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UNIVERSIDAD DE ANDALUCÍA

Ejemplo Prueba de acceso tipo Bachillerato, modelo actual
An Activity sent by Manuel Hernández Benavides from IES "Los Colegiales" in Antequera.

THE EURO

What's in a name? The choice of name caused friction in and of itself. Europe's policy-makers went through virtually every monetary name in the continent's history, with early favourites such as the florin and the schilling failing to make the cut. More controversial, though, was the "ecu", or European currency unit, the name for the basket of European currencies used for official EU purposes.

Inoffensive though it may have seemed, the Germans protested that it sounded too much like "kuh", or cow. And in any case the ecu had been a French currency, a coin 40mm across and minted of solid silver, in the 18th century.

"Euro" - widely judged to be a boring lowest common denominator - only came into its own as the least offensive option much later. It may have been judged the least offensive option, but that could not stop the Greeks from getting worried. After all, the word is very similar to that for urine in Greek. They were only slightly mollified by British officials who pointed out that the penny had been nicknamed "pee" - a mild slang term for the same thing - for decades with no noticeable ill-effects.

As for the physical currency itself, the task of delivery must rank as the biggest security headache in history. More than 10bn notes and 52bn coins - to the value of 664bn euros - have been distributed. Not without incident. Robberies have taken place in Italy, France and Germany, with one German security guard robbing his own van. And a strike at the French mint producing the currency was only settled after the intervention of riot police


(A) COMPREHENSION (4 points)

a) ANSWER THE QUESTIONS ACCORDING TO THE INFORMATION GIVEN IN THE TEXT USE YOUR OWN WORDS (1 point per answer)

1) Why did the name of the new currency cause friction ?
2) Which name didn’t the Germans like? and why?

b) ARE THESE STATEMENTS TRUE OR FALSE? JUSTIFY YOUR ANSWERS WITH WORDS OR PHRASES FROM THE TEXT. (0,5 points per answer)

3) The florin was the first name chosen for the European Currency.
4) The ecu was a French currency made of gold.
5) The Greeks liked the name of Euro because it had a funny pronunciation.
6) The physical delivery of the euro was very difficult.


(B) USE OF ENGLISH (3 points)

7) Find in the text the word which has the following definition :
"informal language consisting of words and expressions that are not considered appropriate for formal occasions" ____________________ (0,25 points)

8) Give one synonym in the text for "give up" _____________ (0,25 points)

9) Complete this sentence: "If I had known the answer,………………………………"

10) Rewrite this sentence so that it means the same:
"My car is being repaired this afternoon" I ……………………………………….

11) Write the QUESTION for this answer:
_____________________________? Susan used to do her shopping in New York.

12) Turn into PASSIVE: "The Germans protested that ecu sounded like kuh"

13) Turn into REPORTED SPEECH :
"The launch of the Euro has been a complete success", the Prime Minister said.


(C) PRODUCTION (3 points)

Write a COMPOSITION (80-100 words). Choose ONE of the following options:

a) How the new currency has affected your daily life.
b) Will the euro be a good or a bad thing for Europe ?


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