TEXTO A: Lillian
There are many things to write about in a life: births, deaths, illnesses, love. But I chose this subject after coming home from a meeting with my friend Lillian. What made the meeting special was that Lillian and I hadn't met for the previous fifteen years. We met at school. She became part of the group of friends that went through our school life. I remember going for walks and doing homework together. I passed my final exams simply because she gave me a hand with my subjects. At sixteen Lillian left London. We stayed in touch and I used to visit her in the country for weekends. At eighteen she left to study in the USA. We wrote to each other, and occasionally she visited her mother and we would spend an afternoon in a café, talking. In our late twenties she and her husband announced their plans to emigrate to Australia. A few years after this, she visited the UK and came to Oxford where I was then living. Her visit gave us an opportunity to catch up with our lives. However, after this, the friendship declined. Sometimes we didn't write or phone for a year, especially after we both had our children. One day I phoned her to tell her my second baby had been born. Instead of the cheery hello I expected, she paused for a long moment. I asked her what had happened. 'I have just divorced,' she said. Since then we had gradually been more in touch again. We e-mail mostly: short paragraphs with juicy bits of gossip of our lives. Then suddenly she e-mailed to say she was getting a plane to London the next day and wanted to meet me. I felt anxious: I have become middle-aged, fat and boring, I thought. We sat in Trafalgar Square waiting for Lillian and her children. 'What do they look like?' asked my son. 'I'm not sure,' I replied. But suddenly they were there. Lillian was, like me, older and wider, but as soon as we began to talk, we might just as well have been eleven again and the conversation interrupted only a moment before.
Do not copy literally from the text.
1. What does the text say about the early stages of the friendship relationship between Lillian and the author?
2. How did their friendship change when Lillian left London and when she moved to the US?
3. When did the ties of friendship between them start to loosen a little? How did they strengthen their close friendship again?
4. Why is the relationship between the author and Lillian so special?
5. Fill in the gaps with the correct, most appropriate word in each case.
'Childhood friendships are relationships that are based (A) ______ longevity,' clinical psychologist Scott Bea says. 'They are the (B) ______ of relationships that last (C) ______ than any others we have because they are formed (D) ______ a time when we are really looking for affection.'

TEXTO B: Nightmare journey
Holidaymakers suffered a nightmare flight after their plane's engine shut down and they made an emergency landing at a military base guarded by soldiers with machine guns. The agony for Gary Barton, 57, his wife Caroline, 48, and their daughter, began after three hours into their flight, when the pilot announced he was switching off an engine and there would be an emergency landing. Caroline, a support worker at a high school from Leigh, told the Manchester Evening News: 'We could see on our screens that our altitude was dropping about 500ft every minute. It looked like we were just dropping into the Atlantic.' But four hours later, the pilot arrived at his destination, a military base in the Azores. Caroline added: 'We could see all the fire engines on the ground. It seemed so scary because it was dark, all those flashing lights, it made everything look worse. They said it was just a precaution, but we were very very worried. It was extremely tense on that plane. Our daughter was crying, shaking – she was saying "what if we don't make it?".' The pilot had diverted the flight to Lajes in the Azores, a military airbase which also runs scheduled flights. Eventually, in response to disturbance from the passengers, including young children, the base commander gave permission for them to use a room on the base to wait. But they were led into a site with too few chairs, so sitting on the floor was our only option, surrounded by armed guards at every exit. When their rescue plane, a Boeing 767-300, arrived, they were loaded on before waiting for another hour for take-off, arriving back in Manchester at 5pm, with an 11-hour 23-minute delay. A Thomson Airways spokeswoman said: 'Due to overcrowding at the airport, passengers remained on board with refreshments provided. They were given further refreshments in the terminal before boarding a replacement aircraft which took them back to Manchester airport, arriving just after 5pm.' She said each party would be given £100 to cover all the expense they went to as a result of the delayed arrival.
Do not copy literally from the text.
1. What did the pilot announce three hours after taking off at the start of the journey?
2. After the announcement, when and where did the airplane land?
3. How does the text describe the location where the plane landed?
4. How did the passengers manage to arrive at their final destination?
5. Fill in the gaps with the correct, most appropriate word in each case.
'I travel for business and sometimes am forced to use Ryanair. I have never had a good flight. Gates are often changed at the (A) ______ minute and then, having queued for priority boarding, you (B) ______ up not at the front of the queue. Seats are uncomfortable, too small if seated next (C) ______ larger persons. Staff is always friendly, but I hate the song at the end if the plane (D) ______ on time.'

6.A. Rephrase the following sentences so that their meaning is as similar to the original as possible. (0,25 por acierto = 1 punto)
a) I didn't have an umbrella with me and so I got wet. // I wouldn't have…
b) 'Are you taking much money with you to France?' // My bank manager wanted to know…
c) During dinner, the phone rang. // While I …
d) We ought to go to bed early. // It's time we…

6.B. Rephrase the following sentences so that their meaning is as similar to the original as possible. (0,25 por acierto = 1 punto)
a) I am sure that Janet worked very hard. // Janet must…
b) Did the new photo catalogue interest you? // Were…?
c) I would like to be on a white sandy beach of Hawaii! // I wish I…
d) 'Remember to write to your mother,' I said to them. // I reminded…

7.A. Write a composition about the following topic (100-120 words) (4 puntos): Describe your best friend.

7.B. Write a composition about the following topic (100-120 words) (4 puntos): Pros and cons of travelling by plane.