1、 AP English Language and Composition 2009 Free-Response Questions The College Board The College Board is a not-for-profit membership association whose mission is to connect students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the association is composed of more than 5,600 schools, colleges,
2、 universities and other educational organizations. Each year, the College Board serves seven million students and their parents, 23,000 high schools and 3,800 colleges through major programs and services in college readiness, college admissions, guidance, assessment, financial aid, enrollment, and t
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5、lege Board materials may be requested online at: Visit the College Board on the Web: . AP Central is the official online home for the AP Program: . 2009 AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION FREE-RESPONSE QUESTIONS 2009 The College Board. All rights reserved. Visit the College Board on the Web: . GO
6、ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. -2- ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION SECTION II Total time2 hours Question 1 (Suggested time40 minutes. This question counts for one-third of the total essay section score.) Directions: The following prompt is based on the accompanying eight sources. This question requires you t
7、o synthesize a variety of sources into a coherent, well-written essay. When you synthesize sources, you refer to them to develop your position and cite them accurately. Your argument should be central; the sources should support the argument. Avoid merely summarizing sources. Remember to attribute b
8、oth direct and indirect references. Introduction Explorers and tales of explorations tend to capture the human imagination. However, such explorations have financial and ethical consequences. Space exploration is no exception. Assignment Read the following sources (including the introductory informa
9、tion) carefully. Then, in an essay that synthesizes at least three of the sources, develop a position about what issues should be considered most important in making decisions about space exploration. You may refer to the sources by their titles (Source A, Source B, etc.) or by the descriptions in p
10、arentheses. Source A (Livingston) Source B (Photo) Source C (Chamberlain) Source D (NIH) Source E (McLean) Source F (Greenberg) Source G (Collins) Source H (Roberts) 2009 AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION FREE-RESPONSE QUESTIONS 2009 The College Board. All rights reserved. Visit the College Board
11、on the Web: . GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. -3- Source A Livingston, David. “Is Space Exploration Worth the Cost?” 21 Jan. 2008. The Space Review: Essays and Commentary About the Final Frontier. 4 March 2008 . The following is from the Web page of a person dedicated to space travel. In my opinion, the man
12、ned space exploration program is absolutely worth the cost. The money spent on manned space exploration is spent right here on Earth and most of it is spent in the US. We do not yet have a Bank of the Milky Way, the First International Bank of Mars, or a Lunar Mutual Savings and Loan. The money that
13、 is spent goes to manufacturing, research and development, salaries, benefits, insurance companies, doctors, teachers, scientists, students, blue- and white-collar workers, and corporations and businesses both large and small. The money disperses throughout the economy in the same way as money spent
14、 on medical research, building houses, or any other activity we engage in with government or even private spending. We have our work cut out for us as we move forward in this new century. We dont seem to get along well with each other here on Earth, but we do quite well in space. Space is our model
15、for all nations. Notice how many more nations are talking about and wanting to get into the manned space act. India, Russia, China, Japan, and the European Space Agency, for starters, all want a manned mission to the Moon and it wont stop there. These countries and agencies know that manned space ex
16、ploration builds wealth for their nation, solves problems and enhances life for their people right here on Earth, and shows us the way for how we can all live together in peace. Manned space exploration is absolutely worth the investment. Its not just about what we learn out there in space, or about
17、 ourselves, or how to be a better steward of precious Earth. Its about how we live here on Earth together and what type of future we want for ourselves and children. Manned space exploration is the path to how we build a better life for ourselves here on Earth, and how we can give hope and provide i
18、nspiration for our youngsters to grow up, do the schoolwork, and accept the challenges that await them to make our world even better. Whatever we spend on manned space exploration is a bargain and our investment will be returned to us many times over, both quantitatively and qualitatively. The Space
19、 Review 2008 Used by permission of Dr. David Livingston, . 2009 AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION FREE-RESPONSE QUESTIONS 2009 The College Board. All rights reserved. Visit the College Board on the Web: . GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. -4- Source B National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) pho
20、to The following photo is taken from the NASA photo archive. Photo Credit: NASA 2009 AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION FREE-RESPONSE QUESTIONS 2009 The College Board. All rights reserved. Visit the College Board on the Web: . GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. -5- Source C Chamberlain, Andrew. “Pennies of Ea
21、ch Federal Spending Dollar.” 7 Apr. 2006. The Tax Foundation. 1 March 2008 . The following are two visual representations of the same information about how each federal tax dollar is spent. 2009 AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION FREE-RESPONSE QUESTIONS 2009 The College Board. All rights reserved.
22、Visit the College Board on the Web: . GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. -6- Pennies of Each Federal Dollar Spent on Various Programs, 2006 Estimate Function Amount Social security $ 0.21 National defense $ 0.19 Income security $ 0.14 Medicare $ 0.13 Health $ 0.10 Net interest on debt $ 0.08 Education, trainin
23、g, employment, and social services $ 0.04 Transportation $ 0.03 Veterans benefits and services $ 0.03 All others* $ 0.06 Total $ 1.00 *Includes community and regional development; administration of justice; international affairs; natural resources and environment; agriculture; general science; space
24、 and technology; general government; commerce and housing credit; energy; and undistributed offsetting receipts. Source: Office of Management and Budget, Analytical Perspectives, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2007 (available at http:/www.whitehouse.gov/ omb/budget/fy2007/); Tax
25、 Foundation calculations. 2009 AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION FREE-RESPONSE QUESTIONS 2009 The College Board. All rights reserved. Visit the College Board on the Web: . GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. -7- Source D National Institutes of Health. 26 Feb. 2008 . The following is a description of the Natio
26、nal Institutes of Health (NIH), a government-funded agency whose mission is to improve health. The Nations Medical Research Agency The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal agency for conducting and supporting medical
27、research. Helping to lead the way toward important medical discoveries that improve peoples health and save lives, NIH scientists investigate ways to prevent disease as well as the causes, treatments, and even cures for common and rare diseases. Composed of 27 Institutes and Centers, the NIH provide
28、s leadership and financial support to researchers in every state and throughout the world. . . . In the past several decades, NIH-supported research, and its national programs to communicate the results of research, played a major role in achievements such as: Death rates from heart disease and stro
29、ke fell by 40% and 51%, respectively, between 1975 and 2000. The overall five-year survival rate for childhood cancers rose to nearly 80% during the 1990s from under 60% in the 1970s. The number of AIDS-related deaths fell by about 70% between 1995 and 2001. Sudden infant death syndrome rates fell b
30、y more than 50% between 1994 and 2000. Infectious diseasessuch as rubella, whooping cough, and pneumococcal pneumoniathat once killed and disabled millions of people are now prevented by vaccines. Quality of life for 19 million Americans suffering with depression has improved as a result of more eff
31、ective medication and psychotherapy. 2009 AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION FREE-RESPONSE QUESTIONS 2009 The College Board. All rights reserved. Visit the College Board on the Web: . GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. -8- Source E McLean, Margaret R. “To Boldly Go: Ethical Considerations for Space Exploratio
32、n.” Feb. 2006. Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. 29 Feb. 2008 . The following excerpt appeared on the Web page of a group dedicated to ethics. In the budget unveiled on Monday, almost $17 billion will fly into NASAs coffers with around $5.3 billion dedicated to space exploration. The Crew Explorat
33、ion Vehicle and Launch Vehicles will be built; new spacecraft on their way to the moon and Mars will be whizzing overhead by 2014. NASA chief Michael Griffin claimed that this new budget would set the stage for “the expansion of human presence into the solar system.” But before we think about explor
34、ingand potentially exploiting“the final frontier,” we would do well to remember that we do not have a very good track record in protecting our planet home. We have expanded human presence into pristine forests resulting in the disruption of migratory routes, soil erosion, and species extinction. Wha
35、t can be learned from our presence on Earth about the potential impact of our forays into the outer reaches of the solar system? We are the only earthly creatures with the capacity to extend our influence beyond the 4 corners of the globe. This puts on us the responsibility to acknowledge that, desp
36、ite the depths of space, it is not so limitless as to be able to weather mistreatment or suffer every demand we may place on it. One way to think about expanding our presence in the solar system is through the lens of stewardship. Stewardship envisions humans not as owners of the solar system but as
37、 responsible managers of its wonder and beauty. Stewardship holds us accountable for a prudent use of space resources. Such responsibility may support exploration of the final frontier, but at the same time it warns against exploitation of its resources. We must account for our urges and actions in
38、terms of their impact on others, the universe, and the future. As we boldly plan to extend ourselves to places where no one has gone before, we would do well to consider the following principles: 1. Space preservation requires that the solar system be valued for its own sake, not on the basis of wha
39、t it can do for us. 2. Space conservation insists that extraterrestrial resources ought not to be exploited to benefit the few at the expense of the many or of the solar system itself. 3. Space sustainability asks that our explorations “do no harm” and that we leave the moon, Mars, and space itself
40、no worseand perhaps betterthan we found them. As we expand human presence into the solar system, we ought not to park ethical considerations next to the launching pad. We must take our best ethical thinking with us as we cross the frontier of space exploration. Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at
41、Santa Clara University 2009 AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION FREE-RESPONSE QUESTIONS 2009 The College Board. All rights reserved. Visit the College Board on the Web: . GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. -9- Source F Greenberg, Richard, and B. Randall Tufts. “Infecting Other Worlds.” American Scientist Jul.-
42、Aug. 2001. 24 Feb. 2008 . The following is excerpted from an article about spreading infection via space. Because extraterrestrial life may exist, planetary exploration could bring trouble if people are not careful enough. This danger was recognized decades ago, when astronauts ventured to the Moon.
43、 When the crews returned, they were quarantined to prevent “back contamination,” the hazard that some infectious extraterrestrial germ might be riding with them. The safety procedures were largely symbolic: After all, who knew the incubation period for some hypothetical other-worldly microbe? Whethe
44、r the hardware and samples returned needed sterilization was also largely a matter of speculation. Subsequent planetary exploration has not involved astronauts, nor have samples or hardware been returned, so back contamination has not been an issue. But forward contaminationthat is, the infection of
45、 alien ecosystems by terrestrial organisms hitchhiking on a spacecraftis a distinct possibility. American Scientist, magazine of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society. 2009 AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION FREE-RESPONSE QUESTIONS 2009 The College Board. All rights reserved. Visit the College
46、Board on the Web: . GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. -10- Source G Collins, Michael. Carrying the Fire: An Astronauts Journeys. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1974. The following is excerpted from a book written by one of the first astronauts in space. I really believe that if the political leaders of
47、the world could see their planet from a distance of, lets say, 100,000 miles, their outlook would be fundamentally changed. That all-important border would be invisible, that noisy argument suddenly silenced. The tiny globe would continue to turn, serenely ignoring its subdivisions, presenting a uni
48、fied faade that would cry out for unified understanding, for homogeneous treatment. The earth must become as it appears: blue and white, not capitalist or Communist; blue and white, not rich or poor; blue and white, not envious or envied. I am not a nave man. I dont believe that a glance from 100,000 miles out would cause a Prime Minister to scurry back to his parliament with a disarmament plan, but I do think it would plant a seed that ultimately could grow into such concrete action. Just because borders are invisible from space
