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ASOCIACIÓN ARGENTINA TERM TEST 2022

DE CULTURA BRITÁNICA
OTC 6

TERM TEST
PAPER 2 – READING, WRITING AND LISTENING

Student’s name: Total Marks: 80

Marks you got: %: Result (letter): .

A) READING COMPREHENSION. You are going to read a newspaper article about a

couple who abandoned their children at Christmas several years ago. Seven sentences
have been removed from the article. Choose from the sentences A-H the one which fits
each gap. (1-7). There is one extra sentence that you do not need to use. (7X7=7)

COUPLE ABANDON KIDS AT CHRISTMAS

To a chorus of angry shouts and insults, a wealthy couple have been charged with
child cruelty, after leaving their daughters, aged four and nine, alone at home while
they spent Christmas on the beach of Acapulco, Mexico. David Schoo, aged forty-
nine, and his wife Shannon, aged thirty-nine, were handcuffed by waiting police,
surrounded by reporters and insulted by onlookers after their return flight from
Mexico landed at Chicago’s O’Hare airport. 1)________

Police said the daughters, Diana, aged four and Nicole, aged nine, had been left
on their own in the Schoos’ suburbun Chicago home on 20 December when their
parents set off for their two-day holiday. 2)______________. It also included a
strict reminder to Diane and Nicole about the time they should go to bed. They
even remembered to tell them when and where to leave the Christmas cookies for
Santa Claus.

There is clear evidence to show that the Schoos were quite determined to have an
uninterrupted, trouble-free holiday, even if this meant neglecting their children.
3)__________ The elder daughter Nicole told aa local television station, “For a
long time I felt really bad, wondering what they were doing and where they were,
and how I’d get in touch if I needed to.”

How could anybody ever do this to their kids, especially at Christmas time? asked
Connie Stadelmann, a neighbour. 4) ____________
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Ms. Stdelmann discovered the girls’ plight on 21 December after the children
accidentally set off a home fire alarm. 5)_____________ “ I asked them where their
mom and dad were. They said Mexico.”
The girls were looked after by another family, while, unable to trace their parents,
Chicago police were forced to monitor passenger lists on all flights from Mexico.
6)___________

The sun-tanned couple were led through a crowd of reporters, but declined to
comment. 7)__________The Schoos have been charged with child abandonment
as well as cruelty.

Glossary:
Plight: an unpleasant condition, especially a serious, sad, or difficult one
Barefoot: without any shoes on your feet.

A. “Who could ever think that as parents they would go away to enjoy
themselves for ten days? “
B. As soon as the Schoos’ plane landed, police boarded it and arrested them
before they had unfastened their seat-belts.
C. In fact, neither of the girls had done a long-distance phone call in their lives.
D. Before they left, the couple had pinned up a note in the kitchen telling the
girls exactly what to wear on snowy days.
E. According to one of the arresting officers, they didn’t even ask how their
children were.
F. She said the girls had run screaming and barefoot through the snow to her
house.
G. Although they had a fully-stocked refrigerator, they had not given their
children an emergency telephone contact in Acapulco.
H. The couple were immediately taken to jail, where they will stay until trial.

B) READING. You are going to read an article about someone who moved abroad to
work. For questions 1-6 choose the answer a, b, c or d which you think fist best according
to the text (6X1=6)

Working and Living in a Different Country

Yearnings for the bamboo forests of China, the ski slopes of Switzerland and the
karaoke booths of Japan – highlights of my previous gap years – don't surprise me,
but I never imagined the minarets of Saudi Arabia would call me back. It has been
two years since I returned from Jeddah, but when I close my eyes on a gray
English day I'm walking the city's ancient streets again, seeking out Bukhari
chicken or Egyptian flatbread.

Money was my motivation for going to a country famous for exporting oil and
terrorism; it has some of the best paid English teaching jobs in the world, and I
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managed to save £8,500 in just six months working at a boys' school there. I chose
my new home city carefully. As the gateway to Mecca, through which the Muslim
world passes on the hajj, the port of Jeddah is Saudi Arabia's most cosmopolitan
and liberal city.

My new Saudi friends warned me against even visiting the capital Riyadh, home of
Wahhabism. In Jeddah, I knew Saudis, as well as western women, who walked the
streets unaccompanied by a man and with their heads uncovered, something they
could never do in Riyadh.

Jeddah also boasts some of the world's best coral reefs. Diving on the Saudi side
of the Red Sea offers the same underwater riches as the Egyptian Sinai, but
without the crowds. On the downside, I didn't speak to a woman for my first two
months there, but I eventually found a private beach where the sexes could mix.

My first lesson on a jet ski was fleeing the coastguard. A Palestinian girl had taken
me for a ride when we saw their ship approaching. For fear of being caught
together, we hid in a cove. Women are barred from driving any kind of motorized
vehicles so I had to take the controls and when they passed we sped out of the
cove and back to the beach James-Bond style.

Bizarre experiences inform my anecdotes about Saudi Arabia – gate-crashing a

wedding and ending up on stage in front of 2,000 guests, my Saudi girlfriend's
mother catching us at my apartment together … But what I long for is visiting the
crumbling, centuries-old buildings of Old Jeddah, smoking shisha in coffee shops
and sipping sweet Adeni tea with a friend. This kingdom is a harsh place, but the
people who live there are the most hospitable I've ever met. I went for the riyals but
came back richer in so many other ways.

David Trayner, 29, news reporter, Leicester

1. Where does the writer imagine being?

a) In the forests of China
b) On the slopes of Switzerland
c) In the Karaoke booths of Japan
d) In the streets of Jeddah

2. Why did he choose to live in Jeddah?

a) The pay is better there.
b) The place is safer.
c) There are lots of things to see there.
d) The place is at ease with different cultures.

3. What differences does Riyadh have compared to Jeddah?

a) Women need to cover their heads.
b) Women must stay at home.
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c) Many western women live there.

d) Saudis have different rules from western women.

4. What was the writer pleased to find after some time?

a) The beach where women and men can be together.

b) Lots of great places to dive.
c) The world's best coral reefs.
d) Not many busy places.

5. What does the word 'barred' mean?

a) Not ready
b) Not allowed
c) Not happy
d) Not available

6. How does the writer describe the people in Saudi Arabia?

a) Easy to work with

b) Very hard to get along with
c) Very welcoming
d) Not very friendly

C. WRITING (37 marks)

Choose one of the topics below and write a for-and-against essay of between 250 -
300 words. Remember to use a suitable organization and layout. Use the
vocabulary and structures you have learnt.
● Smart Cities have no doubt both benefits and drawbacks.

● Living in an increasingly cashless society has both its pros and cons.

● Package holidays surely have advantages for the busy traveller, but are
they always good?

● Living in the city can be a mixed blessing.

(Write your text here)

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D. LISTENING COMPREHENSION .You will hear a radio programme about a day

in the life of a television researcher. Complete the sentences below. You may have to
use ONE or TWO words in the blanks. (10x1=10)

1. The subject that Rita studied first at university was .

2. Before getting her present job, she studied a subject called .

3. Her work has taken her to a of countries.

4. Jamie is the of the programme.

5. The animal that Jamie had to photograph was a sort of .

6. Sometimes Jamie has to communicate with monkeys.

7. The camera crew had to film Jamie as he climbed over the edge of a .

8. Some of the people ate and cheese sandwiches.

9. Rita had lunch on a .

10. Rita says that Jamie looks really when you see him crossing
the river on the programme tape.