ABITURPRÜFUNG 2001 Arbeitszeit: 180 Minuten
ENGLISCH
als Grundkursfach
Textaufgabe I
A PRINCELY PIONEER
Once upon a time there was a prince who unwisely confided to the
media that while tending his beloved garden, he often talked to his
plants. He also warned his future subjects about losing touch with
their natural surroundings and their rich cultural heritage. But the
5 people scoffed and said it was the fuddy-duddy Prince who was out of
touch. And as for talking to his plants - well, they shook their
heads and remembered the madness of the Prince's forebear, King
George III, who famously struck up a conversation with a tree that
he had mistaken for the King of Prussia.
10 These days Britain's Prince of Wales is still considered a tad
eccentric: after all who in his right mind would have lost the love
of the fairytale Princess Diana? But increasingly, Charles is winn-
ing applause for his not-so-crazy campaign to combat what he calls
"the wanton destruction that has taken place ... in the name of
15 progress." For 30 years the Prince has been in the forefront of
efforts to promote kinder, gentler farming methods; protect Brit-
ain's countryside from urban sprawl; improve city langscapes; and
safegard the nation's architectural heritage. And whereas his was
once a lonely if plummy voice crying in the wilderness, the Prince
20 has seen many of his once maverick opinions become mainstream.
Charles is not the first royal concerned about nature. Mad King
George dabbled in botany when he wasn't losing his mind or the
American colonies, and Charles' father, the Duke of Edinburgh, has
long suported wildlife causes. But it is Charles who has become the
25 crusader, with a vision of Britain that may border on the romantic
but is in synch with Britons alarmed by what is happening to their
green and pleasant land. He has the energy and dedication to get
things done. "My problem," he has said, "is that I become carried
away by enthusiasm to try and improve things, and also feel very
30 strongly that the only way to progress is by setting examples and
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- 2 -
then hoping others will eventually follow."
An example people are following is organic farming, with Charles
has adopted wholeheartedly on his own farmlands in the Duchy of
Cornwall and surrounding his country home at Highgrove in western
35 England. Charles once noted that when he decided to go organic,
which means forswaring artificial fertilizers and pesticides, the
experts were very polite, "but what they were saying about this
latest demonstration of insanity once they were out of earshot can
only be surmised." Today the experts have been confounded1. The
40 duchy's Home Farm near Highgrove is 100% organic and highly profit-
table and serves as a model for farmers around the country at a time
when farm incomes are falling and organic produce is in high demand,
fetching premium prices in shops and supermarkets.
Charles is throwing himself into another pioneering project: a
45 radical way to meet Britain's need for new housing. Appalled by sub-
urban developments made up of identical boxlike dwellings that eat
into the countryside, the Prince is creating a model township called
Poundbury on duchy land adjoining the town of Dorchester, south of
Highgrove.The houses - 220 so far,with an additional 2,280 planned -
50 are not identical but come in different sizes and styles that pay
homage to traditional English architecture and materials. Some are
privately owned, others government subsidized. All are highly energy
efficient. The town layout prefers people over cars: front doors
give onto streets that are safer for children because the roads are
55 too winding to allow cars to speed. A 1998 British government report
cited Poundbury as an example for future developments because its
efficient use of space permits a higher population density, thus
fighting sprawl. As a skeptical journalist noted after tourning
Poundbury, "the Prince of Wales has got it right."
From: TIME, April-May 2000
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Annotation:
1 to confound s.b.: here: to prove s.b. wrong
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ENGLISCH als GRUNDKURSFACH - Textaufgabe I
WORKSHEET: A Princely Pioneer
maximum number of
points attainable
I. Questions on the text
Read all the questions first, then answer them
in the given order.
Use your own words as far as is appropriate.
1. How did the British public view Prince Charles in the past
and what were the reasons for this view? 10
2. To what extent has the Prince's image changed? (Refer to
lines 10-20.) 10
3. How has Charles influenced British farming? 10
4. Describe the characteristic features of Poundbury. Why has
Charles launched this project and how has it been received? 20
5. What is the writer’s personal attitude towards the Prince
and his activities? Examine in detail how this attitude
is conveyed. 20
6. What use of a literary genre does the writer make in the
first paragraph and to what effect? 10
II. Composition 40
Choose o n e of the following topics.
Write about 120 to 150 words.
1. "Saving the planet starts at home." Discuss.
2. Cities are sometimes called "urban jungles". Is this
characterization justified?
III. Translation 40
Translate the following text into German:
_____
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The British public has taken against genetically modified crops
in a big way. Activist suproot them and supermarkets attempt not
to furnish their customers with them. This week the Prince of
Wales came out against them for the umpteenth time, a piece of
non-news that still managed to provoke headlines throughout the
country.
Europeans have in general been more skeptical about genetically
modified crops than Americans, who have so far swallowed the idea,
and the food, with relatively few qualms. And among the Europeans
the Brits have been particularly adamant in their refusal to have
anything to do with such things. The recent history of British
agricultural politics - the killing of millions of cows for fear
that their increasing madness was spreading into the population -
fas left the public distrustful of "unnatural" tinkering with the
food chain. The prince says that he wants us to reject all genetic
modification and instead "work with nature for the benefit of
humankind."
From: Newsweek, 14 June 1999
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