Ejercicio 1 — Bloque A · Comprehension
Comprensión escrita4 puntosBLOQUE A (Comprensión lectora) — COMPREHENSION (4 points). READ THE TEXT AND ANSWER ALL THE QUESTIONS.
SPOGOMI
[1–3] SpoGomi is a combination of two words, sport and gomi, the Japanese word for rubbish. Invented in 2008, SpoGomi was designed as a competitive activity to encourage people to clean up public spaces. It has since been introduced in Japanese schools, where students now collect litter while having fun.
[4–8] According to the rules, teams of three players have 60 minutes to collect as much litter as possible from a designated area. The waste must be sorted into color-coded bags according to type, such as burnable waste, recyclable plastic, metal cans, and more. At the end of the competition, the collected litter is weighed and checked for correct sorting, and the team with the highest score wins. In the event of a tie, the winner is determined by the “quality” of the rubbish collected, with cigarette butts earning the most points.
[9–11] The public-spirited sport of SpoGomi quickly gained popularity in Britain. In a surprising outcome, the British team beat the Japanese in the Spogomi World Cup celebrated in Tokyo in 2023. One of the winning competitors was Sarah Parry, a 29-year-old doctor from Glasgow, who—together with her two teammates—collected 28 kilograms more litter than the host nation.
[12–14] Parry describes herself as highly competitive. After her brother came across an advertisement for SpoGomi, she assembled a team and signed up for the World Cup. “We were not avid litter-pickers in our free time,” she explains. “It was luck, competitiveness and enthusiasm more than anything else.”
[15–18] Although litter-picking may sound calm, Parry emphasizes that it is physically demanding. “It’s very difficult,” she says. “I have run 33 marathons, and the sorest my legs have ever been was after winning the SpoGomi World Cup.” She explains that competitors must walk quickly while carrying a lot of awkwardly shaped items, sometimes collecting more than 50 kilograms of waste in a busy urban environment. This involves using very different muscle groups.
[19–24] Parry believes SpoGomi is unlike any other sport: “It is very fun. You don’t often get the chance to play sport in a busy urban area where people don’t understand what you are doing and why you are so excited about spotting a glass bottle.” More importantly, she adds, SpoGomi has drawn attention to a very important issue: the litter problem affecting Britain’s streets. Although the sport originated in Japan, the country has far less litter than the UK. Parry hopes SpoGomi will become massively popular in her country and inspire people to care more about waste. “I wasn’t particularly eco-minded myself, and SpoGomi completely changed my perspective,” she notes.
[25–27] SpoGomi is not really about rewards. Instead, participants of all ages enjoy the competitive nature of the sport, the teamwork that it encourages, the valuable time spent outdoors and, last but certainly not least, the opportunity to keep their cities clean. “That’s what’s really nice about the sport,” Parry concludes.
(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.