Profesores Asociados Egresados del Instituto de
Enseñanza Superior en Lenguas Vivas “Juan Ramón Fernández”
LEVEL A6 PAPER 1 / 13
Nombre: __________________________________________________________________________________
1. Read and answer
Right now, I am looking at a shelf full of relics, a collection of antiques, fossils. Right now I am looking at a
shelf full of books. Yes, that's right. If you have some spare cash (the going rate is about $89) and are looking
to enhance your reading experience, then I highly suggest you consider purchasing an e-reader. E-readers
are replacing the books of old, and I welcome them with open arms (as you should).
If you haven't heard of an e-reader and don't know what it is, then please permit the following
explanation. An e-reader is a device that allows you to read e-books. An e-book is a book-length publication
in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, and produced on, published through, and readable on
computers or other electronic devices.
So now you know what an e-reader is. But you still may be wondering why they put printed books to
shame. E-readers are superior to printed books because they save space, are environmentally friendly, and
provide helpful reading tips and tools that printed books do not.
E-readers are superior to printed books because they save space. The average e-reader can store
thousands of digital books, providing a library at your fingertips. What is more, being the size and weight of
a thin hardback book, the e-reader itself is relatively small. It is easy to hold and can fit in a pocketbook or
briefcase easily. Perhaps the only drawback to the space-saving aspect of an e-reader is that it requires you
to find new things to put on your shelves.
In addition, e-readers are superior to books because they are environmentally friendly. The average novel
is about 300 pages long. So, if a novel is printed 1000 times, it will use 300,000 pieces of paper. That's a lot
of paper! If there are about 80,000 pieces of paper in a tree, this means it takes almost 4 trees to make
these 1000 books. Now, we know that the average bestseller sells about 20,000 copies per week. That
means that it takes over 300 trees each month to sustain this rate. And for the super bestsellers, these
figures increase dramatically. For example, the Harry Potter book series has sold over 450 million copies.
That's about 2 million trees! Upon viewing these figures, it is not hard to grasp the severe impact of printed
books on the environment. Since e-readers use no trees, they represent a significant amount of preservation
in terms of the environment and its resources.
Finally, e-readers are superior to books because they provide helpful reading tips and tools that printed
books do not. The typical e-reader allows its user to customize letter size, font, and line spacing. It also
allows highlighting and electronic bookmarking. Furthermore, it grants users the ability to get an overview of
a book and then jump to a specific location based on that overview. While these are all nice features,
perhaps the most helpful of all is the ability to get dictionary definitions at the touch of a finger. On even the
most basic e-reader, users can obtain instant definitions without having to hunt through a physical
dictionary.
It can be seen that e-readers are superior to printed books. So what good are printed books? Well, they
certainly make nice decorations.
1. According to the author, what are the main reasons why e-readers are superior to printed books?
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
2. What is one of the main disadvantages of having an e-reader?
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
3. How do e-readers help to preserve the environment?
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
4. Why is it unnecessary to resort to a printed dictionary if you use an e-reader?
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
5. Can anyone buy an e-reader? Why (not)?
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
1
Profesores Asociados Egresados del Instituto de
Enseñanza Superior en Lenguas Vivas “Juan Ramón Fernández”
LEVEL A6 PAPER 1 / 13
2. Read this interview to a teacher in England and put the verbs in brackets in the right tense. When you
see a +, use a modal
Sarah Jenkins is an English teacher. She ____________________ (work) in a language school in Brighton. She
____________________ (teach) English since she ____________________ (leave) university five years ago. I
asked her first if she ____________________ (enjoy) teaching English.
‘Yes, I do,’ she replied. ‘It’s hard work, but it’s very rewarding.’
‘____________________ (you ever work) abroad?’
‘Yes,’ replied Sarah. ‘I ____________________ (spend) two years in Madrid. But the school closed and I
____________________ (make) redundant. Luckily some of my students asked me if I
____________________ (continue) to teach them privately, so I stayed in Madrid.’
‘And how long ____________________ (you teach) in Brighton?’
‘Since I came back from Madrid three years ago.’
I then asked Sarah what the most memorable moment of her career was.
‘Well, a funny thing ____________________ (happen) while I ____________________ (work) at the school
in Madrid. I had a student called Gloria. On some days she ____________________ (+be) the best student in
the class. But on other days she performed really badly. I tried very hard ____________________ (help) her,
but things only got worse. Then, one day, I met Gloria on the street and asked her about her boyfriend. (the
day before she ____________________ (tell) me a sad story about him.) She looked surprised and told me
that her name was Victoria, not Gloria. She continued, ‘My twin sister and I ____________________ (take
turns) in your classes since September – two for the price of one!’ after that, it was much easier to teach
them. At the beginning of each class I simply asked, ‘Are you Gloria or Victoria today?’
Finally, I asked Sarah about her plans for the future.
‘Well, I’m very interested in teaching young children, so next September I ____________________ (do) a
special training course.’
‘And are you going to stay in Britain or ___________________ (+ you like) to work abroad again?’
‘I ____________________ (promote) recently. I’m now Director of Studies. So I think I
____________________ (stay) here for a few more years. Of course, if someone had offered me a well-paid
job in Italy or Greece, I ____________________ (take) it, but it just didn’t happen!’
3. Read this letter from Alberto, who is staying in Bristol, to his friend Paul and complete the blanks
with a suitable connective
Dear Paul,
My stay in England is coming to an end. In ten days’ time I will back in Argentina. I can hardly believe
____________________ I have been in Bristol for three months. The time went by so quickly! Yesterday I
took my final exams. As soon ____________________ I get the results, I‘ll let you know.
I’d really like to have a holiday ____________________ the course finishes, but I have to go straight back to
Argentina in ____________________ to see my family. I would visit Scotland ____________________ I had
more time. Unfortunately I haven’t seen much of Britain – I haven’t even been to London
____________________!
My host family have been really nice to me but even ____________________ I’ll miss them I’m looking
forward to seeing my family again. My parents were planning to move to Mendoza. They might have moved
already. My brother was made redundant, ____________________ now he’s looking for a new job. He says
he might have to move to another town ____________________ there are more jobs.
____________________ he’s not sure.
4. Go on reading the letter and complete the blanks with one word only
I really like England. The people are friendly and the countryside’s lovely and the food’s actually quite good.
My friend Pablo loves it here. He even says he wouldn’t ____________________ living here. But for me the
problem is the weather. I think I’d ____________________ live somewhere else warmer and drier. Recently
it’s been ____________________ terrible – raining every day.
Yesterday I went to the cinema with Pablo to see Gladiator. It’s the fifth time Pablo has seen it! He
____________________ really like it. Well, I do, but I wouldn’t want to see it so ____________________
times!
2
Profesores Asociados Egresados del Instituto de
Enseñanza Superior en Lenguas Vivas “Juan Ramón Fernández”
LEVEL A6 PAPER 1 / 13
I have applied for a lot of jobs recently. Yesterday I applied for ____________________ with the United
Nations. It ____________________ be great if I got it, but I haven’t got a very good ____________________.
They want someone with fluent English and French, and my French isn’t very good any more.
Anyway, I haven’t picked up my plane ticket ____________________ so I have to go into town now and do
that. See you next week. I’ll give you a call ____________________ I get home. Take care.
Best wishes,
Alberto
5. It’s Alberto’s 21st birthday and he’s having coffee with a friend. Complete their conversation
Friend: Happy Birthday, Alberto. So,________________________________________________________?
Alberto: Kind of strange. I suddenly feel a little anxious, like I’m not moving ahead fast enough.
Friend: But,____________________________________________________________________________?
Alberto: Oh, I’ve managed to get good grades in all my subjects, but I still haven’t been able to decide on a
career.
Friend: _______________________________________________________________________________?
Alberto: Well, I’m interested in many things. I like traveling and I like helping people as well.
Friend: _______________________________________________________________________________?
Alberto: Hmm, tourism is fine, but I wouldn’t like to be a tourist guide.
Friend: Your uncle is a travel agent,_________________________________________________________?
Alberto: Yes, and a very successful one. But he lives in New York, far away from here.
Friend: _______________________________________________________________________________?
Alberto: Yes, twice. It’s a wonderful city.
Friend: _______________________________________________________________________________?
Alberto: Living in New York would be really nice. But I don’t think I’d like to live far away from my family.
Friend: _______________________________________________________________________________?
Alberto: My own agency? That would take ages!
Friend: ___________________________________________________. I’m sure he’ll give you good advice.
Alberto: Yes, you’re right. I’ll talk to him soon.
Friend: What do you hope________________________________________________________________?
Alberto: For one thing, I hope I’ll have seen more of the world. But more important than that, I’d like to
have made a good start on my career by then.
6. Composition. Write about 150 words on ONE of the following:
A Successful Life
OR
“I can’t put up with this any longer” (beginning or ending sentence)
