MAGISTER

OPOSICIONES AL PROFESORADO Inglés Secundaria

PRACTICE EXERCISES (PART B – LITERATURE)

FEBRUARY 2016

1. TRANSLATIONS.

A. Translate the following text into English.

Así, pues , la apariencia física de fray Guillermo era capaz de atraer la atención del observador
menos curioso. Su altura era superior a la de un hombre normal y, como era muy enjuto, parecía aún
más alto. Su mirada era aguda y penetrante; la nariz afilada y un poco aguleña infundía a su rostro
una expresión vigilante, salvo en los momentos de letargo a los que luego me referiré. También la
barbilla delataba una firme voluntad, aunque la cara alargaba y cubierta de pecas – como a menudo
observé en la gente nacida entre Hibernia y Northumbria – parecía expresar a veces incertidumbre y
perplejidad. Con el tiempo me di cuenta de que no era incertidumbre sino pura curiosidad, pero al
principio lo ignoraba casi todo acerca de esta virtud, a la que consideraba, más bien, una pasión del
alma concupiscente y, por tanto, un alimento inadecuado para el alma racional, cuyo único sustento
debía ser la verdad, que (pensaba yo) se reconoce en forma inmediata.
Lo primero que habían advertido con asombro mis ojos de muchacho eran unos mechones de
pelo amarillento que le salían de las orejas, y las cejas tupidas y rubias. Podía contar unas cincuenta
primaveras y por tanto era ya muy viejo, pero movía su cuerpo infatigable con una agilidad que a mí
muchas veces me faltaba. Cuando tenía un acceso de actividad, su energia parecía inagotable. Pero de
vez en cuando, como si su espíritu vital tuviese algo de cangrejo, se retraía en estados de inercia, y lo
vi a veces en su celda, tendido sobre el jergón, pronunciando con dificultad unos monosílabos, sin
contraer un solo músculo del rostro. En aquellas ocasiones aparecía en sus ojos una expresión vacía y
ausente, y, si la evidente sobriedad que regía sus costumbres no me hubiese obligado a desechar la
idea, habría sospechado que se encontraba bajo el influjo de alguna sustancia vegetal capaz de
provocar visiones. Sin embargo, debo decir que durante el viaje se había detenido a veces al borde de
un prado, en los límites de un bosque, para recoger alguna hierba (creo que siempre la misma), que se
ponía a masticar con la mirada perdida. Guardaba un poco de ella, y la comía en los momentos de
mayor tensión (¡que no nos faltaron mientras estuvimos en la abadía!). Una vez le pregunté qué era, y
respondió sonriendo que un buen cristiano puede aprender a veces incluso de los infieles. Cuando le
pedí que me dejara probar, me respondió que, como en el caso de los discursos, también en el de los
simples hay paidikoi, ephebikoi, gynaikeioi y demás, de modo que las hierbas que son buenas para un
viejo franciscano no lo son para un joven benedictino.

De El nombre de la rosa, de Umberto Eco (traducido a español por Ricardo Pochtar)

Inglés Secundaria ©MEL,S.A. (MAGISTER) PRACTICE (PART B – LITERATURE) FEBRUARY 2016

B. Translate the following fragment into Spanish.

Maureen felt faint after Jess cut loose on her, and who could blame her? Jesus, I would have
needed to sit down too if Jess ever cut loose on me, and I´ve been around the block a few times. I
took her outside on to a little roof terrace that looked like it never got the sun at any time of the day or
year, but there was a picnic table and a grill out there anyway. Those little grills are everywhere in
England, right? To me they´ve come to represent the triumph of hope over circumstance, seeing as all
you can do is peer at them out the window through the pissing rain. There were a couple of people
sitting at the picnic table, but when they saw that Maureen wasn´t feeling too good they got up and
went back inside, and we sat down. I offered to get her a glass of water, but she didn´t want anything,
so we just sat there for a while. And then we both heard like this hissing noise, coming from the
shadows next to the grill in the far corner, and eventually we figured out that there was a guy back
there. He was young, with long hair and a sorry-ass moustache, hunkered down in the dark, trying to
attract our attention.
'Excuse me,' he whispered as loudly as he dared.
'You wanna talk to us, you come here.'
'I can´t come into the light.'
'What would happen if you did?'
'A nutter might try to kill me.'
'There´s only Maureen and me out here.'
'This nutter´s everywhere.'
'Like God,' I said.
I walked over to the other side of the terrace and crouched down next to him.
'How can I help you?'
'You American?'
'Yes.'
'Oh. Howdy, partner.' If I tell that this amused him, you´ll know all you need to know about this
guy. 'Listen, can you check the party and see if the nutter´s gone?'
'What does he look like?'
'She. I know, I know, but she´s really scary. A mate saw her first and told me to hide out here
until she´d gone. I went out with her once. Not like “once upon a time”. Just once. But I stopped
because she´s off her head, and . . .'
This was perfect.
'You´re Chas, aren´t you?'
'How did you know that?'
'I´m a friend of Jess´s.'
Oh man, I wish you could have seen the look on his face. He scrambled back to his feet and
started looking for ways to escape over the back wall. At one point I thought he was going to try
running up it, like a squirrel.
'Shit,' he said. 'Fuck. I´m sorry. Shit. Will you help me climb over?'
'No. I want you to come and talk to her. She´s had, she´s had like a rough evening, and maybe
a little chat would help calm her down.
Chas laughed. It was the hollow, desperate laugh of a man who knew that, when it came to
calming Jess down, several elephant tranquilizers would be more useful than a little chat.
Inglés Secundaria ©MEL,S.A. (MAGISTER) PRACTICE (PART B – LITERATURE) FEBRUARY 2016

'You know I haven´t had sex since that night we went out, don´t you?'
'I didn´t know that, Chas, no. How would I know? Where would I have read that?'
I´ve been too scared. I can´t make that mistake again. I can´t have another woman shouting at
me in the cinema. I don´t mind, you know, never having sex again. It´s better that way. I´m twenty-
two. I mean, by the time you´re sixty, you don´t feel like it anyway, right? So were only talking forty
years. Less. I can live with that. Women are fucking maniacs, man.'. . .
ÓK, OK. So you´re saying the worst that can happen is, you die a painful and violent death.
And I say to you, my friend, that it´s better to die like a man that to hide underneath grills like a
mouse.'

From A Long Way Down, by Nick Hornby

2. TEXT ANALYSIS. Read the following text and answer the questions below:

It had been Rookwood that gave Harry his identity. His father, a barrister, had been blown
to pieces on the Somme when Harry was six years old, and his mother had died in the influenza
epidemic the winter the First War – as people were starting to call the last war – ended. Harry
still had their wedding photograph and often looked at it. His father, standing outside the church
5 in a morning suit, looked very like him: dark and solid and dependable-looking. His arm was
round Harry´s mother, who was fair like Cousin Will, curly tresses falling round her shoulders
under a wide-brimmed Edwardian hat. They were smiling happily into the camera. The picture
had been taken in bright sunlight and was slightly over-exposed, making haloes of light around
their figures. Harry had little memory of them; like the world of the photograph they were a
10 vanished dream.
After his mother died, Harry had gone to live with Uncle James, his father´s elder brother,
a professional army officer wounded in the first battles of 1914. It had been a stomach wound,
nothing you could see, but Uncle James innards troubled him constantly. His discomfort
worsened an already peppery disposition and was a constant source of worry to Aunt Emily, his
15 nervous, anxious wife. When Harry came to their house in the pretty Surrey village they were
only in their forties, but they seemed much older already, like a pair of anxious, fussy
pensioners.
They were kind to him, but Harry always felt unwanted. They were childless and never
seemed quite to know what to do with him. Uncle James would clap him on the shoulder, almost
20 knocking him over, and ask heartily what he was playing at today, while his aunt worried
endlessly about what he should eat.
Occasionally he went to stay with Aunt Jenny, his mother´s sister and Will´s mother. She
had been devoted to his mother and found it difficult to be reminded of her, although she
showered him, guiltily perhaps, with food parcels and postal orders when he went to school.
25 As a child Harry had been taught by a tutor, a retired teacher his uncle knew. He spent
much of his free time roaming the lanes and woods around the village. There he met the local
boys, sons of farmers and farriers, but though he played cowboys and Indians and hunted rabbits
with them he was always apart: Harry the Toff. 'Say “awful”, Harry' they would goad him. 'Or-
ful, or-ful.'
Inglés Secundaria ©MEL,S.A. (MAGISTER) PRACTICE (PART B – LITERATURE) FEBRUARY 2016

30 One summer day when Harry came from the fields, Uncle James called him into his study.
He was just twelve. There was another man there, standing by the window, the sun directly
behind him so that at first he was just a tall shadow framed by dust motes. 'I´d like you to meet
Mr Taylor,' Uncle James said. 'He teaches at my old school. My alma mater. That´s the Latin
right, eh?' And to Harry´s surprise he laughed nerviously, like a child.
35 The man moved forward and took Harry´s hand in a firm grip. He was tall and thin and
wore a dark suit. Black hair receded from a widow´s peak on his high forehead and keen grey
eyes studied him from behind a pair of pince-nez.
'How do you do, Harry.' The voice was sharp. 'You´re a bit of a ragamuffin, aren´t you?'
'He´s been running a little wild,' Uncle James said apologetically.
40 'We´ll soon tidy you up if you come to Rookwood. Would you like to go to Public
School, Harry?'
'I don´t know, sir.'
'Your tutor´s report is good. Do you like rugger?'
'I´ve never played, sir. I play football with the boys in the village.'
45 'Rugger´s much better. A gentleman´s game.'
'Rookwood was your father´s old school as well as mine,' Uncle James said.
Harry looked up. 'Father´s?'
'Yes, Your pater, as they say at Rookwood.'
'Do you know what pater means, Harry?' Mr Taylor asked.
50 'It´s Latin for father, sir.'
'Very good.' Mr Taylor smiled. 'The boy might do, Brett.'
He asked more questions. He was friendly enough but had an air of authority, of expecting
obedience, which made Harry cautious. After a while he was sent from the room while Mr
Taylor talked with his uncle. When Uncle James called him back Mr Taylor had gone. His uncle
55 asked him to sit down and looked at him seriously, stroking his grey moustache.
'Your aunt and I think it´s time you went away to school, Harry. Better than staying here
with a couple of old fogeys like us. And you should be mixing with boys from your own class,
not the village lads.'
Harry had no idea what a Public School was like. Into his head came a picture of a big
60 building full of light, bright like the light in his parent´s photograph, welcoming him.
'What do you think, Harry, would you like to go?'
'Yes, Uncle. Yes, I would.'

From Winter in Madrid, by C. J. Sansom

65

a. Discuss both the textual genre and the textual type to which this text belongs.

b. Comment on the communicative functions of the text.

c. Describe the style of the text.

Inglés Secundaria ©MEL,S.A. (MAGISTER) PRACTICE (PART B – LITERATURE) FEBRUARY 2016

d. Find figures of speech in the text.

e. Find the words/phrases in the text with the following meaning:

1) Long locks or curls of hair:
2) Easily angered or bad-tempered:
3) A narrow way or passage between hedges, fences wall, or houses:
4) Blacksmith:
5)A child in ill-fitting, dirty clothes:

f. Write the phonological transcription of the following extract from the text above:

One summer day when Harry came from the fields, Uncle James called him into his study. He
was just twelve. There was another man there, standing by the window, the sun directly behind
him so that at first he was just a tall shadow framed by dust motes.

g. Give an appropriate title to the text.

h. What type of audience is this text aimed?

i. 'And you should be mixing with boys from your own class, not the village lads.' (line 56/57)

In what way is Harry different from village lads?

3. LISTENING. Listen to Tom Clancy talk with Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage about
moon landing conspiracy theories and answer the following questions.

a. Did Jamie and Adam prove/disprove the moon landing conspiracy theories? Give evidence.

b. How did the two go about recreating the exact conditions of the planting of the American flag on
the moon? Give evidence.

c. When Adam says 'It´s just physics!', what is he referring to?

d. What did Bart Sebril call Buzz Aldren? Write down the exact words.

e. When Sebril tried to sue Buzz Aldren, why did the judge throw the case out of court?

f. Summarise the main ideas of the interview in your own words.

Inglés Secundaria ©MEL,S.A. (MAGISTER) PRACTICE (PART B – LITERATURE) FEBRUARY 2016

4. USE OF ENGLISH.

A) SENTENCE TRANSFORMATION: For questions 1-6, complete the second sentence so that
it has a similar meaning to the first sentence, using the word given. Do not change the word
given. You must use between three and eight words, including the word given.

1) I had to wait for the lawyer for almost an hour before she would see me.
best
The lawyer kept ........................................................................................................ an hour before
she would see me.

2) I helped Mary, with the result that her company became successful.
favour
I.................................................................... which her company became successful.

3) You shouldn´t let trivial matters worry you so much.

prey
You shouldn't let trivial matters ....................................................................................... extent.

4)He became famous but it cost him his private life.

expense
His rise ......................................................................... of his privacy.

5) She had no idea what was going to happen to her when she walked into that room
store
Little ........................................................... her when she walked into that room.

6) The book was so controversial that it was banned in several countries.

caused
Such was ................................................................................... the book was banned in several
countries.

B) OPEN CLOZE. For questions 1-6, read the text below and think of the word which best fits
each space. Use only ONE word in each space.

Dear Sir Roderick

Sir Roderick did not seek to belittle and undermine for the sake of it. It was easy to mock - (1)
_________ , it was the instinctive reaction of any thinking being to the modern world – but great
harm could be caused by thoughtless mockery. His intention was merely to instill a little humility.
He was fighting a (2) _________battle, he knew. His colleagues – the social work, the psychiatric and
the teaching professions – were all doing their (3) _________ to raise people´s self-esteem. It was
their basic credo; everybody was (4) _________ by low self-esteem. For Sir Roderick, on the other
hand, the self-esteem of most of the men and women he came across was far too high for their own (5)
Inglés Secundaria ©MEL,S.A. (MAGISTER) PRACTICE (PART B – LITERATURE) FEBRUARY 2016

_________ , or anybody else´s, already. The job of the professors was not so much to promote the
uncontrolled expansion of self-esteem (6) _________ to forcibly ram it back into Pandora´s box from
which it should never have been liberated, and then sit upon it.

C) MULTIPLE-CHOICE: For questions 1-6, read the text below and decide which answer (A,
B, C or D) best fits each gap.

My Flat is my Castle?

The Brits have never (1)____________ to flat dwelling in the way the French have. This is probably
because of the English Channel. Continental European city dwellers had to build walls to keep out
invaders. Those who farmed the city hinterlands would (2)___________ inside the walls and close
the gates when danger approached. Space within the walls was at a (3)____________, so it made
sense to pile one home above another in the form of flats. Flats were the (4)___________ in cities
like Bordeaux from as early as the 15th century. Apart from the odd Viking, invaders were kept from
British shores by the sea, allowing the British to live in houses (5)____________ across the
countryside in villages, hamlets and market towns, the only city of any size at that time being
London. It was not until the industrial revolution started (6)___________ people off the land into
towns in the late 18th century that there was a demand for mass housing. Then rooms were rented by
the poor and each family would share one room.

1) A fallen B run C taken D given

2 A dash B expedite C gush D inundate
3) A rarity B shortcoming C dearth D premium
4) A average B norm C par D yardstick
5) A messed B scattered C littered D sprayed
6) A luring B eliciting C spurring D inciting