King of the jungle is dying in Kenya - PAU inglés 2010 resuelto

Photograph by Lotte Blachfeldt

Over the past two decades, the worldwide population of lions has fallen from over 200,000 to approximately 35,000 presently. In Kenya, they have reduced from 10,000 to 2,000 over the same period. The once-feared king of the jungle is quickly being pushed out of his habitat. With the population of humans growing faster than any other species of animal, the lion, is slowly being driven out of existence. The conflict between man and lion is not a recent phenomenon.

In March 1898 as Indian workers were busy building a bridge for the East African Railway line over the River Tasavo, two male lions which later came to be known as the Man Eaters of Tasavo were picking them off one by one. It is estimated that the pair - each lion measured more than nine feet - hunted down and killed more than 130 people in a span of nine months.

More than a century later, in 2003, the tables were turned when Maasai warriors killed 10 lions in one week following repeated attacks on their cattle in Katigela on the outskirts of Nairobi.

According to Owebi Mawetto, a research scientist with the National Museums of Kenya, some subspecies like the desert lion, which thrived in North Africa, have become extinct. The vulnerability of the lion has been exposed and the superiority it once held over all living things has shifted to its greatest predator: man. The human population has posed the main threat to the survival of the lion.

In many ways man has contributed to the destruction of both the lion and its habitat. Communities, most of them pastoral, have organised hunting parties targeting lions which they believe kill their livestock. The pastoralists see no value in protecting the big cats, and neither do the governments.

1. Comprehension exercises 

1.a. According to the text 

• Lions are slowly being driven out of existence.
• The desert lion lives in North Africa.
• Pastoralists would like to make an effort to save the lions of Kenya.

1.b. According to the text

• Lions in Kenya are known as Man Eaters to Maasai warriors.
• The conflict between man and lion has spanned centuries.
• Lions have contributed to the destruction of Kenya's National Forests.

1.c. Some types of lions have already been destroyed.

(Answer "True" or "False" AND write the sentence supporting this idea) 

• TRUE: According to Owebi Mawetto, a research scientist with the National Museums of Kenya, some sub-species like the desert lion, which thrived in North Africa, have become extinct.

1.d. The human population has contributed more than anything else to the desecration of

the lion species in Kenya.

(Answer "True" or "False" AND write the sentence supporting this idea) 

• TRUE: The human population has posed the main threat to the survival of the lion.

2. Do the following grammar exercises according to the instructions given

2.a. Complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first one, using "ought"

The government should do something about housing

• The government ought to do something about housing.

2.b. Turn the two sentences into a clause containing "although/though"

It was raining. She enjoyed the walk.

• Although/though it was raining, she enjoyed the walk.

2.c. Write the second question in Reported Speech

Why were all the trains delayed?

• He asked her why all the trains were/had been delayed.

2.d. Write the appropriate verb form of the verb in brackets

• Have you ever tried to go out of a restaurant t without paying (to pay)?

3. Identify ONLY FOUR words from their definitions

• People or animals that inhabit a territory or state: population
• Everything that exists everywhere: existence
• The complete duration of something: span
• A state of opposition between persons or ideas or interests: conflict
• Any state or process known though the senses rather than by intuition or reasoning: phenomenon
• Outlying areas: outskirts

 +EXÁMENES RESUELTOS