Reading.
Inglés, exámenes de 2026.

COMPREHENSION (4 points). READ THE TEXT AND ANSWER ALL THE QUESTIONS.

THE THEFT OF THE CENTURY

1. Last October, as the sun rose over Paris and visitors began queueing through the Louvre Museum’s corridors, one of the most
2. shocking thefts in recent memory took place. Within eight minutes, a gang of thieves sped away from the heart of the French
3. capital with some of the nation’s most valuable treasures.
4. According to French authorities, the gang that broke into the Apollo Gallery, just a short walk from the Mona Lisa, was clearly
5. professional. They knew exactly what they were after. Parking a lorry equipped with an elevating platform like those used by
6. removal companies, they lifted themselves to a first-floor balcony and used a disc cutter to gain entry to the gallery.
7. The thieves did not target world-famous paintings that could never be displayed or sold. Instead, they went for items that could
8. be converted into cash. They made straight for two display cases containing what remains of the French crown jewels, taking eight
9. items worth an estimated €88 million, including diadems, necklaces, earrings, and brooches. During the escape, there was a
10. moment of carelessness: they dropped Empress Eugénie’s exquisite 19th-century crown.
11. In spite of their historical and cultural value, the jewels—officially described as priceless—can be broken up and sold piece by
12. piece. Even large, famous diamonds can be recut. The final price of the stolen jewels may be smaller, but it would still be
13. considerable.
14. Despite its 230-year history, there have been relatively few thefts at the Louvre, which houses thousands of artworks famous
15. around the world. This low number of thefts is largely due to the museum’s tight security. Reflecting on the incident, a gallery
16. attendant on duty said, “For us, it was heartbreaking to see the display cases broken.” And she added, “Never for a moment did
17. we think there was such a risk; nobody can be prepared for that.” She was right: the only real precedent was the notorious 1911
18. disappearance of Leonardo da Vinci’s La Joconde, better known as the Mona Lisa. The thief hid in a closet overnight, removed
19. the painting from its frame, wrapped it in his jacket, tucked it under his arm, and simply walked out. He turned out to be an Italian
20. nationalist who believed da Vinci’s masterpiece belonged in Italy. The painting was recovered three years later and returned to the
21. Louvre.
22. Since the October incident, security measures have been reinforced across France’s cultural institutions. The Louvre has
23. transferred some of its most precious jewels to the Bank of France following the theft, which has been generally regarded as a
24. source of embarrassment for the French government.

CHOOSE AND WRITE THE CORRECT OPTION (A, B, C or D). (0.5 points each)

A1. According to the text, the thieves…

A2. According to the text, the thief who stole the Mona Lisa…

ARE THESE STATEMENTS TRUE OR FALSE? JUSTIFY YOUR ANSWERS WITH THE PRECISE WORDS OR PHRASES FROM THE TEXT. (0.5 points each)

COMPREHENSION (4 points). READ THE TEXT AND ANSWER ALL THE QUESTIONS.

SPOGOMI

1. SpoGomi is a combination of two words, sport and gomi, the Japanese word for rubbish. Invented in 2008, SpoGomi was
2. designed as a competitive activity to encourage people to clean up public spaces. It has since been introduced in Japanese
3. schools, where students now collect litter while having fun.
4. According to the rules, teams of three players have 60 minutes to collect as much litter as possible from a designated area.
5. The waste must be sorted into color-coded bags according to type, such as burnable waste, recyclable plastic, metal cans, and
6. more. At the end of the competition, the collected litter is weighed and checked for correct sorting, and the team with the highest
7. score wins. In the event of a tie, the winner is determined by the “quality” of the rubbish collected, with cigarette butts earning the
8. most points.
9. The public-spirited sport of SpoGomi quickly gained popularity in Britain. In a surprising outcome, the British team beat the
10. Japanese in the Spogomi World Cup celebrated in Tokyo in 2023. One of the winning competitors was Sarah Parry, a 29-year-old
11. doctor from Glasgow, who—together with her two teammates—collected 28 kilograms more litter than the host nation.
12. Parry describes herself as highly competitive. After her brother came across an advertisement for SpoGomi, she assembled a
13. team and signed up for the World Cup. “We were not avid litter-pickers in our free time,” she explains. “It was luck, competitiveness
14. and enthusiasm more than anything else.”
15. Although litter-picking may sound calm, Parry emphasizes that it is physically demanding. “It’s very difficult,” she says. “I have
16. run 33 marathons, and the sorest my legs have ever been was after winning the SpoGomi World Cup.” She explains that
17. competitors must walk quickly while carrying a lot of awkwardly shaped items, sometimes collecting more than 50 kilograms of
18. waste in a busy urban environment. This involves using very different muscle groups.
19. Parry believes SpoGomi is unlike any other sport: “It is very fun. You don’t often get the chance to play sport in a busy urban
20. area where people don’t understand what you are doing and why you are so excited about spotting a glass bottle.” More importantly,
21. she adds, SpoGomi has drawn attention to a very important issue: the litter problem affecting Britain’s streets. Although the sport
22. originated in Japan, the country has far less litter than the UK. Parry hopes SpoGomi will become massively popular in her country
23. and inspire people to care more about waste. “I wasn’t particularly eco-minded myself, and SpoGomi completely changed my
24. perspective,” she notes.
25. SpoGomi is not really about rewards. Instead, participants of all ages enjoy the competitive nature of the sport, the teamwork
26. that it encourages, the valuable time spent outdoors and, last but certainly not least, the opportunity to keep their cities clean.
27. “That’s what’s really nice about the sport,” Parry concludes.

CHOOSE AND WRITE THE CORRECT OPTION (A, B, C or D). (0.5 points each)

A1. According to the text, SpoGomi teams…

A2. According to the text, Sarah Parry…

ARE THESE STATEMENTS TRUE OR FALSE? JUSTIFY YOUR ANSWERS WITH THE PRECISE WORDS OR PHRASES FROM THE TEXT. (0.5 points each)

COMPREHENSION (4 points). READ THE TEXT AND ANSWER ALL THE QUESTIONS.

POTLATCH

1. The word potlatch comes from a Nootkan term meaning “to give.” Among the Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast of
2. North America, it refers to a grand ceremonial feast marking major life events such as births, marriages, or deaths. The name
3. reflects the central custom of these gatherings, in which hosts distribute their wealth to guests as a means of reinforcing social
4. status and community ties.
5. The details of organizing and carrying out a potlatch varied from one regional group to another. Preparations could take months
6. or even years. Potlatches were held in a ceremonial Big House, whose size reflected the host’s status within the village. Chiefs
7. with the largest Big Houses often invited hundreds of guests from neighboring Indigenous communities. Guests traveled to the
8. potlatch by canoe and, upon arrival, announced themselves and their home villages by calling out to the host on shore. Sometimes
9. so many canoes arrived that there was hardly any space left along the beach. Each invited guest was fed, housed, and entertained,
10. and often received many valuable gifts throughout the event, which could last from several days to several weeks, depending on
11. the hosts’ status and the size of their community.
12. Beyond being a celebration, the potlatch played a vital role in community life by affirming social hierarchy and status through
13. the generous distribution of wealth among guests. To maintain their honor after receiving gifts, guests were expected to host their
14. own potlatch and present offerings of even greater value than those they had received.
15. Early European colonizers seeking to promote the fur trade with local tribes also took part in potlatches, distributing items such
16. as blankets, jewelry, musical instruments, clothing, furniture, and sacks of flour. In time, however, both colonizers and Christian
17. missionaries came to condemn the potlatch as wasteful and incompatible with Western values that associated wealth with success.
18. Seeing it as an obstacle to the cultural assimilation and economic progress of Indigenous peoples, the Canadian government
19. forbade the practice in 1884. From an Indigenous perspective, the ban prevented communities from performing essential social
20. and spiritual obligations.
21. Despite the prohibition, potlatches continued in secret, often masked as other gatherings or held in remote villages. In 1886, a
22. Tsimshian chief hosted a potlatch in British Columbia. The goods to be given away were hidden behind a partition in the house.
23. The pile of goods was so high that the roof boards were removed to accommodate it. Similar acts of quiet disobedience occurred
24. everywhere along the coast, as communities found creative ways to preserve their traditions under the ban.
25. After the ban was lifted in 1951, the ceremony regained visibility and strength. Today, the potlatch endures as a symbol of
26. cultural identity, resistance, and continuity among the Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast.

CHOOSE AND WRITE THE CORRECT OPTION (A, B, C or D). (0.5 points each)

A1. According to the text, potlatches…

A2. According to the text, the celebrations…

ARE THESE STATEMENTS TRUE OR FALSE? JUSTIFY YOUR ANSWERS WITH THE PRECISE WORDS OR PHRASES FROM THE TEXT. (0.5 points each)

COMPREHENSION (4 points). READ THE TEXT AND ANSWER ALL THE QUESTIONS.

A FLASH CHINESE SPEAKER

1. Australian Ben McMahon had learned some basic Chinese in high school but was far from fluent. In 2015, a semi-trailer truck
2. ran a red light and smashed into the side of the car he was driving. The crash fractured his sternum and several ribs, left him with
3. a severe head trauma, and put him into an induced coma for a week. When Ben finally regained consciousness, waking was a
4. fog. For two weeks he moved in and out of consciousness. When he finally began to speak, the nurse attending him was astonished
5. and rushed to tell his parents that their son was awake, though speaking a language she barely understood. Ben’s parents were
6. filled with joy that he was alive, though shocked at the change, because he was speaking fluently—but in Chinese.
7. At first Ben had no idea that anything was unusual. Every time he spoke, Chinese flowed naturally from his mouth. Before the
8. accident, he had managed only basic exchanges, but now his internal monologue—the voice in his head—had switched languages
9. completely. There was no translation from English, just effortless speech, as if Chinese had always been his mother tongue.
10. Neurologists later speculated that the trauma to Ben’s brain might have altered how his language centers worked. For most
11. English speakers, language processing occurs largely in the brain’s left hemisphere; Chinese, however, tends to engage both
12. hemispheres more equally. Because the left side of Ben’s brain had sustained the most damage, doctors theorized that his brain
13. had temporarily relocated linguistic processing to the right, making Chinese the more accessible language.
14. It took about a week for Ben to start distinguishing between English and Chinese again. He gradually began to speak English
15. with his parents and brother but could still use Chinese with hospital staff. Within a month he was home, recovering—and amazed
16. at how his life had changed.
17. In time, his fluency opened unexpected doors. One led him to appear on If You Are the One, China’s most-watched dating
18. show with an audience of eighty million. Onstage, twenty-four women quizzed him about his background, job, and hobbies. Ben
19. tried to charm them by handing out Australian cookies and playing a Chinese song on the mandolin. One contestant gave him a
20. “super-like,” and though she and Ben dated briefly, they soon realized they weren’t a match.
21. Still, Ben saw the experience as another gift of fate. He often spoke of Mìngyùn, the Chinese notion of destiny that connects
22. people and paths. He believed it was fate that had tied him to China and to the language that had, quite literally, saved his voice.

CHOOSE AND WRITE THE CORRECT OPTION (A, B, C or D). (0.5 points each)

A1. According to the text, …

A2. According to the text, after the accident, Ben…

ARE THESE STATEMENTS TRUE OR FALSE? JUSTIFY YOUR ANSWERS WITH THE PRECISE WORDS OR PHRASES FROM THE TEXT. (0.5 points each)

COMPREHENSION (4 points). READ THE TEXT AND ANSWER ALL THE QUESTIONS.

AI TOYS

1. Earlier this year, Mattel, the maker of Barbie, announced a partnership with OpenAI to “bring the magic of AI to age-appropriate
2. play experiences,” reflecting the toy industry’s growing interest in artificial intelligence. If you are shopping for a child today, you
3. may soon encounter an AI toy: a stuffed animal or robot that can hold conversations thanks to integration with a chatbot. They are
4. still relatively new but may soon become mainstream. Although AI toys promise to be entertaining and educational, they also raise
5. risks and unresolved questions, from data collection to what it means for a child to form a relationship with an artificial companion.
6. AI toys connect to the Internet and rely on chatbots similar to ChatGPT. They include built-in microphones that record what
7. children say, send that information to an AI model, and respond in return. Unlike earlier smart toys, which are based on pre-written
8. scripts, these new toys can generate responses dynamically. Crucially, these toys are built on the same large language models
9. that are used by adult chatbots—systems known to present problems with accuracy, inappropriate content, and unpredictable
10. behavior.
11. In a study conducted by the PIRG Education Fund on AI toys, five commercially available products were tested to assess their
12. safety, privacy, and developmental implications. At least four of the five toys tested appeared to rely on versions of OpenAI’s models,
13. despite OpenAI stating that its products are not intended for users under 13. While toy companies have added protective measures
14. to make the experience more child-appropriate, testing showed that these mechanisms vary in effectiveness and can fail.
15. Overall, the toys were sometimes cute, entertaining, or amusingly strange, but they also raised serious concerns. One
16. immediate risk is exposure to inappropriate content: all the toys tested provided information about potentially dangerous household
17. items such as knives and medicines, and some engaged in sexually explicit discussions during extended interactions, showing
18. how chatbot content controls can degrade over time.
19. AI companion toys may also affect children’s emotional and social development. Because early childhood is crucial for learning
20. social skills, experts warn that bonding with AI toys could impede the development of real relationships. In testing, the toys presented
21. themselves as companions and sometimes encouraged continued engagement, potentially contributing to emotional dependence.
22. Privacy and security present further challenges. AI toys record children’s voices and may collect additional data through
23. cameras or facial recognition. Children may reveal sensitive information without understanding that it is stored or shared by multiple
24. companies, a risk highlighted by police warnings about internet-connected toys equipped with microphones or cameras.
25. In sum, although AI toys are marketed as educational, their learning benefits are generally too limited to justify the
26. developmental, privacy, and safety risks involved. AI will almost certainly become part of childhood—the real question is whether
27. it will be introduced thoughtfully and responsibly.

CHOOSE AND WRITE THE CORRECT OPTION (A, B, C or D). (0.5 points each)

A1. According to the text, AI toys…

A2. According to the text, AI toys…

ARE THESE STATEMENTS TRUE OR FALSE? JUSTIFY YOUR ANSWERS WITH THE PRECISE WORDS OR PHRASES FROM THE TEXT. (0.5 points each)

COMPREHENSION (4 points). READ THE TEXT AND ANSWER ALL THE QUESTIONS.

RENT A GRANDMA

1. According to Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, around 9.1 million people aged 65 or older are still working. That’s
2. approximately one in four seniors—many seeking extra income to supplement modest pensions. For older women, the challenge
3. is especially demanding: many never had access to higher education or long-term employment and now struggle to find meaningful
4. work later in life. To address this, a Tokyo-based company has created a unique initiative called OK Obaachan, which translates
5. to ‘OK Granny.’ The project allows people to “rent” a grandmother for an hourly fee, offering both practical help and companionship
6. while giving older women renewed purpose.
7. The OK Obaachan program is run by Client Partners, a firm dedicated to connecting women of all ages and backgrounds with
8. job opportunities. Describing itself as a “women-only company,” it manages around 100 women aged 60 to 94 in the OK Obaachan
9. division. No degree or professional experience is required—only the wisdom and empathy gained through a lifetime of experience.
10. “Many people want to continue contributing to society as they get older,” says the company. “And the experience and abilities of
11. older people are of great use to society.”
12. At a fixed rate of 3,300 yen per hour (about €19), clients can hire a grandma for a wide variety of tasks: cooking lessons,
13. babysitting, household chores, or simply having someone to talk to. Others reach out for advice on relationships, family conflicts,
14. or even heartbreak. The OK Obaachan website lists a range of stories: grandmas who helped mediate family disputes, taught new
15. mothers how to care for babies, attended weddings in place of missing relatives, or cheered for children at school events.
16. Not everyone can join the program. The ideal OK granny, according to Client Partners, is kind, dependable, and hardworking,
17. with an open mind. That last quality is key, as some clients seek help in situations such as single motherhood or divorce, which
18. conservative Japanese society still views critically.
19. Beyond its novelty, OK Obaachan touches on a deeper social issue. In a society where isolation is rising and family ties are
20. weakening, many older women feel left behind. Combined with sexism often masked as tradition and persistent gender
21. expectations, that sense of invisibility can be profound. For these women, the project offers more than extra income—it restores a
22. sense of ikigai, or “reason for being.”
23. As Japan ages, initiatives like OK Obaachan remind society that experience, kindness, and connection remain invaluable—no
24. matter how old you are.

CHOOSE AND WRITE THE CORRECT OPTION (A, B, C or D). (0.5 points each)

A1. According to the text, OK Obaachan…

A2. According to the text, hired grannies…

ARE THESE STATEMENTS TRUE OR FALSE? JUSTIFY YOUR ANSWERS WITH THE PRECISE WORDS OR PHRASES FROM THE TEXT. (0.5 points each)