The following are excerpts from the Leaving Cert higher-level paper.

Comprehension: Ben Stiller's fashion spoof, Zoolander (right) is a wonderful satire on the vanity and corruption of the fashion industry. In what way, according to the author of this text, do films change the way we think and/or feel about life? Support your answer by reference to the text.

Essays

" . . . the idealism and tangled passions that raged in my teenage heart." Write a personal essay on the idealism and passions of youth.

"And yet what romance existed in the old cloth-capped world . . ." Write a speech in which you attempt to persuade an audience that the past should not be glorified.

" . . . the needs and desires of customers . . . " Write a magazine article (serious or light-hearted) entitled: "The Modern Shopping Centre".

" . . . make us want to change the world." Write the text of a talk, serious or humorous, to be given to your peers, entitled: "How I intend to change the world!"

" . . . the first and most important stage in encouraging viewers to imagine . . ." Write an article for a popular magazine on the importance of the imagination.