PAU. travel of marco polo
Clasificado en Inglés
Escrito el en 
español con un tamaño de 3,47 KB
5. a) It is not easy to choose a historical period to live in, as I think that all of them can be very appealing but at the same time they all have many drawbacks. But if I had to choose an attractive age to live in, I would probably like to experience the exciting events taking place in America in the early nineteenth century. It was a time when America had recently achieved independence from the British Empire and it must have been an age of captivating changes, when new political, economic, and social decisions were being taken. It was a time of exceeding political figures like Thomas Jefferson or Abraham Lincoln, and of extraordinary writers, such as Walt Whitman or Herman Melville. Like them, ordinary people had to take their initiative and start new projects so as not to be left behind at a time of transition.
b) There are many examples of travel books that have been turned into literary masterpieces as well as popular bestsellers. Books like Gulliver´s Travels or Around the World in Eighty Days have been read by generations of readers worldwide. However, I think that travel books are not so popular today as they used to be in the past. It seems to me that most of the books that are bestsellers in the bookshops do not deal with travels. I believe that one reason for this is that foreign countries seem more familiar and accessible now than a few centuries ago. Both because of television, internet and the fact that travelling abroad is more widespread nowadays than in the past, modern readers do not need to read stories about faraway places but can visit them instead. I really believe that modern readers prefer travelling to reading about travels. Or at least, that is my case.
1. A) FALSE "The Travels of Marco Polo was a book conceived in a prison cell in Geona (Italy) in 1298..."
2. B) FALSE "But much of what Polo wrote, regarded with suspicion in medieval times, was confirmed by travellers of the 18th and 19th centuries, and most of the detail has since been corroborated by historians and geographers"
2. A) According to the text, the Middle Ages were not a very prosperous period for Europeans, who had to undergo countless wars. Most of its leaders were unscrupulous and incompetent and the social conditions they lived in were not very favourable either. Europeans suffered health problems like the Black Death, hunger and poor hygienic conditions
3. B) Marco Polo´s attitude was important because at the time prejudice towards foreign cultures was common in Europe and his accounts show how he praised the different races, places, nature and customs that he came across with
3. A) account B) Grim C) alien D) common
4. 4. A) who/was B) was governed/(ruled/was ruling) C) with/whose D) Marco Polo said that he had only told half of what he had seen
b) There are many examples of travel books that have been turned into literary masterpieces as well as popular bestsellers. Books like Gulliver´s Travels or Around the World in Eighty Days have been read by generations of readers worldwide. However, I think that travel books are not so popular today as they used to be in the past. It seems to me that most of the books that are bestsellers in the bookshops do not deal with travels. I believe that one reason for this is that foreign countries seem more familiar and accessible now than a few centuries ago. Both because of television, internet and the fact that travelling abroad is more widespread nowadays than in the past, modern readers do not need to read stories about faraway places but can visit them instead. I really believe that modern readers prefer travelling to reading about travels. Or at least, that is my case.
1. A) FALSE "The Travels of Marco Polo was a book conceived in a prison cell in Geona (Italy) in 1298..."
2. B) FALSE "But much of what Polo wrote, regarded with suspicion in medieval times, was confirmed by travellers of the 18th and 19th centuries, and most of the detail has since been corroborated by historians and geographers"
2. A) According to the text, the Middle Ages were not a very prosperous period for Europeans, who had to undergo countless wars. Most of its leaders were unscrupulous and incompetent and the social conditions they lived in were not very favourable either. Europeans suffered health problems like the Black Death, hunger and poor hygienic conditions
3. B) Marco Polo´s attitude was important because at the time prejudice towards foreign cultures was common in Europe and his accounts show how he praised the different races, places, nature and customs that he came across with
3. A) account B) Grim C) alien D) common
4. 4. A) who/was B) was governed/(ruled/was ruling) C) with/whose D) Marco Polo said that he had only told half of what he had seen