From Spider-Man to Spider-Goat - PAU inglés 2006 Andalucía

>Exámenes selectividad inglés resueltos Andalucía

It all began when Peter Parker was attending a high-school demonstration of radiation technology. A spider crept into the beam of radiation and bit Peter's hand. This gave him superhuman spider-like abilities. In the original comic book, Peter's new talents inspired him to invent his trusty webslingers, small jets attached to his wrists that fire a special polymer that hardens on contact with air.

Anyone who has ever walked into a spider's web knows that the silk is extremely solid. Despite its delicate appearance it is stronger than steel. Unfortunately, it's very difficult to farm spiders for their silk because they tend to eat each other. So, scientists have tried a variety of different methods to produce the silk without arachnid help. One of the more successful ones relies on stealing the spider's silk gene and putting it into something more friendly – like a goat. In an unlikely coupling, genetic engineers have now bred goats that have spider silk genes inside them. By doing this, they can harvest the silk proteins from the goat's milk. One goat can produce about 7g of silk per day.

Called “biosteel,” the silk is weightless, yet tougher than Kevlar (an artificial but incredibly light and strong fiber), and nearly as elastic as nylon. It could be used in medical supplies, space equipment and bullet-proof vests. So there's a new superhero in town, it's … Spider-Goat!

RESPUESTAS

I. READING COMPREHENSION

ANSWER QUESTIONS 1-2 ACCORDING TO THE INFORMATION GIVEN IN THE TEXT. USE YOUR OWN WORDS.

1) How did peter parker get his webslingers?

• Thanks to the new talents provided by the radiation and the spider’s bite.

2) Why were goats used to produce silk?

• They are easier to farm than spiders since they don’t eat each other.

ARE THESE STATEMENTS TRUE OR FALSE? JUSTIFY YOUR ANSWERS WITH WORDS OR PHRASES FROM THE TEXT.

3) Steel is the strongest material in the world.

• FALSE: Silk … is stronger than steel (lines 5-6)

4) Scientists haven’t been able to farm spiders.

• TRUE: Because “they tend to eat each other” (lines 6-7)

5) Goat-silk is more elastic than nylon.

• FALSE: It is “nearly as elastic as nylon” (line 12)

6) Biosteel does not have any application yet.

• TRUE: “it could be used in medical supplies, space equipment . . .” (line 12)

II. USE OF ENGLISH

7) Give one opposite for stronger (adjective) (line 6)

• weaker, feebler, softer

8) Find in the text a synonym for attempt (verb)

• try (line 7)

9) Find in the text the word which has the following definition: “The joint connecting the hand and the forearm” (noun)

• wrist (line 3)

10) Give a noun with the same root as friendly (adjective) (line 8)

• friendship, friendliness, friend

11) Join the following sentences using a relative pronoun. Make changes if necessary.

Some superheroes have supernatural powers. The world can only saved by them.

• The world can only be saved by some superheroes who/that have supernatural powers.
• The world can only be saved by the supernatural powers (that) some superheroes have.

12) Turn the following sentence into reported speech:

John complained: “I feel sick at the thought that they will begin to experiment with humans”.

• John complained that he felt sick at the thought that they would begin to experiment with humans.

13) Complete the following sentence:

• I would have agreed if  they had given me a good reason.

14) Use the words in the boxes to make a meaningful sentence. Use all and only the words in the boxes without changing their form.

IDENTIFIED BEEN HAS OF VARIETY HUGE A GENES

• A huge variety of genes has been identified.

+EXÁMENES RESUELTOS