This document contains an English mid-term test for a student named Mark. The test has two sections - a listening comprehension section with tasks about a conversation between a modern couple, and a reading comprehension section about dual career couples where one partner stays home. The reading comprehension section discusses how when the roles are reversed from traditional norms, with the wife working and the husband staying home, both partners can feel resentments. Resentments in the breadwinning wives may stem from feeling like they have to still do household tasks, while househusbands adjusting to their new domestic roles may resent direction from their wives. Couples must recognize how feelings often say more about one's own insecurities than about the partner.

1. CURSO DE ACREDITACIÓN DE LOS APRENDIZAJES DE INGLÉS
ENGLISH MID-TERM TEST – NOVEMBER 2008
Name: MARK
CLE / HIGHSCHOOL: WRITTEN TEST: / 50
LISTENING COMPREHENSION –
- The Gender Gap -
1. Listen to the following modern couple called Tracey and Jack and do the following
task.- Who mentions each activity?
 Making dinner _____________
 Seeing the match _____________
 Doing the washing _____________
 Working at the office _____________
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2. Now, listen again and say if these statements are true (T) or
false (F)
 Tracey enjoys watching football on the telly ____
 Jack works at home ____
 They end up going out together ____
/
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2. Now, read the following passage and do the exercises that follow
Two People, One Breadwinner
When one partner works and the other stays home, resentments may fester. Here's how to find
an equitable solution.
By: Deborah Siegel Ph.D.
When Lisa Allen and her family moved to Kenya, she stayed
home with her two young children while her husband, John,
guided safaris. Five years later, they moved back to the
States, and she returned to work while John—who'd lost his
job - stayed home with the kids.
While dual-career couples are the norm today, professional
couples who can afford to have one partner stay home,
usually after the children are born, no longer automatically
assume that person will be Mom. This can lead to multiple
formulas for resentment. Breadwinner wives - still often expected by their mates to act as social
director, housekeeper, and meal planner - resent husbands who are lax about household upkeep.
Meanwhile, househusbands adjusting to their new domestic roles often resent wives who tell them
what to do.
3. Choose the right alternative and circle the appropriate letter (a , b, c) to these
ideas.
 Lisa Allen and her husband a) have always lived in Kenya, b) have lived in the USA for five
years, c) moved to Kenya for work reasons.
 While living in the States Lisa a) worked at home , b) stayed home, c) was the breadwinner.
 In modern couples nowadays a) both men and women work , b) only men work , c) only
women work .
 Moms nowadays are a) considered the right person to stay home with the children, b) no
longer considered responsible for doing the housework, c) expected to work and take care of
the children . /4
4. Complete with one word
 In Kenya, Lisa took care of her __________________.
 Back in the USA John lost his _________________.
 ________________expect their wives to perform different tasks.
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3. Now, continue reading …
Anger, jealousy, and even resentment are natural in any relationship—and at times even helpful. But
feelings are signals that convey important information. At-home partners who envy working spouses
may be feeling insecure about their own loss of professional identity. Meanwhile, breadwinners may
feel resentful of at-home partners because they hate their jobs. In some cases, the negativity you feel
toward your partner is not as much about your partner as it is about your own choices…
5. a) Find the opposites of these words
 helpless ______________________
 at work ______________________
 secure ______________________
 love ______________________
 little ______________________ / 5
b) Next, find words or expressions which correspond to these definitions
 a feeling of wishing you had something others have _________________
 the members of the couple who do not work _________________
 formal for husbands / wives _________________
 the ones who bring home the money _________________
 in the direction of _________________
/ 5
6. a) To continue the article, fill the blanks with the appropriate words
Self-esteem _______________ (can be affected-can affect–can be affecting) by societal
expectations, infecting even in __________ (this-those-that) couples who consider themselves the
__________ (less-little-least) susceptible. When breadwinner wives envy or resent stay-at-home
husbands, experts say that they ___________ (are often projected- is often projecting – are often
projecting) deep-seated feelings of guilt about ____________ (his-her-their) own absence from
their ___________ (child´s-children´s-childrens´) daily lives.
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4. b. To finish the article, match the beginnings of these sentences with their ends
1. No one had ever before acknowledged that ___
2. Conversely, if dads stayed home, they ___
3. We are in a society that draws a line between ___
4. Couples must learn to recognize ___
a) that the two arenas are interconnected.
b) working women could be good moms,
taking care of their children, by working.
c) professional contributions and domestic ones.
d) would envy or resent their breadwinning wives.
/4
Adapted from Psychology Today Magazine, Jul/Aug 2007
Last Reviewed 5 Sep 2007
Article ID: 4372
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5. 7. Finally, write your reaction to ONE of the following entries to the blog in no more than a
100 words:
Blog´s name: ―Women in the 21st Century”
a. ― Not many people accept that working women can be good mothers‖
b. ― When the man in a couple is not the breadwinner, he feels less masculine‖ / 13
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