/ ESCUELA SUPERIOR POLITECNICA DEL LITORAL
Centro de Lenguas Extranjeras
CELEX – ESPOL
Basic B
Mejoramiento v2 /

I. Reading Section (20 marks)

Read the following paragraphs.

“MYTHIRTEENTHBIRTHDAYPARTY”

REBECCA: Ilivein Perth, Australia, with my parents and my three brothers. Yesterday was my thirteenth birthday and about forty friends were here. There was a lot of food and drink – burgers, chicken, Coke and orange juice. It was a great party, and my Mum and I were really happy because my grandmother’s here from England. There were only two things wrong. My grandfather wasn’t here for my party and my other two brothers are in the USA, so they weren’t here either.

Taken from “Face2Face Elementary”

HELEN: I was born in England in a village near Liverpool. I was thirteen in 1975 and I remember my party very well. Our house wasn’t very big, so my party was in the village hall. It wasn’t a very nice place and there wasn’t much to eat. Only about twenty people were there – and there weren’t any boys. So the party was a bit boring.

Taken and adapted from “Face2Face Elementary”

Are these statements TRUE or FALSE? (10 marks)

1. Rebecca and her parents live in England.___

2. There were a lot of children at Rebecca’s birthday party.___

3. There were hamburgers and Coca Cola to eat and drink at Rebecca’s birthday party.___

4. Rebecca lives with her grandmother. ___

5. Rebecca has two brothers that weren’t there at her birthday party. ___

6. Helen was born in Liverpool, England.___

7. Helen was born in 1962. ___

8. Helen’s thirteenth birthday party was in her house.___

9. There were more than twenty people in Helen’s thirteenth birthday party.___

10. Helen’s party was not fun.___

Read the following paragraph about Paul and his family.

Alison, Paul and Erin live in Toronto, Canada. Alison works at the airport and she always meets Paul when he gets home from Antarctica. Paul works as an engineer at a weather station over there and he works six days a week, but then he has three months off a year and the money’s good. When he is in Antarctica and has some free time, Paul doesn’t read a lot and he doesn’t listen to music, but he watches a lot of sport on TV. He also goes skiing and running, and he takes a lot of photos. They’re very good! Erin is always happy to see her father come home. He buys her a lot of presents and they go to the cinema or play tennis in the evenings. When her husband is away Alison watches TV all the time, but she doesn’t watch it when he’s at home. Alison doesn’t have a lot of holiday, but they usually go to a hot country for two weeks before Paul goes back to Antarctica.

Taken and adapted from “Face2Face Elementary”

Answer the following questions. (10 marks)

11. Does Alison work at Toronto’s airport?

12. What does Alison do when Paul gets home from Antarctica?

13. Does Paul stop working for four months every year?

14. / 15. What doesn’t Paul do when he is in Antarctica?

16. / 17. What does Paul do when he is in Antarctica?

18. How does Erin feel when her father comes home?

19. What do Erin and his father do in the evenings when he is at home?

20. What do Alison, Erin and Paul usually do before he goes back to his job?

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II. Use of English Section (40 marks)

Fill in the gaps with the past simple of the verbs in parentheses. (5 marks)

JIM: I ___ (win)21 a weekend for two in Paris. My girlfriend, Naomi, and I ___ (go)22to the airport in a really big limousine. We ___ (travel)23 first class and we ___ (have)24 champagne on the plane. Then we ___ (stay)25 in a very expensive hotel near the River Seine. The weather ___ (be)26 quite hot all weekend and the food and wine ___ (be)27 really good. On Saturday morning we ___ (want)28 to go up the Eiffel Tower but the queues ___ (be)29 too long, so we ___ (have)30 coffee by the river.

Taken and adapted from “Face2Face Elementary”

Fill in the gaps with the comparative form of the adjectives in brackets. (5 marks)

31) Which country is _____ (small): Switzerland or Germany?

32) Which capital city is _____ (big): Rio de Janeiro or Medellin?

33) Which country is _____ (expensive): Spain or Japan?

34) Which capital city is _____ (modern): New York or Paris?

35) Which country’s football team is _____ (good): Ecuador or Peru?

Choose the correct verbs. (9 marks)

LIZ:Danny, are / is36 you busy?
DANNY:Well, er,I am writing / write37 a
letter.
LIZ:Can you take notes at the
meeting, please?
DANNY:Why me? Look, Bob is reading /
reads38 the newspaper. Ask him.
LIZ:He doesn’t read / isn’t reading39
the newspaper. He studies / is
studying40 the business pages.
DANNY:Well, I am waiting / wait41 for a
phone call from New York.
LIZ:They don’t work / aren’t working42
in New York now, Danny. It is /
is being43 5:00 a.m. there!
DANNY:OK, OK, I am going / go44 now.
Which room?

Taken and adapted from “Face2Face Elementary”

Complete the following text with the proper words. (11 marks)

Hello everybody and welcome to San Marino Shopping Center!
At San Marino Shopping Center, you will find all the best shops and facilities you could imagine. In the ground floor, you can find a n_____ 45 where you will find the most important Ecuadorian newspapers. In the first floor, we have many s_____ s_____ 46 where you will find all types of shoes from running to casual shoes. You can also find Marathon Sports, which is the biggest s_____ s_____ 47 in our premises. The t_____ 48 are right in front of the s_____ 49 that will take you to our second floor or if you don’t feel like walking, you can get on our new e_____ 50 which as you can see is opposite Fybeca, one of the five different p_____51 you can shop in while visiting and shopping at our shopping center. In our second floor, you will find our Applestore – our newest c_____ s_____ 52 which just opened yesterday. You will find MNG and DKNY in the second floor too, so all you ladies can go into those c_____ s_____ 53 and have a wonderful time. And for those of you who love music, in the third floor you can find Musicalisimo, one of the most known m_____ s_____ 54 all around Guayaquil. And to finish this little tour, let me remind you that we have signs which show clearly where the nearest i_____ 55 booth is. Therefore, feel free to stop and ask if you lose your way.
Once again welcome to San Marino Shopping Center. We hope you have a great time!

Complete the table using the words from the table below. (10 marks)

chickenlambprawnsfishpastries
peaslentilsberriesa plumspices
Meat / Seafood
56. / 61.
57. / 62.
Vegetables / Fruit
58. / 63.
59. / 64.
Carbohydrates / Other
60. / 65.

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III. Listening Section (20 marks)

Are the sentences TRUE or FALSE? (8 marks)

1. Jason was away last weekend. ___

2. Jason didn’t go to Los Angeles last weekend.___

3. Jason liked the city.___

4. The weather in the city wasn’t pretty nice.___

5. Jason’s vacation wasn’t more exciting than Barbara’s last vacation.___

6. Barbara travelled on her last vacation.___

7. Barbara didn’t enjoy her last vacation.___

8. Barbara didn’t do any exercise in her last vacation.___

Listen and answer the questions: (8 marks)

Part A: 9)Does Liz dislike rap?

10) Does Tom like Eminem?

11) Does Eminem play the piano?

12) Does Liz like pop music?

13) Does Tom like Celine Dion?

Part B:14) Does Lizlike a lot of different groups?

15) Is “The Beatles” Tom’s favourite group?

16) Does Tom think “The Beatles” music is very interesting?

Listen and choose the correct answer: (4 marks)

17) Dan is the person who doesn’t go / goes to sports events all the time.

18) Jean is the person who doesn’t spend / spends more than twohours a day exercising.

19) Jean is the person who does aerobics / doesn’t do aerobics three times a week.

20) Phil is the person who is almost always / is almost never good at any sporting events.

IV. Writing Section (20 marks)

QUESTION ONE: Write about the things you are interested in and the things you want to do or would like to do.

QUESTION TWO: Write about your last birthday.

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