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 - Intensiv 3-4 ore

SUBIECTUL I ( 30 de puncte) Varianta 005

Read the text below and complete the following tasks.

Plastic cards are the UK’s favourite way to pay for goods and services, according to a new
report by APACS, the body that monitors payments in Britain. (1) … British consumers’ love of
plastic means that spending on credit and debit cards have trebled over the past decade. A little
under a third of total consumer spending is now charged to cards. Plastic transactions increased to
a record $600bn last year. APACS director of communications Sandra Quinn said: "The last 10
years have seen a rapid rise in the popularity of plastic, with debit cards showing particularly strong
growth." She added: " (2) … "
Last year saw new “smart card” technology introduced into the world of card payments..
However, these technological advances have not stopped an increasing reliance on plastic, which
is responsible for the rising mountains of debt British people now have. In the first three months of
this year almost 17,000 people were declared bankrupt – a 10 percent rise on the previous year.
(3) … In 2006, conmen stole almost a billion dollars using stolen cards and personal information.
Soon, people will be carrying a single card in their wallet which will combine debit and credit cards
and other financial transactions. (4) …

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. There is also a parallel, worrying trend regarding the opportunities plastic creates for fraud.
B. Consumers enjoy the ease and convenience plastic cards bring, and today most retailers and
supermarkets take plastic, as do an increasing number of professional service providers.
C. This is another step toward a cashless society, but one that might increase personal debt and
credit card fraud.
D. Spending on plastic cards overtook cash in 2004 and has continued growing ever since.
E. People love spending money.

2. Explain the underlined words. 6 points

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

4. For the following questions, choose the answer (A, B, C, D) which fits according to the
text.
6 points
1. What do Englishmen usually use to pay goods with?
A. cash
B. American dollars
C. credit cards
D. false money

2. What is one of the negative aspects of using plastic money?

A. accumulating debts
B. losing track of time
C. visiting too many shops
D. carrying too much plastic in your wallet

3. What else did conmen use besides stolen credit cards in order to steal money?
A. information about their holders.
 Ministerul Educaţiei, Cercetării şi Inovării
Centrul Naţional pentru Curriculum şi Evaluare în Învăţământul Preuniversitar
B. iron bars
C. police files
D. pictures of the holders.

5. Comment on the following statement: Consumers enjoy the ease and convenience plastic
cards bring. (100 words) 4 points