Subiecte pe bilete la Bacalaureat Limba Engleza 1-2 ore/saptamana

Biletul nr. 1 Bacalaureat Limba Engleza

Limba Engleza 1-2 ore/saptamana

SUBIECTUL I

Read the text below and answer the following questions:

a. Why is it important that the people living in the USA should share a common language?
b. What do bilingual education programs offer the non-English-speaking schoolchildren?

With the more recent growth of a multicultural, multilingual society in the United States, as in other nations of the world, the question of whether or not its population should be required to share a common language has arisen. On order to accommodate the many language groups living in the U.S., government agencies, schools, and businesses often offer their services in other languages. For example, when Florida residents go to vote for local or national candidates, they can read their ballots* in Spanish. Non-English-speaking school children, often Hispanic or Chinese, may study in bilingual education programs, in which they are taught in their native language until they master English. In this way, the children are presumed to gain a sense of identity and self-confidence, which will help them succeed in the future.

*papers on which you make a secret vote

SUBIECTUL II

It is said that teenagers have a lot in common, that they share ideas and a certain way of behaving. Express your views on this matter.

Biletul nr. 2 Bacalaureat Limba Engleza

Limba Engleza 1-2 ore/saptamana

SUBIECTUL I

Read the text below and answer the following questions:

a. What do homeopathic doctors believe?
b. What do homeopathic doctors do to cure an illness?
c. What do critics say?

Homeopathy was invented in Germany about 200 years ago. Homeopathic doctors believe that the symptoms of an illness are signs that the body is trying to cure itself. To cure an illness, therefore, they give the patient something that produces the same symptoms in a healthy person. Before a substance is used as a homeopathic remedy, it is tested by giving small doses of it to healthy persons to see what symptoms develop. For example, onions cause your eyes and nose to produce water. To cure colds, therefore, homeopathic doctors use an extract from onions. Sometimes, homeopathic doctors use dangerous poisons as medicines, but they dilute them many thousands of times so that they are harmless.

Critics say that this is no scientific support for homeopathy, and that in many cases the 'illness' would disappear naturally anyway. They also say it is possible that simply by believing a medicine will work can help the mind to cure some simple illnesses. Homeopathic doctors, on the other hand, say that there is plenty of evidence that homeopathy works - and millions of people who take homeopathic remedies agree with them. Tests have also shown that animals can be cured with homeopathic medicine, and this, they say, proves that it cannot simply be because people believe in it.

SUBIECTUL II

Choose one of the teachers you have had so far and explain what makes him/her stand out among the other teachers. Point out his/her professional qualities, his/her moral and spiritual features, anything that is special about him/her.

Biletul nr. 3 Bacalaureat Limba Engleza

Limba Engleza 1-2 ore/saptamana

SUBIECTUL I

Read the text below and answer the following questions:

a. How did the United States earn its living before the 1790's?
b. Who was Samuel Slater and what did he do?
c. What did Slater's success lead to?

At the end of the War of Independence, the United States was mainly a land of farmers. It remained so for another hundred years. It earned its living by selling food and raw materials to other countries. In return it imported their manufactured products. Yet as early as the 1790's America's first factory opened.

During the eighteenth century an Industrial Revolution had come to Britain. New machines driven by water and steam power had made possible great increases in production.

In 1789 an English mechanic named Samuel Slater took the Industrial Revolution across the Atlantic to America. Before leaving England, Slater memorized the details of the latest English cotton spinning machines. He carried them in his memory because it was against the law to take plans of the machines out of England.

In the United States Slater went into partnership with a businessman named Moses Brown. Together they opened a mill, or factory, to spin cotton at Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Slater built the machinery for the mill from memory. It was a great success and Slater became a wealthy man.

he success of Slater's cotton mill began a process of change in the United States. In time that process turned the northeast of the nation into its first important manufacturing region.

(The Illustrated History of the USA)

SUBIECTUL II

What influence have your parents had on your life? Whose influence was stronger - your mother's or your father's? Expand and give examples.

Biletul nr. 4 Bacalaureat Limba Engleza

Limba Engleza 1-2 ore/saptamana

SUBIECTUL I

Read the text below, identify the main ideas and comment on them:

One of the dilemmas of this decade has been whether to approach education in terms of the generalist or the specialist. Some universities require all students to take a common core of courses from a broad range of disciplines, appealing to the generalist approach to education. Yet, choosing the core courses in light of today's explosion in information and diverse muticultural student populations has not been an easy task. How does one select what it is that everyone should know? Others universities continue to tailor their courses to the more immediate professional needs of their students, appealing to the specialist approach to education. But without a core curriculum, students often lack the shared knowledge necessary to particpate effectively in an integrated society.
A coherent vision of an educated person in the twenty-first century has yet to be defined.

SUBIECTUL II

Should members of a family all try to live in the same area? Bring arguments and examples to sustain your ideas.

Biletul nr. 5 Bacalaureat Limba Engleza

Limba Engleza 1-2 ore/saptamana

SUBIECTUL I

Read the text below, identify the main ideas and comment on them:

June has her own reasons for wanting Kelly, her daughter, to become a skating star. "I started skating when I was ten," June said. "I saved all the money I could for lessons by doing errands for neighbours. But Mum and Dad were poor and when Mum saved to buy me boots, Dad said that was it...I neved skated again. I wasn't going to let that happen to Kelly." They had to take Kelly out of school so she could practise skating more. As she was still only fourteen, they had to guarantee the local authorities she'd continue her studies until she was seventeen. That meant the added cost of a private tutor at $140 a month.

Kelly, now seventeen, was placed first in the last year's junior championship and has won nearly thirty competitions so far. "I know I'm very lucky," she admits. "Mum and Dad have given up their own lives just for me and I'm determined not to let them down."

SUBIECTUL II

Talking about friendship, how far would you go to protect it? Bring arguments and examples to support your ideas.

Biletul nr. 6 Bacalaureat Limba Engleza

Limba Engleza 1-2 ore/saptamana

SUBIECTUL I

Read the text below and do the following tasks:

a. state the central idea of the fragment;
b. comment on the underlined sentences.

Living in so temperamental a climate, with so many exceptions to so many rules to be discussed, it is no wonder that the Englishman talks a lot about the weather.But one thing about which the stranger should be warned is that when the Englishman appears to be talking about the weather he is often not talking about the weather at all. When he says "Lovely weather for the time of year!" he may just possibly mean that he is enjoying the sunshine. It is at least as likely, though, that he means nothing by it whatsoever, but he is merely filling in the time until he can decently bid you goodbye. It is not easy to imagine what would happen to the Englishman if the climate of his country suddenly became dependable, and lost its value asa topic of conversation. However, as long as it continues to be unreliable, as long as it remains "not what it used to be", the social small talk of England is secure, and the stranger can amuse himself by trying to decide when the people who talk about it mean less than they are actually saying, when thay mean more, and when they are genuinely enraptured by the fact that it is (as can sometimes happen, even in England) "lovely weather for the time of year".

Monica Redlich, Everyday England

SUBIECTUL II

Speak about the last week you spent at school with your teachers and mates. Point out the special moments you lived together and the feelings you had in those days.

textBiletul nr. 8 Bacalaureat Limba Engleza

Limba Engleza 1-2 ore/saptamana

SUBIECTUL I

Read the text below and do the following tasks:

a. identify the advantages and disadvantages of being famous;
b.answer the question: What seems to matter when it comes to fame?

At some point in their lives people have daydreamed about the joys of being famous. One must wonder, however, if being famous is an achievement or a curse - as Fred Allan said, "A celebrity is someone who works hard all his life to become known, then wears dark glasses to avoid being recognized."
The main advantage to fame is that it tends to go hand in hand with being rich, and despite the cliche that money cannot buy happiness, famous people can at least be miserable in comfort.
With fame also comes adoration, meaning that famous people will always be surrounded by people who want to be with, and be seen with them. This means that they are welcome wherever they go, surrounded by the best things in life and protected from bad.
However, there are drawbacks to being famous, the most obvious being a complete lack of privacy. Nowadays celebrities are followed almost everywhere they go by photographers, and their lives are scrutinised in detail by newspapers and magazines. Furthermore, a famous person can never be sure whether people like him for the person he is rather than his name, which can lead to a sense of isolation.
In conclusion, as appealing as fame, wealth and adoration may be, it seems that the cost to one's personal life is just too great.

Fame: a Blessing or a Curse

SUBIECTUL II

There are advantages and disadvantages to shopping in a supermarket. Talk about them and support your ideas with examples.

Biletul nr. 7 Bacalaureat Limba Engleza

Limba Engleza 1-2 ore/saptamana

SUBIECTUL I

Read the text below and comment on the underlined sentences in relation to the whole

Important social changes are taking place in the areas of marriage and family. There is a global revolution going on in how we think of ourselves and how we form ties and connections with the others.
What most people call the traditional family was in fact a transitional phase in the family development in the 1950s. By then the idea that romantic love was the best foundation for marriage had replaced the concept of marriage as an economic contract.
In the traditional family the married couple was only one part of the family system. Ties with children and other relatives were equally important in day-to-day existence. Today the couple is at the core of what the family is. While statistically marriage is still the norm, for most people its significance has completely changed. Although marriage promotes the stability of a relationship by making a public declaration of commitment, it is now the quality of the couple's relationship which is considered the most important element.
A couple has its own exclusive history. It is a unit based upon emotional communication or intimacy. Communication is both the means of establishing the tie in the first place and the basis for ensuring continuing happiness in the relationship.

SUBIECTUL II

Television has become a subject of debate and controversy as to the kind of influence it has on people. What kind of influence do you think it has on people in general and on you in particular? Give examples to support your ideas.

Biletul nr. 9 Bacalaureat Limba Engleza

Limba Engleza 1-2 ore/saptamana

SUBIECTUL I

Read the text below, identify the main ideas and comment on them:

The first homesteaders* often quarreled with cattlemen. The different ways in which the two groups used the land made trouble between them almost certain. Cattle ranchers and cowboys complained that homesteaders were blocking the cattle trails and said that their ploughed fields were a waste of good grazing land. Homesteaders became angry when their crops were eaten or trampled upon by the ranchers' cattle. They began to build barbed wire fences around their land to stop this. This made the cattlemen even more angry, especially if the land that was fenced off included a stream that their cattle depended upon for drinking water. One cowboy put the cattleman's point of view in these words:
"Those jayhawkers [thieves] would take up a claim right where the herds watered and charge us for water. They would plant a crop alongside the trail and plow a furrow around it for a fence, and then when the cattle got into their wheat or their garden patch, they would come out cussing [cursing] and waving a short gun and yelling for damages. And the cattle had been coming through there when they were still growing pumpinks in Illinois."
In some places people were killed in "range wars" as both cattlemen and homesteaders used guns to protect their interests. It took years for the two groups to learn to live peacefully side by side.

(The Illustrated History of the USA)

*people setting on land for a period of time as a way of getting ownership of it

SUBIECTUL II

Speak about something you would have liked to do but have never had the time, the money or the chance to do it.

Biletul nr. 10 Bacalaureat Limba Engleza

Limba Engleza 1-2 ore/saptamana

SUBIECTUL I

Read the text below, identify the main ideas and comment on them:

On November 19th, 1863, Lincoln traveled to Gettysburg to dedicate part of the battlefield as a national war cemetery. This is part of what he said when he did so:
"Fourscore* and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation can long endure.
We are met on a great battlefield of the war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives, that nation might live. But in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power. The world will note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living to resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and the government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from this earth."
Lincoln's speech at Gettysburg became even more famous than the battle. At the time it was seen as a statement of what the North was fighting for. In later years it came to be seen as a moving expression of faith in the basic principles of democratic government.

(The Illustrated History of the USA)

*(archaic or poetic) four times twenty; eighty

SUBIECTUL II

Express your opinion on the following statement: People who practise sports and have active occupations are healthier Give examples to illustrate your arguments.

Biletul nr. 11 Bacalaureat Limba Engleza

Limba Engleza 1-2 ore/saptamana

SUBIECTUL I

Read the text below and answer the following questions:

1. What do you think about the future of filmmaking?
2. How will the digital revolution work for the benefit of the viewers?

When the Lumiere brothers invented the moving pictures, nobody, not even the inventors themselves, suspected the sophisticated way in which the invention was going to evolve and its huge impact on humanity. Not long before them, Edison himself was thinking that the phonograph he had invented and the moving pictures, an idea he was playing with at the time, were going to turn only into high-class home entertainment for the wealthy. The same happened even later, when John Logie Baird assembled what he called a perfectly useless invention - television. And there is more to come...
The digital revolution is on its way, with its digital pocket-size camcorders and with the new generation of digital VCR's, able to record several channels simultaneously and to render much more accurate images.
Perhaps the most dramatic new digital success is DVD. A huge hit from the very start , DVD delivers movies on a single 5-inch disk with the best video image yet seen in the field and theatre-quality sound.
Could that be true about videogames, too? There are already voices that predict that video and computer games are going to be even more entertaining than movies because they boast interactivity. Although it's hard to imagine how people's emotions could be stirred by unrealistic graphics. But the high profit will drive producers of video games to enter endless competitions.

SUBIECTUL II

What could and what should all of us do to make our town and our country a better place to live in? Give examples to illustrate your ideas.

Biletul nr. 12 Bacalaureat Limba Engleza

Limba Engleza 1-2 ore/saptamana

SUBIECTUL I

Read the text below and do the following tasks:

a. state the central idea of the fragment;
b. give two possible causes for the existing situation of children in council care;
c. state your opinion about the other ideas expressed in the text.

Anita is two years old and in council care. Her general health is good, she has no behavioural difficulties and she has eyes like saucers. That those eyes cannot see, however, is one of her multiple disabilities. She can move her hands and legs, but is otherwise immobile. She is very passive, but will respond to loud noise. She doesn't smile, but she does express contentment with a facial expression, say the adoption people at Brent council in north London, who are looking for a loving family to take her in.
While Anita may be at the extreme end of the spectrum, most of those being looked after by local authorities come with considerable baggage. As one London social services director puts it: "The people who want to adopt babies outnumber the babies by 1,000 to one. The people who want to adopt our children are outnumbered by the children probably by three to one".
Children in care are not, either, especially young. The average age is over 10 and fewer than 20% are under five. More than 40% are aged 10-15 and 18% are over 16. A strapping adolescent is not often exactly what the potential adopter had in mind.

SUBIECTUL II

Talk about the town/village where you live. Give two reasons why you would recommend a friend from another town/village to come and visit it.

Biletul nr. 13 Bacalaureat Limba Engleza

Limba Engleza 1-2 ore/saptamana

SUBIECTUL I

Read the text below, identify the main ideas and comment on them:

In the early 1940s more than 100,000 people of Japanese descent lived in the United States. These Japanese Americans were either "Issei" - those born in Japan - or "Nisei" - American-born Japanese. Most lived in California, where they had worked hard and been successful. By 1941, for example, Issei were producing half of California's fruit and vegetables. Others became successful doctors, lawyers, and businessmen.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, white Americans began to see every Japanese American as a potential spy or saboteur. Both Issei and Nisei were threatened and treated badly. Shops refused to sell them food. Finally, in March 1942, the government sent soldiers to take them from their homes to be interned in prison camps called "relocation centers".
Most of the internment camps were in remote, desert areas of the country. Over 100,000 Japanese American men, women, and children were kept in them for the rest of the war. In later years the American Civil Liberties Union called their internment "the worst single violation of the civil rights of American citizens in our history".
The internment of the Issei and Nisei was more than unjust. All the evidence seems to show that it was unnecessary. Thousands of Nisei fought bravely in the American army. And not one Japanese American was convicted of an act of disloyalty to the United States during the whole of the war.

(The Illustrated History of the USA)

SUBIECTUL II

Express your opinion on the following statement: We are all responsible for our own deeds.
Give examples to illustrate your arguments.

Copyright © Englez.ro 2004-2006

Biletul nr. 14 Bacalaureat Limba Engleza

Limba Engleza 1-2 ore/saptamana

SUBIECTUL I

Read the text below, identify the main ideas and comment on them:

So, it's the end of the holiday once again, and here we are back at school. I must admit, I normally enjoy the school holidays, but I really wish I didn't have to spend them with my parents. They don't have very modern ideas. In fact, they're really behind the times.
Every year we go to a boring hotel at the seaside and spend a boring holiday lying in the sun. So when my parents began discussing the holidays this year, I suggested doing something different and exciting, like climbing Mount Everest or crossing the Atlantic in a small boat.
"An adventure holiday. What a great idea! And every day we go hiking or fishing. We'll have the time of our lives. Why don't we go camping again?" my father said, to my surprise.
Camping. What a good idea! But Mum wasn't so sure. She needed a rest. too.
"Don't worry," said my father. "We'll help you, won't we son? We'll go fishing everyday."
"Yes, and hunting," I added.
"That will be a great help," said my mother. It made my day when Mum finally agreed to go.

SUBIECTUL II

You can learn a lot from people but you can learn from books, as well. Talk about a book that has influenced you in a particular way.

Biletul nr. 15 Bacalaureat Limba Engleza

Limba Engleza 1-2 ore/saptamana

SUBIECTUL I

Read the text below and answer the following questions:

a. What does acupuncture involve?
b. What did the Chinese philosophers believe?
c. What do scientists today think about acupuncture?

Acupuncture has recently become very popular, but doctors have been using it in China for over two thousand years.
Acupuncture involves pushing needles into the skin at special points around the body. Ancient Chinese philosophers believed these points were connected to different organs - such as the heart or lungs - and that the needles could cure diseases.
Today, acupuncture is used in many countries, and studies show it works - especially for headaches, backaches and addiction to smoking. Since the 1950s, doctors in China have also been using acupuncture as an anaesthetic in major operations. Patients are awake and know what is happening in the operation but they feel little or no pain. Chinese philosophers believed that the needles helped to balance forces that they called 'yin' and 'yang'. Today, scientists think that the needles make the body produce a chemical called 'endorphin'. This helpes to reduce the feeling of pain.

SUBIECTUL II

How important is it that we should protect the environment? Give arguments and examples.

Biletul nr. 16 Bacalaureat Limba Engleza

Limba Engleza 1-2 ore/saptamana

SUBIECTUL I

Read the text below and answer the following questions:

a. What was George Washington asked to do when the American War of Independence began?
b. What did George Washington know?
c. What plan did George Washington think of?

In 1775, when the American War of Independence began, George Washington was chosen to lead the American army. Washington knew his job would be difficult because the army was small and the soldiers were untrained and had few guns. The British army was large and strong and its soldiers were very well trained.

Early Battles showed Washington had problems. His army was easily defeated in the Battle of New York. Then Washington thought of a plan. On Christmas night in 1776, he had his soldiers attack the enemy in the city of Trenton, New Jersey. The British soldiers never expected an attack on such a night. They were having a Christmas party. Washington won his first victory. His army won the final battle in Yorktown in 1781.

In 1789 leaders from all the states met to choose the first president of the United States. Everyone voted for George Washington and he became the country's first president, and is remembered as the "father of the country".

George Washington was a great leader and was respected by all his men. He was not interested in fame or money, but only in helping his country.

(All about the USA)

SUBIECTUL II

More and more people use the Internet every day. What do/would you use the Internet for? How will the internet influence our lives in the years to come?

Biletul nr. 17 Bacalaureat Limba Engleza

Limba Engleza 1-2 ore/saptamana

SUBIECTUL I

Read the text below and do the following tasks:

a. state the central idea of the fragment;
b. comment on the underlined sentences.

In the north-east of England, many men over fifty have already adjusted to a life in which paid work plays no part, and where women have stepped into the breach as breadwinners. Hundreds of men have been made redundant in the region over the past 10 years and, unable to find suitable employment, have given up the search. Instead they top up the income brought in by their wives with state-funded incapacity benefit. Since many of these men had formerly worked on building sites, or in shipyards and coal mines, they didn't have to stretch the truth too much to get a doctor to sign a certificate saying they are too unwell to work.
Although many men like these would prefer to find employment, they are unable to reinvent themselves for working life in the twenty-first century. Having been accustomed to a large, unionised workplace, where you had a decent rate of pay and some money to spend, they feel disconcerted by an environment in which you have to be prepared to work unsocial hours for low pay and with little job security, and where young people who can talk on three mobile phones at once are ready to stab you in the back.

SUBIECTUL II

Which of the mass media has the greatest impact on the general public and which on you? Why? Give arguments to support your ideas.

Biletul nr. 18 Bacalaureat Limba Engleza

Limba Engleza 1-2 ore/saptamana

SUBIECTUL I

Read the text below and express your opinions about the ideas it contains. Compare and contrast these ideas with your own life experience.

Childhood self-esteem can overwhelm academic disadvantage or social deprivation in determining future earning power*, according to major new research.
Bright children often have higher self-esteem, as do some from more affluent* backgrounds. But the study compared children from similar families and still found that those who were psychologically well-balanced at ten were now outperforming their peers.
The research also found, surprisingly, that it is not unusual for children to have high academic achievement and low self-esteem, leading to significant later underperformance in the jobs market. A spokesman for the British Association for Counselling said: 'Discouragement for children doesn't come only from crude parental hostility at home; it can just be resentment or the constant feeling that they're making you tired. Children pick that up. Nor is it only underprivileged children who suffer. All too often you can ask affluent parents who the important people in their child's life are - teachers, friends and so on - and they haven't a clue.'
Bearing out the findings of this research, many outstandingly successful entrepreneurs were outshone academically when they were at school but had the advantage of supportive families.

*money which is earned by working
*having plenty of money

SUBIECTUL II

Describe a person or personality you admire and give reasons for your choice. Explain how/whether she /he has influenced you?

Copyright © Englez.ro 2004-2006

Biletul nr. 19 Bacalaureat Limba Engleza

Limba Engleza 1-2 ore/saptamana

SUBIECTUL I

Read the text below and do the following tasks:

a. state the central idea of the fragment;
b. express your opinion about animal kidnappers;
c. explain the meaning of the underlined sentence.

Kidnappers are rarely interested in animals, but they recently took considerable interest in Mrs Eleanor Ramsay's cat. Mrs Eleanor Ramsay, a very wealthy old lady, has shared a flat with her cat, Rastus, for a great many years. Rastus leads an orderly life. He usually takes a short walk in the evenings and is always home by seven o'clock. One evening, however, he failed to arrive. Mrs Ramsay got very worried. She looked everywhere for him but could not find him.
Three days after Rastus' disappearance, Mrs Ramsay received an anonymous letter. The writer stated that Rastus was in safe hands and would be returned immediately if mrs Ramsay paid a ransom of $1000. Mrs Ramsay was instructed to place the money in a cardboard box and to leave it outside the door. At first, she decided to go to the police, but fearing that she would never see Rastus again - the letter had made that quite clear - she changed her mind. She drew $1000 from her bank and followed the kidnapper's instructions. The next morning, the box had disappeared but Mrs Ramsay was sure that the kidnapper would keep his word. Sure enough, Rastusarrived punctually at seven o'clock that evening. He looked very well, though he was rather thirsty, for he drank half a bottle of milk. The police were astouned when Mrs Ramsay told them what she had done. She explained that Rastus was very dear to her. Considering the amount she paid, he was dear in more ways than one!

(L.G. Alexander, A Very Dear Cat)

SUBIECTUL II

Speak about three things you would change about yourself in order to become a better person.