Bloque A - Texto 1 · Inglés PAU Andalucía Extraordinaria Reserva 2021

TEXT 1: BOY GENIUS

In a lot of respects, 12-year-old Caleb Anderson is a normal Afro-American kid. But, when he’s not watching Netflix or playing with his action figures, he’s busy living life as a first-year university student. Caleb is currently studying at Chattahoochee Technical College in Georgia, USA, where he’ll graduate with a Degree in Aerospace Engineering in two years. “When I was like one year old, I wanted to go to space,” Caleb said, “I figured that aerospace engineering would be the best path. I’m not really intelligent, I just grasp information quickly. So, if I learn quicker, then I get ahead faster.”

His mother, Claire, first realized her son was gifted when he began imitating her speech at just four weeks old. When he was nine months old, Caleb could use more than 250 words in Sign Language. He was just 3 years old when he qualified for MENSA —a non-profit organization for people who score 98 out of 100 or higher in a standardized intelligence test. It’s essentially a club for exceptionally smart people.

The boy went on to complete high school by the age of 11 and now his parents supervise him on campus. But when it comes to helping with his homework, they cannot do much. “We are not rocket scientists,” his mother explained. Instead, “We have learnt that there are other things that we can teach him, mainly about principles such as compassion, kindness and looking for good in others.”

The family hopes that Caleb’s experience will help others without the same opportunities or resources in education, especially those belonging to racial minorities, like Caleb.

CHOOSE AND WRITE THE CORRECT OPTION (A, B, C or D). (0.5 points each)

1.

Caleb’s parents...

2.

MENSA is a non-profit organization only for...

ARE THESE STATEMENTS TRUE OR FALSE? JUSTIFY YOUR ANSWERS WITH THE PRECISE WORDS OR PHRASES FROM THE TEXT, OR USE YOUR OWN WORDS. (0.5 points each)

3.

Caleb doesn’t consider himself to be exceptionally smart.

TRUE

FALSE

4.

He could speak a foreign language when he was nine months old.

TRUE

FALSE

5.

Caleb’s parents are also aerospace engineers.

TRUE

FALSE

6.

His parents would like Caleb’s example to be useful to others.

TRUE

FALSE

7. FIND IN THE TEXT: (0.5 points)

7.1.

ONE SYNONYM FOR “benevolence” (noun).

7.2.

ONE SYNONYM FOR “copy” (verb).

8. FIND IN THE TEXT: (0.5 points)

8.1.

ONE WORD MEANING “a vehicle that travels into space”.

8.2.

ONE WORD MEANING “a qualification given to students after they finish their university studies”.