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.