Ejemplo Prueba de acceso tipo Bachillerato, modelo anterior al año 2001
An Activity sent by Paco Acuña

CALENDARS

Calendars may be considered systems for dividing time into manageable calendar periods for life's activities. The Ancient Egyptian was among the first, and became the basis for the Roman Julian Calendar used in much of Europe for over 1,500 years. This was superseded by the more accurate Gregorian Calendar. The word calendar comes from the latin "calendae", the beginning of Roman months, when proclamations of markets and festivals were made.

Most calendars have the day as their basis, which has not always been counted from midnight to midnight, as at present. The day's 24 hours and the week's seven days are artificial time divisions. The year, the time taken by the Earth to orbit the Sun, is measured in several ways. The common year of approximately 365.25 days is incompatible with the "lunar" month -of over 29 days-, twelve of which make more than 354 days, 11 short of the year we know; neither are exactly divisible by the length of the day. A calendar that keeps step with the Moon's phases must have days added at intervals; a common example is the extra day given to February every fourth year.

1. What is the use of calendars ?
2. What is the Gregorian Calendar based on ?
3. Why does February have an extra day every four years ?

VOCABULARY (0.5 point each)

1. a) Find synonyms to these words: controlled, exact.

b) Find antonyms to these words: noon, natural.

2. a) Find in the text a word that means "religious or pagan celebration"

b) Explain in your own words the meaning of "keep step with" (lines 17 & 18)

GRAMMAR (1 point each)

Complete each sentence in such a way that it means the same as the sentence before it.

a) I last had a tooth out about a year ago.

It has ...

b) This holiday has been a disaster.

I wish ...

COMPOSITION (3 points)

Write a composition of around 100 words on one of these topics:

a) What is for you the best time of day ?
b) What is for you the best season or month of year ?

  
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