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TAREA 1

The state of Bob Dylan in 2018? As mysterious as ever

Read the following text and answer the questions below. Only one answer is correct

On the song “Early Roman Kings” from Bob Dylan’s 2012 album “Tempest,” he sings, “If you see
me coming and you’re standing there, wave your handkerchief in the air. I ain’t dead yet, my bell
still rings." It’s never a good idea to take a Dylan lyric literally. His songs are usually shrouded in
so many layers of metaphor, it all blends together like individual ice cubes melting into a pool of
water. This song’s no different: On its surface, it’s about the infamous Gangs of New York. On a
deeper level, it is (potentially) about any number of things from Wall Street to Dylan’s advanced
age. The musician turned 77 this year, a similar age to many of the artists who recently have
announced retirement such as Neil Diamond, Joan Baez, Elton John, Ozzy Osbourne, Lynyrd
Skynyrd and Paul Simon. Even though Dylan hasn’t so much as hinted at ending his career, it’s
difficult not to take his line as some sort of protest when he sings‚ “I ain’t dead yet.”

And he isn’t; he played Atlantic City this month. It would be easy but wrongheaded to think the
town mirrored the man: The city is a shell of what it once was, and a stroll along the boardwalk
brings you to Boardwalk Hall, the home of Miss America, an American institution far past its prime.
But Dylan, for all his years, still commands a special place in the musical landscape. In an
audience filled with older fans, the young people attending the iconic singer’s concert at the Hard
Rock Casino stood out like a sore thumb. But is he still the icon he once was? Has culture moved
on from Dylan? Has he moved on from culture?

The singer has spent decades constantly reinventing himself starting in March 1965 when he
released his first songs featuring an electric guitar. Since he was a leader in the American folk
music revival, audiences turned on him for the choice — leading to the infamous moment in 1966
when an audience member at a Manchester show shouted that he was “Judas.” Then, there was
his gospel period in the late 1970s when he released songs with overtly Christian lyrics — again
causing a segment of his fans to turn against him.

These are two examples in a sea of many, which have been documented in countless books. The
man has embodied so many different personas that Todd Haynes made a film in 2007 titled “I’m
Not There,” in which six different actors and actresses play the musician at different periods of
his life. So who is he now? Dylan began what critics refer to as the “Never Ending Tour” 30 years
ago. That’s more than 3,000 shows, a living testament to his storied career, though he bristles
at the term. As he told Rolling Stone in 2009: “Does anybody ever call Henry Ford a Never Ending
Car Builder? Is Rupert Murdoch a Never Ending Media Tycoon? What about Donald Trump?
Does anybody say he has a Never Ending Quest to build buildings? . . . But we’re living in an age
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of breaking everything down into simplistic terms, aren’t we? These days, people are lucky to
have a job. Any job.”

The takeaway from this latest leg? Dylan remains as much an enigma in 2018 as he’s always
been. And his fans still seem to revile and adore him (for this very reason) in equal measure. After
the New Jersey show, for example, various fans claimed it was either the worst or the best
performance they’d ever seen. Some were angry that the artist didn’t address the audience once.
Others didn’t like the music. As is his wont, Dylan had rearranged old classics such as “Blowin'
in the Wind,” “Simple Twist of Fate” and “Like a Rolling Stone” until they were nearly
unrecognizable. The latter, once an angry scourge, now sounded like a sorrowful lament.

With his voice now diminished into an almost-constant rasp or a sneering snarl, Dylan could easily
sound like a caricature of himself. Instead, he’s turned it into an expressive tool. That became
clear when he focused on newer material, from the eerily cruel “Scarlet Town” to the sad
foreshadowing of “Tryin' to Get to Heaven.” In those songs, it seems as if he’s thinking of the End.
That’s not surprising if you’ve followed his recent output. Last year, he used that voice, the one
that almost sounds broken from time and overuse, to sing a 3-disc megarecord of classics such
as “As Time Goes By.”

“These songs are some of the most heartbreaking stuff ever put on record and I wanted to do
them justice. Now that I have lived them and lived through them I understand them better,” he said
in a shockingly candid interview in which he discussed his age and his career. “From 1970 till
now there’s been about 50 years, seems more like 50 million. That was a wall of time that
separates the old from the new and a lot can get lost in this kind of time. Entire industries go,
lifestyles change, corporations kill towns, new laws replace old ones . . . Musical influences too
— they get swallowed up, get absorbed into newer things or they fall by the wayside,” he then
said, perhaps shedding light on his constantly changing style.

Arguably the most significant thing to happen to Dylan in the past decade was winning the Nobel
Prize for literature, though judging from his reaction, you’d think his new line of Heaven’s Door
American whiskies were of greater interest to the musician. After winning the award, Dylan . . .
said nothing. It took him two weeks to even accept a phone call from the permanent secretary of
the Swedish Academy, Sara Danius.

Adapted from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2018/11/23/state-

bob-dylan-mysterious-ever/?utm_term=.fcbbe0084e68

Example. O. In Dylan’s songs, …

a. … there’s an implicit goodbye message behind his words

b. … his major concerns seem to be the state of America and his age
c. … his complex use of metaphor prevents his lyrics from being interpreted easily

1. The adjective ‘shrouded’ in paragraph 1 means ...

a. … blocked
b. … wrapped
c. … dismantled

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 2. In his concert in Atlantic City …

a. … the age of some of the fans was a disadvantage to the show

b. … the presence of a young audience was really conspicuous
c. … the writer felt the city and the artist had evolved to the same extent

3. We can say ...

a. … Dylan has changed as a reaction to fans’ concerns

b. … Dylan’s a folk singer at his core
c. … Dylan has been in permanent transformation

4. The verb “bristle” in paragraph 4 means…

a. .… react accordingly
b. .… react angrily
c. .… react swiftly

5. It seems that …

a. .… Dylan cares about his fans

b. .… he doesn’t mind interacting with the audience
c. .… his persona is always surrounded by controversy

6 . The writer seems to like …

a. .… the way Dylan treats his fans

b. .… Dylan’s shocking new lyrics
c. .… how ageing has changed Dylan’s voice and style

7 . From Dylan’s last interview we infer ...

a. .… he rarely treats the press in a friendly way

b. .… he has remained faithful to his homogeneous sound
c. .… time is not as important as it might seem in his lyrics

Questions Example 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Total points 7

0

Answers c Score

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TAREA 2

Making drama out of the refugee crisis

Read the following texts and match film reviews A-F to statements 1-8 in the grid below.
There are TWO items you DO NOT NEED to use.

A. Another News Story

The release in cinemas next month of young British film-maker Orban Wallace’s Another
News Story provides an opportunity to reflect on how documentaries have covered the
European migrant crisis since it came to widespread attention in 2015. Wallace’s brilliant
film turns the camera on the news crews and film-makers who have spent the past three years
waiting on harbours, cliffs and train tracks to get the most dramatic footage of thousands of
desperate people trying to reach and cross Europe. This is important not as an intellectual
exercise but because it questions complacency in film-makers and audiences who have seen
a lot of these images.

Another News Story questions the aestheticising of the crisis, whereby film-makers create
beautifully framed images of mass movements of unidentified people running across borders
without any apparent empathy for those making these desperate journeys, or any examination
of the ethics involved. Film crews are shown asking refugees to say the same things over and
over, then moving on to the next story. Their intentions may be honourable, but the scrum to
get the most emotional pictures feels unpleasant and desensitising.

B. Fire at Sea

When the refugee crisis started making headlines, some excellent documentaries were made,
with real shock power. Gianfranco Rosi’s Oscar-nominated Fire at Sea (2016) was a portrait
of Lampedusa, the tiny Sicilian island where migrants from Africa and the Middle East were
arriving in their thousands in search of a new life in Europe. Fire at Sea worked as both a
detailed account of the horrors of the journey, and also of the impact on the lives of the Italian
islanders. It’s art, with grit and authenticity. Rosi spent more than a year on Lampedusa – long
enough to document with dignity the anger and exhaustion of everyone involved.

C. 4.2 Miles

Daphne Matziaraki’s short film 4.1 Miles (2016) is more raw still, its 21 minutes dedicated
entirely to one day’s rescue by coastguards on the Greek island of Lesbos of an incoming boat
of refugees. To be so close to the terror of the new arrivals provoked real anguish.

D. Human Flow

Since then, too many films on the subject have felt exploitative or simply outdated. Ai
Weiwei’s Human Flow last year was praised by some critics, but I felt it flattened all global
refugee experiences into one tragic narrative. You didn’t hear meaningfully from a single
refugee: the priority was to film them as artfully as possible. Ai’s tendency to place himself and
his work in set-piece scenes felt inappropriate, and he avoided analysis. Human Flow
positioned itself as being an important news report, but the news has been doing the job of
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reporting for three years, and staying more up to date than a documentary, with its long lead
time, ever could.

E. Stranger in Paradise

Fortunately, as in Another News Story, some film-makers are beginning to employ new
strategies to analyse the refugee crisis, question their own complacency and ask what it means
to be an observer. Guido Hendrikx’s Stranger in Paradise, which has been touring international
film festivals, (2016) is a semi-staged provocation about how refugees are prepared for life in
Europe, and how Europeans talk to and about them. Hendrikx casts an actor to play a Dutch
guide, presenting a group of real refugees with three scenarios of how Europe will treat them:
first, with an aggressive anti-immigration attitude; then a liberal, welcoming response; finally,
a more realistic, bureaucratic one. This approach succeeds by giving refugees a platform to
air their own opinions rather than being merely objects of pity.

In a wonderful coda, while packing up, the film crew are asked by a group of refugees how this
oh-so-clever documentary will help them. The answer is probably not very much, which seems
refreshingly honest.

F. Island of the Hungry Ghosts

A different strategy is taken by the Australian film-maker Gabrielle Brady in Island of the
Hungry Ghosts (2018), about a trauma counsellor working in a high-security detention centre
for asylum seekers on the remote Christmas Island. Brady’s documentary goes deep into the
psychology of being on the move and away from home. The therapist, Poh-Lin, is herself
traumatised by the experience of helping refugees and listening to their stories of suffering
caused by the indifference of the centre’s management.

Island of the Hungry Ghosts also manages to be visually beautiful without poeticising the
refugee experience. Vivid shots of a detention centre in the jungle surrounded by migrating
red crabs suggest a terrifying, primal experience straight out of a Terence Malick film. A
version was released on the Guardian site last year.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/apr/01/refugee-films-another-news-
story-stranger-in-paradise-island-of-hungry-ghosts

Statements

1. It questions the intellectual power of both filmmakers and audiences.

2. It doesn't meet the writer's expectations due to the director's inability to look into the
root cause of the problem.

3. It is made even more distressing and touching by offering a painful portrayal of the
refugees' landing.

4. This documentary deals with how both refugees and locals struggle to adapt to the
new situation.

5. It shows how the presence of wild animals causes fear in the refugees.
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6. It criticizes the fact that reporters have got used to seeing refugees’ despair and focus
on visually beautiful though dramatic images in their documentaries.

7. One of the protagonists feels extreme anguish at witnessing the institutions'

negligence when taking care of the refugees.

8. Despite mixing fact and fiction, this film proves to be very realistic and good food for
thought as refugees can speak their minds about their experience.

Statements Example B C D E F Total points 5

A

Answers 6 Score

TAREA 3

Why The Recent Interest In Ai Safety

Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, Bill Gates, and many other big names in
science and technology have recently expressed concern in the media and via open
letters about the risks posed by AI, joined by many leading AI researchers. Why is the
subject suddenly in the (0) ________ ?

The idea that the quest for strong AI would ultimately succeed was long thought of as
science fiction, centuries or more away. However, thanks to recent (1) ________, many
AI milestones, which experts viewed as decades away merely five years ago, have now
been reached, making many experts take seriously the possibility of superintelligence in
our lifetime. While some experts still guess that human-level AI is centuries away, most
AI researches at the 2015 Puerto Rico Conference guessed that it would happen before
2060. Since it may take (2) ________ to complete the required safety research, it is
prudent to start it now.

Because AI has the potential to become more intelligent than any human, we have no
surefire way of predicting how it will behave. We can’t use past technological
developments as much of a basis because we’ve never created anything that has the
ability to, wittingly or unwittingly, (3) ________ us. The best example of what we could
face may be our own evolution. People now control the planet, not because we’re the
strongest, fastest or biggest, but because we’re the smartest. If we’re no longer the
smartest, are we (4) ________ to remain in control?

FLI’s position is that our civilization will flourish as long as we win the race between the
growing power of technology and the wisdom with which we manage it. In the case of AI
technology, FLI’s position is that the best way to win that race is not to (5) ________ the
former, but to accelerate the latter, by supporting AI safety research.

Source:https://futureoflife.org/background/benefits-risks-of-artificial-intelligence/?cn-
reloaded=1
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 Example:

0. a) headlines b) minds c) issues

1. a) setbacks b) characteristics c) breakthroughs

2. a) humans b) decades c) equations

3. a) achieve b) prevent c) outsmart

4. a) assured b) unassuming c) unobtrusive

5. a) flourish b) impede c) expedit

Questions Example 1 2 3 4 5 Total points 5

0

Answers a Score 5

TAREA 4

Who are the Dewdrop Fairies

Read the following texts and fill in gaps ( 1-9 ) with one of the extracts (A-L) below. There
are TWO extracts you DO NOT NEED TO USE ( total score: 10 points). Item 0 is an
example.

By Sara Murphy, July 19, 2018

___________0___________________ many of us may not realize that those gardens

are seeded in a history of World War I. Between 1917 and 1919 children across the
United States enrolled as soldiers in the United States School Garden
Army,____________ ___________________1___________________ Supported by
President Woodrow Wilson—who used money from the Department of Defense to fund
the program—millions of children converted their yards, empty lots, and other vacant
spaces into gardens. The U.S. government promoted school gardens in a series of short
stories published in newspapers around the
country.______________________2__________________ and encouraged them to do
their part for the war effort. Per a common slogan at the time, “Food will win the war.”

Dolly, the main character of the series, introduces readers to several Dewdrop Fairies.
The young girl explains that her family’s garden expanded during the war and that her
older brothers, captains in the United States School Garden Army, considered
maintaining the garden part of their duty. In the series, different Dewdrop Fairies teach
how and when to plant vegetables based on their unique needs, as well as how to use

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fertilizer to help plants grow. ______ _______3______________The Dewdrop Fairies
also reminded that readers could join the 3,000,000 soldiers in the School Garden Army
just by asking their teacher.

Children who grew up working in the School Garden Army used their knowledge to create
the victory gardens of World War II. To support this new war effort, they created
sustainable backyard gardens._________________4____________ Refrigerators,
freezers, and new methods of transportation changed how we acquired and used food.
As we purchased more and more of our food at grocery stores, backyard gardens once
filled with tomatoes and squash faded to weed-filled grass. Parents and children alike
spent less and less time gardening, as fresh fruits and vegetables were easily accessible.

Collectively, we are becoming more aware of sustainable farming, we are creating

gardens in our backyards again, _____________
______________________5_____________ In 1995 Alice Waters, an American chef
and restaurateur, created the Edible Schoolyard program at Martin Luther King Middle
School in Berkeley, California. Its concept was to change the way students think about
food. On a one-acre plot, students grow, harvest, and prepare foods from their garden.
While the work at the Edible Schoolyard program and Former First Lady Michelle
Obama’s organic garden at the White House were not a collaboration,
_________________6_____________

In 2009, along with 25 students from Bancroft Elementary in Washington, D.C., Michelle
Obama planted the first vegetable garden at the White House since Eleanor Roosevelt’s
victory garden of the 1940s. _______________7___________________For example,
they discovered that some of the plants placed next to each other were not companion
plants—a lesson Dolly had learned from the Dewdrop Fairies. Like Dolly, they learned
about “imps,” unwanted pests and weeds that grow in
gardens._____________________8___________________ and the schoolchildren to
help their garden grow!

________________9_____________________The Dewdrop Fairies’ legacy lives on as

another generation of children learns the joys of gardening: the sheer delight of seeing
a seed transform into a plant that will produce enough food to enjoy and share with
neighbors throughout the season.

Sara Murphy is a museum specialist and collections manager in the Division of Political
History.

EXTRACTS

A and we are composting food scraps rather than tossing them in the trash can.

B a program that promoted sustainable gardens in suburban and urban communities.

C Dolly learns that if seeds are planted too deep or not deep enough, they won’t grow,
and there won’t be enough food to send to children in France who do not have access
to fresh fruits and vegetables because of the war.

D Like most first-time gardeners, the First Lady and students experienced some trials
and tribulations.

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E Although not shared through newspaper articles and propaganda posters, the
message of the Dewdrop Fairies is returning to suburban backyard gardens and Edible
Schoolyard programs now operating in 53 states and territories.

F Organizations such as the Boy Scouts and local churches started their own garden.

G The series “The Stories the Dewdrops Told” educated children about gardens, food
conservation, and food preservation,

H they both worked to achieve similar goals—to promote healthy eating habits in
children.

I However, postwar inventions and technologies made different foods more accessible.

J While most of us have heard of the victory gardens of World War II,

K Perhaps the Dewdrop Fairies visited the White House garden and shared important
information with Mrs. Obama

L “ Everyone who creates and cultivates a garden helps, and helps greatly, to solve the
problem of the feeding of the nations.”

Source: http://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/dewdrop-fairies

Extracts Example 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Total 9

0 points

Answers J 9
Score

9
 Key
TAREA 1. The state of Bob Dylan in 2018? As mysterious as ever

Questions Example 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Total 7

points

Answers c b b c b c c a 7
Score

TAREA 2. Making drama out of the refugee crisis

Statements Example B C D E F Total points 5

A

Answers 6 4 3 2 8 7 Score 5

TAREA 3. Why The Recent Interest In Ai Safety

Questions Example 1 2 3 4 5 Total points 5

0

Answers a c b c a b Score 5

TAREA 4. Who are the Dewdrop Fairies

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

Answers J B G C I A H D K E 9
Score

Total points: 26

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