TEXT (GRUPO A): Are pets good for us or just hairy health hazards?
Many animal-lovers think a cat or dog can help you live a longer, happier, healthier life. But does science support this idea?
The good news is this: if you are looking for proof that having a pet improves your general health, the evidence abounds. For instance, there is plenty about how a few minutes spent touching, brushing or caressing your pet can lower your heart rate, easing your body into a less stressed condition. And there's more. There's evidence that pet-owners make fewer visits to the doctor and that they sleep more soundly than those who don't own a pet.
There are other bonuses to having pets, especially cats and dogs. Scientists suspect that by spending time outdoors and bringing novel bacteria back into our houses, some pets may introduce our immune systems to pathogens we would not otherwise meet, allowing pet-owners (and particularly children) a chance to increase their resistance. Studies suggest that exposure to dogs early in a baby's life may make them 13% less likely to have asthma later in life.
You could also argue that pet ownership helps us to feel better about ourselves. A loving owner can give an animal a far better life than it otherwise would have had: always-friendly faces, constant compassion and cuddles.
So far so good: it really does seem there's some truth to the claim that pets are good for us. But closer inspection reveals some pretty alarming downsides to pet-ownership. In England, for instance, between 6,000 and 7,000 people are admitted to hospital for dog bites each year. Falling over pets is another potential danger – each year, this sends an estimated 87,000 people to hospitals in the US, particularly elderly people. And what of the diseases that pets bring into the house – the fleas, ticks and mites?
Recent research has also questioned the supposed benefits. A 2.017 review of the evidence on pet ownership is having to care for animals into their old age, sometimes dealing with diseases that last months or years. A 2.017 study involving 238 human participants found that pet owners with chronically ill pets had higher levels of stress and anxiety, coupled with a lower quality of life.
If we were able to put all these pros and cons into a melting pot and come up with a definitive answer to the question of whether or not pets are good for us, what would the answer be? The answer would be… complicated. Because humans and our circumstances are extremely mixed-up and complex. The simple truth is that having a pet has good and bad sides, and it may not be for everyone.
Loving animals doesn't mean you have to have one.
Fragment adapted from The Guardian, October 2.019
1. Say whether the following sentences are TRUE or FALSE according to the text. COPY the evidence from the text. No marks will be given without the evidence. (1.5 points)
a) Non-pet owners get better sleep.
b) Babies who spend time with dogs tend to suffer from breathing disorders.
c) Pets can be the cause of accidents among older people.

2. ANSWER the questions below. COPY no more than 10 words and/or a number from the text to answer each question. (1.5 points)
a) What can do owners provide that improves their pet's life?
b) On a yearly basis, how many people need hospital treatment after being attacked by a dog?
c) Who was found to suffer from stress and anxiety?

3. WRITE a synonym (=), an opposite (≠), a definition or a sentence for each of the following words to show that you understand their meaning in the text. Use your own words. (1 point)
a) to abound (line 4)
b) chance (line 10)
c) alarming (line 17)
d) downside (line 21)

4. READ this conversation and COMPLETE your part. Write the numbers (1-6) and complete each sentence on your exam paper. (1.5 points)
You are being interviewed for a summer camp job
Interviewer: Good morning. Take a seat, please. First of all, I'd like to know what made you apply for this summer job.
You: (1) ____________________
Interviewer: I see. That's interesting! Tell me the qualities you have to work with children.
You: Well, (2) ____________________
Interviewer: So, do you think you're prepared to handle stressful situations?
You: (3) ____________________
Interviewer: Aha! I see you are a good candidate. Is there anything you'd like to ask?
You: Yes, (4) ____________________?
Interviewer: The camp opens from July 1st to August 31st. Would you be available if you're recruited?
You: (5) ____________________
Interviewer: OK, then. We'll be in touch to let you know. Bye.
You: Thank you so much. (6) ____________________

5. Read the following situations and WRITE what you would say in each one to show that you understand the context of the situation. Write between 10 and 25 words. (1.5 points)
a) You are angry with your friend because he asked the teacher a stupid question. Complain about it.
b) You've got an old phone that doesn't do much. Your birthday is close. Convince your parents to buy you the cool phone that you want.
c) "I don't know what to do after secondary school," your cousin tells you. Suggest something.

6. WRITE a composition of about 120-150 words on the following topic (3 points):
The demand for dog-friendly spaces is increasing, but should dogs be allowed in restaurants, stores, on the beach…? Give your opinion.

TEXT (GRUPO B): What we get wrong about time
We all know what it feels like as time passes. Our present becomes the past as soon as it has happened; today soon turns into yesterday. Although neuroscientists have been unable to locate a single clock in the brain that is responsible for detecting time passing, humans are surprisingly good at it. If someone tells us they're arriving in five minutes, we have a rough idea of when to start to look out for them. We have a sense of the weeks and months passing. As a result, most of us would say that how time functions is fairly obvious: it passes at a consistent and measurable rate, in a direction we know – from past to future.
Of course, the human perspective of time may not be exclusively biological; it might be shaped by our culture and era. The Amondawa tribe in the Amazon, for example, has no word for "time", which some say means they don't have a notion of time as a framework in which events occur.
Aristotle viewed the present as something continually changing and in the West, at least, many would still identify with this idea. However, physics tells a different story. In the last century, Albert Einstein's discoveries showed us that time is created by things; it isn't there waiting for those things to act within it.
Another mistake we make is to assume that imagining the future is completely different from thinking about the past. In fact, the two processes are linked. We use similar parts of the brain to imagine the past or to picture our lives in years to come. It is our memories that allow us to imagine the future, by remembering scenes, we draw on the brain's ability to combine the past and present in a new way to experience it. Meanwhile, time does feel as though it's going more slowly if we are bored or depressed or feeling lonely. As Pliny the Younger wrote in the year 105, "The happier the time, the shorter it seems."
If you don't want to have that unsettling feeling on a Sunday evening that the weekend has passed by so quickly, there is something you can do: constantly look for new experiences. Take up new activities at weekends and visit new places. All this fun means the time will fly in the moment – but because you will make more memories, when you get to Monday morning, the weekend will have felt long.
Fragment adapted from BBC Future, December 2.019
1. Say whether the following sentences are TRUE or FALSE according to the text. COPY the evidence from the text. No marks will be given without the evidence. (1.5 points)
a) Neuroscientists have discovered how the human brain processes the passing of time.
b) All cultures perceive time in the same way.
c) Pliny claimed that time seems to pass more quickly while we are experiencing something pleasant.

2. ANSWER the questions below. COPY no more than 10 words and/or a number from the text to answer each question. (1.5 points)
a) In the West, how do people tend to see the present?
b) What enables us to predict the future?
c) Why will your weekend seem longer if you do something different?

3. WRITE a synonym (=), an opposite (≠), a definition or a sentence for each of the following words to show that you understand their meaning in the text. Use your own words. (1 point)
a) rough (line 4)
b) fairly (line 6)
c) to shape (line 8)
d) to link (line 16)

4. READ this conversation and COMPLETE your part. Write the numbers (1-6) and complete each sentence on your exam paper. (1.5 points)
Your friend has decided to study the same degree as you so you can still be together
Your friend: It will be such fun when we go to university classes together!
You: Mmmm… (1) ____________________?
Your friend: Oh yes! I'm certain. Even though I'm not that good at Physics now, I'm sure I can improve.
You: Yes, but (2) ____________________
Your friend: Oh, I'm sure I'll like it once I start.
You: (3) ____________________
Your friend: Well, I can always change to a different course next year.
You: (4) ____________________
Your friend: I hadn't thought of that. Perhaps you're right.
You: (5) ____________________
Your friend: So…, we could still share a flat then?
You: Of course! (6) ____________________

5. Read the following situations and WRITE what you would say in each one to show that you understand the context of the situation. Write between 10 and 25 words. (1.5 points)
a) Your parents are going away for the weekend and your friends are trying to convince you to throw a party at home on Saturday night. Explain to your friends why you think this is not a good idea and propose an alternative plan.
b) Your friend has found a 50€ note in the toilets at school; she wants to keep it. Tell her what you think about it.
c) You forgot your mother's birthday. Apologise and say what you will do now.

6. WRITE a composition of about 120-150 words on the following topic (3 points):
Write an email to your friend from the United States. Say how you plan to spend your time together when you see each other in the holidays.