ESCUELAS OFICIALES DE IDIOMAS DEL PRINCIPADO DE ASTURIAS

PRUEBA ESPECÍFICA DE CERTIFICACIÓN

DE NIVEL C1 DE INGLÉS
SEPTIEMBRE 2016
Comisión de Evaluación de la EOI de

COMPRENSIÓN DE LECTURA
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Apellidos:
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LEA LAS SIGUIENTES INSTRUCCIONES
A continuación va a realizar una prueba que contiene dos ejercicios de comprensión de lectura.
Los ejercicios tienen la siguiente estructura: se presentan unos textos y se especifican unas tareas que deberá realizar en
relación a dichos textos. Las tareas o preguntas serán del siguiente tipo:
• Preguntas de completar. Se presenta un texto con huecos numerados en los que falta una palabra. Para cada hueco
se presentan 4 opciones de palabras (A, B, C y D). Deberá elegir la respuesta correcta rodeando con un círculo la
letra de su opción en la HOJA DE RESPUESTAS. Sólo una de las opciones es correcta.
Ejemplo:
1 A B C D
Si se confunde, tache la respuesta equivocada y rodee la opción que crea verdadera.
1 A B C D
• Preguntas de relacionar. Se presentan cinco textos cortos (identificados del 1 al 5) y tendrá que realizar dos tareas
de forma simultánea. En cada tarea se presentan 6 frases (de la A a la F) y deberá relacionar cada texto con una de
las frases. Se proporciona una frase más de las necesarias en cada tarea y sólo hay una frase correcta para
relacionar con cada texto en cada tarea. Deberá elegir la respuesta correcta rodeando con un círculo la letra de
su opción en la HOJA DE RESPUESTAS.
Ejemplo:
1 A B C D E F
Si se confunde, tache la respuesta equivocada y rodee la opción que crea verdadera.
1 A B C D E F

En total, deberá contestar 20 preguntas para completar esta prueba. Antes de responder a las preguntas, lea atentamente
las instrucciones de cada ejercicio.
Dispone de 60 minutos para responder todas las preguntas de los ejercicios que componen la prueba.
Utilice únicamente bolígrafo azul o negro y asegúrese de que su teléfono móvil y dispositivos electrónicos estén
desconectados durante toda la prueba.
Trabaje concentradamente, no hable ni se levante de la silla. Si tiene alguna duda, levante la mano y espere en
silencio a que el/la profesor/a se acerque a su mesa. Espere a que le indiquen que PUEDE EMPEZAR.
Consejería de Educación y Cultura Escuelas Oficiales de Idiomas del Principado de Asturias

HOJA DE RESPUESTAS

EJERCICIO 1: A NEW THEORY OF DISTRACTION

1 A B C D
2 A B C D
3 A B C D
4 A B C D
5 A B C D
6 A B C D
7 A B C D
8 A B C D
9 A B C D
10 A B C D

EJERCICIO 2: FIVE JOURNEYS OF A LIFETIME

TASK 1
1 A B C D E F
2 A B C D E F
3 A B C D E F
4 A B C D E F
5 A B C D E F

TASK 2
1 A B C D E F
2 A B C D E F
3 A B C D E F
4 A B C D E F
5 A B C D E F

Prueba Específica de Certificación de Nivel C1 de Inglés

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Consejería de Educación y Cultura Escuelas Oficiales de Idiomas del Principado de Asturias

EJERCICIO 1

A NEW THEORY OF DISTRACTION

Adapted from www.newyorker.com

You are going to read part of an article about distraction. For gaps 1-10 choose the answer
(A-D) which best fits each gap. Only ONE answer is correct. DON’T FORGET TO TRANSFER
ALL YOUR ANSWERS TO THE ANSWER SHEET.

“At painful times, when composition is impossible and reading is not enough, grammars and
dictionaries are excellent for distraction,” the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote, in 1839. Those
were the days. Browning is still right, of course: ask any reader of Wikipedia or Urban Dictionary.
She sounds anachronistic only because no modern person needs advice about how to be
distracted. ______1______ typing, Googling, and driving, distraction is now a universal
competency. We’re all experts.
______2______, for all our expertise, distraction retains an aura of mystery. It’s hard to define: it
can be internal or external, habitual or surprising, annoying or pleasurable. It’s shaped by power:
______3______ a boss sees a distracted employee, an employee sees a controlling boss. Often, it
can be useful: my dentist, who used to be a ski instructor, reports that novice skiers learn better if
their teachers, by talking, distract them from the fact that they are sliding down a mountain. (He’s
an expert distractor in his current job, too; the last time he cleaned my teeth, he hummed all of
“You Make Loving Fun,” including the guitar solo). There are, ______4______, varieties of
distracted experience. It’s hard to generalize about such a changeable phenomenon.
Another source of confusion is distraction’s apparent growth. There are two big theories about why
it’s on the rise. The first is material: it holds that our urbanized, high-tech society is designed to
distract us. In 1903, the German sociologist Georg Simmel argued, in an influential essay called
The Metropolis and Mental Life, that in the tech-saturated city “stimulations, interests, and the
taking up of time and attention” turn life into “a stream which scarcely requires any individual efforts
for its ongoing.” (In the countryside, you have to entertain yourself). One way to understand the
distraction boom, ______5______, is in terms of the spread of city life: not only has the world
grown more urban, but digital devices let us bring citylike experiences with us wherever we go.
The second big theory is spiritual — it’s that we’re distracted because our souls are troubled.
Nietzsche wrote that “haste is universal because everyone is in flight from himself”; in the
seventeenth century, Pascal said that “all men’s miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet
room alone.” In many ways, of the two, the material theory is more reassuring. If the rise of
distraction is caused by technology, then technology might reverse it, while if the spiritual theory is
true then distraction is here to stay. It’s not a competition, though; ______6______, these two
problems could be reinforcing each other. Stimulation could lead to ennui, and vice versa.
A version of that mutual-reinforcement theory is ______7______what Matthew Crawford proposes
in his new book, The World Beyond Your Head: Becoming an Individual in an Age of Distraction
(Farrar, Straus & Giroux). Crawford is a philosopher whose last book, Shop Class as Soulcraft,
proposed that working with your hands could be an antidote to the sense of uselessness that
haunts many knowledge workers. Crawford argues that our increased distractibility is the result of
technological changes that, ______8______, have their roots in our civilization’s spiritual
commitments. Ever since the Enlightenment, he writes, Western societies have been obsessed
with autonomy, ______9______ in the past few hundred years we have put autonomy at the center
of our lives, economically, politically, and technologically; often, when we think about what it means
to be happy, we think of freedom from our circumstances. ______10______, we’ve taken things
too far: we’re now addicted to liberation, and we regard any situation — a movie, a conversation, a
Prueba Específica de Certificación de Nivel C1 de Inglés
Comprensión de Lectura. SEPTIEMBRE 2016 3
Consejería de Educación y Cultura Escuelas Oficiales de Idiomas del Principado de Asturias

one-block walk down a city street — as a kind of prison. Distraction is a way of asserting control;
it’s autonomy run amok. Technologies of escape, like the smartphone, tap into our habits of
secession.
______________________________________________________________________________

EJERCICIO 2

FIVE JOURNEYS OF A LIFETIME

Adapted from www.theguardian.com

You are going to read five texts (1–5) about travelling. You will have to do TWO TASKS.
Match each text to one of the sentences A - F. For each task there is ONE sentence which
you DO NOT NEED to use. DON’T FORGET TO TRANSFER ALL YOUR ANSWERS TO THE
ANSWER SHEET.

1 Road to Timbuktu, Mali. Bamako - Timbuktu.

This fabled city in Mali, one of Africa's landlocked and least-visited countries, lures adventure
travellers with the promise of a genuine time warp. On the southern edge of the Sahara, it is being
slowly lost to the encroaching sands: so go before it disappears. Visit the 14th-century mosque
with a mysterious door that has never been opened, meet the 15,000 remaining nomadic Tuareg,
join them on a camel ride and sleep out under the stars. Other Mali highlights include sailing a
traditional pinasse down the Niger river, camping out on the banks, and visiting the Dogon villages,
known for their cave-like houses with stone steps scoured out of the cliff face. Don't go if you need
fluffy towels and ice in drinks.

2 The Ghan, Australia. Darwin - Alice Springs - Adelaide.

Named after the tough Afghan camel drivers who brought trade and provisions to the heart of the
continent, the Ghan has always evoked the romance of the Outback. The long-awaited link to
Darwin from Alice Springs opens next month, making it possible for the first time to cross the
country from Adelaide by the 'silver' train, with its idiosyncratic steel-clad carriages. Starting in the
green hills of the temperate wine-growing region, the train snakes through to the harsh red outline
of the MacDonnell Ranges before encountering the lush emerald rainforest of the Top End.

3 The Berber Trail, Morocco. Marrakesh - Toubkal.

The exotic city of Marrakesh thrills even world-weary travellers with its aromatic souks, fire eaters,
snake charmers and acrobats. Twin it with trekking the Berber Trail in the neighbouring Atlas
Mountains and you have the perfect partnership. Your goal is the summit of Toubkal, the highest
peak in North Africa at 4,167m (13,700ft), a challenging climb but not a technical one. The
stupendous view from the summit is reward enough, but the lower slopes, thick with daffodils, the
copper and carrot-coloured butterflies, and the Berber stone-and-clay villages clinging to the
hillsides are all enchanting. Leave room in your rucksack for Berber pots, Ali Baba-style leather
slippers and 'magic' beaten metal lanterns.

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Consejería de Educación y Cultura Escuelas Oficiales de Idiomas del Principado de Asturias

4 The Migration Trail, Arusha (Tanzania) - Nairobi (Kenya).

Africa's greatest dust and dung moment, the annual migration of up to one-and-a-half million
wildebeest across the vast Serengeti, is one of the world's natural wonders. You don't have to be a
wildlife freak to be stirred by the ground-trembling thunder of the hoofs and awed by the sight of a
moving ocean of black beasts stretching to the horizon. The wildebeest also run with tens of
thousands of skittish zebras, who have the cutest ever fluffy babies. The vast herds follow the rains
from Tanzania to Kenya's Masai Mara where you can expect to see most of the big cats, as well as
prolific birdlife. Add on Amboseli for elephant herds against the backdrop of snow-capped
Kilimanjaro.

5 Glacier Express, Switzerland. London Waterloo - Switzerland return.

Thanks to Eurostar, you can do the entire journey from the UK to Switzerland by train and
experience some of the world's most stupendous alpine scenery without the airport crush. Linking
the elegant, traffic-free resort of Zermatt with St Moritz, the idea is to hop on and off and walk in
summer, ski in winter. First-class is a must for the wood-panelled dining car and unique bent-
stemmed wine glasses to avoid a spill on steep gradients. The slow chug up the Rhone Valley to
Andermatt, then over the Oberalp Pass down to Chur is the most thrilling section, best in winter
when layers of meringue-like snow soften the mountains, waterfalls freeze rigid and you can wave
at the skiers whooshing past.

Prueba Específica de Certificación de Nivel C1 de Inglés

Comprensión de Lectura. SEPTIEMBRE 2016 5
Consejería de Educación y Cultura Escuelas Oficiales de Idiomas del Principado de Asturias

EJERCICIO 1
A NEW THEORY OF DISTRACTION

1. A As B Like C While D Whereas

2. A Hence B Moreover C Still D Therefore

3. A if B whenever C where D whereas

4. A eventually B finally C in short D nevertheless

5. A in contrast B interestingly C moreover D therefore

6. A besides B for instance C in addition D in fact

7. A all the same B likewise C more or less D on the other hand

8 A firstly B in turn C still D thus

9 A and B as C though D whereas

10 A Instead B In the same way C Luckily D Unfortunately

_____________________________________________________________
EJERCICIO 2
FIVE JOURNEYS OF A LIFETIME

TASK 1: Which of the journeys……?

A begins in an area which has mild weather

1 Road to Timbuktu
B is not suitable for people who like travelling in comfort
2 The Ghan, Australia
C spares you the inconvenience of air travel
3 The Berber Trail
D takes you to a place where shopping for souvenirs is a must 4 The Migration Trail
E will bring back memories from our childhood reads 5 Glacier Express

F will impress you deeply even if you are not an animal lover

TASK 2: Which passage mentions a place……?

A where animals have evolved without the fear of man

1 Road to Timbuktu
B where a service is unavailable for the time being
2 The Ghan, Australia
C where there are a lot of flowers
3 The Berber Trail
D where you can see animals with lovely offspring 4 The Migration Trail
E which should be visited as soon as possible 5 Glacier Express

F worth visiting in style

Prueba Específica de Certificación de Nivel C1 de Inglés

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