KANTONSSCHULE WIL Maturaprüfungen 2008

PART I

PART II

ENGLISCH Klasse 4dNP Thomas Hofstetter

READING COMPREHENSION

Suggested Time: 60 minutes

TRANSLATION

Suggested Time: 60 minutes

LITERARY ESSAY

Suggested Time: 90 minutes

A monolingual dictionary may be used for all parts of the exam.

Breeding evil? There's no solid evidence that video games are bad for people, and they may be positively good “IT IS an evil influence on the youth of our country.” A politician condemning video gaming? Actually, a clergyman denouncing rock and roll 50 years ago. But the sentiment could just as easily have been voiced by Hillary Clinton in the past few weeks, as she blamed 5 video games for “a silent epidemic of media desensitisation” and “stealing the innocence of our children”. The gaming furore centres on “Grand Theft Auto: 10 San Andreas”, a popular and notoriously violent cops and robbers game that turned out to contain hidden sex scenes that could be unlocked using a patch downloaded from the internet. The resulting outcry (mostly from Democratic politicians playing to the 15 centre) caused the game's rating in America to be changed from “mature”, which means you have to be 17 to buy it, to “adults only”, which means you have to be 18, but also means that big retailers such as WalMart will not stock it. As a result the game has been 20 banned in Australia; and, this autumn, America's Federal Trade Commission will investigate the complaints. That will give gaming's opponents an opportunity to vent their wrath on the industry. Scepticism of new media is a tradition with deep 25 roots, going back at least as far as Socrates' objections to written texts, outlined in Plato's Phaedrus. Socrates worried that relying on written texts, rather than the oral tradition, would “create forgetfulness in the learners' souls, because they will not use their memories; they 30 will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves.” (He also objected that a written version of a speech was no substitute for the ability to interrogate the speaker, since, when questioned, the text “always gives one unvarying 35 answer”. His objection, in short, was that books were not interactive. Perhaps Socrates would have thought more highly of video games.) Novels were once considered too low-brow for 40 university literature courses, but eventually the disapproving professors retired. Waltz music and dancing were condemned in the 19th century; all that twirling was thought to be “intoxicating” and “depraved”, and the music was outlawed in some places. Today it is 45 hard to imagine what the fuss was about. And rock and roll was thought to encourage violence, promiscuity and satanism; but today even grannies buy Coldplay albums. Joystick junkies The opposition to gaming springs largely from the 50 neophobia that has pitted the old against the entertainments of the young for centuries. Most gamers are under 40, and most critics are non-games-playing over-40s. But what of the specific complaints—that games foster addiction and encourage violence? 55 There's no good evidence for either. On addiction, if the worry is about a generally excessive use of screenbased entertainment, critics should surely concern themselves about television rather than games: American teenage boys play video games for around 60 13 hours a week (girls for only five hours), yet watch television for around 25 hours a week. As to the minority who seriously overdo it, research suggests that they display addictive behaviour in other ways too. The

problem, in other words, is with them, not with the 65 games. Most of the research on whether video games encourage violence is unsatisfactory, focusing primarily on short-term effects. In the best study so far, frequent playing of a violent game sustained over a month had no effect on participants' level of aggression. And, 70 during the period in which gaming has become widespread in America, violent crime has fallen by half. If games really did make people violent, this tendency might be expected to show up in the figures, given that half of Americans play computer and video games. 75 Perhaps, as some observers have suggested, gaming actually makes people less violent, by acting as a safety valve. Neophobes unite So are games good, rather than bad, for people? Good ones probably are. Games are widely used as educational tools, not just for pilots, soldiers and 80 surgeons, but also in schools and businesses. Every game has its own interface and controls, so that anyone who has learned to play a handful of games can generally figure out how to operate almost any hightech device. Games require players to construct 85 hypotheses, solve problems, develop strategies, learn the rules of the in-game world through trial and error. Gamers must also be able to juggle several different tasks, evaluate risks and make quick decisions. One game, set in 1930s Europe, requires the player to 90 prevent the outbreak of the Second World War; other games teach everything from algebra to derivatives trading. Playing games is, thus, an ideal form of preparation for the workplace of the 21st century, as some forward-thinking firms are already starting to 95 realise. Pointing all this out makes little difference, though, because the controversy over gaming, as with rock and roll, is more than anything else the consequence of a generational divide. Can the disagreements between 100 old and young over new forms of media ever be resolved? Sometimes attitudes can change relatively quickly, as happened with the internet. Once condemned as a cesspool of depravity, it is now recognised as a valuable new medium, albeit one 105 where (as with films, TV and, yes, video games) children's access should be limited and supervised. The benefits of a broadband connection are now acknowledged, and politicians worry about extending access to the have-nots. Attitudes changed because 110 critics of the internet had to start using it for work, and then realised that, like any medium, it could be used for good purposes as well as bad. They have no such incentive to take up gaming, however. Eventually, objections to new media resolve 115 themselves, as the young grow up and the old die out. As today's gamers grow older—the average age of gamers is already 30—video games will ultimately become just another medium, alongside books, music and films. And soon the greying gamers will start tut- 120 tutting about some new evil threatening to destroy the younger generation's moral fibre. Aug 4th 2005 – from The Economist print edition

PART I READING COMPREHENSION (content 16) Answer the following questions in reference to the text and in your own words (about 40 to 60 words). Write full sentences. 1

What was the problem with the video game “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” and what consequences did it have? (4)

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Different forms of media have been controversial in different times. Give three specific examples and explain why each of them was controversial. (3)

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Summarise the main points of the second paragraph of Joystick junkies (l. 55-65) and say whether or not you agree with them and why (not). (5)

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4

Describe three specific but different examples from the text of where or why games can also be useful. (3)

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Explain the last sentence of the text (l. 120-122) in your own words (1).

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TRANSLATION

Open Letter to America’s Parents (Daniel Smith-Rowsey, 20, student, University of California)

Manchmal stelle ich mir vor, wie ich wohl als 20jähriger in den Sechzigern gewesen wäre. Damals, als man noch daran denken konnte, erwachsen zu werden, eine Karriere zu planen, vielleicht sogar ein Haus zu kaufen. Als ein Mensch noch genug verdienen konnte, um eine Familie zu gründen und zu ernähren. Seither sind die meisten dieser Träume zerstört worden. Die Preise sind explodiert, die Arbeitslosigkeit hat zugenommen und auch ein Hochschulabschluss garantiert nicht mehr automatisch für eine gute Stelle. Doch all das scheint niemanden zu kümmern. Wir sind die dümmste Generation in der amerikanischen Geschichte. Wir haben kaum Kenntnisse in Geographie. Mit unseren Fähigkeiten in den Fremdsprachen und in der Mathematik sieht es ähnlich aus. Daran seid Ihr schuld. Weil Euch Eure Jugend so wichtig war, wolltet Ihr, dass unsere sorgenfrei sei. Wir beklagen uns nicht über zuwenig Liebe, doch Ihr habt vergessen uns beizubringen Verantwortung zu übernehmen. Deswegen sind wir nun schon erwachsen genug, um etwas von Rassismus, der Zerstörung der Natur, Atompolitik und vom Elend der Obdachlosen zu verstehen. Aber wir werden jeden Tag gefüttert mit jener Videokultur, die Ihr geschaffen habt, um Eure wilde Jugendzeit zu verherrlichen. Die Botschaft ist klar: Spass allein genügt, um die Zeit zu füllen. Warum sollten wir uns auch noch anstrengen, etwas zu lernen? Sicher haben auch wir eine bestimmte Art Klugheit entwickelt. Unsere Geschicklichkeit bei Videospielen erstaunt Euch. Wir kennen mehr Biermarken als Namen von ehemaligen Präsidenten der USA. Popkultur ist einfach attraktiver als Bildung. Vielleicht ist es Euch wirklich gelungen, uns zu einer Nation von dummen Jugendlichen zu machen, für die das äusserliche Erscheinen immer wichtiger wird als die Substanz. Ihr seid dann die letzte gebildete moderne Generation gewesen, denn unsere Kinder werden noch dümmer, ärmer und gewalttätiger sein als wir. Falls irgendein Teil von Euch uns noch genug liebt, helft uns. Es ist nicht nur Eure letzte Chance, es ist unsere einzige. („Newsweek“, adapted and abridged)

PART II LITERARY ESSAY Write an essay of 400 – 500 words on one of the following topics:

1

If a man loves a place enough he doesn’t need to possess it. Greene, The Tenth Man Discuss Chavel’s attitude towards possession in The Tenth Man.

2

… my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye Find similarities and differences in the children’s relationships to their parents in The Catcher in the Rye and An Inspector Calls.

3

You have made your bed, now you must lie on it.

proverb

Point out how actions (may) lead to inevitable consequences. Describe two examples from any two of your selected texts.