Startseite
E GK HT 2
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Abiturprüfung 2008
Englisch, Grundkurs
Aufgabenstellung:
1. Point out Barack Obama’s demand for change and describe his view of current US
problems and their causes. (Comprehension) (16 Punkte)
2. Analyse how Obama tries to convince his listeners that it is “time to turn the page”
(l. 34) by examining the rhetorical devices and other techniques of persuasion as well
as the content of his speech. (Analysis) (24 Punkte)
3. Choose one of the following tasks:
3.1 Discuss Obama’s specific concept of the American Dream and compare it with similar
and different interpretations that you have come across either in literary or nonliterary
texts (e. g. True West). (Evaluation: comment) (20 Punkte)
3.2 After his speech in Springfield, Barack Obama is interviewed by a critical, conservative
Illinois journalist about his concept of the American Dream and the changes
resulting from it for American society. Write this interview.
(Evaluation: re-creation of text) (20 Punkte)
Materialgrundlage:
• Ausgangstext: Sach- und Gebrauchstext (politische Rede – Auszug)
Fundstelle des Textes: Senator Barack Obama’s announcement for President of the
United States of America in Springfield, Illinois, 10 February, 2007
Wortzahl: 507
Zugelassene Hilfsmittel:
• Ein- und zweisprachiges Wörterbuch
E GK HT 2
Seite 2 von 2
Text:
Senator Barack Obama’s announcement for President (10 February, 2007)
The genius of our founders is that they designed a system of government that can be
changed. And we should take heart, because we’ve changed this country before. In the face
of tyranny, a band of patriots brought an Empire to its knees. In the face of secession, we
unified a nation and set the captives free. In the face of Depression, we put people back to
5 work and lifted millions out of poverty. We welcomed immigrants to our shores, we opened
railroads to the west, we landed a man on the moon, and we heard a King’s call to let justice
roll down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.
Each and every time, a new generation has risen up and done what’s needed to be done.
Today we are called once more – and it is time for our generation to answer that call.
10 For that is our unyielding faith – that in the face of impossible odds, people who love their
country can change it.
That’s what Abraham Lincoln understood. He had his doubts. He had his defeats. He had his
setbacks. But through his will and his words, he moved a nation and helped free a people. It is
because of the millions who rallied to his cause that we are no longer divided, North and
15 South, slave and free. It is because men and women of every race, from every walk of life,
continued to march for freedom long after Lincoln was laid to rest, that today we have the
chance to face the challenges of this millennium together, as one people – as Americans.
All of us know what those challenges are today – a war with no end, a dependence on oil
that threatens our future, schools where too many children aren’t learning, and families
20 struggling paycheck to paycheck despite working as hard as they can. We know the challenges.
We’ve heard them. We’ve talked about them for years.
What’s stopped us from meeting these challenges is not the absence of sound policies and
sensible plans. What’s stopped us is the failure of leadership, the smallness of our politics –
the ease with which we’re distracted by the petty and trivial, our chronic avoidance of
25 tough decisions, our preference for scoring cheap political points instead of rolling up our
sleeves and building a working consensus to tackle big problems.
For the last six years we’ve been told that our mounting debts don’t matter, we’ve been told
that the anxiety Americans feel about rising health care costs and stagnant wages are an illusion,
we’ve been told that climate change is a hoax, and that tough talk and an ill-conceived
30 war can replace diplomacy, and strategy, and foresight. And when all else fails, when
Katrina happens, or the death toll in Iraq mounts, we’ve been told that our crises are somebody
else’s fault. We’re distracted from our real failures, and told to blame the other party,
or gay people, or immigrants.
[…] The time for that politics is over. It’s time to turn the page.
Anmerkungen:
10 unyielding very strong, solid and unlikely to change
10 odds the chances of something happening
20 paycheck weekly/monthly letter or note which gives employees the details concerning their pay
29 hoax a trick in which someone deliberately tells people something that is not true
31 Katrina here: hurricane Katrina, which caused severe damage to New Orleans in August 2005
31 to mount to increase, to rise
Ps: hoffendlich bekommen wir auch eine Rede
Seite 1 von 2
Abiturprüfung 2008
Englisch, Grundkurs
Aufgabenstellung:
1. Point out Barack Obama’s demand for change and describe his view of current US
problems and their causes. (Comprehension) (16 Punkte)
2. Analyse how Obama tries to convince his listeners that it is “time to turn the page”
(l. 34) by examining the rhetorical devices and other techniques of persuasion as well
as the content of his speech. (Analysis) (24 Punkte)
3. Choose one of the following tasks:
3.1 Discuss Obama’s specific concept of the American Dream and compare it with similar
and different interpretations that you have come across either in literary or nonliterary
texts (e. g. True West). (Evaluation: comment) (20 Punkte)
3.2 After his speech in Springfield, Barack Obama is interviewed by a critical, conservative
Illinois journalist about his concept of the American Dream and the changes
resulting from it for American society. Write this interview.
(Evaluation: re-creation of text) (20 Punkte)
Materialgrundlage:
• Ausgangstext: Sach- und Gebrauchstext (politische Rede – Auszug)
Fundstelle des Textes: Senator Barack Obama’s announcement for President of the
United States of America in Springfield, Illinois, 10 February, 2007
Wortzahl: 507
Zugelassene Hilfsmittel:
• Ein- und zweisprachiges Wörterbuch
E GK HT 2
Seite 2 von 2
Text:
Senator Barack Obama’s announcement for President (10 February, 2007)
The genius of our founders is that they designed a system of government that can be
changed. And we should take heart, because we’ve changed this country before. In the face
of tyranny, a band of patriots brought an Empire to its knees. In the face of secession, we
unified a nation and set the captives free. In the face of Depression, we put people back to
5 work and lifted millions out of poverty. We welcomed immigrants to our shores, we opened
railroads to the west, we landed a man on the moon, and we heard a King’s call to let justice
roll down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.
Each and every time, a new generation has risen up and done what’s needed to be done.
Today we are called once more – and it is time for our generation to answer that call.
10 For that is our unyielding faith – that in the face of impossible odds, people who love their
country can change it.
That’s what Abraham Lincoln understood. He had his doubts. He had his defeats. He had his
setbacks. But through his will and his words, he moved a nation and helped free a people. It is
because of the millions who rallied to his cause that we are no longer divided, North and
15 South, slave and free. It is because men and women of every race, from every walk of life,
continued to march for freedom long after Lincoln was laid to rest, that today we have the
chance to face the challenges of this millennium together, as one people – as Americans.
All of us know what those challenges are today – a war with no end, a dependence on oil
that threatens our future, schools where too many children aren’t learning, and families
20 struggling paycheck to paycheck despite working as hard as they can. We know the challenges.
We’ve heard them. We’ve talked about them for years.
What’s stopped us from meeting these challenges is not the absence of sound policies and
sensible plans. What’s stopped us is the failure of leadership, the smallness of our politics –
the ease with which we’re distracted by the petty and trivial, our chronic avoidance of
25 tough decisions, our preference for scoring cheap political points instead of rolling up our
sleeves and building a working consensus to tackle big problems.
For the last six years we’ve been told that our mounting debts don’t matter, we’ve been told
that the anxiety Americans feel about rising health care costs and stagnant wages are an illusion,
we’ve been told that climate change is a hoax, and that tough talk and an ill-conceived
30 war can replace diplomacy, and strategy, and foresight. And when all else fails, when
Katrina happens, or the death toll in Iraq mounts, we’ve been told that our crises are somebody
else’s fault. We’re distracted from our real failures, and told to blame the other party,
or gay people, or immigrants.
[…] The time for that politics is over. It’s time to turn the page.
Anmerkungen:
10 unyielding very strong, solid and unlikely to change
10 odds the chances of something happening
20 paycheck weekly/monthly letter or note which gives employees the details concerning their pay
29 hoax a trick in which someone deliberately tells people something that is not true
31 Katrina here: hurricane Katrina, which caused severe damage to New Orleans in August 2005
31 to mount to increase, to rise
Ps: hoffendlich bekommen wir auch eine Rede