Examen de Inglés PAU Madrid 2020 · Ordinaria Martes

TEXTO A

A New BBC Period Drama

The BBC is to make its first prime-time period drama that will have Asian actors in all the leading roles. Filming is due to start this summer on an adaptation of Vikram Seth’s A Suitable Boy, which at 1,349 pages is one of the longest novels in the English language.

It will be directed by Mira Nair, the Indian-American film-maker behind Monsoon Wedding. Andrew Davies, best known for adapting Pride and Prejudice for the BBC, has been drafted in for the screenplay.

To be broadcast next year, the series is expected to have more than 100 characters. All the main roles will be played by Asians – many from India – while the handful of white characters in Seth’s book will appear only as bit parts. It contrasts with ITV’s current Sunday night offering, Beecham House, which stars Tom Bateman playing a former member of the East India Company in the leading role. Previous hit dramas set in Asia, such as The Far Pavillions and The Jewel in the Crown, have also focused on white characters.

Davies acknowledged it was a big departure for the BBC, but believes viewers will still tune in. “It is exciting,” he said. “Not many of the leading players will be known to a British audience. But it is also like a Jane Austen novel in that it’s got a lovely, easy-to-relate-to central plot.”

A Suitable Boy revolves around the desire of a middle-class Indian mother, Rupa Mehra, to marry off her youngest daughter, Lata. The Indian actress Tabu, who starred as the mother in Ang Lee’s Life of Pi, is expected to play Mehra, while a Bollywood star has been cast as Lata.

Adapted from “All-Asian cast is most suitable for BBC’s Vikram Seth drama,” The Times, 30 June 2019. <https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/all-asian-cast-is-most-suitable-for-bbc-s-vikram-seth-drama-t6qwvj57f>

QUESTIONS

A.1 (2 puntos) Are the following statements TRUE or FALSE? Copy the evidence from the text. No marks are given for only TRUE or FALSE.

a)

This will be the first production by Mira Nair.

TRUE

FALSE

b)

There will be no white characters in the new BBC series.

TRUE

FALSE

A.2 (2 puntos) In your own words and based on the ideas in the text, answer the following questions. Do not copy from the text.

a)

How does Andrew Davies think the audience will react to this new series and why?

b)

What is the plot of the new BBC series?

TEXTO A

A New BBC Period Drama

The BBC is to make its first prime-time period drama that will have Asian actors in all the leading roles. Filming is due to start this summer on an adaptation of Vikram Seth’s A Suitable Boy, which at 1,349 pages is one of the longest novels in the English language.

It will be directed by Mira Nair, the Indian-American film-maker behind Monsoon Wedding. Andrew Davies, best known for adapting Pride and Prejudice for the BBC, has been drafted in for the screenplay.

To be broadcast next year, the series is expected to have more than 100 characters. All the main roles will be played by Asians – many from India – while the handful of white characters in Seth’s book will appear only as bit parts. It contrasts with ITV’s current Sunday night offering, Beecham House, which stars Tom Bateman playing a former member of the East India Company in the leading role. Previous hit dramas set in Asia, such as The Far Pavillions and The Jewel in the Crown, have also focused on white characters.

Davies acknowledged it was a big departure for the BBC, but believes viewers will still tune in. “It is exciting,” he said. “Not many of the leading players will be known to a British audience. But it is also like a Jane Austen novel in that it’s got a lovely, easy-to-relate-to central plot.”

A Suitable Boy revolves around the desire of a middle-class Indian mother, Rupa Mehra, to marry off her youngest daughter, Lata. The Indian actress Tabu, who starred as the mother in Ang Lee’s Life of Pi, is expected to play Mehra, while a Bollywood star has been cast as Lata.

Adapted from “All-Asian cast is most suitable for BBC’s Vikram Seth drama,” The Times, 30 June 2019. <https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/all-asian-cast-is-most-suitable-for-bbc-s-vikram-seth-drama-t6qwvj57f>

A.3 (1 punto) Find the words in the text that mean:

a)

screened (paragraph 3):

b)

present (paragraph 3):

c)

change (paragraph 4):

d)

wish (paragraph 5):

A.4 (2 puntos) Complete the following sentences. Use the appropriate form of the word in brackets when given.

a)

Vikram Seth (born) in India, but (spend) most of his life in the UK.

b)

I'd watch a period drama than (read) a book.

c)

If I had opportunity to travel to India, I (visit) Vikram Seth's relatives.

d)

After (watch) the last thriller on Netflix, I couldn't sleep a couple of nights.

A.5 (3 puntos) Write about 150 to 200 words on the following topic:

What do you prefer, films or TV series? Justify your answer.

TEXTO B

The Carbon Footprint of your Inbox

Your annual work email could be adding the same amount of warming carbon dioxide to the atmosphere as a flight between London and Bruges. Email has a carbon footprint because of the power demands to create and run the computers, servers and routers that transmit each message.

The average email reportedly adds an extra 4 grams of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere – but this can increase 12 fold in email chains or with big attachments. Office workers on average process over 34,000 emails each year and can spend around 13 hours a week working on their inboxes. “This amount of carbon dioxide is equivalent to a customer having used 16,800 plastic bags in a single year,” a spokesperson for CWJobs said.

Not every email is equal, however, as adding a single 1MB attachment is predicted to raise its carbon output up to 19 grams. Larger attachments use up more energy in turn. “A particularly long email chain produces more than just hot air – it can generate as much as 50 grams in CO2 emissions,” CWJobs said. With global email traffic predicted to rise by 18 per cent in 2023, it would result in an extra 620 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year.

A series of recommendations for how people can cut down on their communicative carbon footprints have also been published. These include only adding necessary people in email chains, replacing attachments with links to material online, and talking to people in person. In addition, due to the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, the total number of unwanted emails have been reduced by 1.2 billion messages a day, which is the equivalent of 360 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions cut every single day.

Adapted from “How big is the carbon footprint of your inbox?” Daily Mail, 8 July 2019. < https://dailym.ai/2tww2ws >

QUESTIONS

B.1 (2 puntos) Are the following statements TRUE or FALSE? Copy the evidence from the text. No marks are given for only TRUE or FALSE.

a)

The carbon footprint of emails is not related only to the electricity consumed by computers.

TRUE

FALSE

b)

The number of spam emails has been reduced thanks to the introduction of specific policies.

TRUE

FALSE

B.2 (2 puntos) In your own words and based on the ideas in the text, answer the following questions. Do not copy from the text.

a)

What is the relationship between the size of an attachment and its carbon emission?

b)

What can we do to reduce the carbon footprint of emails? Mention two ideas.

TEXTO B

The Carbon Footprint of your Inbox

Your annual work email could be adding the same amount of warming carbon dioxide to the atmosphere as a flight between London and Bruges. Email has a carbon footprint because of the power demands to create and run the computers, servers and routers that transmit each message.

The average email reportedly adds an extra 4 grams of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere – but this can increase 12 fold in email chains or with big attachments. Office workers on average process over 34,000 emails each year and can spend around 13 hours a week working on their inboxes. “This amount of carbon dioxide is equivalent to a customer having used 16,800 plastic bags in a single year,” a spokesperson for CWJobs said.

Not every email is equal, however, as adding a single 1MB attachment is predicted to raise its carbon output up to 19 grams. Larger attachments use up more energy in turn. “A particularly long email chain produces more than just hot air – it can generate as much as 50 grams in CO2 emissions,” CWJobs said. With global email traffic predicted to rise by 18 per cent in 2023, it would result in an extra 620 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year.

A series of recommendations for how people can cut down on their communicative carbon footprints have also been published. These include only adding necessary people in email chains, replacing attachments with links to material online, and talking to people in person. In addition, due to the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, the total number of unwanted emails have been reduced by 1.2 billion messages a day, which is the equivalent of 360 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions cut every single day.

Adapted from “How big is the carbon footprint of your inbox?” Daily Mail, 8 July 2019. < https://dailym.ai/2tww2ws >

B.3 (1 punto) Find the words in the text that mean:

a)

b)

c)

d)

B.4 (2 puntos) Complete the following sentences. Use the appropriate form of the word in brackets when given.

a)

Researchers said domestic travel was a bigger cause of CO2 emissions

international travel. In fact, air travel was one of

(important) causes.

b)

(avoid) natural disasters or extreme temperatures,

can damage the environment, we must keep the level of greenhouse gases at their natural levels.

c)

Some people think that the greenhouse effect

(not/become) such a big problem if we

(not/cut) so many trees in the past.

d)

Rewrite the following sentence so that it means the same: We are consuming natural resources so fast that the Earth does not have time to renew them.

B.5 (3 puntos) Write about 150 to 200 words on the following topic:

Would you agree to have limited Internet access to help reduce carbon emissions? Justify your answer.