Nome: __________________________________________No.

___________ 11:2 Data: ____/ 11/16

Classificao: ________________________ A Prof.: _________________O E.E.: _______________
English Test - Year 11 November 2016

*
Shashi Tharoor answers some frequently asked questions

The
 Universal Declaration of Human Rights is adopted at a time when most Third World
half a century old, but critics are still asking countries were still under colonial rule.
whether anything in our multicultural, Human rights are only a cover for Western
diverse world can be truly universal. intervention in the affairs of the developing
Some ask, isnt human rights an world. Developing countries, some also
essentially Western concept, ignoring the argue, cannot afford human rights since the
very different cultural, economic and tasks of nation-building and economic
political realities of the South? Can the development are still unfinished.
values of the consumer society be applied Many also object to specific rights
to societies that have nothing to consume? which they say reflect Western cultural
Isnt talking about universal rights rather bias: the right, for instance, to political
like saying that the rich and the poor both pluralism, the right to paid vacations
have the same right to fly first-class and to (always good for a laugh in the sweatshops
sleep under bridges? At the risk of sounding of the developing world) and, most
frivolous: when you stop a man in troublesome of all, the rights of women.
traditional dress beating his wife, are you How can womens rights be universal in the
upholding her human rights or violating face of widespread divergences of cultural
his? practice, when in some societies marriage
The fact is that there are serious is seen not as a contract between two
objections to the concept of universal individuals but as an alliance between
human rights. lineages?
The first is philosophical. All rights In addition, some religious leaders
and values are defined and limited by argue that human rights can only be
cultural perceptions. There is no universal acceptable if they are founded on
culture, therefore there are no universal transcendent values of their faith,
human rights. Some philosophers have sanctioned by God. The Universal
objected that the concept is founded on an Declaration claims no such heritage a
individualistic view of people, whose draft reference to the Creator was
greatest need is to be free from consciously left out of the final text.
interference by the state. Non-Western How can one respond to these
societies often have a communitarian ethic objections? Concepts of justice and law, the
which sees society as more than the sum of legitimacy of government, the dignity of the
its individual members and considers duties individual, protection from oppressive or
to be more important than rights. In Africa arbitrary rule and participation in the affairs
it is usually the community that protects of the community are found in every society
and nurtures the individual: I am because on the face of this earth. The challenge of
we are, and because we are therefore I human rights is to identify the common
am. denominators rather than to throw up ones
Then there is the usual North/South hands at the impossibility of universalism.
argument. The Universal Declaration was

* Shashi Tharoor is the author of five books of fiction and non-fiction, including The Great Indian Novel and,
most recently, India: From Midnight to the Millennium. He is a senior UN official in the Office of Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
In New Internationalist, issue 332, March 2001, abridged

I.A. FIND EVIDENCE in the text for the statements below: (24 pontos)
1. African societies highlight the role of community.
2. The concept of human rights cant be implemented in developing countries.
3. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is beyond any religious perspectives.
4. The call is to look for the shared traits of the Declaration.

B. Explain the meaning of the expressions from the text: (36 pontos)
1. At the risk of sounding frivolous (2nd p.)
2. The fact is that there are serious objections (3rd p.)
3. Human rights are only a cover for Western intervention in the affairs of . (5th p.)
 4. ... always good for a laugh in the sweatshops of the developing world(6th p.)

C. FIND EQUIVALENTS for the following words (between the 2nd and 6th paragraphs of the
text). (20 pontos)
1. backing - 4. general -
2. supports - 5. ancestry
3. prejudice -

D. Who/ what do these words refer to? (20 pontos)

1. our - ________________________ 4. first - ______________________
2. his - ________________________ 5. whose - ____________________
3. her - ________________________

E. Over to you. - Write no more than 50 words. (30 pontos)

Are Human Rights universal? Express your point of view on the matter.

II. A. REWRITE the next sentences, beginning them as suggested. Do not change the original
meaning. (30 pontos)
1. Developing countries cannot afford human rights since the tasks of nation-building and
economic development are still unfinished.
Human rights __________________________________________________________
2. Western Countries established the UDHR because they feared another World War.
If ___________________________________________________________________
3. Third World countries were under colonial rule so they couldnt express their opinion on the
UDHR.
If ____________________________________________________________________
4. Shashi Tharoor demanded reparation payments from the UK to India over 200 years of colonial
rule.
The UK ________________________________________________________________________
5. People agree that our world is very diverse.
It _____________________________________________________________________________
6. People believe that African societies highlighted the role of community.
African societies ________________________________________________________________

B. Complete the text with words from the box. 2 words do not apply. (20 pontos)

1. aspirations 2. contradict 3. enough 4. gift 5. magical

6. philosophical 7. reflect 8. suggest 9. suggestion 10. Transcend
11. uniformity 12. universal
 Of course universality does not presuppose (1. ). In asserting the universality of human rights, I
do not (2. ) that our views of human rights (3. ) all possible (4. ), cultural or religious differences or
represent a (5. ) aggregation of the worlds ethical and philosophical thought systems. Rather, it is
(6. ) that they do not fundamentally (7. ) the ideals and (8. ) of any society, and that they (9. ) our
common humanity. Human rights, in other words, derive from the mere fact of being human; they
are not the (10. ) of a particular government or legal code.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

C. Fill in the gaps with the verbs in brackets in the PAST SIMPLE, PAST CONTINUOUS, PAST
PERFECT and PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS (20 pontos)
1. Shashi Tharoor _________________ (work) in the UN for 29 years when he
_________________ (decide) to leave.
2. He ______________________ (write) a newspaper article when he ____________________
(realize) that he ______________________ (have) to prepare his speech.
3. Shashi Tharoor ______________________ (read) a lot about the importance of the UN before
he _____________ (go) there.
4. After Shashi Tharoor __________________ (take) his degree, he _______________ (come)
to the conclusion he __________( have) to do something to make the world a better place.

KEY
I.
II.
B. Of course universality does not presuppose uniformity. In asserting the universality of
human rights, I do not suggest that our views of human rights transcend all possible
philosophical, cultural or religious differences or represent a magical aggregation of the
worlds ethical and philosophical thought systems. Rather, it is enough that they do not
fundamentally contradict the ideals and aspirations of any society, and that they reflect our
common humanity. Human rights, in other words, derive from the mere fact of being human;
they are not the gift of a particular government or legal code.