Question

OPTION B WHY THE BRITISH DRIVE ON THE LEFT

1 About a quarter of the world drives on the left, and there is a perfectly good reason for it. Up to the late 1700s,
2 everybody travelled on the left side of the road. In violent societies of mostly right-handed people, this seemed the
3 sensible option because, when you passed a stranger on the road, you walked on the left to ensure that your
4 protective sword arm was between yourself and them.
5 However, a change was introduced all over continental Europe by Napoleon, who was left-handed. He made his
6 armies march on the right in order that he could keep his sword arm between him and any opponent. From then on,
7 any part of the world which was at some time part of the British Empire was thus left hand, and any part colonised by
8 the French was right hand. When the USA adopted the drive-on-the-right policy, it began to manufacture only right-
9 hand-drive cars, so many countries changed out of necessity.
10 The last European country to convert to driving on the right was Sweden in 1967. As everyone in Sweden was
11 getting used to the new system, they paid more attention and took more care, resulting in a reduction of the number
12 of road accident casualties. Even so, since September 2009 Samoa drives on the left instead of the right. The main
13 reason for this is that they want to use cars from Japan and New Zealand, both of which drive on the left.
14 Today, European countries would like Britain to follow the rest of Europe, but this is not easy, since it would cost
15 billions of pounds to change everything round.

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

3. In ancient times, walking on the left was a matter of safety.
4. Napoleon’s armies did not march on the left because he was left-handed.
5. Sweden reduced the number of accidents because driving on the right is safer.
6. Samoa is one of the countries which have always driven on the left.

Prueba de Selectividad, Andalucia, Septiembre 2015-2016 (Suplementario), INGLES

Answer 1

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

3. In ancient times, walking on the left was a matter of safety.

True. As said on the text:  “In violent societies of mostly right-handed people, this seemed the sensible option because, when you passed a stranger on the road, you walked on the left to ensure that your protective sword arm was between yourself and them”.


4. Napoleon’s armies did not march on the left because he was left-handed.

True. As said on the text: “...Napoleon, who was left-handed. He made his armies march on the right in order that he could keep his sword arm between him and any opponent”.


5. Sweden reduced the number of accidents because driving on the right is safer.

True.  After adopting this way of driving, they realized it reduced car accidents: ”...they paid more attention and took more care, resulting in a reduction of the number of road accident casualties”.


6. Samoa is one of the countries which have always driven on the left.

False. They recently adopted this way of driving: “since September 2009 Samoa drives on the left instead of the right”.


Prueba de Selectividad, Andalucía, Septiembre 2015-2016 (Suplementario). Inglés