SELECTIVIDAD 11 - 15 MAYO: “The woman who changed the course of British royal history”

On an autumn day in 1931, a woman sits on a train to Leicestershire going to spend the weekend at a hunt. Prince Edward, the blond, blue-eyed heir to the throne, will be there. She has never met him and knows nothing about hunting. At 35, she isn’t young or beautiful. Divorced once, her second husband travels with her. She is worried about royal etiquette. Wallis needn’t have worried about making an impression. That day she stole the Prince’s heart and, soon after being crowned, King Edward VIII abdicated – all because of her. Everybody wondered: “how did she do it?” Who was Wallis Simpson? Born in the USA, she came from a family of businessmen and her father died when she was a baby. She and her mother depended on the charity of a cruel uncle. Her mum did small jobs to earn some money. Her disadvantaged childhood explains her lifelong obsession with being rich. With her second husband, she moved to England in 1928 and they presented themselves to London society. Three years later, she met the Prince. Edward fell madly in love with her, and their affair began while she was still married, to the horror of Edward’s parents. In January 1936, George V died and Edward became king. The following December he abdicated as he wasn’t allowed to marry a divorcee. He then married Wallis. None of the royal family attended. He explained the reasons for his abdication: he couldn’t fulfill his duties without the support of the woman he loved. They lived an empty life of luxury in Paris, but did she truly love the Prince?


I * COMPREHENSION (4 points: questions 1-3, 1 point each; 4-5, 0.5 points each) ANSWER QUESTIONS 1-3 ACCORDING TO THE INFORMATION GIVEN IN THE TEXT. USE YOUR OWN WORDS.
1. How did Wallis and Edward meet?
2. Did she feel confident about meeting the Prince? Why?
3. Why did Edward decide to abdicate?
ARE THESE STATEMENTS TRUE OR FALSE? JUSTIFY YOUR ANSWERS WITH THE PRECISE WORDS OR PHRASES FROM THE TEXT, OR USE YOUR OWN WORDS.
4. Wallis lived in poverty when she was a child.
5. Edward’s closest relatives went to the marriage ceremony.
II * USE OF ENGLISH (3 points; questions 6-9, 0.25 points each; 10-13, 0.5 points each)
6. FIND IN THE TEXT ONE SYNONYM FOR “fair” (adjective).
7. GIVE AN ADJECTIVE WITH THE SAME ROOT AS “reason” (noun).
8. FIND IN THE TEXT ONE WORD MEANING “to be present at.”
9. FILL IN THE GAP WITH A CORRECT PREPOSITION: Edward’s happiness depended …. his marriage to Wallis.
10. TURN THE FOLLOWING SENTENCE INTO THE PASSIVE VOICE: “People believed Wallis was worried about royal etiquette.”
11. JOIN THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES USING AN APPROPRIATE LINKER (DO NOT USE AND, BUT, OR BECAUSE). MAKE CHANGES IF NECESSARY: She was not young or beautiful. The Prince fell in love with her.
12. GIVE A QUESTION FOR THE UNDERLINED WORDS: Her father died when she was five months old.
13. JOIN THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES USING A RELATIVE PRONOUN. MAKE CHANGES IF NECESSARY: Wallis wanted to have a life of luxury. She was very poor as a child. III * PRODUCTION (3 points)
14. WRITE A COMPOSITION OF APPROXIMATELY 120 WORDS ABOUT THE TOPIC PROPOSED. YOU MUST FOCUS STRICTLY ON IT: What do you think are the most important things in life? Why?