UNIVERSITY ENTRANCE
ENGLISH EXAM
OPTION "A": Propaganda of the Spanish-American War: the beginning of the practice of yellow journalism
The Spanish-American
War (April–August 1898) is considered to be both a turning point in the
history of propaganda and the beginning of the practice of yellow
journalism. It was the first conflict in which military action was precipitated
by media involvement. American newspapers fanned the flames of interest in the
war by fabricating atrocities which justified intervention in a number of
Spanish colonies worldwide.
Hostility towards Spain began to
build as American newspapers ran stories of a sensationalist nature
depicting fabricated atrocities committed by the Spanish in Cuba. Cuban oppression was depicted through inhumane
treatment, torture, rape, and mass pillaging by the Spanish forces. But correspondents rarely bothered to confirm
facts; they simply passed the stories on to their editors in the United States,
where they would be put into publication after further editing and
misrepresentation. This type of journalism became known as yellow
journalism. Yellow journalism
swept the nation and its propaganda helped to precipitate military action by
the United States.
In the days following the
sinking of the USS Maine (Havana
harbour, February 15th, 1898), men such as William Hearst, the owner of The New York Journal, and Joseph
Pulitzer, of The New York World,
saw the conflict as a way to sell papers.
Hearst ran a story with the heading "The War Ship Maine was Split in Two by an Enemy's Secret
Infernal Machine". The story told how the Spanish had planted a
torpedo beneath the USS Maine and
detonated it from shore. Many stories like the one published by Hearst were
printed across the country blaming the Spanish military for the destruction of
the USS Maine, and eventually American troops were sent to Cuba.
QUESTIONS
1.- Are the following statements
TRUE or FALSE? Copy the evidence from the text. No marks are given for only
TRUE or FALSE.
a) The work of American journalists in Cuba was highly
professional.
b) Only William Hearst held Spain
responsible for the sinking of USS Maine.
2.- In your own words and based on the ideas in the
text, answer the following questions. Do not copy from the text.
a) Explain the concept " yellow journalism" using references
from the text.
b) How was the USS Maine sunk
and what did its sinking provoke?
3.- Find the words in the text
that mean:
a) a decisive moment (paragraph 1)
b) made an effort (paragraph
2)
c) spread quickly across (paragraph 2)
d) caused to break (paragraph 3)
4.- Complete the following
sentences. Use the appropriate form of the word in brackets when given.
a) The United States battleship Maine _________ (blow up) in an explosion which
killed 260 men _______ board _____ February 15th, 1898. What _______ (cause)
the explosion and who _______(be) responsible
_____ it?
b) Far more Americans were killed by tropical
diseases in the course of the war ______ fell in battle. ______ (eat)
beef out of cans may _________(cause) more damage than enemy
bullets.
c) Spain lost ______ last
colonies in the New World _______the United States achieved worldwide
recognition ______a great power.
d) Some conspiracy theorists ___________ (suggest) that
William Randolph Hearst might _____ (set) the explosion _______ precipitate a war.
e) _________
the Maine claimed to be on a _________ (friend) mission, it
was a ________ (power) warship.
5. Write about 100 to 150
words on the following topic.
Is it legitimate to use eye-catching headlines to sell more newspapers? Why does tabloid journalism emphasize crime stories and gossip columns about the personal life of celebrities?
OPTION "B": The
Spanish Legacy in North America
In the late
eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Englishmen and Anglo Americans who
wrote about the Spanish past in North America uniformly condemned Spanish rule.
They sought to vindicate English or American expansion into Spanish territory.
When these Anglo writers sought the cause of Spanish misrule, they found it in
the defective character of Spaniards themselves. From their English ancestors
and other non-Spanish Europeans, Anglo Americans had inherited the view that
Spaniards were unusually cruel, avaricious, treacherous,
fanatical, superstitious, cowardly, corrupt, decadent, indolent, and
authoritarian- a unique complex of pejoratives that historians from Spain came
to call the Black Legend, "la leyenda negra".
In
the last two decades of the nineteenth century an appreciative view of Spanish
culture grew stronger until it became the mainstream. Indeed, in some areas of
the old Spanish Borderlands, things Spanish became not only appreciated, but
fashionable, and a new historical sensibility came to rival the old Black
Legend.
Among
American writers of history, the sentimentalized view of America's Hispanic
past prevailed through most of the twentieth century. This viewpoint found its
most authoritative voice in Herbert Eugene Bolton. Bolton tried to compensate for
what he regarded as the distortions of the Black Legend. He emphasized the
heroic achievements of individual Spaniards and the positive contributions of
Hispanic institutions and culture. His disciples reexamined Spain's frontier
institutions and culture, and found positive Spanish influences on many aspects
of American life, including agriculture, mining, ranching, architecture, art,
law, language, literature, and music.
In
the 1980s, evidences of the Hispanophile view of the Spanish Borderlands promoted
by the Boltonians could still be found, but it had fallen from fashion. Some
historians continued to dismiss the Spanish past as irrelevant, while others
insisted that it needed to be more fully integrated into the nation's
understanding of its history.
The Spanish past in North America, then, is not only what we have imagined it to be, but what we will continue to make of it.
QUESTIONS
1.- Are the following statements
TRUE or FALSE? Copy the evidence from the text. No marks are given for only
TRUE or FALSE.
a) In the nineteenth century all historians acknowledged the
Spanish inheritance in America.
b) Bolton´ disciples disagreed with early nineteenth century Anglo writers´ view.
2.- In your own words and based on the ideas in the
text, answer the following questions. Do not copy from the text.
a) What was the cause of the Black Legend?
b) What was the Boltonians' idea of the Spanish past in North America?
3.- Find the words in the text
that mean:
a) bad government (paragraph 1)
b) most usual way of thinking (paragraph 2)
c) successful accomplishments (paragraph 3)
d) reject, put aside from
consideration (paragraph 4)
4.- Complete the following
sentences. Use the appropriate form of the word in brackets when given.
a) The Spaniards, _________(astonish) ______ the paradisiacal beauty of America, had to learn an infinite amount ______new things __________ (know) to them.
b) Thousands of schools and hospitals _______ (found) under the initiative of the Crown of Spain. Many Spaniards ______ (come) to the New World, and once they became ________(wealth) and decided to remain, they donated great amounts of money _______ the maintenance of charitable works.
c) Historical events _____________ (complex) ________the discovery and conquest of America ___________(not judge) through the moral standards of our times. These events __________(approach) with an auto-critical attitude.
d) Spanish slavery was different _________that which the English later employed. The Spanish system __________ (take) ______Roman law. Slaves had the right _______(own) property, and ___________(allow) ______work for themselves on feast days and holidays, earning money ________ they could use to eventually _______(buy) _______ freedom.
5. Write
about 100 to 150 words on the following topic.
Should Spaniards be proud of their colonial inheritance in America? Discuss.
ANSWER KEY
OPTION A
1.
a) FALSE: "Correspondents rarely bothered to confirm facts"
b) FALSE: "Many stories like the one published by Hearst were printed across
the country blaming the Spanish military"
2.
a) ran stories of
a sensationalist nature/ depicting fabricated atrocities /
correspondents rarely bothered to confirm facts/ a way to sell papers
b) Split in two / the Spanish had
planted a torpedo beneath the USS Maine and
detonated it from shore / eventually American troops were sent to Cuba
3.
a) a turning point
b) bothered
c) swept
d) split
4.
a) was
blown up/ on/ on/ caused/ was/ for/
b) than/
eating/ have caused/
c) its / whereas-and/ as/
d) suggested-have suggested/ have set/ to-in
order to/
e) although/ friendly/ powerful/
OPTION B
1.
a) FALSE: "In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth
centuries, Englishmen and Anglo Americans who wrote about the Spanish past in
North America uniformly condemned Spanish rule."
b)TRUE:
"His disciples reexamined Spain's frontier
institutions and culture, and found positive Spanish influences."
2.
a) to
vindicate English or American expansion into Spanish territory / defective
character of Spaniards / a unique complex of pejoratives
b) heroic achievements of individual Spaniards
/ positive contributions of Hispanic institutions and culture / positive
Spanish influences on many aspects of American life
3.
a) misrule
b) mainstream
c) achievements
d) dismiss
4.
a) (who
were) astonished/ by/ of/ unknown/
b) were
founded/ came/ wealthy/ for/
c) as complex/ as/ should-must not be judged/
should-must be approached/
d) from/ was taken/ from/to own/were allowed/
to/ which-that-
/
buy/ their/
Course: "087 An Overview of the Spanish
Heritage in the USA Through Texts"
