2º bachillerato. Práctica de texto de selectividad

ENCOURAGING RECYCLING

Not long ago life in Kamikatsu centred on cultivating rice. Now the village in the densely wooded mountains of Shikoku Island in south-west Japan has a new obsession: rubbish.

Kamikatsu's aim is to end its dependence on incineration and becoming Japan's first zero-waste community. An hour's drive from the nearest city, the village was forced to change the way it managed its waste in 2000 when new regulations on dioxin emissions forced it to shut down its two incinerations. “We were no longer able to burn our rubbish, so we thought the best policy was not to produce any.” said Sonoe Fujii of the village's Zero Waste Academy, a non-profit organisation that controls the scheme.

Household waste must be separated into no fewer than 34 categories before being taken to a recycling centre where volunteers reprimand firmly, but politely, anyone who forgets to remove the lid from a plastic bottle or to wash out an empty beer can. “At first it was very hard work” sayd a 65-year-old villager as she emptied another bowl of vegetable peelings into the electric garbage disposal unit next to her back door. “It took ages to sort everything into different types. But it comes naturally now.” Any waste that is not organic is taken to the village's zero-waste centre. The site has a wide variety of items, from bottles, cans and newspapers to batteries, cigarette lighters, ballpoint pens and a surprisingly large number of broken mirrors.

Despite some opposition, Kamikatsu's recycling rate has soared from 55% a decade ago to about 80% today.

I. COMPREHENSION (4 points: questions 1-3, 1 point each; questions 4-5, 0.5 points each)

*ANSWER QUESTIONS 1-3 ACCORDING TO THE INFORMATION GIVEN IN THE TEXT. USE YOUR OWN WORDS.

1. What are the tasks involved in recycling the rubbish- organic and non-organic- in the village?
2. What does one of the villagers think about the activity of recycling?
3. Did the villagers get used to recycling inmediately after 2000? Explain.
   *ARE THESE STATEMENTS TRUE OR FALSE? JUSTIFY YOUR ANSWERS WITH THE PRECISE WORDS OR PHRASES FROM THE TEXT, OR USE YOUR OWN WORDS.
4. The people living in Kamikatsu had to stop burning their rubbish because of the new laws.
5. The attempts to recycle in the village have not been very successful.

II. USE OF ENGLISH (3 points; questions 6-9, 0.25 points each; questions 10-13, 0.5 points each)

6. FIND IN THE TEXT ONE SYNONYM FOR “top”.
7. WHICH WORD DOES NOT HAVE THE SAME MEANING? bring/ carry/ take/ hold
8. GIVE AN ADJECTIVE WITH THE SAME ROOT AS “select” (verb).
9. FILL IN THE GAP WITH THE CORRECT PREPOSITION: These days people don't care ____ recycling or the environment.
10. USE THE WORDS IN THE BOXES TO MAKE A MEANINGFUL SENTENCE. USE ALL AND ONLY THE WORDS IN THE BOXES WITHOUT CHANGING THEIR FORM:

    become

    recycling

    a

    countries

    has

    in

    rubbish

    priority

    Western

11. JOIN THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES USING A RELATIVE. MAKE CHANGES IF NECESSARY:
    Japan is really concerned with the environment. You can find a lot of nuclear power plants.
12. TURN THE FOLLOWING SENTENCE INTO REPORTED SPEECH:
    “Why don't we have a break now?”, Sarah asked me.
13. REWRITE THIS SENTENCE WITHOUT CHANGING ITS MEANING. BEGIN AS INDICATED: They have recently bought him a solar power watch.

III. PRODUCTION (3 points)

14. WRITE A COMPOSITION OF APPROXIMATELY 120 WORDS. FOCUS STRICTLY ON THE TOPIC: Are you green? What do you do to protect the environment?