Modelo 2 · B2 First: Use of English completo (partes 1 a 4)

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Segundo examen completo de Use of English con el formato del B2 First: textos nuevos, las cuatro partes seguidas y treinta preguntas. Se corrige solo aquí y te lo puedes descargar en PDF, con soluciones o sin ellas.

Parte 1 · Multiple choice cloze

Elige la palabra que encaja en cada hueco. Ocho preguntas, un punto cada una.

The bookshop with no bestsellers

Elena Rius opened her bookshop in 2014 with one rule: she would not (1) ___ a single copy of anything on the bestseller lists. Friends warned her that she was (2) ___ a serious risk with her savings.

Ten years later the shop is still there. It (3) ___ out that a small shop cannot compete with supermarkets on price, so competing on choice is not bravery but common (4) ___ . Customers who want the book everybody is reading can buy it for half the price at the station; customers who come to Elena are (5) ___ something they cannot name yet.

The method is simple and slow. She reads, she writes a card by hand for every title on the front table, and she (6) ___ track of what each regular customer has enjoyed. Nothing (7) ___ on that table for more than a month. The shop makes a modest profit, which she says was always the (8) ___ .

  1. 1. she would not ___ a single copystockownsaveplacestock. Stock como verbo es tener algo a la venta en una tienda. Own es poseer y save es guardar, y ninguna de las dos dice nada sobre vender.
  2. 2. she was ___ a serious riskhavingtakingdoingmakingtaking. Take a risk es correr un riesgo. Con make la expresión no existe, aunque en español digamos hacer una apuesta.
  3. 3. It ___ out that a small shop cannot compete on priceworkscomesfindsturnsturns. It turns out that es resulta que. Ojo con work out, que significa salir bien o calcular, no descubrir un hecho.
  4. 4. not bravery but common ___thingmattersensefeelingsense. Common sense es el sentido común, y va siempre con esas dos palabras juntas y sin artículo.
  5. 5. customers who come to Elena are ___ something they cannot name yetsearchingkeenlookingafterafter. Be after something es ir buscando algo. Looking y searching harían falta con for detrás, y ese for no está.
  6. 6. she ___ track of what each customer has enjoyedkeepsmakestakesholdskeeps. Keep track of es llevar la cuenta de algo a lo largo del tiempo. Con lose tendrías la expresión contraria, lose track of.
  7. 7. Nothing ___ on that table for more than a monthholdskeepsstayslastsstays. Stay es permanecer en un sitio. Last hablaría de que algo dura antes de estropearse, que no es lo que pasa con los libros de una mesa.
  8. 8. a modest profit, which she says was always the ___mattercasereasonpointpoint. The point es el objetivo o la razón de ser de algo: era justo lo que buscaba. The case serviría para decir que algo es cierto, no para un propósito.

Parte 2 · Open cloze (una palabra en cada hueco)

Escribe UNA sola palabra en cada hueco. Ocho preguntas, un punto cada una.

Why we remember bad holidays

Ask somebody about their best holiday and you will get a list. Ask (9) their worst and you will get a story. There is a reason (10) this, and it has very little to do with pessimism.

A holiday that goes according (11) plan produces no surprises, and memory is built almost entirely out of surprises. The week in which nothing happened is stored (12) a single pleasant impression; the week in which the car broke down twice is stored as a sequence, because each thing that went wrong had to be dealt (13) separately.

This is also why the bad holiday improves with time. (14) it was happening, it was a series of problems. Years later, it is the only holiday anybody (15) the family can still describe in detail, and detail is what makes a story worth telling. Nobody has ever asked to hear about a week during (16) everything worked.

  1. 9. Ask ___ their worstabout. Ask somebody about something es preguntar por un tema. Se repite la estructura de la frase anterior, que ya trae ask somebody about their best holiday.
  2. 10. There is a reason ___ thisfor. A reason for something. Si detrás hubiera una frase entera, sería a reason why, pero aquí solo hay un pronombre.
  3. 11. a holiday that goes according ___ planto. According to plan es salir según lo previsto. La preposición no cambia nunca en esta expresión.
  4. 12. is stored ___ a single pleasant impressionas. Store something as es guardarlo en forma de algo. La confirmación está unas líneas más abajo: is stored as a sequence.
  5. 13. had to be dealt ___ separatelywith. Deal with es ocuparse de algo, y en pasiva la preposición se queda al final. Es uno de los huecos más repetidos del open cloze.
  6. 14. ___ it was happening, it was a series of problemsWhile. Marca el contraste entre el momento en que ocurría y los años posteriores. When valdría gramaticalmente, pero while es lo que pide el contraste con years later.
  7. 15. the only holiday anybody ___ the family can still describein. Anybody in the family es cualquiera de la familia. Of pediría un cuantificador delante, como any of the family.
  8. 16. a week during ___ everything workedwhich. Detrás de una preposición, el relativo es which para cosas, nunca that. During which equivale a en el que.

Parte 3 · Word formation

Escribe la palabra que falta, formada a partir de la palabra en mayúsculas. Ocho preguntas, un punto cada una.

The shop assistant who knows everything

There is a particular kind of (17) ___ (KNOW) that cannot be looked up. The woman in the hardware shop who identifies your broken part in four seconds has had no formal (18) ___ (TRAIN) at all; she has simply seen it eleven thousand times.

This sort of expertise is (19) ___ (SURPRISE) hard to replace. A website can list every screw ever made, but it cannot ask you what the thing is for, and it is that question, rather than the (20) ___ (DESCRIBE) you gave, that finds the answer.

The shops that survive tend to be the ones that understood this early. Their (21) ___ (STRONG) is not price but the fifteen seconds of conversation that save you a wasted afternoon. The (22) ___ (LOSE) of those shops is usually called (23) ___ (AVOID), which may well be true, and unimportant, which (24) ___ (CERTAIN) is not.

  1. 17. a particular kind of ___ (KNOW)knowledge. Detrás de kind of va un sustantivo, y el de know es knowledge, incontable. Por eso no lleva artículo ni plural.
  2. 18. has had no formal ___ (TRAIN) at alltraining. Sustantivo incontable formado con -ing. El adjetivo formal delante ya te avisa de que falta un sustantivo.
  3. 19. This sort of expertise is ___ (SURPRISE) hard to replacesurprisingly. Modifica al adjetivo hard, así que hace falta adverbio: adjetivo en -ing más -ly.
  4. 20. rather than the ___ (DESCRIBE) you gavedescription. El artículo the pide sustantivo. Fíjate en que describe pierde la e final: description, no describtion.
  5. 21. Their ___ (STRONG) is not pricestrength. Es el sujeto de is, así que sustantivo. De strong sale strength, igual que de long sale length.
  6. 22. The ___ (LOSE) of those shopsloss. El sustantivo de lose es loss, con dos eses. Lost es participio y loose es un adjetivo distinto que significa suelto.
  7. 23. is usually called ___ (AVOID)unavoidable. De avoid sale el adjetivo avoidable, y el contexto pide lo contrario: se dice que el cierre de esas tiendas no se podía evitar. Por eso el prefijo un-.
  8. 24. and unimportant, which ___ (CERTAIN) is notcertainly. Acompaña al verbo, así que adverbio. Aquí refuerza la negación: desde luego que no.

Parte 4 · Key word transformation

Completa la segunda frase con entre dos y cinco palabras, usando la palabra en mayúsculas sin cambiarla. Seis preguntas, dos puntos cada una.

  1. 25. The last time I saw Marcos was in 2019. SEEN
    I ___ since 2019.have not seen Marcos. Cuatro palabras. Since marca un periodo que llega hasta hoy, así que present perfect. En negativo, el pasado simple no puede ir con since.
  2. 26. At first I found it strange to work at night. USED
    At first I ___ at night.was not used to working. Cinco palabras. Be used to significa estar acostumbrado y lleva -ing detrás, porque ese to es preposición, no infinitivo.
  3. 27. If you do not book now, there will be no seats left. UNLESS
    There will be no seats left ___ now.unless you book. Tres palabras. Unless ya significa si no, así que el verbo va en afirmativo. Poner unless you do not book es el error típico.
  4. 28. Would you be willing to close the window? MIND
    Would you ___ , please?mind closing the window. Cuatro palabras. Would you mind lleva siempre -ing. Y ojo: para aceptar se contesta not at all, porque la pregunta es literalmente si te importa.
  5. 29. It was a mistake to lend him the car. SHOULD
    I ___ him the car.should not have lent. Cuatro palabras. Should not have más participio es el arrepentimiento sobre algo que sí se hizo. El participio de lend es lent.
  6. 30. Marta is a better cook than I am. AS
    I ___ Marta.cannot cook as well as. Cinco palabras. La comparación de igualdad en negativo es not as… as, y como comparamos cómo se cocina, hace falta el adverbio well, no el adjetivo good.

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