Michelle Obama was brought up in Chicago - PAU 2014 inglés Galicia

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(c) Platon Antoniou

Michelle Obama was brought up in Chicago in a one-bedroom apartment. Her father worked for the city authorities and her mother, Marian, was originally a secretary who later stayed home to look after Michelle and her older brother, Craig. The family has been described as a closely united one that shared family meals, read and played games together. Craig and Michelle, 21 months apart in age, and often mistaken for twins, slept in the living room with a sheet serving as their room divider. Their parents were not well off, but both children were brought up with an emphasis on education. The brother and sister learned to read at home by the age of 4, and in primary school both were put into classes advanced for children of their age. By the beginning of secondary school, Michelle was attending special classes, where she learned French and took various accelerated courses. She then went on to attend a special high school for gifted children, where she continued to be an outstanding student. "Without being immodest, we were always smart, we were always driven and we were always encouraged to do the best you can do, not just what's necessary," her brother, Craig, has said. "And when it came to going to schools, we all wanted to go to the best schools we could." Michelle graduated from Whitney M. Young Magnet High School in 1981. After high school, she followed her brother to Princeton University, graduating in 1985 with a degree in Sociology. She went on to Harvard Law School in 1988, where she took part in demonstrations demanding more places for minority students and professors. After law school, Michelle worked for the law firm Sidley Austin in the area of marketing and intellectual property. There, in 1989, she met her future husband, Barack Obama.

READING COMPREHENSION

Read the text and the instructions to the questions very carefully. Answer all the questions in English

1. Write a summary of the text in English, including the most important points, using your own words whenever possible (Approximately 50 words, 1 point).

2. Find words or phrases in the text that correspond in meaning to the following (1 point: 0.25 each)

• a) care for 
• b) intensive 
• c) participated 
• d) asking for

3. Complete the second sentence of each pair so that it has the same meaning as the first one (2 points: 0.5 points each)

• a) Michelle Obama was brought up in Chicago in a one-bedroom apartment. Michelle Obama was brought up in Chicago in an apartment which ……. 
• b) The family read and played games together. The family not only …………………. 
• c) Their parents were not well off, but both children were brought up with an emphasis on education. Although ………. 
• d) Michelle took various accelerated courses. She then went on to attend a special high school for gifted children. After …..
   

4. Answer the following questions in your own words, as far as possible. Your answer must be based on the information given in the text. (2 points: 1 point each).

a) Michelle‟s parents were not well off. What evidence is there in the text that indicates this?

b) What was special about Michelle Obama‟s upbringing?

WRITING

5. Write a short biography of someone who is important to you. (Approximately 120 words; 3 points).

ANSWERS

1. Michelle Obama‟s family was not rich, but it was closely united. It was also very interested in education, so Michelle became an excellent student, graduating from Princeton University and Harvard before she met Obama during her first job as a lawyer at the firm Sidley Austin.

2. a) look after b) accelerated c) took part (in) d) demanding

3. a) M.O. was brought up in Chicago in an apartment which had only one bedroom.

b) The family not only read together, but they also played games/ The family not only read, but they also played games together.

c) Although their parents were not well off, both children were brought up with an emphasis on education.

d) After taking various accelerated courses, she went on to attend ….

4. a) That they lived in a very small apartment, and that Michelle and her brother had to sleep in the living room, separated only by a curtain.

b) What was special was that her parents were very interested in their children‟s education, so she went to a special school for gifted children and then to some of the best universities in the USA.

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