Texto académico de unas 200 palabras con 5 preguntas de opción múltiple.
Claves
Tipos de pregunta: vocabulario, detalle, EXCEPT/NOT, inferencia e idea principal o propósito.
Todo se responde con el texto; no hace falta saber del tema.
Estrategia paso a paso
Vocabulario: sustituye cada opción en la frase y comprueba el sentido.
EXCEPT: marca las tres opciones que SÍ aparecen; la que queda es la respuesta.
Trampas habituales
Opciones verdaderas en general pero que el texto no dice.
Idea principal demasiado estrecha (un solo detalle) o demasiado amplia.
Ejemplo resuelto
"Concentrated in a single session" frente a "spread out" → significa "packed" (apiñado).
Preguntas de ejemplo
Intenta responder antes de abrir la solución. Las preguntas están en el idioma del examen.
Pregunta 1
Dificultad fácil≈ 1 min
What Is in a Camel's Hump?
A popular belief holds that camels store water in their humps. In fact, a camel's hump is made mostly of fat. A large hump can hold more than 30 kilograms of it, which the camel can break down for energy when food is scarce. When a camel goes without eating for a long time, its hump shrinks and may even flop over to one side.
Why store fat in a single lump? One explanation has to do with heat. Fat acts as insulation, slowing the movement of heat. If a camel's fat were spread evenly under its skin, as it is in many mammals, it would trap body heat and make it harder for the animal to cool down in the desert. By concentrating its fat on its back, the camel leaves the rest of its body free to release heat.
The camel's real water-saving tricks lie elsewhere. Its kidneys produce only small amounts of urine, and its body temperature can rise by several degrees during the day before it begins to sweat. As a result, a camel loses less water than most mammals in the same conditions.
According to paragraph 1, what happens to a camel's hump when the camel goes a long time without food?
AA. It fills with water
BB. It becomes smaller
CC. It becomes harder
DD. It grows darker
Ver respuesta y explicación
Respuesta correcta: B. It becomes smaller
Explicación
"When a camel goes without eating for a long time, its hump shrinks," because the fat is used for energy.
The passage says the hump stores fat, not water, and it says nothing about the hump's hardness or color.
Pregunta 2
Dificultad media≈ 1 min
The Dust Bowl
In the 1930s, a series of enormous dust storms swept across the southern Great Plains of the United States. Some storms carried soil hundreds of kilometers, darkening the sky as far away as the East Coast. The region became known as the Dust Bowl.
Drought was the immediate trigger, but farming practices had set the stage. During the previous decades, farmers had plowed up millions of acres of native prairie grass to plant wheat. The deep roots of these grasses had held the soil in place through earlier dry periods. When rain was plentiful and wheat prices were high, the plowing seemed sensible. Once the drought arrived and the crops failed, however, the bare, dry soil had nothing to anchor it, and strong winds lifted it into the air.
The disaster led to lasting changes. In 1935, the federal government created the Soil Conservation Service, which taught farmers methods such as plowing along the natural curves of the land and leaving crop remains in fields to protect the soil. Millions of trees were also planted in long rows, called shelterbelts, to slow the wind.
The word "sensible" in the passage is closest in meaning to
AA. sensitive
BB. reasonable
CC. expensive
DD. fashionable
Ver respuesta y explicación
Respuesta correcta: B. reasonable
Explicación
With plenty of rain and high wheat prices, plowing up grass to grow wheat looked like a good decision, so "sensible" means reasonable.
"Sensitive" looks similar but means easily affected, and the passage does not suggest the plowing was costly or fashionable.
Pregunta 3
Dificultad difícil≈ 1 min
Why Corals Turn White
Reef-building corals may look like plants or rocks, but they are animals. Their bright colors, however, come mostly from tiny algae that live inside their tissues. The partnership benefits both sides: the coral gives the algae shelter and compounds such as carbon dioxide, and the algae use sunlight to produce sugars, many of which they pass on to the coral. In some species, these sugars supply most of the coral's energy.
This relationship is surprisingly fragile. When the water stays one or two degrees Celsius warmer than the usual summer maximum for several weeks, the algae begin to produce harmful chemicals, and the coral expels them. Without the algae, the coral's tissue becomes nearly transparent, and the white skeleton underneath shows through. This process is known as bleaching.
A bleached coral is not dead. If temperatures return to normal fairly quickly, algae can move back in, and the coral may recover. If the heat continues, however, the coral slowly starves. Even corals that survive often grow more slowly and reproduce less for several years afterward.
What can be inferred about a coral that bleaches during a short period of warm water?
AA. It will die within a few days
BB. It may regain its color if the water cools soon
CC. It no longer needs algae to survive
DD. It will produce more offspring than corals that never bleached
Ver respuesta y explicación
Respuesta correcta: B. It may regain its color if the water cools soon
Explicación
The color comes from the algae, and paragraph 3 says that if temperatures return to normal quickly, "algae can move back in." So the coral can get its color back.
The passage stresses that "a bleached coral is not dead," corals depend on algae for energy, and survivors reproduce less, not more.