GRADE:

UNIVERSIDAD PONTIFICIA BOLIVARIANA

LANGUAGE CENTER
ENGLISH IV FINAL EXAM 30%
DURATION : 1 HOUR
NAME: ____________________________________ID:___________DATE:__________

PURPOSE: To test students´ communicative competence for this level by means of oral and
written tasks related to nature, technology and discoveries.

1. ORAL COMPREHENSION (15 POINTS)

I. You will hear an expert talking about an article by Peter Miller from the September
2013 issue of National Geographic Magazine. He explains what is happening to our
weather. Choose the correct option by choosing the correct letter from a-c. (8 points,
1 each)

1. The article says extreme weather is ...

a. becoming more common.
b. not a natural occurrence.
c. difficult for scientists to understand.

2. According to the article, extreme weather is a problem because ...

a. we can't predict it.
b. it affects places where lots of people live.
c. it’s often very destructive.

3. Extreme weather can by caused by ...

a. satellites above the Earth.
b. water vapour in the atmosphere.
c. very hot summers.

4. Where does atmospheric water vapour come from?

a. the land
b. the ocean
c. greenhouse gases

5. We can use satellites to ...

a. change where storms will happen.
b. trap greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
c. measure changes in atmospheric water vapour.

6. What caused many deaths in 2003?

a. a period of hot weather
b. floods that followed a bad summer
c. a long drought

7. Why was the rain in Nashville considered to be an extreme event?

a. There was a lot of rain over a long time.
b. It doesn’t usually rain in Nashville.
c. There was a lot of rain in a short time.

8. According to Michael Oppenheimer.

a. we don't understand extreme weather events.
b. we can limit the effects of extreme weather.
c. we can stop climate change.

II. Listen to Robert and Miriam speaking about hiking. Write (T ) TRUE, if the statement
is true or ( F ) false, if the statement is false. Write the answers on the lines provided.
( 7 points, 1 each)
 1. Does Miriam think computer games are changing the way we live? ______
2. Does Robert use a computer for work? _____
3. Does Miriam use a computer for work? _____
4. Does Robert enjoy computer games? _____
5. Does Miriam enjoy computer games? _____
6. Does Robert play a lot? ________
7. Does Miriam play a lot? ______

2. WRITTEN COMPREHENSION (15 POINTS)

Read the text carefully. According to the text, read the statements and choose the
correct option by underlining the sentence. (15 points, 1.5 each)

IF STATUES COULD TALK

How did the Easter Island statues move? Archaeologists are still trying to work out how - and
what their story really means.

On a winter night last June, José Antonio Tuki, a 30-year-old artist on Easter Island, sat on
Anakena beach and stared at the enormous human statues there – the moai. The statues are
from four feet tall to 33 feet tall. Some weigh more than 80 tons. They were carved, a long time
ago, with stone tools and then they were moved up to 11 miles to the beach. Tuki stares at their
faces and he feels a connection. ‘This is something that was produced by my ancestors,’ he
says. ‘How did they do it?’

The first Polynesians arrived at Rapa Nui (Easter Island), probably by canoe, hundreds of years
ago. The island is 2,150 miles west of South America and 1,300 miles east of its nearest inhabited
neighbour, Pitcairn. Nowadays 12 flights arrive every week from Chile, Peru and Tahiti. In 2011,
50,000 tourists – ten times the island’s population – flew to Easter Island. Almost all of the jobs
on Easter Island depend on tourism. And the tourists go there for only one thing: the moai.

People around the world became curious about the statues after the Norwegian adventurer Thor
Heyerdahl made Easter Island famous, and there are different theories about how the statues
were moved to the beach. Many researchers think the statues were pulled along the ground
using ropes and wood.

Pulitzer Prize winner Jared Diamond has suggested that many people were needed to build and
move the moai. As a result, the island’s trees were cut down for wood and to create farming land.
This open land was fragile and it was soon eroded by the strong winds, so it was very difficult to
grow food. The situation was an early example of an ecological disaster, according to Diamond.

On the other hand, archaeologists Terry Hunt of the University of Hawaii and Carl Lipo of
California State University Long Beach have a more positive view of the island’s history. They
suggest that the inhabitants actually pioneered a type of sustainable farming – they built
thousands of circular stone walls, called manavai, and grew food inside them. And their theory
about how the moai were moved is that they were ‘walked’ along using a system of only ropes
and a few people.
As José Tuki contemplates these enormous statues, he doesn’t mind that there are no definite
answers about the history of his island. ‘I want to know the truth,’ he says, ‘but maybe knowing
everything would take its power away.’

1.The Easter Island statues ...

A. are new constructions to attract tourists.
B. aren’t completely understood by archaeologists.
C. were destroyed by the islanders.

2. On Easter Island today, the statues ...

A. are very important for tourism.
B. are not important for tourism.
C. are a problem for tourism.

3. The people of Easter Island today ...

A. don’t have a lot of contact with the rest of the world.
B. can’t find jobs on the island.
C. work in the tourism industry.

4. Studying the moai ...

A. can tell us about the people who lived on the island.
B. is important to the farmers on Easter Island.
C. helps us to understand the art of José Tuki.

5. José Antonio Tuki …

A. is from Easter Island.
B. came to Easter Island to work.
C. carves statues on Easter Island.

6. The moai ...

A. are statues of animals.
B. are all the same size.
C. were made by José Tuki’s ancestors.

7. Easter Island ...

A. is part of the South American continent.
B. is a long way from other inhabited places.
C. is an uninhabited island.

8. People travel to Easter Island ...

A. by boat.
B. to work.
C. to see the statues.

9. Jared Diamond thinks that ...

A. farmers on Easter Island planted a lot of trees.
B. there were environmental problems on Easter Island.
C. the population of Easter Island was always small.

10. Hunt and Lipo think people moved the statues using ...
A. wood.
B. ropes.
C. both wood and ropes.
 3. WRITTEN PRODUCTION (10 POINTS)

Your written production is going to be assessed by means of these criteria:

Criteria Score Comments

1. Organization _____ / 2.5
2. Content _____ / 2.5
3. Vocabulary Use _____ / 2.5
4. Grammar Use _____ / 2.5

4. ORAL INTERACTION (10 POINTS)

Follow your teacher’s instructions for the oral assessment.

Your performance in this section of the exam will be assessed by using the following
criteria.

Criteria Score Comments

1. Task completion _____ / 2

2. Grammar and vocabulary _____ / 2

3. Pronunciation _____ / 2
4. Fluency _____ / 2
5. Comprehensibility _____ / 2