EXAMENES DE COMPRENSION DE LECTURA EN INGLES CARMEN TOBIO ALONSO On UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL AUTONOMA DE MEXICO. Se CENTRO DE ENSENANZA DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS.indice Introduecién Ecological jewel in danger... ‘Who will control immigrant fabor? .. Signs of lite? Witch hunting and children ...... Authority Inteligent Life Beyond the Solar System . Earth's temperatures rising Comets Stigmatization Temples War. Intelligent children ... Neanderthal man Equality of educational opportunity Art and cities ........... The Functional Education Strong Message to Censors The Birth of Modem Dance Answers ........Para unaprovechamiento mejor dallibro se recomienda, como un primer paso antes de verlas preguntas, leerel titulo y echar una mirada general, porencima, al texto con el fin de formarse una idea general de su contenido y propésto. En este proceso, fijarse en las palabras parecidas al espaiil yen las que se repiten facifita llegar aesta idea general En segundo lugar, es conveniente leer con la intencién de extraer las ideas del texto, sin una preocupacién excesiva por las palabras desconocidas que aparezcan en ély con la actitud de que es posible comprender aun cuando, como ocurre cuando se lee en la lengua matema, se ignore cl significado de algunas palabras dentro de un pasaje. Sin ‘embargo, si alguna palabra desconocida es tan importante que impida llegar al contenido y no sea posible saltarsela, se recomienda al alumno intentar adivinar su sentido por el contexto 0 por su parecido con el espariol. El uso del diccionario para resolver dudas de significado debe resetvarse coma un tiltimo recurso. En la comprensién interviene de manera esoncial la utilizacion de conocimientos personales sobre el tema y pueden ser éstos un auxiliar importante que compense algunas deficiencias en el conocimienta del inglés. Es valido, por tanto, apoyarse de manera manera razonable en la informacion que pasea el lector para entender los textos en inglés. La traduccién alespafiol delmaterial en inglés loma tiempo y, por lo general, no facilita la.comprensién. Se sugiere al alumnointentar una comprension directa del texto, sin que ello implique que no se deba traducir una palabra o frase esporddicamente, y no caer en el pesado proceso de reescribir la lactura en espaiiol. Finalmente, si el alumno tiene intencién de utilizar el presente libro con el fin de prepararse para hacer un examen de comprension de lectura, se sugiere que intente contestar cada uno de los presentados en las siguientes paginas en un tiempo no mayor de treinta y cinco minutos y con un setenta por ciento de aciertos, dos condiciones semejantes a las que se le darian on exdmenes de requisito. Se sugiere, igualmente, fevisar las claves de respuestas al final del libro y esforzarse por descubrir, en casc de haber respuestas incorrectas, si se ha fallado por conocimientos insuficientes de vocabulario o gramética del inglés, o si la falla se deriva de una doficiencia en la compronsién de las ideas del texto eno de las preguntas hechas sobre el mismo. Hacer una segunda lectura del material siempre mojora la comprensi6n y siel alummno relee, quizé encuentre que hay ideas que se vuelven mucho mds claras y que oraciones y hasta Patrafos que antes no se habian entendido se vuelven transparentes y facile.Ecological jewel in danger Instrueciones: Lea cuidadosamente el siguiente articulo e indique si cada uno de fos enunciados que lo siguen es verdadero (V) 0 falso (F), segdn Io dicho en ol texto. Madagascar is an island off the East Affican coast and itis to today’s naturalists what the Galapagos Islands off South America were fo Charles Darwin, a study in evolution Butthe island's uniqueand diverse plant and anima life is under grave threat as man continues to torch the forest to clear the land in what one newspaper calls a kind of “national pyromania As a result, heading off the destruction of Madagascar’s fragile habitat has become the premier goal of many international environmental groups. After Madagascar spit from the African mainland more than 160 million years ago, its plants and animals went on their own evolutionary course. Some became extinct, like the pygmy hippopotamus, elephant bird and giant femurs “There was a tremendous explosion of different forms from very. very few ancestors,’ said Dr. Martin Nicoll, a Zoologist who represents the World Wildiife Fund here, ‘Madagascar lets you look at the limits of adaptabilily.” “You can make really nice biological comparisons, What do plants have to do, for example, to livo ina dosert?" Madagascar's terrain ranges from rain forests to prairic to desert. Ninety percent of the plant and animal species on the 226,658 square mile island are found nowhere else: from the lovable lemurs to hundred of species Of orchids and more than 350 especies of amphibians and repiiles, There ate 29 species of lemurs, primates whose name comes from the Latin word for ghosts because of their largely nocturnal habits. The closest living descendants of the common ancestor of humans, monkeys and apes, lemurs were displaced by monkeys elsewhere in the world, Here they had a chance to survive in isolation. Madagascar's equivalent of the woodpecker is a lemur catled an aye-aye. It detects insect larvee moving in decaying trees with ils sharp ears and then uses a skinny middle finger to reach in and pull them out. 10 15 14Enolagical Jewel in danger The largesi lemuris the indri, a black-and-white creature that weighs about 15 pounds at adulthood and can leap 20 feet from treetyp to treetop The indris, whose haunting calls are reminiscent of sounds emitted by great whales, are the main attraction for the small but growing number of tourists wha visit this small reserve about 60 mites east of the capital of Antananarivo A short walk through a rain forest, led by a guide, inevitably turns up a family of the indrio, staring down with their Teddy-Bear like faces, bemused but not much interested in their visitors The humans, whose slash-and-burn agricultural methods, now threaten wildlife and the nation's watershed, are late arrivals, coming from Africa and the Malay Archipelago only 1,500 years ago. Fourteen species of lemurs have become extinct since humans arrived, and ecologists fear other are in danger of joining them The island's population has more than doubled since 1950, and now exceeds 11 million, Farmers ate so desperate for land they are felling trees on 70 degree slopes. Four-fifths of the island’s land is barren, and its forests have been reduced by half in the past throe decades The government's agriculture deparment long encouraged farmers to cut trees and burn the stumps to clear the ground for cash crops. The savanna is burned to produce tender shoots for an estimated 10 million zebu cattle. “In the West and in the East, not far from the capital, the fires continue to burn,” says US. Ambassador Patricia Gates Lynch. “Sometimes you see the smoke trapped right here in the city.” The government and environmental organizations are working together now to discourage slash-and -burn land clearing, though the education process is slow. “It's primariy a human problem,” says Prime Minister Victor Ramahatra. “We must teach people that the natural environmant js their principal source of wealth.” 12 30, 40 45QUESTIONS 2naprown 10, "1 12 13. 14 jee 16. 17, 18. Madagascar es comparable alas Islas Galapages en que en ella tambien se podria estudiar la evolucion. Lavida sivestre de Madagascar esta amenazada porta quema de bosques No se pone suficiente atencidn a Madagascar. Madagascar tiene una vida semejante a la de Africa. Los lemures gigantes habitan Madagascar actualmente. En Madagascar se puede estudiar la desaparicién de plantas por desertificacién. El paisaje en Madagascar es variado. La mayoria de plantas y animales de Madagascar procede de otros lugares. Hasta ahora se ha registrado la desaparicién de cientos de especies de orquideas de Madagascar. En Madagascar viven fos ancestros mas cercanos al hombre Los monos han desplazado a loslemures en estaisla Elaye-aye es un lemur que extrae latvas de insectos de los Arboles para alimentarse. Los indris son una atraccion para un gran numero de turistas Los indris huyen ante un gran numero de visitantes. El hombre llegé a Madagascar antes de Cristo El hombre ha ido destruyendo las selvas de la isla en las tres titimas décadas, EI Departamento de Agricultura de Madagascar se opuso a la quema de zonas verdes, La sabana es el lugar donde se produce el alimento del ganado. << $s BS a a n43aT4 13Who will control immigrant labor? Instrucciones: Lea el siguiente articulo una vez hasta el final. Después reléalo y escoja de la lista de palabras presentadas mas adelante la que corresponde a cada espacio en blanco. The ever greater role of Mexican and other immigrant workers in the U.S. economy and their exploitation at the hands of agricultural, industrial and service employers produced two interrelated developments in the tate seventies. On the one hand, there were numerous efforts by the immigrants to organize themselves into unions and other forms of class organization. On the other hand, federal, state and locel governments moved to better control and manipulate the immigrant population and {0 keep the disorganized divided from the larger working class. The most visible recent (1). of mexican immigrant workers to (2). themselves date back to the (3) protests against the dragnet (4) of Chicano barrios begun under the {5)_ administration. Thousands upon thousands were {6)_ -including many who were legally in the (7) but had no documents to (8) it- but the INS’s tactics also triggered @ (9) and organized response from the (10) and Latino communities, who (14) the slogan. “an injury against one is an _(12)_ to all” Community-run legal aid and barrio _(13)_ began to offer their _(14)_ to the undocumented. The defense of the (15) arrived immigrant became rallying ery (16) Chicano/Mexicano student in highschools and (17) . And grassroots organizations of (18) workers sprang in Los Angeles, San Diego, Chicago and other (19) to protest their vicious (26) by police and employers. With militant (21) through downtown streets picket lines (22) INS headquarters, legal (23) and the gamering of (24) from progressive anglo and (25) organizations and several trade (26) , they let the White House know (27) ifit continued these (28) it would have war on (29) hands 1519. 13 16. 19. 22. 16 QUESTIONS a) rebellions b) efforts ©) opposition a) houses b) raids c) protect a) studies b) unions c) country a) federal b) Chicano ¢) class a) policemen b) newspapers ¢) centers a) two b) many c) no a) governments b) immigrants ©) areas a) inthe b) far from ©) in front of = “1 14, 17. 20, 23. a) disorganize b) organize ©) attack a) Chicano bj Nixon cc) Mexican a) exploit b} prove ) manipulate a) adopted b) attacked c) explained a} control b) movement ©) services a) governments ) universities ©) primary sohools a) studies b) treatment c) alcoholism a) suits b) books ¢) workers E 12, 451 18 24 24. a) government b) individual co) mass. a) organized ) protected c} deported a) militant b) government ©) police a) injury b) service } protest a} old b} never ©) newly a) undocumented b) bad ©) deported a) classes b) newspapers c) marches a) support b) opposition ) undocumented25. a) employers b) Hispanic c) police 28. a) organization b) president ©) tactics 26. a) unions b) offices: c) enemies 29. a) Mexican b) employers ©) its 27. a) that b) immigrants c) never. 7Signs of life? Instrucciones: Lea cuidadosamente el siguiente articulo y escoja la opcién que representa con mayor exactitud lo dicho en el, Scientists disagree on whetherthe appearance ot life on earthwas an extracrdinary accident or part of an evolutionary process tal could have also occurred elsewhere in the universe. One thing is clear, however. Nothing remotely resembling the higher forms of earth life -or an ET- could survive elsewhere in the solar system itself. No cther planetin earth's immediate neck of the universe has its benign temperatures, chemical make-up or its air. Other planets have atmospheres, but earth's present life-sustaining mixture of oxygen. nitrogen and carbon dioxide is unique. Ina sense, the largely gaseous outer planets are all atmosphere with abundance of methane, nitrogen and ammonia. Their composition hes probably changed litle since their formation, By contrast,the atmosphere of Mars, Venus and carth itself have undoubtedly undergone big transformations Initially, ali these inner planets must have been cloaked in hydrogen and helium of the solar nebula, but the sporadic, violent outburst from the new-born sun would have stripped much of these primary atmospheres away. Eventually, secondary aimospheres would have formed and gases seeped out of the rocks ofthe planets and gradually accumulated Probably the secondary atmospheres consisted inttially mainly of water vapour, carbon dioxide and nitrogen -their detailed composition varying with that of their rocks. Today, however, the atmospheres of earth, Mars and Venus differ greatly Mars has a pitifully thin cloak ofnitrogen and carbon dioxide with barely discernible traces of water vapour. Venus is shrouded by dense clouds of sulphuric acid droplets suspendec in an atmosphere of carbon dioxide and water vapour; this brew is so thick that its pressure would crush any terfestrial organism on the planet's surface, This difference in atmosphere contributes to differences in the surface temperatures of the planets. The reason is that, while many of the atmosphereric gases are transparent to incoming sunlight, they interfere with a cetum of heat into the space. The upshot is what is known as the greenhouse effect. Venus thick atmosphere bottles up so much heal that (although Venus does not recieve much more sunlight than earth) temperatures at the planet's surface reach a searing 1,000 F . Mars, by contrast, is cold although its surface temperature can climb above freezing at times 10 19Signs of life? ‘Such extremes do not tule out any form of life; on earth there are bacteria that can survive extreme cold condition. Britain's colourful astranamer, Sir Fred Hoyle, has revived and polished an old idea that microbes ere spread across the galaxy -indeed, that life onearth originated in space. Most biologist are unconvinced, to say the least. Still, the idea that some form of life may exist elsewhere in the solar system persists. The traditional favourite candidate for “aliens” is Mars. When an lialian astronomer claimed in the nineteeth century to have spotted mysterious markings -“canali"- on the red planet. the wealthy American, Persival Lowell, declared that Mars was criss- crossed with @ network of canals built by Martian engineers to bring melted polarice tothe arid but warmer equatorial regions, and buit a magnificent observatory to chart the canals. Alas, the Mars fly-by in the early 1970s by America’s Mariner spacecraft and subsequent landings by two Vikings failed to show any trace of the romantic canals, There was brief excitement when analyses of soil scooped up from Mars and fed with nutrients seemed to produce some chemical reactions consistent with the metabolic activity of earth-tike microorganisms. But most scientis reckon the Viking experiments were negative, That does not, of course, prove that there is no life on Mars. Perhaps Mattian life is restricted to regions where water is trapped in the soil. Perhaps it has a novel chemistry. Only further analyses of new samples of Martian soil are likely ever to decide the issue. None is now scheduled. Interest now is shifting to the gaseous outer planets and their satellites, After all, life on earth probably first evolved when earth's atmosphere was stil a “reducing” one, devoid of oxygen and rich in the hydrogen, methane and ammonia characteristic of tho outer planets. It is possible that life on Saturn, Jupiter or Saturn’s huge moon, Titan, is even now ata formative stage A recent theory even proposes thal life in the form of single-celled plant organisms exists on Europa, a moon of Jupiter which is entirely covered in ice. The idea is not so daft as it may seem; organisms are known to live beneath the frozen wastes af Antartica, trapping the energy of the weak sunlight that manages to penetrate the ice. On Europa, admittedly, the ice is Skm. deep, but the gravitational tug-of war between Jupiter and its big moons, lo and Ganymede, has fractured the icy shell of Europa. There is a tangled mass of crevasses hundreds of kilometers long and dozens wide. 20 40 45 50 oOSigne of file? These “skylights” would enable the distant sun's feeble light to penetrate deep into Europa's ice sheet to provide just about enough energy to support rudimentary plant 70 life. tis even possible thatthere might 5e enough heat accumulating in such crevasses to create a layer of mett-water which would remain trapped beneath the ice. The result would be a bizarre Danwinian-style ‘wamlittle pond" conducive to organic development. All this is sheer speculation. Apparently irresistible speculation. Despite the accumulating disappointments, man seems determined that he must have company 75 of some sort somewhere in the vastness about his own earth -if not company formed in God's image. QUESTIONS 1. Los cientificos, segiin lo planteade par al articulo, a) tienen dos posicianes distintas sobre la aparicién de la vida en la Tierra.