Ejercicio A.1 - A.2 - Comprensión Lectora · Inglés PAU Madrid Ordinaria Coincidencias 2022

TEXTO A

Knocker Uppers

Until the 1970s in some areas, many workers were woken by the sound of a tap at their bedroom window. On the street outside, walking to their next customer's house, would be a figure holding a long stick. The "knocker upper" was a common sight in Britain, particularly in the northern mill towns, where people worked shifts, or in London where dockers kept unusual hours. While the standard implement was a long fishing rod-like stick, other methods were employed, such as soft hammers, rattles and even pea shooters.

"They used to come down the street with their big, long poles," remembers Paul Stafford. "I would sleep with my brother in the back room upstairs and my parents slept in the front. The knocker upper wouldn't hang around either, just three or four taps and then he'd be off. We never heard it in the back, though it used to wake my father in the front."

One problem knocker uppers faced was making sure workers did not get woken up for free. "When knocking up began to be a regular trade, the public complained of being bothered by our loud rapping or ringing," Mrs. Waters, a knocker upper in the north of England told Canada's Huron Expositor newspaper in 1878. "Knocker uppers also found out that while they knocked up one who paid them, they knocked up several on each side who did not," she continued. The solution they hit on was modifying a long stick, with which to tap on the bedroom windows of their clients, loudly enough to wake up those intended but softly enough not to disturb the rest.

The trade spread rapidly across the country, particularly in areas where poorly paid workers were required to work shifts but could not afford their own watches.

Adapted from “Knocker uppers: Waking up the workers in industrial Britain,” BBC News, March 27, 2016. <https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-35840393>

QUESTIONS

A.1.- Are the following statements TRUE or FALSE? Copy the evidence from the text. Use a complete sentence. No marks are given for only TRUE or FALSE. (Puntuación máxima: 2 puntos)

a)

Knocker uppers only used sticks to do their jobs.

TRUE

FALSE

b)

Knocker uppers waited for their clients to wake up before moving to the next house.

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)

Which two main problems did knocker uppers have at the beginning?

b)

What kind of people hired knocker uppers?