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 016

Read the text below and complete the following tasks.

Historically speaking, people have associated the notion of freedom with their being free to
impose on the others their own will, while the others were “slaves”, or imposed upon. This social
meaning was challenged when certain people discovered that we are born naturally free;
consequently, the individual and the community became fully aware of their social and political
rights as free people. Following the path opened by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, some philosophers
such as John Locke, David Hume, Edmund Burke, Thomas Hobbes defined “natural state” as a
state of “perfect freedom” of men to decide upon their actions and make choices according to their
will. (1) … But these considerations refer to political philosophy, demonstrating that fear and
freedom are compatible.
Philosophically speaking, we need to adopt a form of negative definition so as to apply it to
all form of freedom. (2) … So, we can accept the existence of types of freedom. For example, in
Physics, we speak about free fall. In Politics, we speak about freedom of association opinion. (3)…
Starting from this enlarged definition, the metaphysical philosophers created the concept of
absolute freedom. (4) … We represent our free actions as successively “free” from any types of
causes. But this type of freedom is the power of acting independently not only in connection with
outer or exterior restrictions, but also in connection with any inner determination. This is called the
free will of the metaphysical philosophy, and refers to the mysterious power of carrying out actions
that are not previously determined by ideas, instincts or aptitudes.

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

A. Freedom is the absence of constraints, or restrictions.

B. This meant political and juridical equality between people: they are equal in front of the law and
in front of the political institution.
C. This idea opposes nature, consisting of a kind of passage to the limits.
D. In Economy, we refer to free economic change, meaning trade free from customs taxes, or
imposed payments.
E. Not even freedom in television.

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. The text refers to …

A. freedom from many points of view.
B. history.
C. freedom of mind.
D. being free as long as you want.
 Ministerul Educaţiei, Cercetării şi Inovării
Centrul Naţional pentru Curriculum şi Evaluare în Învăţământul Preuniversitar

2. Being free means …

A. to do whatever you want.
B. being obliged to do something.
C. to decide and make choices according to your will.
D. being imposed upon.

3. The term Freedom is defined in Politics as …

A. freedom of speaking freely.
B. independence.
C. the liberty to have the same opinion as another person.
D. being dominated by a political party.

5. Comment on the following statement: Freedom is the absence of constraints, or restrictions.

(100 words) 4 points