Escola Secundária Padre Benjamim Salgado

Prova escrita de INGLÊS – 11º Ano – Turmas F/G

Ano lectivo 2005/2006

9th February
2006

A. Read the text attentively.

Today’s young Britons are filling their

baggy trousers with 1.5bn pounds a year in
pocket money and other financial
handouts.
According to a report, children aged
between seven and ten get an average of
3.10 pounds in pocket money each week,
while 11 to 14-year-olds get 7.30 pounds.
The report, by the market research firm
Mintel, found that 83% of seven to 10-year-
olds are given pocket money by their
parents or grandparents compared with
79% of 11 to 14-year-olds.
But pocket money is not their only income stream. About
a quarter of 7 to 14-year-old tap their parents for extra cash to
spend as they please. And 64% of 7 to 10 year-olds claim they
get money from their grandparents, as do 50% of those in the
11 to 14 age group. “A significant amount of money now comes
from grandparents,” said Jenny Catlin of Mintel. “Of course
they often want to treat and spoil their grandchildren, but as
people are living longer it is more likely that generations will
overlap for a longer period of time, allowing grandparents to
take a more active role in their grandchildren’s care.”
The report also noted that, contrary to stereotypes,
parents in the north are more generous with pocket money
than those in the south. Children in the north get about 3.47
pounds a week, while their southern peers get 2.84 pounds.
This disparity, according to Ms Catlin, could be down to
the higher number of poorer families in the north. “Many
parents simply want to give everything they did not have when
they were young.”
Pocket money rates have gone up about 6% since 2001,
but children are still buying the same things. Sweets chocolate
and crisps are the priority for 11 to 16-year-olds, while under-
10s prefer to invest in toys and games.

www text (abbreviated)

1. Find evidence of the following by quoting from the text the

sentences with equivalent meanings.

1.1. Young people in Britain deal with a lot of pocket money

regularly.

1.2. In average who gets more pocket money are younger

children.

1.3. “A significant amount of money comes from grandparents”

because grandparents are often careless about their
children’s upbringing.

(30 p.)

2. Answer the following based on the text and using your own
words.

2.1. Why are there differences between the amount of money

received by young people of different ages?
2.2. Have youngsters changed their consumer habits due to the
fact that they deal with more pocket money nowadays? Justify
your answer.
2.3. Explain the 1st paragraph in your own word.
2.4. express a brief opinion about the contents of the text.
(40 p.)

B
Select the best word or words.

1. Money you receive for payment is money you ………….. .

Gain earn win acquire
2. How much did you …………… the private teacher for the extra
lessons?
pay for pay
 3. You pass an empty house and you see a notice which reads
…………… :
In sale For sale At sale
(12 p.)

1. Insert a suffix-compoun word in each sentence, built after the

word in brackets.

1.1. Grandparents are often more _______ (TOLERATE)

1.2. There are some issues in this text where _______ opinion is
fundamental. (PERSON)

1.3. Young children should not receive pocket money because they do
not have _______ enough to spend it correctly. (MATURE)

1.4. These prices are _______ high. (INCREDIBLE)

1.5. It is difficult to establish a _______ between youngsters in poor and

in rich countries as far as money is concerned. (COMPARE)

(25 p.)

2. Spot the errors (in the possessive case) and rewrite the
sentences correctly.

2.1. People consumerist habits are becoming very big.

2.2. John’s pocket money is the same as his sister’s pocket money.
2.3. David Beckham games’s are appreciated by all of his fans, of course.
2.4. These student’s performance in class is not very bad.

(24 p.)

3. Select from the determiners indicated for each gap in order

to complete the paragraph.

….1…. (Many, Much, A lot of) young people nowadays have been
developing ….2…. (the, zero article) consumer habits which don’t give
them … 3…. (very, many, much, a lot of) comfort because they spend
….4…. (many, much) of their money ….5…. and, as such, their parents
sometimes get (very, many, much) annoyed . ….6…. (The, Zero article)
advertisements that they see on ….7…. (the, zero article) TV, are ….8….
(very, many, much, a lot of) influential of their attitudes.

(24 p.)

III
Decide for one of the topics and develop in no less than 120 words.

1. How consumerist are you? Answer this question by following the

guidelines below:

 How much pocket money do you normally get?

 Do you often go shopping?
 Do you buy many presents at Christmas and for your friends’
birthdays?
 Do TV advertisements influence you much?
 (…)

OR:

2. Imagine that Sue Shaw, the extraterrestrial lady who made a

negative report about consumerism on earth, had returned to visit
us again and saw that the earthlets had corrected many of their
consumer habits. Write her new report in which she praises us and
describes our improvements

(45 p.)

200 pontos
11th F/G – test 3 – young people and consumerism