EXAMEN DE SELECTIVIDAD. THE PILOT.

As a German pilot in World War I, my father was flying a reconnaissance mission over the east of France when he was attacked by French airplanes whose machine guns damaged his plane. Without engine power, he managed to cross the Swiss border and crash-landed in a field among surprised farmers. At the end of the war, he returned to Germany from neutral Switzerland, where he had been living in an internment camp. After that, he continued his studies, graduated as a geologist, and eventually immigrated to the United States, where he became a geology professor at a leading American University.


Half a century after this wartime incident and near the end of his career, my father was with a group of students at the end of a day's geological fieldwork. They all gathered around a campfire and he started to tell them his experience. Suddenly, one of the students interrupted him and said, "Let me finish the story." From that moment, to the amazement of all, the student provided the correct details of what had happened that day in Switzerland.

He told them that, when the farmworkers got to the place of the accident to assist the soldiers, they found that the photographer who was seated behind my father was dead. They liberated my disoriented but uninjured father from the plane and provided him with food and water. Some time later, the Swiss police arrived and interned him in a camp. In his youth, the student had heard this story many times from his mother, who happened to be one of the farm girls taking part in the events.

EXERCISES - EJERCICIOS
READING COMPREHENSION
CHOOSE THE CORRECT OPTION (A, B, C or D).

1. The pilot had an accident because…
(a) he had to fly across the Swiss border.   
(b) he had damaged the French planes.
(c) his machine guns got damaged.       
(d) his plane engine stopped working.

2. When the farmworkers arrived at the place of the accident, they found that…
(a) there were two injured men.       
(b) there were two dead men.
(c) the pilot was not hurt.            
(d) the photographer was hurt.

ARE THESE STATEMENTS TRUE OR FALSE? JUSTIFY YOUR ANSWERS WITH THE PRECISE WORDS OR PHRASES FROM THE TEXT, OR USE YOUR OWN WORDS.

3. The events that the professor told the students about had taken place fifty years earlier.
TRUE: “Half a century after this wartime incident and near the end of his career, my father was with a group of students at the end of a day's geological fieldwork".

4. The story was told after that day’s academic activity had finished.
TRUE: " ... my father was with a group of students at the end of a day's geological fieldwork. They all gathered around a campfire and he started to tell them his experience".

5. The Swiss police gave food and water to the pilot.
FALSE: " They liberated my disoriented but uninjured father from the plane and provided him with food and water. Some time later, the Swiss police arrived and interned him in a camp".

6. The student’s mother had often heard the story of the accident when she was young.
FALSE: In his youth, the student had heard this story many times from his mother, who happened to be one of the farm girls taking part in the events.

USE OF ENGLISH

7. FIND IN THE TEXT THE WORD WHICH HAS THE FOLLOWING DEFINITION:
“to come together into one group.”
gather

8. FILL IN THE GAP WITH A CORRECT PREPOSITION:
“The French pilot arrived IN… Germany.”

9. FIND IN THE TEXT ONE OPPOSITE FOR “harmed” (adjective).
 uninjured

10.FILL IN THE GAP WITH A CORRECT FORM OF THE VERB IN BRACKETS:
“Her eyes are red. I think she... (cry) has been crying

11. FILL IN THE GAP WITH THE CORRECT OPTION: so / such / such a / rather
“I had never seen…beautiful picture!” 
such a 

12. GIVE ONE SYNONYM FOR “eventually” (adverb)(line 5) AS IT IS USED IN THE TEXT.
 finally

13. REWRITE THE SENTENCE WITHOUT CHANGING ITS MEANING. BEGIN AS INDICATED.
If I… finally
“I got wet because I didn’t take an umbrella.”

14. GIVE A QUESTION FOR THE UNDERLINED WORDS:
“The machine gun damaged his plane.” What did the machine gun damage?

15. TURN THE FOLLOWING SENTENCE INTO THE PASSIVE VOICE:
“People should wear life jackets during swimming lessons.”
Life jackets should be worn during swimming lessons.

16. JOIN THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES USING A RELATIVE. MAKE CHANGES IF NECESSARY.
“I can’t find the house. Charles Dickens was born there.”
I can't find the house where Charles Dickens was born. 

17. TURN THE FOLLOWING SENTENCE INTO DIRECT SPEECH:
“He asked me not to leave the pilot unattended.”
"(Please,) don't leave the pilot unattended" (, he asked me).
(He asked me:)"(Please,) don't leave the pilot unattended"