BTS INFORMATIQUE DE GESTION

Session 2002

E1.2 : LANGUE ANGLAISE APPLIQUE LINFORMATIQUE ET LA GESTION (partie crite)

Dure : 2 heures Lusage dun dictionnaire bilingue est autoris. Les calculatrices sont interdites. Coefficient : 2

WHAT THE INTERNET CANNOT DO.

1 The wildest optimism has greeted the Internet. A whole industry of cybergurus has enthralled audiences (and made a fine living) with exuberant claims that the Internet will prevent wars, reduce pollution, and combat various forms of inequality. However, although the Internet is still young enough to inspire idealism, it has also been around long enough to test whether the prophets can be right. Grandest of all the claims are those made by some of the savants at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology about the Internet's potential as a force for peace. [] The idea is that improved communications will reduce misunderstandings and avert conflict. This is not new, alas, any more than were the claims for the peace-making possibilities of other new technologies []. Indeed, even if that were true, the Internet can also be used to advocate conflict. Hate speech and intolerance flourish in its murkier corners, where governments (as France is now discovering) find it hard to intervene. []. But might it reduce energy consumption and pollution ? [] Certainly, shopping online from home is far less polluting than driving to a shopping mall. [] Yet doing things online is more energy-efficient only if it genuinely displaces real-world activities. If people shop online as well as visiting the bricks-and-mortar store, the result is an overall increase in energy consumption. [] And it is more efficient to read documents online only if doing so replaces, rather than adds to, the amount of printed bumf. Furthermore, as more and more offices and homes connect to the Internet, millions of PCs, printers, servers and other devices gobble significant quantities of energy. [] What about the belief that the Internet will reduce inequality? According to a study carried out by America's Department of Commerce, households with annual incomes above $75,000 are more than 20 times as likely to have Internet access as the poorest households. Bill Clinton, struck by the "digital divide" between rich and poor, argues that universal Internet access would help to reduce income inequality. But, as the cost of using the Internet continues to fall (services offering free access are becoming the norm, and a basic PC can now be had for little more than a video recorder), the true reason for the digital divide between rich and poor will become apparent. The poor are not shunning the Internet because they cannot afford it: the problem is that they lack the skills to exploit it effectively. [] Yet, even in the more ludicrous claims for the Internet, there may be germs of truth. This open network, so hard for governments to control, may indeed help to give more power to
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individual citizens and encourage democracies. As democratic governments rarely fight each other, that might promote peace. As for the environment, the Internet will allow many pieces of 35 machinery to be monitored and tuned more precisely from afar. That will promote energy efficiency. [] Even inequality may, in some cases, be reduced thanks to the Internet. A computer programmer in Bangalore or Siberia can use the Internet to work for a software company in Seattle without leaving home, and can expect to be paid a wage that is closer to that of his 40 virtual colleagues at the other end of the cable. [] The Internet changes many things. It has had a dramatic impact on the world of business. [] For individuals, e-mail has emerged as the most important new form of personal communication since the invention of the telephone. The extent to which the Internet will transform other fields of human endeavour, however, is 45 less certain. Humanity cannot simply invent away its failings. The Internet is not the first technology to have been hailed as a panacea and it will certainly not be the last. Adapted from The Economist, August 19th 2000.

QUESTIONS

Indiquez, pour chaque partie, le nombre de mots utiliss.

PREMIRE PARTIE

(12 points)

Rsumez le texte en franais en 220 mots

DEUXIME PARTIE

(8 points)

Rpondez en anglais l'une des deux questions suivantes : (150 mots). a) Thinking of the advantages and drawbacks of working from home, would you like to work for a software company in Seattle, for example ?

b) What is your position concerning government intervention on the Internet ?

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BTS INFORMATIQUE DE GESTION

Session 2002

E1.2 : LANGUE ANGLAISE APPLIQUE LINFORMATIQUE ET LA GESTION (partie crite)

Dure : 2 heures Coefficient : 2

PROPOSITION DE CORRIG

PREMIRE PARTIE

( 12 points)

On attendra dans chaque rsum que les points suivants soient mentionns : (10 points) Comme c'est souvent le cas avec les nouvelles technologies, son avnement l'Internet devait tre, selon certains cyber gourous et autres pontes du MIT, la panace tous les maux de notre civilisation : guerre, pollution, ingalit sous toutes ses formes. Celui-ci existe maintenant depuis suffisamment longtemps pour faire un bilan. S'il est vrai que le Net donne plus de pouvoir au citoyen et favorise donc la dmocratie, on ne peut cependant que constater que cet outil est aussi utilis pour promouvoir la haine et l'intolrance sans que les gouvernements y puissent grand chose. S'il permet d'envisager l'conomie d'nergie, elle ne sera relle que si les activits en ligne remplacent les activits relles, ce qui n'est pas le cas. Un programmeur russe travaillant pour une firme base Seattle sera rmunr selon les standards amricains. Dans ce cas prcis le Net semble donc rduire le foss entre les salaris des pays riches et des pays pauvres. Il n'en reste pas moins vrai que si le foss numrique avec les classes dfavorises se creuse, ce n'est pas faute d'argent mais parce que ces dernires n'ont pas les comptences pour exploiter le rseau. Le courrier lectronique a certes chang notre mode de communication et l'Internet a eu un impact considrable sur le monde du commerce. Nanmoins son influence dans d'autres domaines reste beaucoup moins vidente. 223 mots En outre, les 2 points restants seront attribus en partie ou dans leur totalit en fonction de la qualit et de la correction de l'expression ainsi que de la logique du discours.

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DEUXIME PARTIE

( 8 points)

a) Voici quelques questions que devrait se poser le candidat : Work Do I mostly work independently, without the need to communicate frequently with colleagues ? Are there friends or relatives nearby during the day who would be able to have a chat or give me some help if you needed it ? Would I miss workmates ? Would I mind not being up-to-date on the office gossip ? Would I mind having to work on my own, with little encouragement ? Am I ready to work hard (teleworkers tend to find themselves working harder and with fewer breaks) Could I cope with having to manage all by myself on a remote basis ? Home Is there a quiet area where I can work undisturbed ? Can I make the arrangements I'd need to work without other members of the household disturbing me ? Skills Am I self-motivated ? Could I cope alone and unsupervised ? Am I ready to solve unexpected problems and crises on my own ? Motives Do any of the following strongly appeal to me ? - Not travelling to work every day. - Being able to work uninterrupted. - Being able to combine work and home life better. Being out of sight, out of mind - what about promotion ? Adapted from an article in The World in Focus. December 1992. On pourra noter l'expression sur 4 points (richesse du vocabulaire et des structures grammaticales) Opinion : to believe / in my opinion / to my mind Mots de liaison : on the one hand ..... on the other hand / yet / however / nevertheless etc.... Capacit : can / be able to / don't have to / Conditionel : if..... I would. Contraintes : have to / cannot. / Probabilit : may might must b) L'article fait allusion au procs intent par l'Etat Franais Yahoo au sujet de sites nazis que celui-ci hbergeait. C'est la question de la censure qui est pose. Rappelons par exemple qu'en fvrier 1996, John Perry Barlow, se dclarant "Internet activist", publiait sa "Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace" o il dclarait : "Governments of the industrial world, On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather. You have no moral rights to rule us nor do you possess any methods of enforcement we have true reason to fear. Cyberspace doesn't lie within your borders." Il y a l des pistes que les candidats devraient pouvoir exploiter. Idem pour la notation Opinion Regret / reproche : wish / should / could Permission / interdiction : can / be allowed to / be forbidden to Probabilit future : may / might / should / be likely to / be bound to / be unlikely to

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