Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Galicia. Mostrar todas las entradas
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Galicia. Mostrar todas las entradas
PAU Galicia 2015 inglés - The Polite Society
>Exámenes selectividad inglés Galicia resueltos
When was the last time you stopped to have a friendly chat with your neighbour, or paused to open the door for someone, or gave up your seat on the bus to an elderly person? If you have to stop to think, then it was too long ago.
Ian Gregory, the founder of the Polite Society, is the sort of person who does it every day and thinks that the world would be a better place if we all did the same. What we need, he says, is a touch more courtesy. Our society is full of rude, inconsiderate and selfish people who wouldn’t give you the time of day even if your life depended on it. He’s absolutely right, of course, but isn’t that “a sign of the times”? Well, he thinks there is something that is going wrong with the way we live our lives and interact with one another, especially on the roads, where an estimated 47 per cent of accidents can be traced back to some act of discourtesy.
There is nothing that legislation can do about this; there’s nothing that money can do about it either. You can’t impose a personality on a nation and say: “Well, let’s all be nicer to one another”. But the only way you are going to get anything effective done about it is if you persuade enough people that they can be happier, more successful individuals if they are more considerate to one another in their business, in their love lives, in their family lives, in everything.
You see, we are brilliant at discovering things, learning how to use computers, etc., but in terms of behaviour towards one another we are no better than cavemen.
There is nothing that legislation can do about this; there’s nothing that money can do about it either. You can’t impose a personality on a nation and say: “Well, let’s all be nicer to one another”. But the only way you are going to get anything effective done about it is if you persuade enough people that they can be happier, more successful individuals if they are more considerate to one another in their business, in their love lives, in their family lives, in everything.
You see, we are brilliant at discovering things, learning how to use computers, etc., but in terms of behaviour towards one another we are no better than cavemen.
PAU inglés Galicia 2015 - Attitudes towards Britain and the British
>Exámenes selectividad inglés Galicia resueltos
The British Council recently conducted a 31-nation survey (including Spain) of attitudes towards Britain and the British, as part of the British Government’s efforts to improve the UK’s image overseas. In general the attitudes of people in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia were quite positive, but those in Western Europe and East Asia gave more critical responses. However, all areas agreed on Britain’s most famous representatives: David Beckham, Hugh Grant and Mr Bean.
In Spain people were more critical than in other countries when asked about Britain. As far as British people are concerned, Spanish attitudes were positive in some aspects and negative in others. On one hand they seemed to think that the British are honest, fair, hardworking and loyal, but, on the other hand they regarded them as being rather conservative, a little bit dull, and not terribly friendly, particularly to people from other countries and cultures. The country’s main strengths were felt to be the English language, the nation’s stable economy and its legal, government and education systems. The country’s higher education system, its universities and colleges, were well thought of and most Spanish people believe that if they go to the UK, they will get a good academic experience in the universities and colleges there. Britain’s art world was widely praised, especially because of its tremendous capacity for innovation.
Contrary to people from other countries, the Spanish are more or less aware of the differences between the four countries that make up the United Kingdom. Scotland (whose key images were mountains, kilts and whisky) was the most recognised, ahead of England (best known for London, the Royal Family and the Tower of London), Wales (the Prince of Wales, castles and rugby) and Northern Ireland (violence and the IRA).
Contrary to people from other countries, the Spanish are more or less aware of the differences between the four countries that make up the United Kingdom. Scotland (whose key images were mountains, kilts and whisky) was the most recognised, ahead of England (best known for London, the Royal Family and the Tower of London), Wales (the Prince of Wales, castles and rugby) and Northern Ireland (violence and the IRA).
PAU Galicia 2015 - Kirkland, the most desirable place to live in the USA
>Exámenes selectividad inglés Galicia resueltos
Kirkland, in Western Seattle, has been voted the most desirable place to live in the United States. Seattle’s eastside suburbs are a pleasant mass of good schools, great jobs and family-friendly neighborhoods. Kirkland has all that, while also offering a unique, lively downtown on the shores of Lake Washington.
From Kirkland’s beaches on the lake you can see the Seattle skyline, but there’s no need to go to the big city to have fun. Even on a weeknight, the downtown restaurants and sidewalks are full. “Kirkland is definitely a hotspot right now,” says Kristi Caggiano, 42, who moved to town 14 years ago. She lives near downtown with her husband, daughter and 10-year-old son, and says the family can walk to the market, local shops, pool and library. “The school system is fantastic,” Kristi says, “and we are going to send our daughter to a high school which is going to open right next to our house.” This is just one of several schools that will open in the near future. Her son’s elementary school has a well-attended choir program, and every child has a chance to take swimming lessons. Also, 25% of Kirkland’s total area is made up of parks. Some of these have sandy beaches and attractions for kids.
“There’s always something to do,” says Caggiano. Residents report that Kirkland’s proximity to Google and Microsoft offices is attracting a lot more young people and families. Google now employs about 800 people, and has announced plans to double the size of its Kirkland offices by 2016. The town is seeing many other new business start-ups.
The good job market means reasonably-priced housing is in short supply. “It’s a problem we are hoping to solve soon, but we’re not there yet,” says real estate agent Brenda Nunes. A three-bedroom home averages $440,000.
PAU inglés Galicia 2015 - Once upon a time, fashion was only for the rich
>Exámenes selectividad inglés Galicia resueltos
Once upon a time, fashion was only for the rich. Paris was the centre of the fashion world, and everyone else tried to copy the top French designers. But now, fashion is a much more international matter. London, like other big European cities, has a large number of its own talented and hard-working designers.
Anyway, many people, especially the young, take no notice of the clothes the designers produce. They wear things which express their ideas and feelings about life. They use fashion like a kind of uniform. Take hairstyles, for example. If a boy has very short, almost shaven hair, people expect him to have right-wing politics whereas they expect boys with very long hair to have left-wing politics. A boy who wears a leather jacket covered in bits of metal will probably ride a motorbike, and a girl who wears Laura Ashley dresses will probably have middle-class ideas.
Some young people, of course, have fun with all the latest “street styles”. They cut their hair into strange shapes, wear lots of cheap jewellery, cut holes in their trousers to make them look old, or paint their lips blue. These “street styles” come and go, and are not the creation of the big fashion designers, who, in fact, often use ideas from street fashions when they make their own designs. Many young people simply try to look as clean and tidy as possible, particularly when looking for a job, in order to produce a good impression on possible employers. Clothes with a sporty look are popular, as they make people look healthy and energetic.
Most British people are possibly not very fashion-conscious. Even the richest and most important people frequently wear old and untidy clothes, and, of course, only a very few can afford designer clothes.
Examen FP Grado Superior 2011 - Central Park renovation programme
Race relations in America may be as bad as ever, but Central Park has come bouncing back. The northern section of the Park, where the attack took place, has been the subject of a costly renovation programme that has begun to bear fruit. The Harlem Meer lake, for example, has been transformed from a marshy swamp into a playground where locals of all ages can go fishing and sunbathing. In actual fact the Parks and Recreation Department was working hard to improve things before 1989. Fun projects like Steve “Wildman” Brill´s “eating tour” of Central and other Parks were a case in point. Brill´s tour does not take you to restaurants: it shows the edible plants that are yours for free. Throughout the city, smaller parks are being transformed from havens for low-lifes into places where normal people can go and relax. The case of Central Park is a bit like that of New York as a whole: in spite of the image problem, things were probably never that bad. After all, Jackeline Kennedy Onassis used to go jogging in Central Park every day and the only people who used to bother her where the press photographers.
(adapted from Speak Up, nº 121)
Examen FP Grado Superior 2012 - Learn about the Earth, Moon, and Sun
From far out in space, Earth looks like a blue ball. Since water covers three-fourths of the Earth’s surface, blue is the colour we see most. The continents look brown, like small islands floating in the huge, blue sea. White clouds wrap around the Earth like a great blanket. The Earth is shaped like a sphere or a ball. It is 25,000 miles around! It would take more than a year to walk around the whole planet. A spaceship can fly around the widest part of the sphere in only 90 minutes.
Even though spaceships have travelled to the Moon, people cannot visit the Moon without special suits. The Moon has no air or water. Plants and animals can’t live there either. Astronauts first landed on the Moon in 1969. After that, there were six more trips to the moon.
They brought back Moon rocks, which scientists are still studying. There are holes, or crates, all over the Moon’s surface. Scientists believe that meteorites smashed into the Moon millions of years ago and formed the craters.
The Sun is the closest star to Earth. A star is a hot ball of burning gas. The Sun looks very big because it is so close. But the Sun is just a medium-sized star. Billions of far away stars are much bigger than our Sun. The burning gases from the Sun are so hot that they warm the Earth from 93 million miles away! Even though the Sun is always glowing, the night here on Earth is dark. That’s because the Earth rotates, or turns around, every 24 hours. During the day, the Earth faces the Sun. Then we see light. During the night, the Earth turns away from the Sun. Then it faces the darkness of space.
Each day we learn more about the Earth, the Moon, and the Sun.
Qui contrôlera le savoir à l’avenir? - FP Grado Superior 2012 - francés A2
Mais un concurrent est en train d’apparaître. En 2010, Robert Darnton, historien de la culture et directeur des bibliothèques de Harvard, est bien décidé à ne pas laisser une entreprise privée monopoliser l’accès au savoir de l’humanité. Son projet de bibliothèque numérique ouverte à tous devrait être prêt pour 2013. Elle rassemblerait les fonds numérisés des grands instituts de recherche américains, mais intégrerait aussi d’autres supports que le texte –vidéos, musique, films- ainsi que les archives du web conservés par l’association Internet Archive.
Comme dans le cas de Google Books, il s’agit de numériser le patrimoine culturel de l’humanité, afin de conserver les œuvres des auteurs, intellectuels et artistes, et d’en assurer une large diffusion. La différence, c’est que cette bibliothèque ne serait pas gérée par une entreprise privée. Elle serait accessible à tous, partout et à tout moment, gratuitement.
M. Darnton a exprimé pour la première fois son idée lors d’un discours à l’université Harvard : « Ce n’est pas l’utopie d’un prof de fac, assure-t-il. C’est quelque chose de tout à fait faisable. ». Et il continue : « C’est une idée qui trottait dans la tète de pas mal de monde depuis vingt ans. Mais dans le cas présent l’élément déclencheur a été le service Google Recherche de livres. À mesure que le projet Google a évolué il est devenu clair que ce serait une entreprise commerciale en situation de monopole. Un monopole plein de bonnes intentions peut-être, mais pas forcement au service du bien public, car Google rend d’abord et avant tout des comptes à ses actionnaires. »
En Europe, un projet similaire, Europeana (europeana.eu), a été lancé dès 2008. Cette bibliothèque numérique inclut le résultat de la numérisation des différentes bibliothèques nationales européennes. Elle compte à ce jour 20 millions d’objets numérisés et entend atteindre les 30 millions d’ici à 2015.
Courrier International. Février 2012 (texte adapté)
Le rire n’est pas toujours drôle - FP Grado Superior 2015 - francés A2
« Nous rions quand quelqu’un a fait quelque chose de mal. Quand il existe une menace, mais qu’il n’y a pas de réel danger. C’est ce que j’appelle la théorie de la violation bénigne. Prenons un exemple : dans une comédie, quelqu’un est blessé, on lui a tapé sur la tête avec un marteau. Or vous savez que la personne n’est pas réellement blessée parce que c’est un acteur, ou parce qu’elle continue de se comporter comme avant. Par contre, dans la réalité, taper sur la tête de quelqu’un avec un marteau, ce n’est pas drôle : il ya vraiment quelque chose de mal. »
« Mais le rire n’est pas toujours l’expression d’un amusement. Robert Provine, un psychologue qui a catalogué les situations dans lesquelles on rit dans le monde réel, a conclu que moins de 20% des cas étaient drôles. Entre autres choses, il a montré que le rire peut être une forme de politesse (« nous ponctuons nos phrases de rires et ils semblent faciliter nos interactions sociales »). Et le rire n’est pas toujours associé à des expériences positives. C’est sûr ! En 1962 on a parlé d’une épidémie de fou rire en Tanzanie. Elle a commencé chez quelques jeunes filles d’un pensionnat et ce serait propagée comme un virus, d’une personne à la suivante, d’un village à l’autre. Pour finir, on a fermé l’école et renvoyé les pensionnaires chez elles. Nous nous sommes rendus en Tanzanie pour rencontrer les personnes « contaminées ». D’emblée, ce qui nous a paru clair c’est que le pensionnat était très religieux et que la vie y était dure. (... …. ….). Nous sommes arrivés à la conclusion qu’il s’agissait d’un cas d’hystérie collective, une sorte de pathologie psychosomatique déclenchée par le stress. Le rire n’en est qu’un des symptômes »
« Enfin, on parle tout le temps des effets du rire sur le corps, et il ne fait aucun doute que le rire possède des effets physiques bénéfiques. Mais son intérêt va bien au-delà : Il peut changer notre manière de percevoir le monde. Assister à un événement menaçant ou tragique et en rire, c’est rire de ses difficultés ; cela permet de les voir différemment, de les dédramatiser. »
Courier International. Mars 2015. (Texte adapté)
Examen FP Grado Superior 2015 - From classroom to office
Getting an education and going into business are both hard work. But some teenagers manage to start their own companies while they are still at school! So, how did they do it? Has their age been a problem? I talked to some young entrepreneurs to find out.
Andrew Butt is the twenty-year-old manager of a computer software business. When he was twelve, he offered to do small jobs at a local helicopter training centre after school. At first, he made people cups of tea, then he began programming the centre´s computer system. During his time at the centre, Andrew realized that he might have the ability and experience to work for himself. Unfortunately, his teachers disagreed with him! At fifteen, Andrew left school. He hired a tutor, and by the age of sixteen he was running his own company, which was called Enable Software.
Harlem Lyrics Cards was launched by Chauncey Holloman in Arkansas, USA, when Chauncey was only sixteen. Her greeting cards are brightly-coloured, and they often feature hiphop characters and informal, colloquial language. Chauncey explained that she started designing cards because she couldn´t find anything suitable for her friends´ birthdays.
In California, seventeen-year-old student Ryan Glasgow has started his seventh company! His latest business is Pure Five Audio, which is an online shop that sells more than 700 products. Ryan certainly wasted no time in getting started in the business world. He started his career by selling locally-picked fruit to friends- before the age of eight!
All these young people became very successful entrepreneurs at an early age. All are very positive, ambitious people, who were prepared to give their all in fulfilling their dreams. But has their commitment to business had any negative impact on their lives? Andrew wonders whether some of his friendships might have been damaged by his decision to leave school early. If he hadn´t left school, it would have been easier to stay in touch. In general, however, he feels very glad that he took the risk! Chauncey has been able to rely on her family to help with her company. She has missed a few days of school, but she hopes to finish her education and go to business college. Ryan thinks that it is a challenge to keep school, business, and a social life in balance, but he feels that it is a challenge that he can meet. In conclusion, it seems that age is no barrier to business success. All you need is a good idea, confidence, and a willingness to put in a lot of hard work. After that, the sky is the limit!
Pas de sexe à l’école - FP Grado Superior 2013 - francés A2
Les nouveaux programmes scolaires en Croatie provoquent l’ire de l’Église catholique.
Le jour de Noël, les croyants venus assister à la messe dans une église de Split ont été surpris par une décoration atypique : la Sainte Famille avait été placée dans une cage à oiseaux. Ils ont dû attendre l’homélie du père dominicain qui y officie pour comprendre le sens de cette installation conceptuelle. « En Croatie, la chrétienté se trouve de nouveau en prison », a-t-il dit. Le même jour, dans l’église Saint Pierre, le prêtre n’a pas eu recours à la métaphore. Il a dit haut et fort que l’éducation sexuelle à l’école était « le refuge du diable »
Ces deux histoires illustrent bien le conflit qui fait actuellement rage entre le clergé et le gouvernement. Le torchon brûle entre l’Église et le gouvernement social-démocrate croate depuis que le ministre de l’Éducation, Zoran Jovanovic, a introduit dans le programme scolaire obligatoire des cours d’éducation sexuelle, dont un petit module traite de l’homosexualité et de la procréation médicalement assistée.
Selon le clergé, cet enseignement « initie les jeunes à la pornographie, à la masturbation, à l’homosexualité et favorise la propagation des maladies sexuellement transmissibles ». Le cardinal Bozanic a estimé que « l’éducation sexuelle menait à l’anéantissement de l’homme » alors qu’un théologien de renom, Adalbert Rebic, a affirmé que « la Croatie était en train de rejoindre le complot mondial des pédés et des gouines, qui menacent la société toute entière de leur déchéance »
Et pendant que les ministres se chamaillent comme des commères avec les évêques, on a l’impression de voir la société croate revenir avec un immense plaisir à son état naturel, celui de la guerre idéologique permanente. Parce que même si les croates ne vivent plus dans un système totalitaire, mais dans un pays démocratique, en démocratie le pouvoir est éparpillé, atomisé entre plusieurs instances. Et cela l’Église le sait : elle ne tient pas les commandes du ministère de l’Éducation, mais elle n’a pas perdu le pouvoir. Ni à la télévision, ni dans la sphère des affaires économiques ni dans les manuels scolaires.
Courrier International. Janvier 2013 (texte adapté)
Examen FP Grado Superior 2013 - Food for thought
What would happen if you ate nothing but fast food for a month? Film-maker Morgan Spurlock wanted to find out, so he made a documentary called ‘Super Size Me’. Morgan ate fast food meals three times a day, and he had large or ‘supersize’ servings whenever he was offered them. It was hard work, and after just two days he wished he had never started.
He was pushing his body to its limits, and his new diet made him ill. Several weeks later, his health had deteriorated so badly that doctors advised him to stop. ‘Unless there is an improvement in Morgan’s diet, he runs a risk of permanently damaging his liver´ said one medical expert. But it was not just Morgan’s body that was suffering - fast food was also having a negative influence on his mind. He would feel great just after he had eaten, then an hour later he would be grumpy, angry and tired. Even though he was suffering, Morgan continued this experiment for thirty days. Unfortunately, it took him nearly a year to return to previous levels of health and well-being!
Morgan Spurlock was not the first person to explore the connection between food and behaviour. Towards the end of the last century, American researchers carried out an investigation into diet and development. They analysed the behaviour of a group of children over several years, with surprising results. At eight years old, the children who ate a larger than average amount of junk food were more likely to get into fights than their healthy-eating peers.
Aged eleven, the same children were often more aggressive, bullying and attacking other classmates. By the age of seventeen, a large percentage of this group had left school, and they were more likely to have problems with drugs or alcohol. A few of these teens were victims of peer pressure; others had a difficult family background. However, they all had one thing in common: they all had bad diets. The study concluded that an unhealthy lifestyle was one of the most significant reasons for their behavioural problems.
Despite these grim statistics, fast food restaurants still feed more tan 45 million people a day! So why do we continue to eat this junk? In ‘Super Size Me’, Morgan Spurlock eventually got used to his diet of hamburgers and chips. After a while, he even started to enjoy it.
The sweet, fattening food is so tempting that many of us, like Morgan, develop an addiction to it. That is the problem with fast food: it is just too tasty!
Les découvertes scientifiques et les inventions qui changent le monde - FP Grado Superior 2012 - francés A2
Il ne s’agît donc pas d’une étude produisant de nouvelles données, mais plutôt d’un travail de recoupement et d’analyse permettant d’avoir une vision d’ensemble des nombreuses recherches effectuées sur le lien entre l’âge et le génie scientifique. Le résultat ? La fin de la trentaine est le moment où le génie scientifique a tendance à s’exprimer le plus, ce qui place par exemple Albert Einstein, qui a publié sa théorie de la relativité à 36 ans, dans la moyenne.
Les auteurs de l’étude écrivent : « Contrairement à une idée reçue, la plupart des grandes contributions scientifiques ne sont pas le produit de jeunes précoces, mais arrivent plutôt de manière disproportionnée à un âge mûr. »
En même temps, les découvertes capitales se font ensuite moins nombreuses en vieillissant parce que l’on investit moins dans l’apprentissage à un âge avancé, et parce que le savoir que l’on a devient de moins en moins pertinent.
Enfin, les mêmes auteurs ont trouvé que les personnes qui excellent dans des domaines abstraits comme la physique, ont tendance à être plus jeunes que ceux qui gagnent des prix dans des matières qui requièrent plus de contexte comme l’histoire ou la médecine. Une étude de 1977 avait montré que les prix Nobel de physique avaient en moyenne 36 ans, contre les 41 ans pour ceux de médecine, par exemple.
Grégoire Fleurot. 17/02/2014. slate.fr (Texte adapté)
Examen FP Grado Superior 2014 - Winning at any cost
Sixteen-year-old Sonia Martin believes that her swimming training made her ill:
‘At first, entering national competitions was really enjoyable, because it gave me a real sense of achievement. But my coach, who was always shouting, told me I was fat and lazy. In fact, I practised for hours and I hardly ever ate. One day, I fainted. The doctor who treated me was really sympathetic. She said that instead of being fat, I was actually underweight and over-stressed. I got rid of my coach, and now I just swim for fun. I don't enter competitions any more—I eat normal food and have a normal life. I don’t have any regrets.
Mike Green, seventeen, is a basketball player who thinks that sport is too competitive:
‘People are only interested in winners! No one cares about how hard you've tried or how passionate you are – if you aren't number one, you're nobody. Success is everything! I know some fifteen-year-olds who have taken illegal drugs like steroids to help them succeed. Often, young players haven't got anyone to talk to and advise them. Sportspeople usually view other sportspeople as rivals. So nobody wants to be friendly- everybody just wants to help themselves.
Brenda Jones, eighteen, worries that child stars are sometimes exploited by their families:
‘I was only twelve when I started training, but my parents wanted me to win trophies and earn money for the family. If I won, they bought glamorous clothes and expensive cars. But if I lost, they were furious, which make me feel dreadful. Once, when I had a painful fall on the ice, my parents shouted at me because I forgot to keep smiling’
So, what can we learn from these three young stars?
All have been very successful in their sports, but ultimately all have paid a high price for it. The long hours, intensive training, and highly competitive atmosphere of professional sports put young athletes under great pressure. Perhaps we should reconsider our attitude to sport. Perhaps winning isn't everything?
Holly and Lauren spoke to Malala Yousafzai - PAU inglés Galicia 2014
>Exámenes selectividad inglés Galicia resueltos
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| Mural by Eduardo Kobra |
The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, spoke of his education as a child himself: "I didn't learn the importance of education from a book, I lived it." His school experience was similar to that of many of the other young delegates in the room. What surprised them was the lack of resources he had had. Pupils today have access to specialist technology but Ban Ki-Moon began with very little. It shocked them how a man of such power began with so little. Then Malala spoke. They were astonished at how courageous and confident she was, and how strongly she believed in rights to education for all.
Holly and Lauren's trip to New York has been a source of inspiration and excitement. They flew for the first time, met lots of interesting people from around the world and saw some sights, but most importantly they heard how going to school is vital for so many people. The highlight of the trip for both of them was meeting Malala. She was so full of confidence. And although in some ways her life is so different to theirs, in others ways it is not - she now goes to school in Birmingham!
So, you want to plan a gap year between school and university? - PAU 2014 inglés Galicia
>Exámenes selectividad inglés Galicia resueltos
So, you want to plan a gap year between school and university? Here at Real Gap, we're bringing you a once-in-a-lifetime experience, so you can see and do whatever you want during your gap year. If you don't have a whole year off, don't worry, because our trips start from a one-week duration, so you can go on your own mini-adventure, whenever you want!
How much will it cost? Gap year adventures are as expensive as you want them to be. We also have the option to work abroad on your travels, so you can earn cash while you're exploring. For example, you could work in Australia and then move on to South East Asia afterwards, where the cost of living is considerably cheaper!
Planning your adventure is easy! There are many options available: volunteering, working, learning, travelling, and so on. If you want advice about where to go, give our travel advisors a call.
Will you be safe? If you're sensible, you almost certainly will be. Gap year adventures aren't 100 per cent safe, but neither is a trip to your local cinema. Sometimes things don't go to plan, but one of the things that gap year adventures teach people is how to deal with unfamiliar situations. If you're a first time traveller, our 'Experience' trips will probably suit you; they involve group tours around the country (with a guide), and this can definitely make people feel more comfortable.
Real Gap has programmes in over 30 countries - so there really is something for everyone! You could make a list of all the places that really interest you. Are you sporty, cultural, artistic, a party-goer? All of these elements of your personality will help us prepare the trip that will most suit you.
Michelle Obama was brought up in Chicago - PAU 2014 inglés Galicia
>Exámenes selectividad inglés Galicia resueltos
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| (c) Platon Antoniou |
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