Earthquake hits Britain -PAU inglés 2013 Madrid resuelto

>Exámenes selectividad inglés resueltos C. Madrid

On 27th February 2008, something very unusual happened in the UK: there was a rather large earthquake. It was the biggest earthquake in 25 years in Great Britain.

There have been very small tremors in the past but they seem nothing compared to this one. It was felt in a large area across the country too, from as far north as Edinburgh in Scotland to as far south as Plymouth on the south coast of England. The epicentre of the earthquake was in a small town in Lincolnshire, which is an area about two and a half to three hours north of London by car. A magnitude of 5.2 was registered on the Richter scale.

There were lots of reports in the news from people who felt the earth move. One man said, “We had loads of vibrating and wall shaking, noise coming off the roof. I went outside - the chimney’s on the floor!” A collapsed chimney was, in fact, the cause of what was probably the worst injury from the earthquake: a man broke his pelvis when the chimney fell on him. The earthquake was felt by a lot of people, but it surprisingly caused very little structural damage to property.

Most British people would be surprised to learn that there are 200-300 earthquakes in Britain every year - but most of them are so small, they go unnoticed. The magnitude of this earthquake is fairly small in comparison to some other natural disasters that have made international news, but, for the people affected, it certainly came as a surprise.

RESPUESTAS

I. READING COMPREHENSION

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

a) The earthquake could only be felt in a small village in Lincolnshire.

• FALSE. It was felt in a large area across the country too, from as far north as Edinburgh in Scotland to as far south as Plymouth on the south coast of England.

b) Lots of buildings were destroyed in the 2008 earthquake.

• FALSE. The earthquake was felt by a lot of people, but it surprisingly caused very little structural damage to property.

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

a) Are earthquakes frequent in Britain? Explain your answer.

• Yes, earthquakes are frequent in Britain (200-300 every year), but they are not big and they are not noticeable.

b) What did people tell reporters about the earthquake?

• Many people told reporters that they had felt the earthquake. One man had felt that everything vibrated and his chimney had fallen down from the roof.

II. USE OF ENGLISH

3.- Find the words in the text that mean:

• a) rare (paragraph 1): unusual
• b) fallen (paragraph 3): collapsed
• c) amazed (paragraph 4): surprised
• d) find out (paragraph 4): learn

4.- Complete the following sentences. Use the appropriate form of the word in brackets when given.

• a) This was the most important (important) story in the news, because the earthquake wasquite a big one.
• b) Usually, earthquakes are measured (measure) with a seismometer; another device which / that records earthquakes is known as a seismograph.
• c) After destroying (destroy) half of the country, an enormous wave was created by the earthquake.

Complete the following sentence to report what was said.

• d. “What did you see after the earthquake?”

• → I asked the girl what she had seen after the earthquake / she saw after the earthquake.

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