free electric power by 2040; it means establishing robust
and binding processes to reinvent Virginia’s energy economy; and it means cutting Virginia’s
greenhouse gas emissions. To do anything less is to fail to properly answer the question “are we
being good ancestors?”

Scott Emery, Sterling

Adapted from the Washington Post “Letters to the Editor”

C. Hurrah for carbon tax.

Well, knock me over with a feather, the Calgary Sun printed the editor’s opinion supporting a carbon
tax — and a high one, at that — in Saturday’s print version. Mind you, I can’t find the column online
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today so maybe I was actually dreaming when I saw it. This should be a no-brainer. Is the
atmosphere a free dump? No. Are there big health and climate costs from our burning of fossil
fuels? Yes. Does a price on carbon reduce people’s use of fossil fuels? Does it foster the provision
and development of new alternatives by companies and entrepreneurs? Yes and yes. Who
supports a carbon tax? The Canadian Chamber of Commerce. Most Canadian economists and
3,500 economists south of the border. Well, some lessons we need to learn the hard way.

ROGER L. GAGNE
Adapted from the Calgary Sun “Letters to the Editor”

0. Great importance is placed on trees to avoid climate change.

1. A complaint is made about a political party´s priorities.
2. An article about climate change is praised.
3. A tree was cut and a younger one was planted in its place.
4. Examples are given of collectives who support ecological measures.
5. The writer wants a specific territory to take measures against climate change.
6. The writer wants to change the political majority in a State.
7. A specific incident of human actions affecting nature is mentioned.

Total
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 5
score
Your
A
points

4
 TAREA 3

Londoners strip off for annual No Trousers Tube Ride and people
don’t know what to think (From: www. Indy100.com)

Read the text about the “No Trousers Ride” and choose the correct option for each of the
blanks. There are two extra options that you do NOT need to use. Item 0 has been done as an
example. Write your final answers in the answer box below.

(10x1=10 points)

Hundreds of people have stripped off their trousers to take a half-naked

trip on the London Underground.

Crowds met outside the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square for the 10th annual No Trousers Tube
Ride before heading underground where they boarded trains ---------0---------.
More than 100 people piled on to the Piccadilly Line, ----------1------------.
Regular Sunday passengers were left bewildered as men and women sat in their brightly-coloured
underwear talking or reading, ----------2------------.
----------3---------------, the group got off at Canary Wharf to do some aerobics on the platform before
jumping on another train. Other groups set off for London landmarks, --------4----------.
Sisters Tessa and Matilda Deterding said they had come for the first time because they liked the
idea behind it. Tessa, 24, from London, said: We read about it and thought it sounded hilarious. --
---------5---------. I quite like the sentiment behind it, instead of a stiff upper lip it’s
having a bit of a laugh. Matilda, 22, added: I did especially pick out my pants, you have got to pick
out a nice opaque one. ---------------------6--------------.
The event is part of the worldwide No Pants Subway Ride, --------7---------, and has since spread to
over 60 cities around the globe including Tokyo, Jerusalem and Moscow. The London event was
organised by the Stiff Upper Lip Society, which asked participants to “avoid thongs/budgie
smugglers/anything see-through though, ---------8------, not offend, fellow Underground users”.
One of the organisers, Farhan Rasheed, said there was not really an aim to the event, it was just
a bit of fun. He added: -------9--------, we are not campaigning or raising awareness of anything.
People just have fun doing it, it’s a bit of a nonsense day out. -------10-----------. It’s London, and
London is used to this stuff, they take it in their stride and get back to their book.

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 a. I wasn’t nervous about it
b. which began in New York in 2002
c. without any clothes on
d. after changing to the Jubilee Line at Green Park
e. where they struggled to remove their trousers due to the large crowds
f. you don’t want to give too much of a spectacle
g. or taking pictures of each other
h. as we aim to amuse
i. including one heading to Parliament.
j. you very rarely get people who are offended
k. there is no point to it
l. we have a clear goal
m. on different Tube lines across the capital

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Total points 10

M Your score

6
TAREA 4
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson

Read the text about Elizabeth Garrett Anderson. Choose the best option for each blank (a, b, or c).
Item 0 has been done as an example. Write your final answers in the answer box below.

(7x1=7 points)

Being the first English female doctor speaks for itself: Elizabeth Garrett Anderson was an amazing and
resilient woman whose strength and determination enabled other (0) ___ to also achieve greatness. She
was (1) ___ by successful women such as Elizabeth Blackwell, the first female doctor in the US. Elizabeth
Garrett Anderson decided to contradict the submissive life she was expected to lead and (2) ___ a doctor.
She was denied entry to any medical school, despite her respectable education, so she was forced to study
nursing next to male students whose objections finally got her expelled from college. After Elizabeth tried
to become a doctor through the Society of Apothecaries, they immediately implemented a ban on (3) ___
entrants. The sexism and adversity Elizabeth faced only fuelled her strength and resolve.
She taught herself French in order to study at the University of Paris, and finally she earned her medical
(4) ___. However, this was still not enough to allow her onto the British Medical Register, so she established
the New Hospital for Women, which was to become the London School of Medicine for Women, (5) ___
she was later appointed Dean. Her vocal campaign efforts eventually paid off and in 1876 female entry into
the profession of medicine was legalised. Even after she had (6) ___ from medicine, Dr Anderson was still
fighting against the patriarchy, becoming the first female mayor in England. She was influential to the
suffragette movement and inspired her daughter, alongside many other intrepid women, to follow in her
esteemed footsteps and strive towards (7) ___ equality.

Adapted from https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/10-amazing-women-in-science-history-you-really-should-

know-about/

0. a) women b) men c) people

1. a) inspired b) corrected c) learned
2. a) begin b) work c) become
3. a) all b) female c) minor
4. a) graduate b) degree c) career
5. a) where b) how c) when
6. a) studied b) legalised c) retired
7. a) sex b) gender c) male

0 women
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Total points 7
Your Score

7
ANSWER KEY

Tarea 1

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

b c b b c c c a b

Tarea 2

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

A B C - C B - A

Tarea 3

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

M E G D I A F B H K J

Tarea 4

0 women
1 inspired
2 become
3 female
4 degree
5 where
6 retired
7 gender