Exámenes Castilla y León inglés resueltos

 

 

 

 

Exámenes Castilla y León Inglés Resueltos

 

Otros Exámenes Resueltos

Scientific agreement over global warming

The overwhelming consensus among climate scientists is that human-caused climate change is happening. Yet a fringe minority of our populace clings to an irrational rejection of well-established science. This virulent strain of anti-science infects the halls of Congress, the pages of leading newspapers and what we see on TV, leading to the appearance of a debate where none should exist.

In fact, there is broad agreement among climate scientists not only that climate change is real (a survey and a review of the scientific literature published say about 97 percent agree), but that we must respond to the dangers of a warming planet. If one is looking for real differences among mainstream scientists, they can be found on two fronts: the precise implications of those higher temperatures, and which technologies and policies offer the best solution to reducing, on a global scale, the emission of greenhouse gases.

For example, should we go full-bore on nuclear power? Invest in and deploy renewable energy — wind, solar and geothermal — on a huge scale? Price carbon emissions through incentive-based legislation or by imposing a carbon tax? Until the public fully understands the danger of our present trajectory, those debates are likely to continue to fail.

Netflix gain is HBO's loss in subscriber wars

According to a new report from the NPD Group, streaming services have seen a 4% rise in subscribers over the past two years. People can’t get enough Netflix. According to this report, the streaming video service and others like it have been gaining subscribers as premium pay networks like HBO and Showtime have been losing them. The NPD Group, a global information company, says over the past two years, the number of households subscribing to premium networks has fallen by 6%. Online streaming subscriptions, however, have risen by 4%, according to their report.

According to the report, in August 2013, 32% of American households paid for premium networks like HBO or Showtime and 27% subscribed to ondemand digital services. While Netflix is the most widely used service, Hulu Plus and Amazon Prime are gaining in popularity. “It’s fair to say … that some of the shift that you’re seeing is probably caused by Netflix,” Russ Crupnick, a senior vice president of the NPD Group told the Los Angeles Times. “Some of this could be caused by the economy. It could be people looking at their cable bills and saying, ‘I can’t afford this.’”

Caffeine and alcohol potent mix for young - PAU inglés 2012 CyL

Mixing alcohol and caffeine is hardly a new concept, but a series of cases involving students and others who were taken to hospitals after drinking beverages that combine the two in a single large can has alarmed college and health officials around the country. The drinks are dangerous, doctors say, because the caffeine masks the effects of the alcohol, keeping consumers from realizing just how intoxicated they are.

A brand called Four Loko, a fruit-flavored malt beverage that has an alcohol content of 12 percent and as much caffeine as a cup of coffee, has been particularly criticized after students who drank it this fall at Ramapo College in New Jersey ended up in emergency rooms, some with high levels of alcohol poisoning.

‘This is one of the most dangerous new alcohol mixtures I have ever seen,’ said an emergency room doctor at Lancaster General Hospital, who said he had treated more than a dozen teenagers and adults over the last three months who had been brought there after drinking Four Loko. ‘It's a recipe for disaster because your body's natural defense is to ge sleepy and not want to drink, but in this case you're tricking the body with the caffeine.’

Cable's big fear: Internet TV

Force of habit is a powerful thing. How else can I explain why I spend $200 per month for a package of Internet, TV and telephone –most of which I don’t really need? My wife and I make most calls on our cell phones. An even bigger waste of money is TV, which accounts for $125 of the $200 package. Nearly everything we want we could get online. So why not just pay for the Internet and forget the rest?
Nielsen recently reported that although online video viewing has risen, TV viewing is still done on a traditional TV. But that’s not the case for younger people, like my pal Dan Frommer. He gets shows from the Internet via a Macintosh computer hooked to his LCD television. He can’t get everything he’d like to see. The next generation will likely never sign up for cable TV at all.
Cable companies are faced with a dilemma: do they embrace the Internet and try to make money online, or do they fight the Internet and try to hold off the destruction? The answer is to do both –holding off the rising tide with one hand while racing to devise workable Internet business models with the other.

Fathers fight for family flexy-time - EOI CyL inglés B1 resuelto

Growing numbers of men are rejecting the culture of working long hours in favour of spending more time at home, according to a study which reveals a social revolution is taking place as fathers become increasingly involved in bringing up their children.

Men are a substantial and fast-rising proportion of those seeking their employer's permission to work flexi-time, with shorter hours or fewer days. But they face more obstacles to securing a better work-life balance than women.

In the last two years 1.2 million men, around 10 per cent of the mat workforce. have asked their employer if they can work flexibly. That is far less than the 2.3 million women (19 per cent) who have sought the same change in their hours, but a big increase on previous years.

‘ More men are seeking the right to switch to working flexi-time, a nine-day fortnight or four-day week so they can be around to help their children and partners. And even more would do so if the rules on flexible working were changed so that all workers, not just parents, could do that', said Jo Morris, the1TUC'swork-life balance policy officer.

Jenny Watson, the chair of the Equal Opportunities Commission, said the TUC's research confirmed that Britain was in the middle of 'a social revolution' in how much time fathers want to spend with their families. More fathers are more concerned to be more involved with their families than ever before. Their desire to do so is moving faster than politicians' attitude to this. ‘This is a very private revolution, which often happens within a family that has to make a decision about childcare, and it has gone relatively unnoticed by those making public policy', said Watson.

'While some employers are good on flexible working, in other workplaces there can be an assumption that flexible working is for mothers, and fathers can find it not just hard to get but even hard to ask for it, because the prevailing culture is that, if you request it, you aren't serious about your job,' said Watson.

Since April 2003 parents of children under six have been able to ask their employer to vary their hours of work. But employers are only legally obliged to give "reasonable consideration" to such requests.

'Employers' greater unwillingness to let male workers change their hours is unhealthy because it reinforces the pattern of women with children being locked into low-hours and low-paid jobs and deepens wonen’s financial dependence on men, such as in their pension prospects in old age,' said Morris.

1 Trade Union Congress

Although allowing flexible working leads to happier, more productive employees and greater staff retention, some employers see it as difficult to implement and unfair to other workers. There is a slow but definite trend towards a woman being the bread-winner in a growing number of households. The number of men choosing not to work at all so that they can look after their home or children has risen according to the Office of National Statistics.

Adapted © The Observer 2006

The most powerful woman in Hollywood - EOI Castilla y León inglés B2 resuelto

On the morning of 5th September 1932, the Hollywood producer Paul Beern was found dead on the floor of the house he shared with his new wife, the then popular actress Jean Harlow. The housekeeper rang Harlow, one of MGM's most glamorous stars, who was staying with her mother, and her mother. in turn, knew just who to call: not the police, not 311 ambulance. She called Howard Strickling, MGM's head of publicity.

Strickling spoonfed stories to the gossip columnists. When actors were hired at MGM they were immediately sent to Strickling's office, where he would ask, after hearing their life story. 'Are you holding anything back? Is there anything embarrassing in your past that we should know about? If you tell me now. I can make sure anything like that stays out of the press.’ Contractually speaking, the film studios in those days virtually owned the stars who worked for them and stage-managed their lives, and when that wasn't possible, their lives were rewritten with happier endings. Strickling, in the words of his biographer, 'was as likely to arrange a wedding as cover up a death.'

Although film studios no longer own their stars, publicists still wield the power in Hollywood and one of the most powerful is Pat Kingsley. She is feared by the press and revered by her clients. Stories of her techniques are legendary. Believing overexposure to be one of the prime risks of celebrity, she will drastically curb the number of interviews her clients give, she will demand that her stars appear on the cover of magazines or not at all, that they have the right to veto over writers and photographers, that they get copy approval, and often she herself will be present throughout the interview. In short, she will ensure that nothing escapes her control. If she doesn't like what a writer or magazine has done with one of her clients, she is reputed to forbid access to all of her other clients for ever more -- and she represents everyone (or did until recently). In the past 18 months she has been fired by Tom Cruise in favour of his fellow Scientologist sister (resulting in outlandish behaviour that vindicates, to most eyes. Kingsley's conviction in exercising restraint.)

Still, no one who relies on celebrity interviews to keep their circulation up dares to cross Pat Kingsley. If you have ever read an interteriew with say, Al Pacino, or Jodie Foster or, in the past, Nicole Kitdman, Julia Roberts or Tom Cruise, and found it somewhat unrevealing, you have Kingsley to thank. It would he hard to overstate the reach of Kingsley's invisible touch. For instance. many of her clients have come to rely on her opinion so extensively that they ask her advice on scripts they are sent. Another example: the work of Kingsley's company is 30 per cent corporate — they represent big companies like American Express, Reebok, Cadillac, among others, and their aim is to fuse their entertainment contact with their corporate clients. So. for example, their film star clients are driven to the Oscar Awards in Cadillacs; for Tom Cruise's film, Minority Report, Kingsley arranged for it that Cruise would walk into a shopping mall in which the shops and advertisements that were seen all belonged to her corporate clients. Her influence may be subliminal, but that's why it works - on all of us.

When I told one of my Los Angeles friends I was coming to meet Pat Kingsley, she gasped and said: 'Here that's like saying you're coming to meet the Queen.' All this was rather awe-inspiring and with some unease I waited for Kingsley to arrive. She eventually walks into the room. At 73, she has greying ash-blond hair, a well-meaning look in her eye and a leisurely Southern accent that seems in its lilt, conspiratorially sly. Kingsley, of course. plays down her power. She believes that stars can't be manufactured any more and she says that it is all based on the quality of their work, and that is something she is not responsible for. When I suggest that some excellent actors don't get the attention they deserve, meaning that there is more in the publicity aspect than she is letting on, she replies sympathetically, 'That's always been the case and always will be. Some of our best actors still struggle mightily to get work.'

Adapted © The Observer Review 2005

Voters split over nuclear power

Almost half of Britons say no new nuclear power stations should be built in the UK, according to a The Guardian poll which comes as ministers consider whether to restart Britain's controversial atomic power programme to meet growing energy demand. The poll finds that neither the pro- nor anti-nuclear lobby can rely on a clear majority of public support.
A review of Britain's energy policies was announced by Tony Blair last month and a report is expected in the summer. Sir David King, the government's chief scientific adviser, told the Commons environmental committee last month: "I do not think that any government could proceed with nuclear new build if there was a sense in which this was unacceptable to the public. Taking the public along is absolutely essential."
The government's decision to look at nuclear energy marks a shift in position from that outlined in a white paper two years ago, which said: "Current economics make it an unattractive option for new, carbon-free generating capacity and there are also important issues of nuclear waste to be resolved."
The Guardian interviewed 1,004 adults aged 18-plus by telephone between 15 and 18 December 2005.

Why do teenagers drink alcohol?

Teenagers consume alcohol for a number of reasons, and there is not just one dimension to this situation. Since teenagers are at an age when they want to experiment with everything, the curiosity to consume alcohol sometimes leads them to alcohol addiction. Teenagers can sometimes go through rough patches which can be due to relationship problems or something to do with their parents, and in the end, they are unable to cope with these issues and tend to get depressed.
Such conditions encourage teens to consume alcohol. As teenagers often witness their parents fighting and verbally abusing each other, this also affects their mental state. In fact, one of the main things which leads teenagers to drink is their parents getting divorced, and whenever such a thing happens, teenagers can be known to seek solace in alcohol and drugs. It is important to keep the home environment positive for teens as many of them are highly sensitive and take things very personally.
You cannot blame the teenagers for their addiction. Rather it is the situation that encourages them to turn to alcohol. Also, another reason to drink alcohol is that teenagers want to impress their friends. They want to be cool in front of them, and they believe that drinking alcohol is a way of being adult-like and trendy.

The impossible moment of delight - EOI CyL inglés C1 resuelto

A recent survey has examined the well-trodden ground of the relationship between pleasure and money. Many studies have examined this, from any number of starting points, often concluding, in the oldest of old clichés, that money can’t buy you happiness or, in more sophisticated terms, that happiness and pleasure often reside, not in riches in absolute terms, but in being richer than the people who happen to live to your left or your right. Other studies have claimed that comparison with the wealth of others leads to a “set-up for disappointment” and that a good attitude is all that matters.

This most recent study inquired into the wellbeing of 136,000 people worldwide and compared it to levels of income. It found, overall, that feelings of security and general satisfaction did increase with financial status. Money, however, could not lift its possessors to the next level, and was unable to provide enjoyment or pleasure on its own. The survey, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, examined large numbers of people from almost every culture on Earth, and found much the same thing. The stereotype of the rich man who finds life savourless and without pleasure was not invented simply to keep the poor happy with their lot.

Paul Bloom addresses the same issue in his book How Pleasure Works. According to Bloom, at the point when people get the thing they really want, they enter a state of perfect pleasure. Both Bloom’s book and the enormous survey concentrate on status and on the moment of getting possession of something we want. Are we satisfied and filled with pleasure when we get what we want? Bloom, looking at eager consumers, would say ‘yes’; the survey tends to say ‘not necessarily’. In my view, it’s rare that we can actually pin down the specific moment when the feeling of pleasure is at its clearest.

Take the teenager determined to buy the latest must-have gadget, a woman setting out to get a new handbag, or a prosperous businessman who wants to add to his collection of Japanese netsuke. The setting out with the happy intention of spending; the entering of the shop; the examination of the wares; the long decision; the handing over of the money; the moment when the ownership of the goods is transferred; the gloating at home; the moment when the object is displayed to others. All these steps form a process in enjoyment, but almost all of them are redolent with anticipation or with retrospective glee. The moment where bliss is at its peak is over in a flash, and hardly exists at all. Everything else is expectation or memory.

Composers have always known this simple, basic truth: pleasure is half anticipation and half blissful recollection, and hardly at all about the fulfillment of the promise. The great musical statements of ecstasy, such as Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde or Schubert’s first Suleika song, are literally all half crescendo and half languid recall. We look forward to pleasure; we look back on it. The moment of pleasure itself is over in a flash, and often rather questionable.

The hairband and geegaw emporium Claire’s Accessories has a thoughtful, rather philosophical slogan to tempt its young customers. It sells itself under the strapline ‘where getting ready is half the fun’. That is honest and truthful. A group of 14-year-old girls in their party best is nowhere near as successful an enterprise of pleasure as exactly the same girls putting on and trying out and discussing their hopes for the party in advance; not as successful either as talking it over the next day. The party itself, from the beginning of time, has consisted of a lot of standing around and gawping and giggling, and someone crying in the lavatory.

So any notion of fulfilled pleasure which insists on the moment of bliss is doomed to failure. Mr Bloom and the researchers of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology were clearly happiest when undertaking their research, during which time they were looking forward to coming to a conclusion. And now they can sit back and start to say ‘Yes, when I concluded my theory of pleasure and satisfaction…..’ Even for philosophers of pleasure, another ancient and well-handled cliché about travel and life is true: getting there really is half the pleasure.

Ghost photographed: proof or fake? PAU 2011 inglés CyL

Speculation over the presence of a ghost at Tantallon Castle in Scotland was aroused by a picture released as part of an experiment into the photographic evidence of the paranormal. The image, taken in May 2010, appeared to show a figure in medieval costume. The photographer claimed that they were unaware of anyone present at the time the image was taken, and that there were no actors in costume at the castle.
Now another image which could show the same ghost has been presented to psychologist Richard Wiseman, who has been running the study. It was taken 30 years ago by Grace Lamb, during a family trip to the castle. It is a picture of her husband and their children but in the background appears to be some kind of apparition. "I have been getting a picture of a ghost every ten minutes since I launched the study. Most of them are nonsense, but a few are interesting", Professor Wiseman said.
Experts admit that these two images don’t seem to have been digitally altered. The face, however, may be just another visitor; and it was also suggested the image could have been caused by light reflection off the stone walls of the castle.

Defining the Obama doctrine

During the 2008 campaign, Barack Obama promised to roll back Bush-era abuses and restore the proper balance between security and freedom. A few days after being sworn in, he elated progressives by banning torture, beginning the process of closing Guantánamo, and putting military commissions on ice. But a year on, a majority of Bush's counterterror policies remain largely, if not entirely, intact. Critics on the left call Obama "Bush lite"; meanwhile, Dick Cheney hammers him for aiding and comforting the enemy. So who's right? And what philosophy is the administration adopting as a guide in the war on terror?
Neither criticism hits the mark. Dismantling the CIA's enhanced-interrogation program and shuttering Guantánamo are substantive reforms that improve our global image. The counterterror policies that remain are now on firmer legal footing. Obama's lawyers have sought the input of Congress and the blessing of the courts.
These changes represent a critical conceptual shift. Under Bush, policy sometimes seemed to be driven as much by a desire to vindicate ideology as a need to protect the American people. Obama starts from a different premise: that the tools we rely on to combat terrorism should be grounded in the rule of law and subject to congressional and judicial review.

Senator wants to jump-start college for all

Senator John Edwards today will propose a government program to pay the first year's college tuition for a student who also works 10 hours a week at a job or community service. Edwards says offering a jump-start* would encourage more people to go to college. Once there, they would be better able to pursue financial aid and recognize the value of a college education.

In addition, he'll put forward plans to offer four-year, full-tuition scholarships to students who agree to teach in hard-pressed schools or work in homeland security for five years after graduation. Edwards' speech at the University of Maryland embraces an expanded federal role -and billions of dollars in new spending- in raising pay and standards for teachers, reducing the size of high schools and making college more affordable.

Edwards also urges colleges to end admissions practices that give a preference to alumni's children and that offers early decisions to students who apply early and agree to attend if accepted. Both policies tend to be used most by upper-income students. "Today, it's too hard for too many Americans to dim up the ladder of success," he says. "It is time for some reforms to get back to our democratic roots."

 *glossary: jump-start = ayuda inicial

Parents pay children less pocket money because of recession

One in four parents has cut the amount of pocket money they give their children as a direct result of the recession. The average child between 4 and 15 gets £5.80 pocket money a week, but 24% of parents admit they have reduced the amount they give their children. Seven out of 10 parents expect their children to help around the house in exchange for cash, from tidying their own rooms to mowing the lawn.

Around 38% of children regularly save the money they receive, with 35% having a savings account and 58% keeping their money in a piggy bank. Children in London get the most pocket money, at an average of £7.81 a week. Boys typically get more money than girls. They are more than twice as likely as girls to receive between £16 and £20 a week, but they are also more likely to spend it in days.

The majority of parents surveyed said they have had the financial equivalent of the "birds and bees" conversation with their offspring, discussing where money comes from. You can never start financial education early enough, and this approach is by far the best way to teach children good habits.

Driving - PAU CyL 2006

Emboldened* by drink, many drivers become convinced they can do things they’d never dream of attempting sober. Some even boast they can handle a car better after a couple of drinks. But Ford has devised a test to prove them wrong – and I agreed to play guinea pig.
While gradually increasing my alcohol intake, I was asked to perform a series of manoeuvres with a Ford Focus to test my dexterity, reaction times and judgement behind the wheel. After just two pints of beer, the effect on my driving was obvious. It was five times less precise. I needed more corrections and hit more cones than before. After two more pints, I was close to the drink-driving limit. My performance continued to deteriorate. What was second nature while sober, required greater and greater concentration.
They stopped the test on safety grounds when I was approximately twice the limit. By this time I was driving the car wildly and erratically, sending half the cones flying. The one area where my performance improved was in braking: it showed that I was hitting the pedal faster and harder as the alcohol increased my self-confidence. Given the rest of the results, however, this offered little reassurance.

*Emboldened = envalentonados

The euro hits the streets

More than 300 million Europeans adopted the euro as their legal tender at midnight. In the midst of New Year's Eve revelries, people for the first time were able to hold the pastel-coloured banknotes that architects of the common currency believe will become compelling symbols of unity. Many on the Continent were tickled to be able to get their hands on it.

"This is great," said a grinning Christian Foulladosa as he rubbed a crisp note between his fingers and held it up to the light above the cash machine. "This is a big event. We will become a greater Europe with the euro," said this man as he made his first purchase with euros, buying flowers for his wife.

The European Central Bank and European Union hoped it would be, and the fact that the introduction of the notes and coins coincided with the start of a new year certainly helped. Cities throughout the euro zone ushered in both 2002 and the euro with special celebrations. There were fireworks in Frankfurt, home to the European Central Bank, and a laser-like show in Brussels, headquarters of the European Union.

Glossary:

• tender = moneda de curso legal
• be tickled = estar contento
• revelry = festejo, jolgorio

It's getting worse again

When you look at racial segregation in America's schools, another new study presents a bleaker picture. The Harvard report produces some discouraging figures from the country's  public -state-run- schools. After the schools began desegregating in the mid-1950s, they became steadily more integrated until the late 1980s; but then the trend slowed down, and went into reverse. On average, white children go to schools that are 80% white. 

Segregation is worst in the largest city school systems, where enrolment is now overwhelmingly non-white. Yet it is also a problem in the suburbs, where schools once largely white are now mostly black or brown. As the minorities move out from the city centres, whites move even farther out. As the report shows, schools now closely follow housing patterns; if these are heavily segregated, the schools will be too. 

The report's most striking finding, however, is the emergence of Latinos both as the fastest growing minority and the most segregated one. They are divided from whites and blacks not only by race but also by poverty and language. They also do worst at school, with the highest drop-out rates. Their presence now is worrying proof that racial segregation in the schools will get worse before it gets better.

Schools really are better, says Ofsted

Tony Blair has ordered Cabinet ministers to take lessons from education on improving public services as evidence is published today showing that schools are improving. The annual report of Ofsted will say that nine in ten schools have improved since its inspections started in 1992, and that classroom standards have never been higher.

A senior Whitehall figure said last night that Mr Blair considers Estelle Morris, the Education Secretary, and her immediate predecessor, David Blunkett, to be "model public service ministers." In spite of the successes that the Ofsted report will highlight, it will express concern that the gap between the best and worst performing schools is growing wider, while some groups of children, especially those from ethnic minorities continue to fall behind. Mike Tomlinson, the outgoing head of Ofsted, will say that progress has been made on literacy and numeracy in primary schools, but that this has caused a "narrowing" of the curriculum.

More attention needs to be paid to arts, creative and practical subjects, he will say. His report also praises head teachers for their leadership and management of schools, while adding that further measures need to be taken to encourage the vital support that parents can bring.

Climate shift in Europe

Europe must adapt to extremes of climate that will cause new deserts in the south and floods and wind storms in the north, according to a new report before fir European Commission. The report, compiled by climate scientists, warns that traditional holiday destinations on the Mediterranean will lose their beaches as sea levels rise, temperatures will become too hot for comfort, and many older people will die due to excessive heat. The Alps will lose most of their glaciers and uncertain snow patterns will lead to serious problems for the ski industry.

Agriculture in the south will suffer as underground water is exhausted and already sparse summer rain disappears. There will not be enough water to grow the fruit and vegetables that fill northern supermarkets. Hot summers will double in frequency by 2020 and forest fires will increase across the whole region. Dangers include more floods, storms and insects bringing new diseases.

The 350-page report is edited by Martin Parry of the Jackson Environment Institute at the University of East Anglia in Britain. It was released last weekend -two weeks before European Union governments meet in The Hague to discuss reducing carbon dioxide emissions to try to slow global warming.

Spain's water wars

“I will not send a single drop of water from the Ebro”, said Pasquall Maragall, before November´s Catalan elections. Now, Mr Maragall hopes to “paralyse” the Spanish government´s plan to move water from north to south.

The government has condemned Mr Maragall´s stance* as “unpatriotic”. Last month the Spanish government formally requested European Union finance to meet a third of the E15,000m cost of the whole project. It claimed a victory when the European Commission conditionally approved E80m to pay for a part of it. Mr Aznar has called the plan “an act of solidarity” between Spain´s regions.

The water balance between the wet north, where a third of Spain´s rain falls, and the dry south, where 60% of the land is semi-arid, continues to inflame passions. Critics say the entire plan is outmoded and designed to benefit the government´s business friends. They claim it will cost twice as much to transport the water as it would to produce more water through desalination. Greens say it will destroy the Ebro delta wetlands. The government of Aragon supports the Catalans, calling the project a “method to rob the poor to feed the rich”.

*Glossary: stance = postura