Questo frontespizio deve essere compilato accuratamente dal candidato. Informazioni incomplete o illeggibili possono comportare ritardi nella pubblicazione dell'esito della prova.

COGNOME_________________________________ NOME_____________________

Numero di Matricola per intero ______________________________________

CORSO DI STUDIO IN LINGUE E LETTERATURE STRANIERE E

CORSO DI STUDIO IN LINGUE, MERCATI E CULTURE D'ASIA

INSEGNAMENTO DI LINGUA E LINGUISTICA INGLESE 2PROVA SCRITTA DI LINGUA - ESERCITAZIONI

________________________________________________________________________

FACSIMILEPART 1 - READING

Tempo concesso: 45 minuti

Punteggio massimo - 12 punti

Non è consentito l'uso del vocabolario.

Scrivere le risposte in inchiostro su questo modulo.

Questa prova è composta di 4 pagine stampate, inclusa la presente.

Per solo uso interno raw mark reading________ /12 converted mark reading______________/30

PART ONE (7 points). Read the following text. For questions 1 – 3 , circle (O) the letter A, B, C or D in the right hand column that corresponds to your choice. If you should change your choice, make your correction clear! For questions 4 and 5, write your answers in the space provided.

The birth of Europe

Over the past fortnight, I have been in six European cities: Oxford, Madrid, Paris, Hamburg, Gdansk and Warsaw. In all of them, I have been reading Jacques Le Goff’s wonderful new history of The Birth of Europe, in which he explores the formation of Europe from the ruins of the Roman Empire to Christopher Columbus’s ‘discovery’ of America at the end of the 15th century. It is a book that every sentient European should know. Turning from the book to the streets and from the streets back to the book, I have been thinking about the great adventure on which this continent is now engaged. We could call it the second birth of Europe.

What I mean is the birth of Europe as a European Union which is a single commonwealth, with a set of shared laws and political institutions of which medieval Europeans could only dream, and, increasingly, as an actor on the world stage. The connections between the old Europe and this new one are complicated and although history, unlike geometry, has few straight lines, you can see these connections, these foundations, clearly on a whistlestop tour through six European cities.

For a start, there is the simple physical presence of this past in architecture, streetscape and art. Those familiar shapes of gothic, renaissance and baroque, from Oxford to Gdansk, make us feel that we are at home even when we are abroad. This is so obvious that we forget just how unusual it is. There’s no other continent on which this is so. Then there are the gaps between the old houses, the gaps where the bombs fell. Most of them have now been filled with more recent buildings, often the drab/grey constructions of the 1950s or the brutalist ones of the 1960s. They stand out like false teeth. After sixty years, the memories of war Holocaust, gulag and occupation are still everywhere – not just in stone and concrete, but on television, in the newspapers, in conversation.

There are also happier things that unite us: food and football. Le Goff argues that the beginnings of a conscious enjoyment of gastronomy can be found in the 15th century. The range and richness of European national cuisine is amazing. It’s a classic example of the continent’s ‘unity in diversity’. And as for football, it’s the European sport par excellence. Is there a European alive who does not know about Real Madrid? If the French and British governments want to win their referendums on the European constitutional treaty, it is not Chirac or Blair they need on the television spots. It is Beckham and Zidane.

Many objections can be made. You may say that this is a Europe that can only be enjoyed by the wealthy and highly educated. You would be wrong. A British student can travel to Rome with easyJet for £4.99. The bars and cafés of London are full of young Poles, working their way. These things are only possible because we have a European Union. Or you may say that I am ignoring the bad things about Europe. I am not. Most of our countries have entrenched establishments of short-sighted, time-serving, often corrupt politicians. Contrary to what Eurosceptics believe, the Brussels bureaucracy is in fact quite small – but it compensates by being even more bureaucratic. Most of our economies are still extremely uncompetitive. Our native-born populations are declining, and we are bad at making migrants feel at home. These problems, too, we have in common.

Nevertheless, we have an amazing story to tell. It is the story of the most successful spread of freedom in recent history. Thirty years ago, General Franco still ruled Spain and my Spanish publisher was battling with the fascist censor. Sixteen years ago, in spring 1989, my Polish publisher was still battling with the Communist censor. The causes of Europe and democracy have always marched together. The EU may not itself be very democratic, but it is the world’s most successful promoter of democracy.

Change always provokes a reaction. The opponents of the EU are as much Europeans as we pro-EU Europeans are. In fact, in their very nationalism they are more characteristically old-European than they know. The difference is this: we new pro-EU Europeans have a great story to tell – a story that is about the past but also about the future. Our challenge to these old anti-EU Europeans is: we hear your story about the past, but where’s your story about the future?

Adapted from Timothy Garton Ash in Warsaw, The Guardian, 2005

1. What effect did Le Goff’s book have on the writer of the article?A. It made him think what a good historian Le Goff is.B. It made him want to travel more widely and discover more of Europe.C. It made him feel proud to be a European.D. It made him reflect on the present state of Europe.

A B C D

2. “There’s no other continent on which this is so.” (paragraph 3) ‘This is so’ refers to the fact that

A. the common architectural forms give us a sense of belonging.B. the connections with the past are clearly visible in the architecture.C. the bomb destruction is still visible in the streetscape.D. It is unusual to feel at home when abroad.

A B C D

3. Food, according to the writer, is another uniting force in Europe because

A. there is so much similarity in the food in the different countries.B. there is so much variety in the food in the different countries.C. Europeans have a tradition of eating together.D. food is something that can make people happy.

A B C D

4. In the penultimate paragraph, how does the author illustrate how the EU has promoted democracy and freedom? Summarise in no more than 25 of your own words.

………………………………………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

5. According to the author in the final paragraph, what is the fundamental difference between Eurosceptics and pro-EU Europeans? Summarise in no more than 15 of your own words.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

PART TWO (5 points) Five paragraphs have been removed from the text below. Choose a text segment from the list A – F below to fill each of the gaps. Write your answers in the table at the end of the text.

The Day a Language Died. This week another language died; Carlos Westez, more widely known as Red Thunder Cloud, the last speaker of the native American language Catawba, died of a stroke at the age of 78. With him passed away the Catawba language. Those who want to hear the war songs, the hunting songs and religious chants of the Catawba can apply to the Smithsonian Institute where, back in the 1940's , Red Thunder Cloud recorded a series of them for posterity. Some earnest folk might even take the trouble to learn some of them by heart. But Catabwa as something that lived and breathed and developed organically has gone for good. Of the creatures alive on the planet, only Red Thunder Cloud's dog, which survived him and understood commands in no other language still presumably has the sounds of Catawba rolling around his brain.

It has become clear to all of us, over the past 20 years, how much damage modern industry can inflict on the world's ecology; how the destruction of the rain forest also brings about the death of plants and insects. Less obvious, but no less harmful is the impact of one powerful culture upon our languages and ways of life. We are witnessing the spread of English, carried by American culture, delivered by Japanese technology. We are also witnessing the increasing dominance of a few great, transnational tongues: Chinese Spanish, Russian and Hindi.

1 One of those under threat is Aore, the language native to Vanuatu in the Pacific. Like Catabwa (until this week) it is spoken by that island's only remaining native inhabitant. So it, too, is bound to die out.2 In the Americas too, 100 languages, each of which has fewer than 300 speakers, are on their last legs. North America, which once had hundreds of languages, has only about 100 languages left.3 He was not actually born into the Catawba tribe, and the language was not his mother tongue. But he was a frequent visitor to the reservation in South Carolina and immersed himself in the the language. The songs he recorded for the Smithsonian helped to start a craze for native American music.4 Now he is gone and the language is dead – but what does it mean for the rest of us when a language disappears? To be the last remaining speaker of a language like Red Thunder Cloud, or like Dolly Pentreath, who died in 1778, the last person to speak Cornish as her mother tongue, must be a peculiarly lonely destiny, almost as strange and terrible as to be the last surviving member of a dying species. But what the rest of us lose when a language dies is the possibility of a unique way of perceiving and describing the world.5 His theory lacks scientific proof but one's own experience as a language learner is that to speak another language is to become another person. Anyone who has learned to speak another language moderately well will have had the sensation of discovering a new personality with new facial expressions and gestures to match.

A Many other languages will share its fate; a large proportion of the languages of Ethiopia are used by tiny numbers of people. Two speakers of the Ethiopian language Gufat were fine until a well-intentioned language researcher took them out of their native jungle, whereupon they caught cold and died.

B For speaking a language is a complex accomplishment. Understanding how we do it has occupied experts throughout the 20th century. Recently, Mark Pagel, a biomathematician in the Zoology department of Oxford University, has claimed that learning a language brings about permanent changes to the brain.

C In his attempt to spread word of the tribe's language and culture, he came as far as Britain where, in 1992, he erected a tent in Edinburgh and gave demonstrations of story- telling.

D With their rise as tools of culture and commerce has come the deaths of hundreds of other languages which are the losers in the competition for linguistic survival.

E Frequently criticized in local media, he once sued the town of Southampton for $100,000 for "damages to the cultural development of Catawba Indian language" after the town dog warden destroyed nine of his dogs, which he had taught Catawba commands.

F It was for this reason that Red Thunder Cloud's death this week made news around the world; if native Americans face a peculiar and formidable threat to their languages, Red Thunder Cloud was one of the first to recognise this and to try to do something about it.

ANSWERS

1 2 3 4 5

CORSO DI STUDIO IN LINGUE E LETTERATURE STRANIERE E CORSO DI STUDIO IN LINGUE, MERCATI E CULTURE D'ASIA

PROVA SCRITTA DI LINGUA INGLESE 2

FACSIMILEPART TWOWRITING

1 hour

Choose ONE of the following:

1. “Do not read for amusement, as children do, or to improve your knowledge, as the ambitious do. No, read in order to live.” (G. Flaubert). Write an essay (composition) of about 250 words on the role of reading in today’s society. 2.Many journalists are predicting that in five years’ time, newspapers will only exist in electronic form on-line and no longer in paper form. Write a letter of about 250 words to your local newspaper, expressing your views about this eventuality.

3. An international student organization is going to hold its annual five-day conference in your country next year. This event regularly attracts 10,000 students from around the world and requires a city with good transport, sufficient accommodation and varied entertainment possibilities. Write a proposal of about 250 words for the organization, proposing a city you know well and which you consider ideal for the event.

4 Write a review of a book which, despite being a modern-day best-seller, you personally would not recommend. Write about 250 words..

N.B. The four types of Writing questions are: Film or Book Review, Essay, Letter and Proposal. Only TWO of these appear in the actual exam and you must answer ONE of the questions.

COGNOME_________________________________ NOME_____________________

Numero di Matricola per intero ______________________________________Questo frontespizio deve essere compilato accuratamente dal candidato. Informazioni incomplete o illeggibili possono comportare ritardi nella pubblicazione dell'esito della prova.

CORSO DI STUDIO IN LINGUE E LETTERATURE STRANIERE E

CORSO DI STUDIO IN LINGUE, MERCATI E CULTURE D'ASIA

INSEGNAMENTO DI LINGUA E LINGUISTICA INGLESE 2PROVA SCRITTA DI LINGUA - ESERCITAZIONI

FACSIMILE

PART 3 - GRAMMAR

Tempo concesso: 45 minuti

Il massimo punteggio è 60, diviso 2 per un voto su 30.

Non è consentito l'uso del vocabolario.

PART ONE (15 points)

Read the text and choose one AND ONLY ONE word which best fits each space. More than one word will invalidate the answer. Contractions are not allowed. Write your answers in the table below the passage.

Glasgow

In a world in (1) ………….….. cities increasingly begin to look and feel very similar to each other, there is still nowhere (2) ………….….. Glasgow, the largest city in Scotland. In contrast to Edinburgh, (3) ………….….. celebrated neighbour, Glasgow has traditionally been a place where people come to work rather (4) ………….….. to have a good time. But not only (5) …................ Glasgow have impressive architecture, it also has excellent museums and art galleries and the city is, (6) ………….….., becoming gradually more well-known (7)………….….. a centre for both tourism and cultural activities.

Glasgow was once Europe’s greatest industrial city, with great shipbuilding and other manufacturing industries. In 1900, one third of the world’s ships were (8) ………….on the banks of the River Clyde in Glasgow. All that (9) ………….….. now changed. Following the decline of its traditional industrial base, Glasgow reinvented itself as a city which lives on brainpower instead (10) ………….….. muscle. Its three universities are full of world-beating physicists, engineers and software authors.

Glasgow also has its (11) ………….….. distinct culture and traditions. For example, Glaswegians are still fond (12) ………….….. Irn Bru, a bright orange, fizzy drink made locally, in preference (13) ………….….. the imported American soft drinks which have replaced local varieties in most other parts of Britain. (14) ………….….., in other respects Glasgow is by (15) ………….…..the most American of British cities, with a grid pattern of streets built over a hilly landscape which recalls San Francisco.

1. 9.

2. 10.

3. 11.

4. 12.

5. 13.

6. 14.

7. 15.

8.

PART TWO (15 points)Read the text below and then decide which answer, A, B, C or D best fits each space. The exercise begins with an example (0).

WIND

On October 15th 2011, the southern counties of Britain were (0) …....... by the strongest winds they had experienced in 200 years. Gusts of over 130 kilometres per hour slammed across the region and £1.5 billion worth of damage was (1) …...... in just a few hours. Extreme weather events like this are dramatic (2) …....... of the power of the wind. It's one part of the weather we generally don't (3) …....... a second thought to in Britain but it (4) …....... a vital role in people's lives across the world. Without the formation and circulation of winds there would quite (5) …....... be no climate. Some parts of the world seem to (6) …....... more than others from the effects of 'ill winds', and links between particular winds and psychological problems (7) …....... back centuries. The Föhn, the hot dry wind that slides off the slopes of the Alps, is (8) …....... of boosting temperatures quite suddenly by 10°C or more. It affects as many as one in three people in its (9) …....... , making them feel anxious, irritable and generally ill. In California, many people (10) …....... the arrival of the Santa Ana, which rushes down from the high Mojave desert. Lyall Watson, in his book Heaven's Breath, (11) …....... that when the Santa Ana blows, murder rates soar. The wind may get into the headlines when it comes in the form of tornadoes and hurricanes, but for the (12) …....... part it goes about its job of shifting huge masses of air around the planet. Plants take (13) …....... of this free ride to send their pollen grains far and wide. Trees (14) …....... on it to remove old leaves and make way for new growth. Spiders have been caught (15) …....... a lift at altitudes of almost 4.5 kilometres.

example A knocked B blown C struck D punch

1. A made B caused C destroyed D completed

2. A reminders B recollections C mementos D memorials

3. A pay B give C have D spend

4. A plays B does C makes D works

5. A easily B rightly C surely D simply

6. A experience B share C suffer D bear

7. A last B originate C pass D date

8. A possible B capable C powerful D able

9. A line B road C path D bypass

10. A despair B respect C dread D warn

11. A claims B pretends C expects D predicts

12. A most B maximum C majority D general

13. A benefit B chance C occasion D advantage

14. A need B trust C hope D rely

15. A travelling B hitching C borrowing D making

PART THREE (10 points)

Complete the second sentence so that it has similar propositional content to the first, using

the word given. Do not change the word given. You must use between three and six

words including the word given.

Example: I know that it was wrong of me to speak to a customer like that. (SPOKEN) I know I .... should not have spoken ….to a customer like that.

1. Bob is eager to start his new job next week. (LOOKING)

Bob ________________________________________________his new job next week.

2.Although the weather was awful, thousands arrived for the music festival. (DESPITE)

_____________________________________________________ up for the music festival.

3. Maybe Stella has forgotten to collect the package. (REMEMBERED)

Stella might _____________________________________________ up the package.

4. The trains arrived late due to the snow. (PREVENTED)

Snow _________________________________________________________ on time.

5. They say the country is on the verge of civil war. (SAID)

The country ________________________________________on the verge of civil war..

PART FOUR (10 points) Write a correct form for each verb in brackets.

Lucky or unlucky? When former financial advisor Paul Lancaster flew off from Britain in order to forget his job

worries, he thought he (1) ……………...............……. (leave) his bad luck behind. He had been

feeling very low after (2) ………………............………(make) redundant from his job with an

investment group in London. Paul’s travels, however, turned into a diary of near disaster. He was in

Australia when floods wrecked Brisbane, in New Zealand when a massive earthquake shook

Christchurch and then in Japan when the devastating tsunami struck Japan. Amazingly, Paul

succeeded in (3)…………………………... (avoid) all three.

Months later his parents Lynne and George do not seem too keen for him to return home.

His father said, “ I actually think he’s lucky rather than unlucky because he’s not been affected. If

he (4) …………………........…... (go) to New Zealand just two days earlier, he could easily have

found himself in Christchurch and been hurt or even killed. But who knows what might happen

when he (5)…………………..................….(come) back home. Disaster does seem to follow him

wherever he goes!

PART FIVE (10 points)

Use the word given in brackets to form a word that is appropriate. For example: I missed the bus, (FORTUNE). Answer: unfortunately. Write your answers in the table below.

Pets for PatientsFor years medical experts have considered animals to be a source of dangerous infections and therefore totally (1)................... SUIT for an environment containing vulnerable and sick people. New research, however, has shown that rather than posing a risk, pets can promote (2).................RECOVER and have (3)........................EXTREME beneficial psychological effects.Pets for Patients is an organisation which believes it is time to reconsider our long-held (4)................... BELIEVE that animals should be kept out of hospitals and away from sick people. It is currently raising money to (5)................... ABLE it to provide small pets to all the long-term care centres in the country.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

GUIDELINES for Second Year Language Paper

Part 1: Multiple Choice Reading and Summary writing

Task Format Text with 3 questions (4 options A, B, C, D ) and 2 questions

Task focus Identifying: the main idea(s), meaning of specific words/phrases, writer’s opinion

1) Skim read the text in order to get the general idea.2) Re-read the text. Find the main topic(s) of each paragraph. This will help you to quickly

locate information when you look for answers.3) Carefully, read the questions. (NB questions are presented in the order of information in

the text.)4) Look for evidence in the text to confirm the option you choose (underline it in the text).

Double check your answer. 5) Eliminate the other options ie make sure there is no supporting evidence for them in the

text).

Part 2: Gapped reading

Task Format Short text with 5 gaps (0 – 5). 6 missing paragraphs, one of which is not relevant.

Task focus Identifying:Text structure, cohesion, coherence and global meaning.

1. Skim read the BASE TEXT only (ignore the missing paragraphs) - what is the text about?2. Re-read the BASE TEXT only. Give each paragraph a summary title. This ensures that you

understand the content and order of information.3. Only now read the missing paragraphs and look for connections. Connections may be:

- reference words (this, that)- linkers (on the other hand, however etc)- parallel expressions (1st reference: Mr and Mrs Brown, 2nd reference: the couple)

4. Insert the missing paragraphs. Make sure you look BEFORE and AFTER the gap as the missing paragraph may connect backwards or forwards.

5. Re-read the text. Does it make sense? Are you sure the extra paragraph really is irrelevant?

Guidelines for the GRAMMAR Paper

Open Cloze

Task Format Two short texts each containing 15 gaps. One word only is required in each space.

Task Focus Grammatical (eg articles, auxiliaries, prepositions, verb tenses, and forms) OR Lexico-grammatical (eg phrasal verbs, linkers and words within fixed phrases)

1. Read the text and identify what it is about. 2. Study the gaps. Do not over-focus on the gap alone – remember to read the text before and

after the gap. Try to decide what type of word you need ( an article, a linker, a preposition?)

3. Choose your option. Be careful with verb forms, do you need the verb in 3rd person ‘s’ or ‘-ing’ form? Be careful with spelling. Do not put two words or offer two answers – this will invalidate your answer.

4. When you have chosen an answer for all the spaces, re-read and satisfy yourself that it makes sense and that the grammar of your choices is correct.

Lexical Cloze

Task Format A short text containing 15 gaps and followed by 4-option multiple-choice items.

Task Focus Lexical /lexico-grammatical.Identifying collocation, shades of meaning, complementation (eg prepositions, gerund or infinitive)

1. Read the text, ignoring the multiple-choice options and identify what it is about. 2. Study the gaps. Do not over-focus on the gap alone – remember to read the text before and

after the gap. Choose your option. You may be asked to choose you answer based on recognition of a verb noun collocation, the complementation pattern etc

3. When you have chosen an option for all 15 spaces, re-read and satisfy yourself that it makes sense and that the grammar of your choices is correct.

Transformation exercise

Task Format Five separate questions each with a lead-in sentence and a gapped second sentence to be completed in three to six words one of which is a given ‘key word’. The key word must not be changed in any way.

Task Focus In this part of the paper the focus is both lexical and grammatical and a

range of structures is tested. The ability to express a message in different ways shows flexibility and resource in the use of language..

1. Read the lead-in sentence very carefully to make sure you have fully understood it as the second sentence must mean, as far as possible, the same as the lead-in sentence. So for example when transforming a sentence from the active to passive voice, the tense must not change.

2. Be careful not to change the key word in any way.3. When counting the words, count contracted words (with the exception of can’t = cannot) as

the full form (e.g. didn’t = did not = two words)4. In preparing for this part of the paper students need to practise paraphrasing, for example

rewriting sentences from texts, saying things again ‘in other words’ as well as working on lexical synonyms and grammatical transformations..

Verb Forms

Task Format One short text containing 5 gaps.

Task Focus This section tests the use of correct verb forms in context and tests your ability to manipulate and apply tenses.

1. Read the text and identify what it is about. 2. Study the gaps. Do not over-focus on the gap alone – read the text before and after the gap. 3. Write your choice of verb form in the space provided in the text. Contractions (e.g. “he’s eating”) are accepted. Be careful with verb forms (3rd person ‘s’, ‘-ing’ form,etc) and spelling. 4. When you have chosen an answer for all the spaces, re-read and satisfy yourself that it makes sense.

Section C: Word Formation

Task Format A short text containing 5 gaps. Each gap corresponds to a root word. This word must be changed into the appropriate form (verb, noun, adjective or adverb) and written in the table below the text.

Task Focus Lexical . This section tests knowledge of prefixes, suffixes, internal spelling changes.

1. Read the text and identify what it is about. 2. Study the gaps. Do not over-focus on the gap alone – remember to read the text before and

after the gap. Try to decide what type of word you need - (verb, noun, adjective or adverb)3. Choose your option. You may need to make the following sub-decisions:

a. Do you need the word in a positive or negative form (fortune/misfortune; fortunate/unfortunate; fortunately/unfortunately)?

b. NOUNS: Do you need the noun in the singular or plural OR are both possible?c. VERB FORMS: which verb form do you need? - third person ‘s’; ‘ing’ form, past

participle?4. When you have chosen an answer for all 5 spaces, re-read and satisfy yourself that it makes

sense and that the word form is correct.