Ministerul Educaţiei, Cercetării şi Tineretului

Centrul Naţional pentru Curriculum şi Evaluare în Învăţământul Preuniversitar

Examenul de bacalaureat 2008

Proba E/F
Proba scrisă la Limba engleză
L1 normal – L2

• Toate subiectele sunt obligatorii. Se acordă 10 puncte din oficiu.

• Timpul efectiv de lucru este de 3 ore.

SUBIECTUL I (30 puncte) Varianta 044

Read the text below and complete the following tasks.

The British, in particular a sizeable percentage of the population, have regrouped into a
complex and curious web of the alternative cultures, the tribes of Britain. … (1) Punk Singer Nick
Reynolds says: ‘The clothes we wear are not normal. Dirty leather, chains, tattoos. Tribes used to
paint themselves to frighten the enemy away and survive. That’s what we’re doing. And the
chains? They say it’s a free country, but we might as well be in chains.’
Unemployment in Britain is currently 13.3%, yet for the 7.5 million Britons between the ages of
16 and 24, the rate is 16%. … (2) The continuing stagnation of the British economy has convinced
many of them that they will never have a place in the working world and that they are facing a life
on the dole. … (3) Those environments have helped produce a generation of alienated youths who
have turned to tribalism to give their lives meaning.
Working-class teenagers are especially attracted to the tribes. … (4) Author Peter York, an
expert on the new tribes, says: ‘What they are saying about the future is that there is no future.
Britain marching into the past is what this is all about. We now have a terribly divided and
fragmented nation.”
on the dole = living on money from the government because of unemployment

1. Four sentences have been removed. Select the appropriate sentence for each gap in the
text. There is one extra sentence that does not fit. 4 points

A. These promises were taken seriously.

B. For them, Britain’s rigid class system poses a formidable barrier.
C. It is these jobless young people who are most likely to identify with a tribe.
D. At the same time, postwar urban renewal has left many British cities and towns sterile and
featureless.
E. The ornamentation of the new tribes is shocking.

2. Who/What do the following words refer to? 6 points

3. Match the following words with their meaning. 10 points

1) sizeable 2) frighten away 3) unemployment 4) stagnation 5) alienated

A. a situation in which s.o. or a lot of people do not have

B. fairly large
C. a period of little or no economic growth
D. feeling that you do not belong in a particular society, place, or group
E. make a person or animal so afraid that they run away

4. Answer the following questions. 6 points

A. Why does the writer think the ornamentation of the new tribes is shocking?
B. Who is most likely to indentify with a tribe?
C. According to the writer, can British people who were born into a working-class family, move
upwards socially?
 Ministerul Educaţiei, Cercetării şi Tineretului
Centrul Naţional pentru Curriculum şi Evaluare în Învăţământul Preuniversitar

5. In your own words, explain the following statement: It’s a free country, but we might as well
be in chains. (50 words) 4 points