The drug trade - PAU Andalucía 2001

>Exámenes selectividad inglés resueltos Andalucía

While living in London in the late 1980s, producer Laura Bickford happened to watch a TV miniseries entitled "Traffic", which followed a drug route from Pakistan to Great Britain. As Bickford recalls, "The story stayed with me. When I moved back to the United States, I began to notice that, several times a week, newspapers were reporting on drug trafficking. There were social issue stories, stories about law enforcement and stories about prisons and drugs."
That was how the film "Traffic" (2000) got started. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, who is well-known for other films like "Erin Brockovich," this is a contemporary thriller about the world of the drug trade as seen through several interrelated stories, some of which are very personal and some of which are fun of intrigue and danger. A Mexican policeman, who works on the border, has to resist temptations of power and money. In the United States, Robert Wakefield is fighting against the drug traffic, but at home he must deal with his teenage daughter's addiction. As the director explains: "Drugs are one of the key social issues in our culture today: everyone knows someone who has been touched by it. This film shows how drugs are affecting our world, our children, families, politics, everything."

SOLUCIONES

I. READING COMPREHENSION

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

1)    What made L. Bickford produce the film "Traffic"?

• SHE WATCHED AN INTERESTING MINISERIES ON TV AND LATER SHE NOTICED THAT THERE WERE OFTEN NEWS ABOUT THE DRUG TRAFFIC IN THE NEWSPAPERS.

2)    Is there only one story in "Traffic"? Why?

• NO, THERE ARE SEVERAL STORIES: ABOUT A MEXICAN POLICEMAN, AN AMERICAN FATHER, AND A YOUNG ADDICT.

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

3)    L. Bickford was in London on holidays, when she watched the miniseries "Traffic".

• FALSE: "WHILE LIVING IN LONDON..." (LINE 1)

4)    In the United States, there was news on drugs weekly.

• FALSE: "SEVERAL TIMES A WEEK" (LINES 3-4)

5)    "Traffic" was Soderbergh's only film as a director.

• FALSE: "HE IS WELL-KNOWN FOR OTHER FILMS, LIKE... (LINES 6-7)

6)    R. Wakefield has a drug problem in his family.

• TRUE: "HIS TEENAGE DAUGHTER" (LINE 11)

II. USE OF ENGLISH

7)    Find in the text the word which has the following definition:   "way taken or planned from one place to another" 

• ROUTE (LINE 2)

8)    Find in the text one opposite for EMPTY (adjective) and one synonym for FRONTIER (noun).

• FULL (LINE 8), BORDER (LINE 9)

9)    Give an adjective with the same root as POWER (noun).

• POWERFUL, POWERLESS

10)    Turn the following sentence into reported speech:  

The director said: "everybody knows someone who has been touched by drugs"

• THE DIRECTOR SAID THAT EVERYBODY KNEW SOMEONE WHO HAD BEEN TOUCHED BY DRUGS.

11)    Turn the following sentence into the passive voice:   

Drugs are affecting everything.

• EVERYTHING IS BEING AFFECTED BY DRUGS.

12)    Give a question for the underlined words. 

This thriller is about the drug trade.

• WHAT IS THIS THRILLER ABOUT?

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

R. Wakefield is fighting against the drug traffic. His daughter is a drug addict. 

• R. WAKEFIELD, WHOSE DAUGHTER IS A DRUG ADDICT, IS FIGHTING AGAINST THE DRUG TRAFFIC

+EXÁMENES RESUELTOS