FUTURE BERLIN ENVOYS FACE 'QUIZ SHOW 'HURDLE

German graduates competing to enter the country's poorly paid but respected diplomatic service are having to answer general knowledge questions as difficult

as those faced by contenders in the television quiz show Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

The prize falls somewhat short of the television bounty: the starting salary for a young diplomat is about &2,000 a month and even senior ambassadors are unlikely to earn more than &80,000 a year.

The questions are aimed at weeding out what Germans call Fachidioten -narrow specialists with little worldly understanding - ensuring that Berlin's envoys do not make the kind of gaffes committed by George W. Bush, who failed to name the leaders of India and Pakistan.

The quiz was leaked yesterday and the tabloid press was flabbergasted by what it saw as an immensely highbrow challenge for a less than desirable career. The potential diplomats have to know the three functions of money, when women gained the right to vote and whether Charles Dickens is regarded as a Realist or Naturalist writer.

There are fears in the Foreign Ministry that the quality of the new intake into the diplomatic service may suffer from the competition of new economy companies who promise quick career advancement and big salaries.

Around 1,000 Germans apply each year to sit the Foreign Ministry exams; only 40 are accepted for the two-year training course. They are expected to have graduated with honours and to show a well above-average grasp of political, economic and legal concepts. Fluent English and French are compulsory.

The Foreign Service is going through an upheaval. Money has to be saved and ambassadors are being urged to take lessons in television presentation to equip them for their new role as relaxed public relations spokesmen for Germany. Younger diplomats are being promised faster promotion providing they know their quiz show stuff on film directors and authors.

Language notes

1. A highbrow challenge - is something new, exciting and difficult which one
has an opportunity of doing which requires great effort and determination
because it deals with serious subjects in an intellectual way.

2. To graduate with honours - to graduate with a type of university degree
which is of a higher standard than an ordinary degree. Compare CUM
LAUDE- Lat. - with praise

Questions for discussion

1.What is your opinion about the kind of questions included in the test for young

German diplomats? How do they compare with the questions you have answered

earlier?

2.How does the Foreign Ministry of Germany justify the extremely challenging

entrance exams for young diplomats? Is the challenge well - founded? Why? /

Why not?

3.What do you think the author implies in the last sentence of the article?

Exercise 2

Match the following words with their definitions:

1. contender for

2. bounty

3. to weed out

4. gaffe

5. toleaksmth

6. flabbergasted at

7. intake to

8. upheaval

a. smth that one says or does that is considered socially
incorrect

b. extremely surprised

c. let the public know a piece of information that is
secret

d. someone who competes with other people to win
smth

e. the number of people accepted into an organization

f. money given as a gift or a reward

g. a big change which causes a lot of trouble and
confusion

h. get rid of thing useless or unwanted in a group

Exercise 3

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