{"id":"jezyk-angielski-2005-maj-matura-dwujezyczna-2/zad/8","paper_id":"jezyk-angielski-2005-maj-matura-dwujezyczna-2","number":"8","points":30,"ptype":"open","subject":"jezyk-angielski","category":"matura","year":2005,"month":"maj","level":null,"text":"Task 8. (30 points)\nChoose one of the topics below and write a composition of 300-350 words.\nMark the chosen topic.\n1. Write a story entitled Half the truth is often a whole lie.\n2. Is it possible to define the boundary between being a Pole and being a European?\nWrite an essay presenting a balanced view on the subject.\nROUGH COPY\nArkusz II\n8\nArkusz II\n9\nFAIR COPY\nArkusz II\n10\nArkusz II\n11","answer":null,"answer_text":null,"solution":"Writing task (choice of two topics: a story titled 'Half the truth is often a whole lie', or a balanced essay on the boundary between being Polish and European; 300-350 words; graded by an examiner on content/composition/language). Sample worked answer to topic 1 (the story):\n\nHalf the Truth Is Often a Whole Lie\n\nMarta had always considered herself an honest person. So when her best friend Ola asked her, nervously, whether she thought the dress she had bought for the school ball actually suited her, Marta smiled and said, \"It's lovely, Ola. You'll look great.\" She didn't mention that the colour washed Ola's skin out completely, or that the cut made her look ten years older. It was, after all, only a small kindness - a tiny compromise with the truth, nothing that could really hurt anyone.\n\nOn the night of the ball, Ola arrived glowing with confidence, certain that she looked her best. Marta watched her friend's face fall, slowly, painfully, as she noticed the sideways glances and the whispers behind raised hands. By the end of the evening Ola had retreated to a corner, arms crossed over the offending dress, refusing to dance, refusing even to speak. When Marta finally found the courage to sit beside her, Ola turned to her with red eyes. \"You said it looked good,\" she whispered. \"Why didn't you tell me the truth?\"\n\nMarta had no real answer. She had told herself she was protecting Ola's feelings, but in reality she had simply been avoiding an uncomfortable conversation. A partial truth, she realised now, dressed itself up as kindness while doing exactly what a lie does: it left the other person unprepared for reality, and more hurt in the end than if they had been told plainly from the start.\n\nWalking home that night, Marta thought about all the other \"small kindnesses\" she had offered over the years - the half-truths about a friend's chances of getting into a course, the vague reassurances about a plan that was obviously going to fail. Each one, she now understood, had been building towards exactly this moment: a friend who no longer trusted her word, because her word had never been quite whole.\n\nFrom that day on, Marta made herself a quiet promise. If she couldn't tell the whole truth, kindly and honestly, she would say nothing at all - because she had finally learned, the hard way, that half the truth is often a whole lie.","image":"img/jezyk-angielski-2005-maj-matura-dwujezyczna-2/zad-8.webp","solution_image":null,"topics":null,"page_from":7,"source":"ai","answer_source":null,"answer_text_source":null,"solution_source":"ai","text_source":"ocr","source_label":"Język angielski · Matura · maj 2005","subject_label":"Język angielski","category_label":"Matura","text_html":"

Task 8. (30 points)
Choose one of the topics below and write a composition of 300-350 words.
Mark the chosen topic.

\n
  1. Write a story entitled Half the truth is often a whole lie.
  2. Is it possible to define the boundary between being a Pole and being a European?
\n

Write an essay presenting a balanced view on the subject.
ROUGH COPY
Arkusz II
8
Arkusz II
9
FAIR COPY
Arkusz II
10
Arkusz II
11

","solutions":[{"source":"ai","label":"AI","kind":"text","html":"

Writing task (choice of two topics: a story titled 'Half the truth is often a whole lie', or a balanced essay on the boundary between being Polish and European; 300-350 words; graded by an examiner on content/composition/language). Sample worked answer to topic 1 (the story):

\n

Half the Truth Is Often a Whole Lie

\n

Marta had always considered herself an honest person. So when her best friend Ola asked her, nervously, whether she thought the dress she had bought for the school ball actually suited her, Marta smiled and said, "It's lovely, Ola. You'll look great." She didn't mention that the colour washed Ola's skin out completely, or that the cut made her look ten years older. It was, after all, only a small kindness - a tiny compromise with the truth, nothing that could really hurt anyone.

\n

On the night of the ball, Ola arrived glowing with confidence, certain that she looked her best. Marta watched her friend's face fall, slowly, painfully, as she noticed the sideways glances and the whispers behind raised hands. By the end of the evening Ola had retreated to a corner, arms crossed over the offending dress, refusing to dance, refusing even to speak. When Marta finally found the courage to sit beside her, Ola turned to her with red eyes. "You said it looked good," she whispered. "Why didn't you tell me the truth?"

\n

Marta had no real answer. She had told herself she was protecting Ola's feelings, but in reality she had simply been avoiding an uncomfortable conversation. A partial truth, she realised now, dressed itself up as kindness while doing exactly what a lie does: it left the other person unprepared for reality, and more hurt in the end than if they had been told plainly from the start.

\n

Walking home that night, Marta thought about all the other "small kindnesses" she had offered over the years - the half-truths about a friend's chances of getting into a course, the vague reassurances about a plan that was obviously going to fail. Each one, she now understood, had been building towards exactly this moment: a friend who no longer trusted her word, because her word had never been quite whole.

\n

From that day on, Marta made herself a quiet promise. If she couldn't tell the whole truth, kindly and honestly, she would say nothing at all - because she had finally learned, the hard way, that half the truth is often a whole lie.

"}]}