Ministerul Educaţiei, Cercetării şi Inovării

Centrul Naţional pentru Curriculum şi Evaluare în Învăţământul Preuniversitar

Examenul de bacalaureat 2009

Proba E/F
Proba scrisă la Limba engleză
L1 - Bilingv

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

• Timpul efectiv de lucru este de 3 ore.

SUBIECTUL I (30 de puncte) Varianta 027

Read the text below and complete the following tasks.

This new intellectual coyness highlights the peculiar quality of information and ideas in a
market economy. The essential problem is this: you cannot know the value of a piece of
information, still less an original idea, unless you know what it is. But once gleaned, it cannot be
returned to its originator intact. (1) ... . This means that ideas make bad commodities. Pricing, in
the usually economic sense, is impossible because the value of the product is not physically
captured – at least, not immediately. (2) ... Many of the best ideas come out of a conversation
between two people. Who, then, do they belong to? And the danger of legally based approaches is
that they will make us more guarded, not less so.
(3) ... Isn’t the Internet democratising knowledge? Well, yes. But most of the information we
receive is of limited value. How many people who have a truly innovative idea will broadcast it on
the web? Some, but not many. With so much guff over the place, the value of an original idea is all
the more worth guarding.
(4) ... . It also elevates the role of trust. If my colleague gives me an idea, and I pass that
idea on, either in print or in conversation, it’s critical that I ”tag” it as hers, rather than succumbing
to the temptation pass it off as my own. Such a critical system of tagging would mean that my
colleague continues to reap the rewards of her intellectual labour, making her more willing to share
her ideas with others in the future, and it would also mean that our conversations would be free of
the fear of theft.
(American Life and Institutions – Mary Stevens)

1. Four sentences have been removed from the text. Select the appropriate sentence for
each gap in the text. There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use.
4 points

A. On the face of it, the argument that we are becoming intellectual misers flies in the face of
current developments.
B. All this means that intelllectual generosity is becoming rarer and much more precious.
C. But legal and contractual approaches to the problem are of limited use.
D. In other words, you cannot know the quality of an idea before deciding whether to buy it or not.
E. In most cases, the desire of workers to be recognised as talented, to win promotion and gain
greater financial rewards is sufficient incentive.

2. Explain the following words. 6 points

1. commodities
2. approaches
3. elevates

3. Sum up the text in about 50 words. 10 points

 Ministerul Educaţiei, Cercetării şi Inovării
Centrul Naţional pentru Curriculum şi Evaluare în Învăţământul Preuniversitar

4. For the following questions choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best
according to the text. 6 points

1. Why does the writer not agree with a legal approach to the problem of intellectual
property?
A. It would tend to stifle intellectual endeavour.
B. It would exacerbate existing trends.
C. It would hinder the democratisation of knowledge.
D. It would be expensive for academics.

2. What does the phrase ‘so much guff” refer to?

A. Wide availability of copious information.
B. The various over-supply of immaginative ideas.
C. Ways of accessing ideas on the Internet.
D. An atmosphere of distrust between academics.

3. What is the advantage of the system of ‘tagging’?

A. It will force employers to be more honest with their staff.
B. It will foster a cooperative approach among thinkers.
C. It will make people more productive in terms of ideas.
D. It will ensure that unscrupulous academics are exposed.

5. Comment on the following in about 100 words: But most of the information we receive is of
limited value. 4 points