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Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’ Università e della Ricerca ESAME DI STATO DI ISTRUZIONE SECONDARIA SUPERIORE Indirizzi: LI04, EA03 - LICEO LINGUISTICO (Testo valevole anche per le corrispondenti sperimentazioni internazionali e quadriennali)
Tema di: LINGUA E CULTURA STRANIERA 1 (INGLESE) e LINGUA E CULTURA STRANIERA 3 (CINESE) PART 1 – COMPREHENSION AND INTERPRETATION Read the text below
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The ceremony of the passport control, followed by the abrupt change in the scale of things – the new toy landscape after Dover – set his thoughts wandering in the direction of his youth as a young secretary of Embassy in an England which he loved and hated with all the emotional polarity of his race. How would she withstand this cataclysm? Would she just founder? He trembled for her – she seemed so exhausted and done for, with her governments of little yellowing men, faded to the sepia of socialism, the beige of bureaucracy. And Egypt, so corrupt, so vulnerable, was at their mercy, in their hands … Long ago he had made a painstaking analysis of the national character in order to help in the education of his Ambassador, dear old Abdel Sami Pasha. But it had been altogether too literary, and indeed altogether too wise. He had distinguished three strains in the English character which came, he was sure, from Saxons, Jutes or Normans – each Englishman had a predominance of one or other strain in his make-up. That is why one had to be so careful in one’s dealings with them. The Saxon strain made them bullies and pirates, the Jutish toadies and sanctimonious hypocrites, while the Norman strain bred a welcome quixotry which was capable of rising like a north wind and predominating over the other two. Poor Sami had read the whole memorandum with attention, but without understanding a word. Then he said, “But you have not said that they are rich. Without that …” The long struggle against his English infatuation had coloured his whole life; it had even imperilled his precious national sentiment. How would they ever drive them out of Egypt, how would they ever become free? But then, would it make sense to replace them with Germans or Italians? His glance softened as he saw the diminutive dolls’ houses flashing by outside the window, saw the dove-grey land unrolling its peaceful surges of arable and crop, like swaying of an autumn sea. Yes, this country had marked him, and his little Princess used often to tease him by saying that he even dreamed in English. Damn them, the English! He compressed his lips and wagged his head reproachfully. He lit a slender gold tipped cigarette and blew a puny cloud of smoke high into the air, as if it would dispel these womanish failings of sentiment! Womanish! The very word reminded him that the whole of his love-life and his miraculously happy marriage had been tinged by London. He hoped that Selim had not forgotten to book the suite at Brown’s Hotel – the Princess loved Brown’s and always sent the porter a Christmas card from Cairo. But then Egypt was one thing and the Court quite another; their education had modified fanaticism and turned them willy-nilly into cosmopolitans that who could almost laugh at themselves. It came from languages, from foreign nannies and those long winterings at Siltz or Baden-Baden or Pau. It had etiolated their sense of race, their nationalism. The French distinguish between knowing a language and possessing it; but they had gone even further; they had become possessed by English. The other chief European tongues they knew, but for purely social purposes. There was none of the salt in them that he found in English…. Nor was anyone at the Court like him, for some were more charmed by French, some surrendered to Italian. But it was his first firm link with Fawzia, the passion for England. Even when he was at Oxford, and writing anti-British articles in Doustour under his own signature! And paradoxically enough she loved him for it, she was proud of his intellectual stance. (615 words) from The Avignon Quintet, Lawrence Durrell (1912-1990)
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Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’ Università e della Ricerca Read the following statements and say whether each one is True (T), False (F) or Not Stated (NS). Put a cross in the correct box. 1. The sudden change in the landscape brought back mixed emotions in the narrator. T
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2. The narrator was an exile from his own country. T
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3. There was some uncertainty as to whether England with her crumbling power would be able to stand up to the challenges of the time. T
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4. The predominant trait of their character made the English appear quarrelsome and opinionated. T
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5. The narrator was somewhat ashamed of his admiration for the English. T
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NS
Answer the questions below. Use complete sentences and your own words. 6. What made the English language so appealing to the narrator? 7. Why was the narrator critical of the intellectual elite at the Court? 8. What elements in the passage reveal the narrator’s love-hate relationship with England? PART 2 – WRITTEN PRODUCTION “Most of us have overlapping identities which unite us with very different groups. We can love what we are, without hating what – and who – we are not. We can thrive in our own tradition, even as we learn from others, and come to respect their teachings." —Kofi Annan, Former Secretary-General of the United Nations Discuss the quotation in a 300-word essay considering the positive aspects and the complexities that cultural diversity may introduce into modern society. Support your ideas by referring to your readings and/or to your personal experience.
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Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’ Università e della Ricerca 请阅读以下短文 春节 正月初一是中国的农历新年，也叫“春节”。这是最重要、 最热闹的传统节日之一。中国人自商代以来就有过春节的习俗。 节前十天左右，家家户户忙着把房子打扫得干干净净，还买 年货，也会准备好送给亲戚、朋友的礼物。另外，大家都把春联贴在房 屋的大门上；屋内墙上挂着年画，窗户上贴着窗花，门上还挂着 红灯笼或倒贴着“福”字：路人一念“福倒了”，就有“福到了”的含 义了。 春节来了，人们就有机会和家人团聚了。每年农历的最后一天晚上 叫除夕，这时全家老小一边吃年夜饭，一边在电视或者网上看 春晚。在年夜饭上，人们常吃的传统食物有饺子、年糕，等等， 但鱼是不可缺少的：饭桌上“有鱼”，意味着“年年有余”。 街上哪儿都可以听到鞭炮声：新的一年开始了。大年初一时，男女 老少都穿新衣，孩子们给家里老人拜年，并从他们手中收到包在红纸里 的压岁钱。从初二起，大家出门去看亲戚、朋友。 春节一般会庆祝十五天，过完元宵节，年也就过完了。 除了汉族人民以外，少数民族也有过年的习俗。 (字数：358个字，不包括标题、空格和标点符号)
根据中国网（作者：无名，标题：“春节简介”）http://www1.china.com.cn/ch-jieri/chunjie/1.htm改写 最后查找日期：2019 年02月20 日
阅读理解 请选出唯一正确的答案 1、 过年时，除了“福”字以外，中国人还把什么东西贴在房屋的 大门上？ a. 年画 b. 春联 c. 窗花 d. 灯笼
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Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’ Università e della Ricerca 2、 吃年夜饭时，“鱼是不可缺少的”。这句话的意思是： a. 饭桌上可以没有鱼这道菜 b. 饭桌上不一定要有鱼这道菜 c. 饭桌上很少有鱼这道菜 d. 饭桌上不可以没有鱼这道菜 3、 中国的少数民族： a. 跟汉族不一样，有过年的习俗 b. 跟汉族一样，有过年的习俗 c. 跟汉族不一样，没有过年的习俗 d. 跟汉族一样，没有过年的习俗 请用你学会的词以完整的句子回答以下问题 1、 春节期间，大家为什么把“福”字倒贴在房屋的大门上？ 2、 “春晚”是什么？ 二、写作 请给你的一个中国朋友写一封电子邮件（字数：150-200个字左右）， 说一说中国的春节和意大利的圣诞节有什么一样或者不一样的地方，向 你的朋友介绍一下你自己是怎么过圣诞节的。
______________________________________________________________________ Durata massima della prova: 6 ore. Per entrambe le lingue, è consentito l’uso di dizionari bilingue e monolingue.