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2015 ‫מועד יולי‬ - 49 - ‫ פרק שנ י‬- ‫ אנגלית‬

Text II (Questions 18-22)

(1) Historically, female writers tended to find their careers hampered by prevailing
social prejudices. To ensure that their work not be dismissed on the basis of gender,
numerous women writers adopted male pseudonyms. A well-known instance of this
was the decision of sisters Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë to jointly publish a book

(5) of poetry under the pen names Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. Only two copies of the
1846 book were sold, but several subsequent works released under these aliases
received great acclaim.

Charlotte later explained that although she and her sisters were not comfortable
assuming male names, they were afraid that publishers and readers would be biased

(10) against women authors. Their fears were well founded: nineteenth-century English
society was simply not accustomed to serious literature being produced by women.
When Charlotte was twenty-one years old, she sent some of her poems to Robert
Southey, England's poet laureate, and though he praised her talent, he discouraged her
from trying to succeed professionally. "Literature," he told her, "cannot be the business

(15) of a woman's life, and it ought not to be." It was not until ten years later, after her novel
Jane Eyre was published to immediate praise, that Charlotte revealed her true identity
and took her rightful place among the illustrious writers of her day.

Since the time of the Brontës, women have risen to prominence in the field of
literature. Nonetheless, certain preconceptions still remain. Consider the example of

(20) Joanne Rowling, who was told by her London publisher that boys might not want to
read a fantasy book about a school for wizards if they knew it was written by a woman.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which appeared in 1997 under the name J.K.
Rowling, became a phenomenal success. It was followed by other books in the
bestselling series, and Joanne Rowling became a literary icon.

Questions

18. In line 1, "hampered" means -

(1) held back
(2) set up
(3) called on
(4) picked out

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.‫ בלא אישור בכתב מהמרכז הארצי לבחינות ולהערכה‬- ‫ כולה או חלקים ממנה‬- ‫ או ללמדה‬,‫אין להעתיק או להפיץ בחינה זו או קטעים ממנה בכל צורה ובכל אמצעי‬