Ejercicio 1 — Bloque A · Comprehension
Comprensión escrita4 puntosBLOQUE A (Comprensión lectora) — COMPREHENSION (4 points). READ THE TEXT AND ANSWER ALL THE QUESTIONS.
A PROPER HALLOWEEN
[1–6] “What are you going as this Halloween?” The discussion at home starts in the spring, takes all the summer, and usually settles towards the end of September. This year we have been through John Lennon, a clown, and Pikachu. We have finally settled on Willy Wonka for my son and Snow White for me. As for my daughter, you can bet she will be wearing the same costume she wore last year. In a moment of weakness at an American shopping centre, I had bought her a 40-dollar inflatable costume of a “dark spirit riding a dinosaur,” and she loved it. She was really excited at the school’s Halloween fair surrounded by kids disguised as sumo wrestlers, aliens, Wednesday Addamses or the occasional inanimate object, a popular subcategory of costume in the US.
[7–10] This year is the first time in almost two decades that we will be in the UK for Halloween, and most people I talk to seem to suggest that Halloween preparations here are out of control. Current research proves that Halloween spending has tripled since 2013, with an average spend of £25 a person, rising to £43 in London. And while these increases are predominantly pushed by gen Z and millennials, the data suggests that their elders are being brought along to the party behind them.
[11–17] However, Americans still take Halloween much more seriously than the British. Every year entire streets in our Manhattan neighbourhood are transformed, culminating in the Hollywood-level effects and decorations put into the houses on 69th Street, which annually draws crowds from across the city. As far as I can tell, Britain has not gone this far yet. Most houses aren’t decorated, and it’s common to see online warnings against knocking on houses without clear signs that the occupants are into Halloween. Also, the costumes in Britain are still based on the conventionally spooky rather than on funny or outrageous images that pop into your head and that you spend weeks trying to make wearable. Shops are another story: In the supermarkets pumpkin spice and similar products can be found everywhere.
[18–20] My American children have no doubt about it: Halloween in Britain cannot compare yet. When I asked if they thought British Halloween had caught up with its American equivalent, my daughter gave me the same pitying look she used the day she asked me: “You really don’t know what a meme is?”
(The numbers in brackets are the line numbers of the official paper; the answers refer to them.)
A1–A2: CHOOSE THE CORRECT OPTION (0.5 points each).
A3–A6: ARE THESE STATEMENTS TRUE OR FALSE? JUSTIFY YOUR ANSWERS WITH THE PRECISE WORDS OR PHRASES FROM THE TEXT (0.5 points each).
A7–A8: FIND IN THE TEXT (0.5 points each, 0.25 per word). Write one word, in the form it has in the text.