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.
The word "concentrating" in the passage is closest in meaning to
AA. heating
BB. burning for energy
CC. protecting from the sun
DD. gathering in one place
Ver respuesta y explicación
Respuesta correcta: D. gathering in one place
Explicación
The camel keeps its fat "in a single lump" on its back instead of spreading it out, so "concentrating" means gathering in one place.
The fat is not being heated, burned, or protected; the point is where it is located.
Pregunta 2
Dificultad media≈ 1 min
The Spacing Effect
Most students have crammed for an exam at some point, studying for hours the night before a test. Although cramming can help a person pass a test the next morning, research suggests that it is one of the least efficient ways to build lasting knowledge.
In the 1880s, the German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus tested his own memory by learning lists of meaningless syllables. He found that he needed fewer repetitions in total to remember a list when his practice was spread out over several days than when it was concentrated in a single session. This finding, now called the spacing effect, has since been confirmed in hundreds of studies involving learners of all ages.
Psychologists have proposed several explanations. One is that material studied repeatedly in one sitting quickly feels familiar, and this familiarity misleads learners into believing they have mastered it. When practice is spaced, some forgetting occurs between sessions, so each review requires more effort. That effort, although it feels less productive, appears to strengthen memory. Despite this evidence, spacing remains underused, partly because its benefits are not visible right away.
The word "concentrated" in the passage is closest in meaning to
AA. planned
BB. recorded
CC. packed
DD. reduced
Ver respuesta y explicación
Respuesta correcta: C. packed
Explicación
The sentence contrasts practice "spread out over several days" with practice "concentrated in a single session," so "concentrated" means packed together into one period.
"Planned" and "recorded" do not express the contrast with spreading out, and "reduced" changes the meaning: the amount of practice is not the point.
Pregunta 3
Dificultad difícil≈ 1 min
How Railroads Changed Time
Before the late nineteenth century, most towns in the United States set their clocks by the sun: when the sun reached its highest point in the sky, it was noon. Because the sun's position changes as one travels east or west, noon in one town might come several minutes before or after noon in a town only a short distance away. This system caused few problems when people traveled by horse, but it created serious confusion once railroads connected distant cities.
Each railroad company kept its own time, usually based on the local time of its headquarters. A single station might display several clocks showing different times for different lines. Passengers missed trains, and scheduling errors increased the risk of collisions.
To solve the problem, the major railroads agreed to adopt a system of standard time zones. On November 18, 1883, stations across the country reset their clocks so that every place within a zone shared the same time. Some cities resisted at first, viewing the change as an attempt by private companies to control daily life. Nevertheless, the system spread quickly, and in 1918 the United States government made the time zones official by law.
What does the author suggest about travel by horse?
AA. It was more dangerous than travel by train in that period.
BB. Its slow pace made small local time gaps unimportant.
CC. It was the main cause of scheduling errors.
DD. It ended when time zones were introduced.
Ver respuesta y explicación
Respuesta correcta: B. Its slow pace made small local time gaps unimportant.
Explicación
The author says local solar time "caused few problems when people traveled by horse" but created confusion once railroads connected distant cities. The implication is that horse travel was too slow for small differences of a few minutes to matter. (A) Danger is not compared. (C) Scheduling errors came with the railroads. (D) The passage never says horse travel ended.