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2013 ‫מועד אוקטובר‬ - 39 - ‫ פרק ראשון‬- ‫ אנגלית‬

12. With the fall of Carthage, Rome ceased to have serious rivals in the Mediterranean

world.

(1) Carthage posed the most serious threat to Rome of any nation in the Mediterranean.
(2) After the fall of Carthage, Rome was able to defeat its other Mediterranean rivals.
(3) The rivalry between Rome and Carthage was the most intense in the Mediterranean

world.
(4) Once Carthage was defeated, Rome was clearly the strongest power in the

Mediterranean region.

Reading Comprehension

This part consists of two passages, each followed by several related questions. For each
question, choose the most appropriate answer based on the text.

Text I (Questions 13-17)

(1) Television is the most popular form of entertainment in the United States. Surveys
show that most Americans spend at least two hours a day – more than 60 percent of
their leisure time – watching television. But even though people spend so much time
watching them, television programs have never been the subject of serious academic

(5) study.

Professor Robert J. Thompson of Syracuse University wants to change this. He is
one of the few scholars in the United States to specialize in the new academic field of
television studies. According to Thompson, it is precisely because television is so
popular that scholars do not take it seriously. "They think that if it appeals to almost

(10) everyone, it cannot be great art," he explains. "But Shakespeare's plays were extremely
popular in his day and we now consider him to be the greatest playwright of all time.
Another example is jazz, which was once 'too popular' to be considered serious music.
Now jazz is taught in universities along with classical music, such as Mozart and
Beethoven." Thompson believes that television programs, too, deserve serious

(15) attention.

Some scholars think this argument is silly. Professor Mark Crispin Miller, a media
specialist at Johns Hopkins University, argues that not all popular literature and music
are worthy of study. "We study Shakespeare's plays because they are brilliant works of
art, not because they were popular in their time," Miller says. While he agrees that the

(20) best television programs deserve academic attention, Miller disagrees with Thompson's
emphasis on studying any program that is popular. According to Miller, it will take
thirty or forty years before scholars are able to see which television programs have
stood the test of time.

)‫© כל הזכויות שמורות למרכז ארצי לבחינות ולהערכה (ע"ר‬

.‫ 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