Examen de Inglés PAU Madrid 2021 · Extraordinaria (2ª lengua)

TEXTO A

Protecting Children from Violence

There has been a lot of violence in the world in the past few weeks and many of our children have been watching it. That’s not a good thing. Between mainstream media and social media, violence reaches far past the places and people it directly strikes. Whether it’s the latest shooting, the latest terrorist attack, or some other act of violence, television and other media are fond of showing it. The recent rise in cell phone videos shared on social media, often raw and shocking, has increased the prevalence and reach of violence even further. And on top of that, we must not forget the violence in movies and video games, so popular among kids and teens.

The last comprehensive assessment of “screen” violence was done in 1998. It found that the typical child will have seen 8,000 murders and 100,000 other acts of violence before middle school. That was 18 years ago, 7 years before YouTube began and 9 years before the first iPhone was released. Just think what those numbers are now.

The American Academy of Pediatrics wants people to understand that exposure to “virtual” violence, through news, social and entertainment media, can be harmful for children. Multiple studies have shown that children exposed to violence may be more aggressive, and they may have behavioral problems. They may also become desensitized to violence, which may be the worst outcome. Imagine a generation of children growing up thinking that violence is acceptable and unremarkable.

Every person is different; some are likely to be more vulnerable than others. But as the aforementioned Academy points out, given how wide the exposure is, even just a small percentage can end up being inevitably affected.

Adapted from “Protecting children from the dangers of virtual violence”. Harvard Health Publishing, 2 August, 2016. <https://rb.gy/tyycnp>

QUESTIONS

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

(Puntuación máxima: 2 puntos)

a)

Media love displaying violent content.

TRUE

FALSE

b)

No studies of audio-visual violence have been carried out before the 21 st century.

TRUE

FALSE

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

(Puntuación máxima: 2 puntos)

a)

How have mobile phones contributed to the spread of violence?

b)

Explain two of the effects that online violence has on children.

TEXTO A

Protecting Children from Violence

There has been a lot of violence in the world in the past few weeks and many of our children have been watching it. That’s not a good thing. Between mainstream media and social media, violence reaches far past the places and people it directly strikes. Whether it’s the latest shooting, the latest terrorist attack, or some other act of violence, television and other media are fond of showing it. The recent rise in cell phone videos shared on social media, often raw and shocking, has increased the prevalence and reach of violence even further. And on top of that, we must not forget the violence in movies and video games, so popular among kids and teens.

The last comprehensive assessment of “screen” violence was done in 1998. It found that the typical child will have seen 8,000 murders and 100,000 other acts of violence before middle school. That was 18 years ago, 7 years before YouTube began and 9 years before the first iPhone was released. Just think what those numbers are now.

The American Academy of Pediatrics wants people to understand that exposure to “virtual” violence, through news, social and entertainment media, can be harmful for children. Multiple studies have shown that children exposed to violence may be more aggressive, and they may have behavioral problems. They may also become desensitized to violence, which may be the worst outcome. Imagine a generation of children growing up thinking that violence is acceptable and unremarkable.

Every person is different; some are likely to be more vulnerable than others. But as the aforementioned Academy points out, given how wide the exposure is, even just a small percentage can end up being inevitably affected.

Adapted from “Protecting children from the dangers of virtual violence”. Harvard Health Publishing, 2 August, 2016. <https://rb.gy/tyycnp>

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

a)

crude (paragraph 1):

b)

damaging (paragraph 3):

c)

consequence (paragraph 3):

d)

highlights (paragraph 4):

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

a)

If Terry's parents (be aware of) how aggressive he was, they (talk) to a psychologist before.

b)

What about (watch) a new series? This one is (tough) than I thought.

c)

You (not/have) to tell the headmaster about the time of the meeting advance. It is not required.

d)

Complete the following sentence to report what was said.

“Why can't we watch this movie?”, my siblings wanted to know.

My siblings asked me.

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

In your personal opinion, what are the advantages and disadvantages of letting children play all kinds of videogames?

TEXTO B

Are Humans Social Creatures?

Neil Ansell had always dreamt of living alone surrounded by nature, yet he became a hermit entirely by accident. Back in the 1980s, he was living in London with 20 other people. Then someone made him an offer he couldn't refuse: a lovely cottage lost in the mountains, with a minimum rent. This was a place so wild, the night sky was a continuous carpet of stars — and the neighbours were a pair of ravens, who had lived in the same tree for 20 years. The negative thing was that the scenic views came with extreme isolation. He lived on a hill farm, miles from the nearest village. He didn't have a phone, and in the five years he lived there, not a single person walked by the house.

By the time he returned to civilisation, Ansell had fully adapted to being on his own — and the social world was a bit of a shock. "What I found difficult was the amount of talking and I'm not an antisocial person." Another thing Ansell noticed was that his identity had gradually started to slip away. "When you're alone, you start to lose your sense of who you are, since you don't have an image of yourself reflected in the way that other people react to you. To some extent, when I returned, I had to rediscover who I could be in a social context," he says.

Human beings are deeply social creatures. This is obvious from the way we live, but scientists have discovered that there seems to be a link: over millions of years, species with more social contacts tend to evolve larger brains. It turns out this works the other way around, too: a lack of socialising can make them shrink.

Adapted from “How solitude and isolation can affect your social skills,” BBC, October 23 rd, 2020. <https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20201022-how-solitude-and-isolation-can-change-how-you-think>

QUESTIONS

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

(Puntuación máxima: 2 puntos)

a)

Neil Ansell had planned, even before the 1980s, to live alone in the mountains.

TRUE

FALSE

b)

Research has found that the smaller the human brain, the greater the extent of its social world.

TRUE

FALSE

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

(Puntuación máxima: 2 puntos)

a)

Why did Neil Ansell go to live in the mountains?

b)

Briefly explain two things that happened to Neil Ansell when he moved back to London.

TEXTO B

Are Humans Social Creatures?

Neil Ansell had always dreamt of living alone surrounded by nature, yet he became a hermit entirely by accident. Back in the 1980s, he was living in London with 20 other people. Then someone made him an offer he couldn't refuse: a lovely cottage lost in the mountains, with a minimum rent. This was a place so wild, the night sky was a continuous carpet of stars — and the neighbours were a pair of ravens, who had lived in the same tree for 20 years. The negative thing was that the scenic views came with extreme isolation. He lived on a hill farm, miles from the nearest village. He didn't have a phone, and in the five years he lived there, not a single person walked by the house.

By the time he returned to civilisation, Ansell had fully adapted to being on his own — and the social world was a bit of a shock. "What I found difficult was the amount of talking and I'm not an antisocial person." Another thing Ansell noticed was that his identity had gradually started to slip away. "When you're alone, you start to lose your sense of who you are, since you don't have an image of yourself reflected in the way that other people react to you. To some extent, when I returned, I had to rediscover who I could be in a social context," he says.

Human beings are deeply social creatures. This is obvious from the way we live, but scientists have discovered that there seems to be a link: over millions of years, species with more social contacts tend to evolve larger brains. It turns out this works the other way around, too: a lack of socialising can make them shrink.

Adapted from “How solitude and isolation can affect your social skills,” BBC, October 23 rd, 2020. <https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20201022-how-solitude-and-isolation-can-change-how-you-think>

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

a)

turn down (paragraph 1):

b)

vanish (paragraph 2):

c)

because (paragraph 2):

d)

connection (paragraph 3):

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

a)

Recently, scientists

(discover) that the longer the journey, the smaller the brains of polar explorers

(get) in their Antarctic trips.

b)

Lonely people

(not / have) the ability

(comply) with social norms.

c)

People miss social interactions when they

(force) to be isolated

each other.

d)

Complete the following sentence to report what was said:

John: “I don’t want to stay in London unless I get a well-paid job.”

John said that

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

Imagine you could live anywhere in the world. What would it be like and why would you choose that place?