Ejercicio A · Inglés PAU Madrid Ordinaria (2ª lengua) Coincidencias 2020

TEXTO A

Emojis and Food Allergies

Someday soon an emoji might literally save lives. Hiroyuki Komatsu, a Google engineer, submitted a proposal to add a range of new icons to the standard emoji library that could help those with food allergies understand what they are eating anywhere in the world. “Emoji should cover characters representing major food allergens,” Komatsu wrote in his proposal. “It enables people to understand what ingredients are used in foods even in foreign countries and safely select meals.”

The reason that emojis are so universal is because they are chosen and developed by the Unicode Consortium, a non-profit corporation that oversees, develops and maintains how text is represented in all software products and standards. It is thanks to the Unicode Standard that when you text a friend six pizza emojis, they will see those six pizza slices on their phone regardless of whether they use an iPhone or an Android.

Because emojis are everywhere and iconic, they could be helpful for restaurants and food packaging designers to communicate whether a product is made with common allergens. But as Komatsu’s proposal argues, many of the most common food allergens – such as peanuts, soy and milk – are missing or poorly represented by the current emoji library. There is an emoji for octopus, but nothing for squid; there is a loaf of bread that could symbolize gluten, but a bundle of wheat could be clearer and more direct when labelling foods.

It is not uncommon for the Unicode Consortium to add new emojis to the library: several food-related emojis debuted last June, including a long-awaited taco emoji. However, some might complain about the continuing death of the written word if Komatsu’s proposal is accepted.

Adapted from “How emojis could help people with food allergies,” Smithsonian Magazine, 4 August 2015. <https://bit.ly/2vHCcue>

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)

The most frequent food allergens are already present in the current emoji library.

TRUE

FALSE

b)

Everybody thinks using emojis contributes to making texts richer.

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 can emojis help people with food allergies?

b)

What is the role of the Unicode Consortium?