Apellidos: ___________________________

ESCUELA OFICIAL DE IDIOMAS DE MURCIA Nombre: ___________________________

Región de Murcia
DNI: ___________________________
Consejería de Educación Idioma: INGLÉS
Ciencia e Investigación Timing: 60 minutes. In June, 75 for 3 texts. Grupo: __________________________
.
Fecha: __________________________

READING 1: RECENT STUDIES ABOUT BOREDOM DURING FREE TIME

PART ONE

Despite our best professional efforts at providing services, places and educational programs designed to help people
use their free time meaningfully, we are still confronted with the pervasive problem of boredom. We know that when
faced with a period of free time, some individuals just cannot seem to identify a leisure activity that is interesting,
challenging, or exciting. These people would be likely to describe their free time as boring.

It is puzzling that anyone would feel bored during free time. All of our theories of the "state of mind" perspective of
leisure assume that people seek out leisure activities that make them feel self-determining, competent and optimally
involved. Moreover, the common definition of leisure time as the hours of the day during which we are relatively free
from constraint makes leisure boredom even more confusing. Being bored at work, or school, or in other environments
makes sense. But boredom when we are free to choose what to do? Why?

This question has caught the imagination of several researchers, including Seppo Iso-Ahola, Linda Caldwell, and
myself. A number of recent studies provide an initial glimpse into why people get bored in their free time. For example,
Seppo Iso-Ahola and I published a paper in 1987 in which we studied 134 adults from the general population of a large
East Coast city. We found that a lot of things didn't seem to make a difference in whether people get bored in free time.
Age, income, race, education, employment status and gender were all poor predictors of a person's boredom. The
degree to which someone had a strong "work ethic" or "leisure ethic" made little difference, as did common constraints
(not enough time, lack of transportation, no one to do things with, and so forth). What did seem to influence whether
people got bored or not? The answer was: the degree to which people were aware that leisure activities could meet
their psychological needs.

This is a little confusing, so let's examine the idea further. Our data suggested that a person's answer to this single item
was the best predictor of how bored they were in free time. People who were more aware of the potential for leisure
activities to add meaningfully to their lives were less likely to get bored, and people who lacked this awareness were
more likely to get bored.

PART TWO

Deci and Ryan, in their 1985 book, state that in order to become intrinsically motivated, individuals must be aware that
their need for intrinsic rewards (like feelings of self-determination and competence) can be satisfied.
Boredom during free time, it seems, may be a result of our ignorance about the potential for our leisure choices to
importantly enhance our lives. It is possible that one of the most effective things we could do to reduce boredom is to
help people understand that the things they choose to do in their free time can add meaning and richness to their lives.

Consider the fact that the U.S. public school system has made concerted efforts in the last three decades to provide
career counseling to all students. These interventions are designed to help young people make wise choices about the
eight hours a day they will spend at work. Career counselors have at their disposal a wide array of interest batteries,
personality tests and intervention techniques.

Yet no similar effort is made to increase the awareness of young people about the use of free time. In fact, most of us
have never been overtly informed that the things we do in our free time can not only make us happier and healthier, but
also wiser, less isolated, and more tolerant. Leisure education means telling people what the recreation profession has
long known: that for many people, leisure choices provide a primary opportunity to be fully functioning human beings.

Why should we bother to use leisure education to reduce the likelihood of boredom in flee time? The most important
reason that has emerged from recent research studies is that leisure boredom is consistently associated with other
negative behaviors and outcomes. For example, in 1991 Seppo Iso-Ahola and Edward Crowley reported that
adolescents diagnosed as substance abusers were more bored with their free time than adolescents who were not
substance abusers. This was true even after the researchers controlled for other variables like gender, age, race,
socioeconomic status and family structure. [...]

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 Apellidos: ___________________________
ESCUELA OFICIAL DE IDIOMAS DE MURCIA Nombre: ___________________________
Región de Murcia
DNI: ___________________________
Consejería de Educación Idioma: INGLÉS
Ciencia e Investigación Timing: 60 minutes. In June, 75 for 3 texts. Grupo: __________________________
.
Fecha: __________________________

A) Are the following statements TRUE of FALSE. Justify your answers with
information from the text, as in the example (5 marks):

Example:
0.- People seem to get bored in spite of the initiatives carried out to keep us
entertained and amused. TRUE: “Despite our best professional efforts at providing
services, places and educational programs designed to help people use their free time
meaningfully, we are still confronted with the pervasive problem of boredom.”

1.- The fact that we tend to practise our hobbies to feel better in general, and with
ourselves in particular, makes the whole concept of leisure boredom a
disconcerting one.

2.- Your attitude to work and leisure makes little difference compared to how the
lack of time, means of transport and company affect leisure boredom.

3.- The more we clarify people about the positive effects of a hobby or any
leisure time activity, the less they will feel bored.

4.- There has always been a general awareness about the positive effects of
leisure time activities.

5.- Leisure education might contribute to lessening the incidence of drug abuse
in teenagers.

B) Match the following words in the text with their synonyms (3 marks):

1.- Pervasive (part 1): a) set, collection. 1

2.- Constraint (part 1): b) dominant, widespread. 2
3.- Glimpse (part 1): c) in an open, clear manner. 3
4.- Enhance (part 2): d) glance; vision. 4
5.- Array (part 2): e) improve the good quality of something.
6.- Overtly (part 2): f) restriction, repression. 5
6

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 Apellidos: ___________________________
ESCUELA OFICIAL DE IDIOMAS DE MURCIA Nombre: ___________________________
Región de Murcia
DNI: ___________________________
Consejería de Educación Idioma: INGLÉS
Ciencia e Investigación Timing: 60 minutes. In June, 75 for 3 texts. Grupo: __________________________
.
Fecha: __________________________

TOTAL TASK 1 ___/8

READING 2: THE END OF MUSIC

Orchestras are struggling to stay alive, rock has been relegated to the
underground, jazz has stopped evolving and become a dead art, the music
industry itself has been subsumed by corporate culture and composers are at
their wit’s end trying to find something that’s hip but still appeals to an audience
stuck in a 19th-century sensibility. We seem to be _______(1) of a new
paradigm change.

For more than half a century we’ve seen incredible advances in sound
technology but very little _______(2) advance in the quality of music. In this
case the paradigm change may not be a change but a dead stop. Is it that
people just don’t want to hear anything new? Or is it that composers and
musicians have simply _______(3) the assumption that nothing else new can
be done, which ironically is really just the “old, old story.”

Certainly music itself is not dead. We’ll ______(4) to hear something

approximating it blaring in shopping malls, fast food stops, clothing stores and
wherever else it will captivate the consumer into excitedly pulling out their credit
card or debit card or whatever might be coming.
There’s no question that in music, like politics, the bigger the audience gets
____(5) the “message” has to be watered down. Muzak’s been around for a
long time now but maybe people just can’t tell the difference anymore. Maybe
not______(6) the composers and songwriters can tell the difference either.
______(7) when it’s paying for a beach house in Malibu or an apartment in New
York.
Of course, we could all just listen to all of our old albums, CD’s and mp3’s. In
fact, nowadays that’s where the industry makes most of its money. We could
also just watch old movies and old TV shows. There are a lot of them now. Why
______(8) making any new ones? Or doing anything new at all? Or having any
change or progress at all ______(9) we’ve got “growth”? I’m just wondering if
this is in fact the new paradigm. I’m just wondering if in fact the new music is
just the old music again. And, if that in fact it would actually just be the end of
music.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/24/the-end-of-music/?em

C) Choose the right option and write your answers in the grid below. (9
marks)

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Región de Murcia
Consejería de Educación
Ciencia e Investigación
Apellidos: ___________________________
ESCUELA OFICIAL DE IDIOMAS DE MURCIA Nombre: ___________________________
DNI: ___________________________
Idioma: INGLÉS
Timing: 60 minutes. In June, 75 for 3 texts. Grupo: __________________________
.
Fecha: __________________________

1. a) in the end b) at the top c) on the edge d) at the side

2. a) but some b) if any c) indeed d) at all

3. a) rejected b) challenged c) noticed d) accepted

4. a) keep b) continue c) carry on d) go on

5. a) the less b) the more c) the least d) the most

6. a) only b) neither c)also d) even

7. a) Especially b) However c) although d) Besides

8. a) hurry b) bother c) wait d) claim

9. a) as long as b) unless c) although d) until

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

TOTAL TASK 2 ___/9

TOTAL 1 + 2 ___/17 APTO / NO APTO

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