Ministerul Educaiei, Cercetrii i Tineretului

Centrul Naional pentru Curriculum i Evaluare n nvmntul Preuniversitar

Examenul de bacalaureat 2008
Proba E/F
Proba scris la Limba Englez
L1 - Intensiv 3-4 ore

SUBIECTUL I ( 30 puncte) Varianta 037

Read the text below and complete the following tasks.

Davis, near Sacramento, in California, has a population of forty thousand bicycles and just nine
thousand cars. Cyclists have right of way everywhere in the town, seventy kilometers of bike lanes all
to themselves, and their own unit of specially trained cycle police. The American obsession with the
motor car would seem to have been tamed, at least in this one small corner of the USA (1) ... . As a
university town, Davis has always had more than its fair share of bicycles - and of ecological
awareness too. It is home to the University of Californias Faculty of Agriculture, and back in the early
seventies, a group of students and local people got together to draw up a comprehensive
environmental and social plan of action to steer Davis away from the terminal urban sprawl that afflicts
so many other American cities (2) ... . One of those students, Bill Carter, is the current mayor of the
town. Energy saving is at the top of this local agenda and by the year 2000, the people of Davis
expect the Californian sun to be providing half of all their energy needs. In pursuit of this objective, the
town council has introduced many regulations which are designed to keep energy use to the absolute
minimum. (3) ... People in Davis even hang out their washing to dry instead of throwing it in the
tumble dryer.
This is a very quaint custom by American standards! The majority of people have been sorting
out their household waste into different piles, separating paper, metal and plastic, for example, so that
specially designed dust carts take it away for recycling. (4) ... . Houses are restricted to two storeys
and business premises to four.

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. Planning by-laws in Davis are based on the premise that a green city is not a contradiction in
terms.
B. The fact that one hundred and fifty bicycles take up the same space as twenty cars means that
they have been turning into green oases rather than the older way around.
C. At forty square metres, one of these allotments can provide seventy per cent of all fruit and veg for
a two-person household if properly managed.
D. Three of the students got themselves elected to the city council and initiated a flow of legislation
that has affected every aspect of local life since then.
E. Strict building standards are enforced and thousand of trees have been planted to discourage
people from installing air-conditioning.

2. Match the words in bold with their meaning. 6 points

A. including all necessary facts, details that need to be dealt with
B. a large mass of things collected together
C. the possession of knowledge gained through perception

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

Ministerul Educaiei, Cercetrii i Tineretului
Centrul Naional pentru Curriculum i Evaluare n nvmntul Preuniversitar




4. For the following questions, choose the answer (A, B, C, D) which fits according to the text.
6 points
1. The American obsession with cars ...
A. has destroyed the environment all over the country.
B. has not been able to replace the use of bicycles.
C. does not affect the people of Davis.
D. has been tamed in the U.S.A.

2. The people of Davis decided to draw up a plan to protect the environment ...
A. when Bill Carter became the mayor.
B. in the early seventies.
C. in the year 2000.
D. when bicycles started replacing the cars.

3. People of Davis save energy by ...
A. hanging out their washing instead of throwing it in the tumble dryer.
B. sorting out their household waste into different piles.
C. using air-conditioning
D. obeying the rules imposed by the local council concerning energy use.


5. Comment on the following statement: A green city is not a contradiction in terms. (100 words)
4 points