Examen de Inglés PAU Canarias 2022 · Junio (Humanidades)

Were the Beijing Winter Olympics “green and clean”?

China promised to deliver a “green and clean” 2022 Winter Olympics. The organisers said they had prioritised

protecting native species, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and cutting down on resources used.

But there was criticism that this was the first Winter Olympics to rely entirely on artificial snow and that the

Olympic ski runs were constructed in the middle of a nature reserve in Yanqing, over an area bigger than a

5 thousand football pitches. The construction required digging up more than 20,000 trees, which was done over

a number of years.

The Beijing Organising Committee (BOC) was alerted to the potential environmental risk in this area as early

as 2015 by Chinese biologists, but the site was not moved to another place. The journal Nature reported at the

time that posts about this issue on the Chinese social media site, Weibo, were removed. When the BOC was

10 asked about this, they said, “Beijing 2022 did its best to protect ecosystems in the competition zones.”

The BOC promised to transplant the trees to another location in the mountains north of the city. The Committee

worked closely with Beijing Forestry University and claims that more than 90% of the trees survived the move.

However, Dr Carmen de Jong, Professor of Hydrology at the University of Strasbourg, says the removal of the

surface soil in this process has significantly increased the risk of erosion and landslides, water pollution and

15 damage to animal habitats. “The nature reserve, which has very high biodiversity and is home to protected

species such as the golden eagle, has lost about 25% of its surface,” she said.

Beijing also promised that all competition venues would be covered with “high-quality snow”, despite the city

only having a few days of snow in recent years. Yanqing, the site of the ski centre, only receives an average of

21cm a year of snowfall, nowhere near enough for skiing. The ski slopes needed more than 1.2 million cubic

20 metres of snow for Olympic events. The process of producing artificial snow is both energy and resource-

intensive. It is estimated that 222.8 million litres of water were used, in a region which is already short of water.

The organisers wanted the Beijing Winter Olympics to be the “first carbon-neutral Games” and China set an

ambitious goal of delivering the games using 100% renewable energy. In fact, they constructed new wind and

solar projects to produce enough clean energy, not just for the Games, but for the whole of Beijing. However,

25 critics have argued that the Olympics green energy commitment should not hide the fact that more than half of

China’s energy is still produced from fossil fuels.

Fragment adapted from BBC Reality Check, January 2022

1. Say whether the following sentences are TRUE or FALSE according to the text. COPY the evidence from the text. No marks will be given without the evidence. (1.5 points)

a)

The Beijing Organising Committee apologised because most of the trees that were moved had died.

TRUE

FALSE

b)

Beijing had more than enough water to produce the artificial snow that was needed for the Games.

TRUE

FALSE

c)

By building green energy plants for the Games, China also improved the clean energy supply to the rest of the host city.

TRUE

FALSE

Were the Beijing Winter Olympics “green and clean”?

China promised to deliver a “green and clean” 2022 Winter Olympics. The organisers said they had prioritised

protecting native species, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and cutting down on resources used.

But there was criticism that this was the first Winter Olympics to rely entirely on artificial snow and that the

Olympic ski runs were constructed in the middle of a nature reserve in Yanqing, over an area bigger than a

5 thousand football pitches. The construction required digging up more than 20,000 trees, which was done over

a number of years.

The Beijing Organising Committee (BOC) was alerted to the potential environmental risk in this area as early

as 2015 by Chinese biologists, but the site was not moved to another place. The journal Nature reported at the

time that posts about this issue on the Chinese social media site, Weibo, were removed. When the BOC was

10 asked about this, they said, “Beijing 2022 did its best to protect ecosystems in the competition zones.”

The BOC promised to transplant the trees to another location in the mountains north of the city. The Committee

worked closely with Beijing Forestry University and claims that more than 90% of the trees survived the move.

However, Dr Carmen de Jong, Professor of Hydrology at the University of Strasbourg, says the removal of the

surface soil in this process has significantly increased the risk of erosion and landslides, water pollution and

15 damage to animal habitats. “The nature reserve, which has very high biodiversity and is home to protected

species such as the golden eagle, has lost about 25% of its surface,” she said.

Beijing also promised that all competition venues would be covered with “high-quality snow”, despite the city

only having a few days of snow in recent years. Yanqing, the site of the ski centre, only receives an average of

21cm a year of snowfall, nowhere near enough for skiing. The ski slopes needed more than 1.2 million cubic

20 metres of snow for Olympic events. The process of producing artificial snow is both energy and resource-

intensive. It is estimated that 222.8 million litres of water were used, in a region which is already short of water.

The organisers wanted the Beijing Winter Olympics to be the “first carbon-neutral Games” and China set an

ambitious goal of delivering the games using 100% renewable energy. In fact, they constructed new wind and

solar projects to produce enough clean energy, not just for the Games, but for the whole of Beijing. However,

25 critics have argued that the Olympics green energy commitment should not hide the fact that more than half of

China’s energy is still produced from fossil fuels.

Fragment adapted from BBC Reality Check, January 2022

2. ANSWER the questions below. COPY no more than 10 words and/or a number from the text to answer each question. (1.5 points)

a)

What extension of land did the Olympic ski centre cover?

b)

Where did the Beijing Olympic organisers take the trees?

c)

How much of China's energy does not come from clean sources?

Were the Beijing Winter Olympics “green and clean”?

China promised to deliver a “green and clean” 2022 Winter Olympics. The organisers said they had prioritised

protecting native species, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and cutting down on resources used.

But there was criticism that this was the first Winter Olympics to rely entirely on artificial snow and that the

Olympic ski runs were constructed in the middle of a nature reserve in Yanqing, over an area bigger than a

5 thousand football pitches. The construction required digging up more than 20,000 trees, which was done over

a number of years.

The Beijing Organising Committee (BOC) was alerted to the potential environmental risk in this area as early

as 2015 by Chinese biologists, but the site was not moved to another place. The journal Nature reported at the

time that posts about this issue on the Chinese social media site, Weibo, were removed. When the BOC was

10 asked about this, they said, “Beijing 2022 did its best to protect ecosystems in the competition zones.”

The BOC promised to transplant the trees to another location in the mountains north of the city. The Committee

worked closely with Beijing Forestry University and claims that more than 90% of the trees survived the move.

However, Dr Carmen de Jong, Professor of Hydrology at the University of Strasbourg, says the removal of the

surface soil in this process has significantly increased the risk of erosion and landslides, water pollution and

15 damage to animal habitats. “The nature reserve, which has very high biodiversity and is home to protected

species such as the golden eagle, has lost about 25% of its surface,” she said.

Beijing also promised that all competition venues would be covered with “high-quality snow”, despite the city

only having a few days of snow in recent years. Yanqing, the site of the ski centre, only receives an average of

21cm a year of snowfall, nowhere near enough for skiing. The ski slopes needed more than 1.2 million cubic

20 metres of snow for Olympic events. The process of producing artificial snow is both energy and resource-

intensive. It is estimated that 222.8 million litres of water were used, in a region which is already short of water.

The organisers wanted the Beijing Winter Olympics to be the “first carbon-neutral Games” and China set an

ambitious goal of delivering the games using 100% renewable energy. In fact, they constructed new wind and

solar projects to produce enough clean energy, not just for the Games, but for the whole of Beijing. However,

25 critics have argued that the Olympics green energy commitment should not hide the fact that more than half of

China’s energy is still produced from fossil fuels.

Fragment adapted from BBC Reality Check, January 2022

3. Find a word or expression in the text that means... (1 point)

a)

b)

c)

d)

4. READ this conversation and COMPLETE your part. Write the numbers (1-6) and complete each sentence on your exam paper. (1.5 points)

A Friday night at your partner's home

Your partner:

We should stay home today and do something different.

You:

Your partner:

Perhaps we could order something to eat.

You:

Your partner:

Fine, that's an option, too.

You:

Your partner:

There's this new series everybody is talking about.

You:

Your partner:

What do you want to do then?

You:

Your partner:

But the idea was to be on our own!

You:

Your partner:

Really?! Is that the best thing you can think of for a Friday night together?

5. Read the following situations and WRITE what you would say in each one to show that you understand the context of the situation. Write between 10 and 25 words. (1.5 points)

a)

Your father suggests that you help him to paint the sitting room at the weekend. Say why you can't do that.

b)

Covid restrictions are over, so there are more holiday choices. Propose a plan to your family for the summer.

c)

You see an accident in the street. Offer your help.

6. WRITE a composition of about 120-150 words on the following topic (3 points):

How could the Canary Islands become "greener and cleaner"? Give your opinion.

GRUPO B

It is a critical moment for humanity. We need everyone to start leading like a woman

We talk a lot about leadership, but we don't often address the topic directly. We live in a world where

success is more about money than merit; most leaders come to power via a similar, pre-established route, so

we don't often stop to question our ideas about what qualities a good leader should have. But it is crucial that

we do this because every crisis the world faces is actually a crisis of leadership.

5 Before we can solve anything —from the climate crisis to social inequality— we need to solve the mediocre-

man crisis. We need to understand why so many incompetent men are in power. (And before all the men's

rights activists start yelling at me about incompetent women, please take a look around: this point stands

because the vast majority of people in charge are still men.)

How have so many incompetent men become leaders? The short answer is confidence. Lots of studies show

10 that confident people are more convincing —and humans have a lamentable tendency to confuse

confidence with competence.

There is, of course, a class element to this. A series of recent studies by researchers from two universities

found that "individuals with relatively high social class are more overconfident." But not only class affects

confidence, gender does too. Because the idea that geniuses are predominately male is so established, society

15 tends to reward men for overconfidence and narcissism, while punishing women for the same qualities.

As a female writer, I can also tell you that women are punished for pointing out that men aren't perfect, so

let me quickly tell you that a guy has said the same thing. In his book Why Do So Many Incompetent Men

Become Leaders? organizational psychologist Chamorro-Premuzic argues that men dominate positions of

power because they are more likely to exhibit toxic traits. "Women are better leaders, they have better people

20 skills, they outperform men in university...," he explains.

I agree with Chamorro-Premuzic on a lot of things, but I want to make something very clear: I am not

interested in having more women in power simply because they are women. Who cares about having more

women in charge if those women simply copy the same toxic model of leadership created by men?

I am interested in advancing a more "feminine" model of leadership. The next decade may be our last

25 opportunity to determine our future. Here is the thing, though: we aren't going to be able to change anything

if we don't drastically change the way we think about leadership.

Fragment adapted from The Guardian, November 2021

1. Say whether the following sentences are TRUE or FALSE according to the text. COPY the evidence from the text. No marks will be given without the evidence. (1.5 points)

a)

The writer thinks that behind any type of crisis we experience in the world there is poor leadership.

TRUE

FALSE

b)

Most of the world's leaders are male.

TRUE

FALSE

c)

Confidence and competence are often mistaken.

TRUE

FALSE

GRUPO B

It is a critical moment for humanity. We need everyone to start leading like a woman

We talk a lot about leadership, but we don't often address the topic directly. We live in a world where

success is more about money than merit; most leaders come to power via a similar, pre-established route, so

we don't often stop to question our ideas about what qualities a good leader should have. But it is crucial that

we do this because every crisis the world faces is actually a crisis of leadership.

5 Before we can solve anything —from the climate crisis to social inequality— we need to solve the mediocre-

man crisis. We need to understand why so many incompetent men are in power. (And before all the men's

rights activists start yelling at me about incompetent women, please take a look around: this point stands

because the vast majority of people in charge are still men.)

How have so many incompetent men become leaders? The short answer is confidence. Lots of studies show

10 that confident people are more convincing —and humans have a lamentable tendency to confuse

confidence with competence.

There is, of course, a class element to this. A series of recent studies by researchers from two universities

found that "individuals with relatively high social class are more overconfident." But not only class affects

confidence, gender does too. Because the idea that geniuses are predominately male is so established, society

15 tends to reward men for overconfidence and narcissism, while punishing women for the same qualities.

As a female writer, I can also tell you that women are punished for pointing out that men aren't perfect, so

let me quickly tell you that a guy has said the same thing. In his book Why Do So Many Incompetent Men

Become Leaders? organizational psychologist Chamorro-Premuzic argues that men dominate positions of

power because they are more likely to exhibit toxic traits. "Women are better leaders, they have better people

20 skills, they outperform men in university...," he explains.

I agree with Chamorro-Premuzic on a lot of things, but I want to make something very clear: I am not

interested in having more women in power simply because they are women. Who cares about having more

women in charge if those women simply copy the same toxic model of leadership created by men?

I am interested in advancing a more "feminine" model of leadership. The next decade may be our last

25 opportunity to determine our future. Here is the thing, though: we aren't going to be able to change anything

if we don't drastically change the way we think about leadership.

Fragment adapted from The Guardian, November 2021

2. ANSWER the questions below. COPY no more than 10 words and/or a number from the text to answer each question. (1.5 points)

a)

What makes a person successful in today's society?

b)

What personality traits are considered negative for women?

c)

To deal with our future problems, what is the most important attitude we need to modify?

GRUPO B

It is a critical moment for humanity. We need everyone to start leading like a woman

We talk a lot about leadership, but we don't often address the topic directly. We live in a world where

success is more about money than merit; most leaders come to power via a similar, pre-established route, so

we don't often stop to question our ideas about what qualities a good leader should have. But it is crucial that

we do this because every crisis the world faces is actually a crisis of leadership.

5 Before we can solve anything —from the climate crisis to social inequality— we need to solve the mediocre-

man crisis. We need to understand why so many incompetent men are in power. (And before all the men's

rights activists start yelling at me about incompetent women, please take a look around: this point stands

because the vast majority of people in charge are still men.)

How have so many incompetent men become leaders? The short answer is confidence. Lots of studies show

10 that confident people are more convincing —and humans have a lamentable tendency to confuse

confidence with competence.

There is, of course, a class element to this. A series of recent studies by researchers from two universities

found that "individuals with relatively high social class are more overconfident." But not only class affects

confidence, gender does too. Because the idea that geniuses are predominately male is so established, society

15 tends to reward men for overconfidence and narcissism, while punishing women for the same qualities.

As a female writer, I can also tell you that women are punished for pointing out that men aren't perfect, so

let me quickly tell you that a guy has said the same thing. In his book Why Do So Many Incompetent Men

Become Leaders? organizational psychologist Chamorro-Premuzic argues that men dominate positions of

power because they are more likely to exhibit toxic traits. "Women are better leaders, they have better people

20 skills, they outperform men in university...," he explains.

I agree with Chamorro-Premuzic on a lot of things, but I want to make something very clear: I am not

interested in having more women in power simply because they are women. Who cares about having more

women in charge if those women simply copy the same toxic model of leadership created by men?

I am interested in advancing a more "feminine" model of leadership. The next decade may be our last

25 opportunity to determine our future. Here is the thing, though: we aren't going to be able to change anything

if we don't drastically change the way we think about leadership.

Fragment adapted from The Guardian, November 2021

3. FIND a word or expression in the text that means... (1 point)

a)

b)

c)

d)

4. READ this conversation and COMPLETE your part. Write the numbers (1-6) and complete each sentence on your exam paper. (1.5 points)

Talking to a friend who has been studying abroad

You:

Hey. (1)

. Where have you been?

Your friend:

I went to China on a student exchange program.

You:

Cool! And (2)

?

Your friend:

I was there for 16 months.

You:

(3)

. Didn't you miss your family and friends?

Your friend:

Yes, a little, especially my girlfriend.

You:

And (4)

?

Your friend:

I visited palaces, temples, markets, parks, museums... Beijing is a great city.

You:

(5)

?

Your friend:

Well, it is super spicy. But they eat a lot of fresh vegetables, grains...

You:

And rice, right?

Your friend:

Yes, of course, rice too. The food is very cheap.

You:

How interesting. (6)

?

Your friend:

Yes, I picked up a lot of words and phrases. I practised a lot in 16 months!

You:

Then, say good-bye in Chinese.

5. Read the following situations and WRITE what you would say in each one to show that you understand the context of the situation. Write between 10 and 25 words. (1.5 points)

a)

You like your classmate’s trainers. Make a comment.

b)

Your sister says she’s going to get her hair cut. Say what you think.

c)

Your mum says she doesn’t feel like cooking today. Make a suggestion.

6. WRITE a composition of about 120-150 words on the following topic (3 points):

Write an e-mail to the author of It is a critical moment for humanity. We need everyone to start leading like a woman. Comment on her article and her point of view about leadership.