Modelo examen 4 – Reading

Part 1

Read the following text, then read the five statements. Some of these statements are true according to the text, some of them are false. Write T for True or F for False in the box next to each statement. 

The composer Richard Strauss loved the soprano voice. He wrote for the soprano as few others did, creating a string of memorable parts that have kept his operas on stage since the beginning of the last century. Sopranos like Deborah Voigt are one reason for Strauss’s continued popularity. Her powerful, flexible voice is equally at home in the apotheosis of ‘Ariadne of Naxos’ and the hysterics of ‘Electra’.

Now, in a new production at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, Voigt will bring to the stage one of the most difficult, most powerful roles in the Strauss canon. She has been cast as the title character, Helen of Troy, in Strauss’s 1928 opera, which returns to New York’s Metropolitan Theatre after a nearly 80-year absence. Of the six operas written by Strauss with the librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal, this was their only flop. It has been occasionally revived, but it remains a curiosity in the Strauss catalogue. 

The role of Helen is very high in the voice”, says Voigt. This technical difficulty, coupled with the fact that the character of Helen is something of a nonentity has kept this opera at the back of the Strauss catalogue. „With two weeks to the opening, I’m still sussing out her character”, said Voigt in late February. “She’s the most beautiful woman in the world, but there’s more to it. She’s married to this guy –he wants to kill her, but she still loves him. There’s that whole element of suspense – will he drink the potion? And it’s a pretty complicated, involved story.”

The roots of that story are in Greek mythology – specifically, in a disparity between Homer’s “Iliad” and Herodotus’s “Histories”. Both authors agree that Helen left Sparta (and her husband Menelaus) with the Trojan prince Paris. This incident ignited the Trojan War. But while Homer places Helen behind the besieged walls of Troy for the duration of the 10-year conflict, Herodotus tells a different story. In his “Histories”, Herodotus explains that Paris and Helen were blown off course on their way to Troy. Their ship landed in the Nile Delta. Arriving in Egypt, they were brought before the Egyptian king, Proteus. Proteus recognised Helen and Paris, and decided that since Paris had taken Helen from Menelaus, he was a liar and a cheat and should be stripped of all his treasure and material goods, including Helen. Helen then spent the next 10 years in Egypt until her husband Menelaus retrieved her, following the fall of Troy and the end of the war. This mythological confusion inspired the opera, based on the later adventures of Helen and Menelaus. Strauss wanted „Helena‟ to be a comic opera, but the depth and psychological complexity of Hofmannsthal’s libretto caused the work to evolve into a psychological domestic drama with occasional comic touches – the opera we have today.

1) Strauss’s operas were ideal for sopranos because they provided ample opportunities for them to show what they can do with their voice. 

2) The opera, «Helen of Troy» was performed in New York eighty years ago. 

 3) Strauss and Hofmannsthal were devastated by the public’s reaction to the opera.

4) The King of Egypt gave Helen and Paris permission to live together in his country. 

5) Up to the present day opera’s nuances create marvellous experiences. 

Part 2

Read the text and fill the gaps with the correct sentences A-H. Write the letter of the missing sentence in the box in the gap. There are two extra sentences you will not need. 

A) To realise tourists’ dreams, the most popular live-aboard dive boats tailor their cruise itineraries to locations where there is a good likelihood of seeing a manta. Similarly, land-based operators exploit known local haunts on day trips, getting as many divers to the mantas as they can fit aboard their boats. 

B) Clearly then, from the financial perspective, the manta isn’t just another fish in Hawaiian waters; the ray is an economic benefactor that can legitimately, and accurately, be described as ‘The Million Dollar Manta’. 

C) This is necessary as it allows them to breathe and also find food. As filterfeeding specialists, they need to swim to capture and engulf the small fish and microscopic plankton upon which they feed. 

D) Indeed, a few years ago, the oceanic manta ray became the first ray to be officially listed as a protected species. This means their habitats must be conserved and restored. But mantas can migrate across large distances, so they’re still vulnerable to being fished as they roam. And the reef manta is still unprotected. 

E) The draw of the manta ray is an inestimable windfall for scuba diving and snorkelling businesses. And there’s no better example of the financial value of manta encounters to a local economy than the success of the Kona district of Hawaii.

F) Scuba diving and snorkelling enthusiasts the world over actively seek out encounters with manta rays. Destinations such as Hawaii, the Maldives and Mexico are popular sites to observe this large creature as it glides through the water.

G) With a lifespan of 40-plus years, these individuals will, over the course of a lifetime, generate a seven-figure sum for the local economy from tourist excursions alone.

H) Scuba diving has become, undoubtedly, the most popular activity among backpackers. However, not everything is a bed of roses, as the popular sport clearly damages local ecosystems.

Money-making Mantas

Manta rays are always on the move. Unlike the other 500 or so species in the ray and skate family, for mantas, lying on the bottom of the ocean, blending in with the environment or conserving energy, isn’t an option. From the moment they’re born – released free and autonomous – to the moment they die, three to four decades later if they’re lucky, they must remain constantly, ceaselessly on the move. 

Movement, however, is in one direction only – forward: they have no means to reverse course. Although they can ascend or descend, turn left or right, it’s always with, and as a result of, forward propulsion achieved by waving their pectoral fins in the same way that a bird achieves flight by flapping its wings. A manta in motion, it has to be said, cuts a pretty impressive figure.

For those fortunate enough to come upon a manta doing this in its natural setting, the impression is almost universal: they are perceived as majestic animals, graceful, benign, sometimes curious with the sparkle of intelligence in their unblinking eyes. Indeed, mantas are considered to be the most intelligent fish in the sea, with the highest brain to-body mass ratio of any member of the ray family. So, how feasible is it that you’ll encounter one of these magnificent fish – given that their numbers have declined significantly over the last decade?

Some places, such as the tiny Micronesian island of Yap, go further still. There, the allure of being with manta rays is the very attraction that sells the package, bringing millions of dollars into the local economy. Manta ray dives on Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia have overtaken whale shark tours as the big-draw money maker for local companies, while Bali’s Manta Point at Nusa Penida brings in $3 million a year.

Reef manta rays in this habitat have been studied for more than a decade. Each individual within the resident population has been identified by its characteristic markings and colouration, and the population is known to number around 146. The area’s dive and snorkel operators earn a combined $3.4 million a year directly from their manta encounters. Hence, each of the identified mantas currently brings in $23,288 a year.

This doesn’t reflect the manta’s additional value to Hawaii’s local tourism infrastructure by creating a revenue stream for airlines, hotels, car-rental firms, taxis, restaurants and so on which provide employment. Nature tourists flock to the area and while they are there, do not spare any expense in the name of comfort and enjoyment.

Part 3

Read the four texts below. There are eight questions about the texts. Decide which text (A, B, C or D) tells you the answer to the question. The first one is done for you.

In which text the writer: 

Example: is brief when outlining your achievements to your boss.   D

1) Demonstrates how increasing your pay will be cost-effective for the company. 

2) Ensures your boss is able to argue your case to higher authorities. 

3) Is patient and shows a willingness to wait if necessary. 

Which text is saying the following?

4) The manager avoids trying to draw on sympathy when appealing to your boss.

5) The gap in agreements could be avoided by deep research on coming staff. 

6) Transparency and lack of ambiguity are necessary when dealing with the senior manager.

7) Awareness of your next step is essential before jumping in.

Part 4

Read the article and answer the questions. Write a maximum of five words for each answer.

Why We May Be Measuring Burnout All Wrong

On lots of occasions, I’ve told myself – and my friends and colleagues – that I’m experiencing burnout. Making a living as a freelancer can often mean working long hours and trying to keep a lot of very different plates spinning at once. A few times a year, I hit what feels like a creative wall: I’m fresh out of good ideas, and I just really need to nap. For a long time, I’ve been calling that burnout. But I’ve been wrong.

We tend to think of burnout as an intangible – one of those things we can’t define, and we just know when we feel it. Right now, more of us may be feeling it than ever. In this stage of the pandemic, after more than a year spent trying to navigate its challenges, the general feeling is that we’ve all hit the wall. But there is a scientific definition of burnout, and standards by which to measure it. And based on that criteria, a lot of folks who think they’re burnt out – myself included – really aren’t. That doesn’t mean we aren’t on the way there, though, and understanding how to really measure burnout can help individuals and organisations change course before it’s too late.

In 1981, Christina Maslach, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, developed the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), to define and measure the condition.

“The challenge is people use the term to mean different things,” says Maslach. “It’s a catchy term, so people apply it to all kinds of stuff. So, are we all speaking the same language?”

The MBI attempts to clarify the subject by evaluating burnout based on three criteria: exhaustion or total lack of energy, feelings of cynicism or negativity toward a job and reduced efficacy or success at work. Respondents get scores in all three areas along a continuum, from more positive to more negative. A burnout profile requires a negative score in all three.

“There’s a tendency to think if you score negatively on one measure, you’re burnt out,” says Maslach, but that’s an incorrect usage of the MBI. The biggest misconception about burnout, adds Michael Leiter, a Nova Scotia-based organisational psychologist and the co-author, with Maslach, of The Truth About Burnout, is that it’s the same as exhaustion.

“People use burnout as a synonym for tired, and they’re missing the point that there’s a world of difference between those two states,” says Leiter. He gives the example of obstetricians, who often work chaotic schedules. “They’re delivering babies at all hours of the night, and they’re totally exhausted, but they’re bringing new life into the world, and making people’s lives better, and they care about that work. That’s overextended and exhausted, but it’s not burnout.”

There are plenty of others who meet one of the MBI criteria. “The second largest group, after people who are just exhausted, is people who aren’t fully engaged,” says Leiter. “They’re going to work and it’s not exciting, it just pays the bills. There’s another group that are just cynical. They don’t care about the clientele, or the work.” Still others may have low efficacy, with careers that are stalled for one reason or another.

1) Earning one’s salary as a self-employed person usually comes down to…

2) Sometimes the author is in a rut and the only thing that serves them is…

3) How are people prone to consider this syndrome?

4) The reason why the concept is on everyone’s lips is that…

5) What do people have to pay attention to if they want to be sure that they are enduring burnout?

6) Which one of the requisites to meet in order get diagnosed with the syndrome deals with mistrust?

7) The most notable faux pas when it comes to identifying burnout with…

8) What happens to the occupations of those employees who are hardly efficient?