Examen de Inglés PAU Castilla y León 2021 · Extraordinaria

OPTION A

COVID HAS BROUGHT OUT THE WORST IN CUSTOMERS

Waitressing can be a difficult job at the best of times. I fondly remember one weekend brunch shift when a woman criticized me because we only had white sugar for her coffee, not brown; she insisted that this was a breach of “etiquette”.

I took the job last summer as a way to make ends meet while I started a new life in Manchester after moving from London. Then Covid hit. We endured the closure of the restaurant due to lockdown, but from July onwards it was a relief to be able to keep the place open. All we asked of customers was to register with the Covid app, wear a mask when they entered the indoor area and stay seated as we provided table service.

Yet since customers have started to stream back through our doors, I have been faced with a different reality. When I greet them and ask them to scan the test-and-trace app barcode, many will ignore me or say they don’t have their mobile phones with them, only to sit down and put their phones on the table.

Then there’s making sure people are wearing their masks to keep each other and staff like me safe. You’d think we were taking away people’s right to vote by asking them to pop a piece of cloth over their face while they nip to the toilet. All of this would be bad enough, but to make things worse, management have decided that the maxim “the customer is always right” endures.

When you get everyone seated, then comes the shouting across the room to get your attention. I’ve cried in work more than once because of the way a customer has treated me.

We all want to get back to normal, but this situation has truly brought out the worst in people. If you plan to go out this week, please remember to be polite to your waiting staff: they’re living through exactly the same pandemic as you.

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1) BRIEFLY ANSWER ONLY 4 OUT OF THE FOLLOWING 6 QUESTIONS WITH ONLY THE DATA REQUIRED (NOT A WHOLE SENTENCE) (2 POINTS; 0.5 POINTS EACH).

1.

Did the woman scold the waitress for not having brown sugar for her coffee?

2.

Why was the restaurant closed?

3.

What was required of the customers when they entered the restaurant from July onwards?

4.

In the phrase or say they don't have their mobile phones with them (line 11), the word 'they' refers to...

5.

What should customers do when they go to the toilet?

6.

Does the waitress agree with many customers' behaviour?

OPTION A

COVID HAS BROUGHT OUT THE WORST IN CUSTOMERS

Waitressing can be a difficult job at the best of times. I fondly remember one weekend brunch shift when a woman criticized me because we only had white sugar for her coffee, not brown; she insisted that this was a breach of “etiquette”.

I took the job last summer as a way to make ends meet while I started a new life in Manchester after moving from London. Then Covid hit. We endured the closure of the restaurant due to lockdown, but from July onwards it was a relief to be able to keep the place open. All we asked of customers was to register with the Covid app, wear a mask when they entered the indoor area and stay seated as we provided table service.

Yet since customers have started to stream back through our doors, I have been faced with a different reality. When I greet them and ask them to scan the test-and-trace app barcode, many will ignore me or say they don’t have their mobile phones with them, only to sit down and put their phones on the table.

Then there’s making sure people are wearing their masks to keep each other and staff like me safe. You’d think we were taking away people’s right to vote by asking them to pop a piece of cloth over their face while they nip to the toilet. All of this would be bad enough, but to make things worse, management have decided that the maxim “the customer is always right” endures.

When you get everyone seated, then comes the shouting across the room to get your attention. I’ve cried in work more than once because of the way a customer has treated me.

We all want to get back to normal, but this situation has truly brought out the worst in people. If you plan to go out this week, please remember to be polite to your waiting staff: they’re living through exactly the same pandemic as you.

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2) ARE THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS TRUE OR FALSE? INDICATE THE LINES THAT SUPPORT YOUR ANSWER (1 POINT).

1.

The customers are asked to scan the Covid app barcode when they enter the restaurant.

TRUE

FALSE

2.

Customers are not asked to wear their face masks when they go the toilet.

TRUE

FALSE

OPTION A

COVID HAS BROUGHT OUT THE WORST IN CUSTOMERS

Waitressing can be a difficult job at the best of times. I fondly remember one weekend brunch shift when a woman criticized me because we only had white sugar for her coffee, not brown; she insisted that this was a breach of “etiquette”.

I took the job last summer as a way to make ends meet while I started a new life in Manchester after moving from London. Then Covid hit. We endured the closure of the restaurant due to lockdown, but from July onwards it was a relief to be able to keep the place open. All we asked of customers was to register with the Covid app, wear a mask when they entered the indoor area and stay seated as we provided table service.

Yet since customers have started to stream back through our doors, I have been faced with a different reality. When I greet them and ask them to scan the test-and-trace app barcode, many will ignore me or say they don’t have their mobile phones with them, only to sit down and put their phones on the table.

Then there’s making sure people are wearing their masks to keep each other and staff like me safe. You’d think we were taking away people’s right to vote by asking them to pop a piece of cloth over their face while they nip to the toilet. All of this would be bad enough, but to make things worse, management have decided that the maxim “the customer is always right” endures.

When you get everyone seated, then comes the shouting across the room to get your attention. I’ve cried in work more than once because of the way a customer has treated me.

We all want to get back to normal, but this situation has truly brought out the worst in people. If you plan to go out this week, please remember to be polite to your waiting staff: they’re living through exactly the same pandemic as you.

<div class=

3) CHOOSE a OR b, ONLY ONE CHOICE IS CORRECT ACCORDING TO THE TEXT (1 POINT).

OPTION A

COVID HAS BROUGHT OUT THE WORST IN CUSTOMERS

Waitressing can be a difficult job at the best of times. I fondly remember one weekend brunch shift when a woman criticized me because we only had white sugar for her coffee, not brown; she insisted that this was a breach of “etiquette”.

I took the job last summer as a way to make ends meet while I started a new life in Manchester after moving from London. Then Covid hit. We endured the closure of the restaurant due to lockdown, but from July onwards it was a relief to be able to keep the place open. All we asked of customers was to register with the Covid app, wear a mask when they entered the indoor area and stay seated as we provided table service.

Yet since customers have started to stream back through our doors, I have been faced with a different reality. When I greet them and ask them to scan the test-and-trace app barcode, many will ignore me or say they don’t have their mobile phones with them, only to sit down and put their phones on the table.

Then there’s making sure people are wearing their masks to keep each other and staff like me safe. You’d think we were taking away people’s right to vote by asking them to pop a piece of cloth over their face while they nip to the toilet. All of this would be bad enough, but to make things worse, management have decided that the maxim “the customer is always right” endures.

When you get everyone seated, then comes the shouting across the room to get your attention. I’ve cried in work more than once because of the way a customer has treated me.

We all want to get back to normal, but this situation has truly brought out the worst in people. If you plan to go out this week, please remember to be polite to your waiting staff: they’re living through exactly the same pandemic as you.

<div class=

4) VOCABULARY (2 POINTS).

4.1

Choose one of the options below and find one word in the text for its definition (0.6 POINTS):

4.2

Find a synonym in the text for one of the two words below (0.6 POINTS):

4.3

For one of the following words from the text, give a synonym that fits the meaning of the text (0.8 POINTS):

5) WRITE ABOUT THE FOLLOWING TOPIC USING BETWEEN 120-150 WORDS (4 POINTS).

What social/cultural functions do restaurants have?

OPTION B

CAN EXERCISE MAKE YOU MORE CREATIVE?

If you often exercise, there’s a good chance you also tend to be more creative, according to an

interesting new study of the links between physical activity and imagination. It finds that active people

come up with more and better ideas during tests of their inventiveness than people who are relatively

sedentary. Science already offers plenty of evidence that physical activity influences how we think. Many

5 studies show that our brains change in response to physical activity, in part because during exercise we

marinate our brains with extra blood, oxygen and nutrients.

Creativity is one of the most abstract of thinking skills and difficult to quantify, and its relationship

with exercise has not been clear. A 2014 study of exercise and creativity likewise found that moving can

spur innovation. But this and most other past studies of movement and creativity looked into the short-

10 term effects of physical activity under tightly controlled conditions in labs or similar settings. They did

not examine the potential linkages, if any, between everyday activities, like going for a walk, and the

workings of our imaginations, or how being active could possibly affect creativity in the first place.

The scientists wondered, too, about happiness. Some past research had speculated that good

moods might be the intermediary linking activity and creativity. According to that idea, moving makes

15 people happier, but, the researchers wondered, did being happy relate closely both to how much people

moved and their creativity, meaning it linked the two?

The answer, the researchers concluded, was no. The most active of the volunteers proved to be

also the most creative, and active people also tended to be happy people, although their moods were

highest if they engaged in relatively vigorous activities, like jogging or playing sports, rather than

20 moderate ones. But the correlations between activity, creativity and moods were slight. People could walk

often and be quite creative but not especially happy, suggesting that it was not improved moods that most

influenced creativity. It was moving.

The study does not explain how exercise and other activities might shape creativity, but it implies

that active imaginations start with active lives.

25 (Fragment adapted from The New York Times.)

1) BRIEFLY ANSWER ONLY 4 OUT OF THE FOLLOWING 6 QUESTIONS WITH ONLY THE DATA REQUIRED (NOT A WHOLE SENTENCE) (2 POINTS; 0.5 POINTS EACH).

Responde a 4 de las 6 preguntas breves extrayendo únicamente el dato requerido del texto.

1.

According to science, what influences how we think?

2.

In the phrase its relationship with exercise (line 7), what does ‘its’ refer to?

3.

What might be the intermediary that links activity and creativity?

4.

How is the connection between activity, creativity and moods?

5.

Is it good moods or moving which most influences creativity?

6.

What is important to have an active imagination?

OPTION B

CAN EXERCISE MAKE YOU MORE CREATIVE?

If you often exercise, there’s a good chance you also tend to be more creative, according to an

interesting new study of the links between physical activity and imagination. It finds that active people

come up with more and better ideas during tests of their inventiveness than people who are relatively

sedentary. Science already offers plenty of evidence that physical activity influences how we think. Many

5 studies show that our brains change in response to physical activity, in part because during exercise we

marinate our brains with extra blood, oxygen and nutrients.

Creativity is one of the most abstract of thinking skills and difficult to quantify, and its relationship

with exercise has not been clear. A 2014 study of exercise and creativity likewise found that moving can

spur innovation. But this and most other past studies of movement and creativity looked into the short-

10 term effects of physical activity under tightly controlled conditions in labs or similar settings. They did

not examine the potential linkages, if any, between everyday activities, like going for a walk, and the

workings of our imaginations, or how being active could possibly affect creativity in the first place.

The scientists wondered, too, about happiness. Some past research had speculated that good

moods might be the intermediary linking activity and creativity. According to that idea, moving makes

15 people happier, but, the researchers wondered, did being happy relate closely both to how much people

moved and their creativity, meaning it linked the two?

The answer, the researchers concluded, was no. The most active of the volunteers proved to be

also the most creative, and active people also tended to be happy people, although their moods were

highest if they engaged in relatively vigorous activities, like jogging or playing sports, rather than

20 moderate ones. But the correlations between activity, creativity and moods were slight. People could walk

often and be quite creative but not especially happy, suggesting that it was not improved moods that most

influenced creativity. It was moving.

The study does not explain how exercise and other activities might shape creativity, but it implies

that active imaginations start with active lives.

25 (Fragment adapted from The New York Times.)

2) ARE THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS TRUE OR FALSE? INDICATE THE LINES THAT SUPPORT YOUR ANSWER (1 POINT).

1.

Science offers little evidence that physical activity does not influence how we think.

2.

People could walk often, be creative and extremely happy.

OPTION B

CAN EXERCISE MAKE YOU MORE CREATIVE?

If you often exercise, there’s a good chance you also tend to be more creative, according to an

interesting new study of the links between physical activity and imagination. It finds that active people

come up with more and better ideas during tests of their inventiveness than people who are relatively

sedentary. Science already offers plenty of evidence that physical activity influences how we think. Many

5 studies show that our brains change in response to physical activity, in part because during exercise we

marinate our brains with extra blood, oxygen and nutrients.

Creativity is one of the most abstract of thinking skills and difficult to quantify, and its relationship

with exercise has not been clear. A 2014 study of exercise and creativity likewise found that moving can

spur innovation. But this and most other past studies of movement and creativity looked into the short-

10 term effects of physical activity under tightly controlled conditions in labs or similar settings. They did

not examine the potential linkages, if any, between everyday activities, like going for a walk, and the

workings of our imaginations, or how being active could possibly affect creativity in the first place.

The scientists wondered, too, about happiness. Some past research had speculated that good

moods might be the intermediary linking activity and creativity. According to that idea, moving makes

15 people happier, but, the researchers wondered, did being happy relate closely both to how much people

moved and their creativity, meaning it linked the two?

The answer, the researchers concluded, was no. The most active of the volunteers proved to be

also the most creative, and active people also tended to be happy people, although their moods were

highest if they engaged in relatively vigorous activities, like jogging or playing sports, rather than

20 moderate ones. But the correlations between activity, creativity and moods were slight. People could walk

often and be quite creative but not especially happy, suggesting that it was not improved moods that most

influenced creativity. It was moving.

The study does not explain how exercise and other activities might shape creativity, but it implies

that active imaginations start with active lives.

25 (Fragment adapted from The New York Times.)

3) CHOOSE a OR b, ONLY ONE CHOICE IS CORRECT ACCORDING TO THE TEXT (1 POINT).

OPTION B

CAN EXERCISE MAKE YOU MORE CREATIVE?

If you often exercise, there’s a good chance you also tend to be more creative, according to an

interesting new study of the links between physical activity and imagination. It finds that active people

come up with more and better ideas during tests of their inventiveness than people who are relatively

sedentary. Science already offers plenty of evidence that physical activity influences how we think. Many

5 studies show that our brains change in response to physical activity, in part because during exercise we

marinate our brains with extra blood, oxygen and nutrients.

Creativity is one of the most abstract of thinking skills and difficult to quantify, and its relationship

with exercise has not been clear. A 2014 study of exercise and creativity likewise found that moving can

spur innovation. But this and most other past studies of movement and creativity looked into the short-

10 term effects of physical activity under tightly controlled conditions in labs or similar settings. They did

not examine the potential linkages, if any, between everyday activities, like going for a walk, and the

workings of our imaginations, or how being active could possibly affect creativity in the first place.

The scientists wondered, too, about happiness. Some past research had speculated that good

moods might be the intermediary linking activity and creativity. According to that idea, moving makes

15 people happier, but, the researchers wondered, did being happy relate closely both to how much people

moved and their creativity, meaning it linked the two?

The answer, the researchers concluded, was no. The most active of the volunteers proved to be

also the most creative, and active people also tended to be happy people, although their moods were

highest if they engaged in relatively vigorous activities, like jogging or playing sports, rather than

20 moderate ones. But the correlations between activity, creativity and moods were slight. People could walk

often and be quite creative but not especially happy, suggesting that it was not improved moods that most

influenced creativity. It was moving.

The study does not explain how exercise and other activities might shape creativity, but it implies

that active imaginations start with active lives.

25 (Fragment adapted from The New York Times.)

4) VOCABULARY (2 POINTS).

4.1

Choose one of the options below and find one word in the text for its definition (0.6 POINTS):

4.2

Find a synonym in the text for one of the two words below (0.6 POINTS):

4.3

For one of the following words from the text, give a synonym that fits the meaning of the text (0.8 POINTS):

5) WRITE ABOUT THE FOLLOWING TOPIC USING BETWEEN 120-150 WORDS (4 POINTS).

In recent times, people seem to have developed an excessive interest in physical activities. Do you think that it is just a temporary trend or it is because people have realized that sports are good for their health? Explain.