Ejercicio 2B · Inglés PAU La Rioja Extraordinaria 2024

TEXT B. THE GREAT FIRE OF LONDON

London was a busy city in 1666. It was very crowded. The streets were narrow and dusty. The houses were made of wood and very close together. Inside their homes, people used candles for light and cooked on open fires. So, a fire could easily get out of control. In those days there were no fire engines or firefighters to stop a fire from spreading.

The fire began in the early Sunday morning on the 2 nd of September. It started in Pudding Lane in the shop of the King's baker, Thomas Farrinor. When Thomas went to bed, he did not put out the fire that heated his oven. Sparks from the oven fell onto some dry flour sacks and they caught fire. The flames spread through the house, down Pudding Lane and into the nearby streets.

Soon London was filled with smoke. The sky was red with huge flames from the fire. By Monday, 300 houses had burned down. Everybody was in a panic. People loaded their things onto carts and tried to leave town. Others tried to get away on boats on the river. Some people buried their things in the garden, hoping to save them from the fire.

The fire still spread, helped by a strong wind from the east. London Bridge and St Paul's Cathedral were both burnt. On Tuesday, King Charles II ordered that houses and shops be pulled down to stop the fire from spreading. By Wednesday, they had the fire under control. But by then, 100,000 people were homeless. Thomas Farrinor and his wife got out of their bakery in time, but a woman who worked for them was too frightened to jump from the roof. She was the first to die. Surprisingly, only nine people died as a result of the fire.

Two people have left us eyewitness accounts of the fire. The first is Samuel Pepys, who worked for the Navy. He kept a diary from 1660-1669. The second is John Evelyn, who also kept a diary. Both men describe how dramatic and scary the fire was. Not everyone at the time thought that the fire was an accident. However, the fire was most likely caused by chance rather than by a deliberate act.

King Charles II declared 10 October 1666 as a day of fasting on account of the fire. He told the Lord Mayor of London to support collections for victims of the fire. Later, close to Pudding Lane, a monument was built so that people would not forget the fire. It was the work of Sir Christopher Wren, who designed many new buildings, including St Paul's Cathedral, when the city was rebuilt after the fire.

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2B. Answer the following questions in no more than 8 words. (1 point, 0.25 each)

1.

Why was it difficult to stop a fire extending?

2.

What caused the sky to turn red?

3.

Which means of transport did people use to escape?

4.

Where did the two witnesses document their observations of the fire?