Weekly News Archive
Name:
(
)
Date:
Class:
B2 level
Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow. (20 marks)
No. of Word: 887
The world stands by Charlie Hebdo
[1] Charlie Hebdo is a weekly satirical magazine based in the French capital, Paris. Established in 1970, the
magazine has marked French journalism with what many would regard as blasphemous material. Best
known as a publication that defines itself as far-left-wing and secular, it has long been accustomed to
controversy for their satirical cartoons and publications that ridicule public figures such as political
5 personalities and religious leaders.
[2] In November 2011, the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo were firebombed after publishing cartoons that
poked fun at the Prophet Mohammed, a provocative act that infuriated the world’s Muslim populations. The
widespread indignation was nowhere near as intense as that caused by its usual hostile criticisms against the
French political right, as any depictions of the Prophet Mohammed are strictly prohibited in Islam. A little
10 under a year after the 2011 attack, Charlie Hebdo published another series of caricatures of the Prophet
Mohammed. This was met with international disapproval and resulted in the French government’s decision
to increase security and close French embassies and schools in about 20 Muslim countries. It was seen as a
precautionary measure to protect these places against potential terrorist attacks in revenge for the magazine’s
publication.
15 [3] In response to the 2012 controversy, Laurent Léger from Charlie Hebdo told the press that the magazine
would not yield to violence or anger. The journalist said that Charlie Hebdo wanted to laugh at the
extremists regardless of their religion, be they Muslim, Jewish or Catholic. ‘In France, we always have the
right to write and draw,’ Léger told BFM-TV in 2012. ‘And if some people are not happy with this, they can
sue us and we can defend ourselves. That’s democracy.’
20 [4] On the fateful day of 7 January 2015, several gunmen wearing bulletproof vests shot down a security
guard at the magazine’s office in Paris’s 11th arrondissement. After demanding a female employee to enter
the passcode to the door, they stormed the building. The editorial team were in the middle of a meeting when
the gunmen called out the names of the targeted victims in perfect French. Editor-in-chief Stéphane
Charbonnier, known as Charb, and other cartoonists were among those killed in the assault. The terrorists
25 later fled from the building in a getaway car. During their escape, they killed a police officer. A total of 12
people were killed in the attack.
[5] Later in the same night, one of the suspects, 18-year-old Hamyd Mourad, who was the getaway driver,
turned himself in to the police after seeing his name mentioned on social media. Two days later, on 9 January,
France’s GIGN counterterrorist police tracked down two suspects of Charlie Hebdo massacre, brothers
30 Chérif and Saïd Kouachi. The Kouachi brothers held a person hostage inside a printing house in
1
© 2015 ATHENS EDUCATION
Dammartin-en-Goële, a small industrial town north-east of Paris. The hostage-taking was brought to an end
when heavily armed elite force raided the premises and shot the hostage-takers dead.
[6] Another suspect, close friend of the Kouachi brothers and connected to the cold-blooded Charlie Hebdo
shooting, was identified as the 32-year-old Amédy Coulibaly. At around the same time of the Dammartin
35
siege, he was holding 16 hostages inside a Jewish supermarket in eastern Paris. The police stormed the store
as Coulibaly was at prayer. He was shot dead and the incident claimed the lives of four hostages. Subsequent
to the hostage crisis, French police initiated a massive manhunt for his partner, 26-year-old Hayat
Boumeddiene, the suspected female accomplice in the Paris terror attack. There were strong indications that
she had fled to Turkey en route to Syria.
40
[7] The Charlie Hebdo attack has caused international uproar. US president Barack Obama expressed great
sympathy to France. ‘The US stands with you today, stands with you tomorrow’, he said. China’s officials
also condemned the attack on the French magazine and stated that they were against all kinds of terrorist
behaviours. The President of France, François Hollande, said in his televised address, ‘We have to be
45
vigilant. I also ask you to be united ― it’s our best weapon.’ Hollande described the assault as ‘a tragedy to
the nation’.
50
[8] The terrorist attack brought people together and mass rallies were held not just across France’s towns and
cities but also in world cities including London, Washington, Madrid, Montreal and Beirut. In Paris, an
estimated 1.6 million people took to the streets to demonstrate unity after the series of attacks. They lit their
candles and prayed for those who were injured or lost their lives. Social media was inundated with messages
like ‘Je suis Charlie’ or ‘I am Charlie’ in solidarity with the victims. Numerous magazines and newspapers
shared their hearts with Charlie Hebdo by publishing satirical cartoons depicting the 7 January attack and
the recklessness of the terrorists.
55
[9] On 11 January 2015, 40 world leaders joined thousands of people in Paris in a unity rally against the
attacks at Charlie Hebdo and the Jewish supermarket. Among them were British Prime Minister David
Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Turkish Prime
Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Queen Rania, Palestinian Authority President
Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They were linking arms at the head of the
march, a gesture seen by some as world leaders’ most striking show of solidarity against the threat of Islamic
extremism since the September 11 attacks.
2
© 2015 ATHENS EDUCATION
Weekly News Archive
1. What is the ‘blasphemous material’ (line 2) Charlie Hebdo has marked French journalism with?
A. Public figures such as political personalities and religious leaders
B. Secular texts
C. Charlie Hebdo’s satirical cartoons and publications
A
B
C
D
D. Far-left-wing publications




2. Name two groups of people that Charlie Hebdo often criticizes.
3. Read paragraphs 1 and 2 and decide if the following statements are True, False or the information is
Not Given. Blacken ONE circle only for each statement.
i)
(6 marks)
Charlie Hebdo publishes many cartoons that many people would find
T
F
NG


















offensive.
ii)
The magazine often causes controversy because their cartoons are about
ridiculous public figures.
iii)
The firebomb attack at Charlie Hebdo’s headquarters in November 2011 was
carried out by Muslims.
iv)
People were angrier seeing the magazine’s mocking cartoons of the French
political right.
v)
Muslims around the world were angered by Charlie Hebdo’s caricatures of the
Prophet Mohammed.
vi)
20 Muslim countries shut down their French schools for fear of further terrorist
attacks.
4. Find words and phrases in paragraphs 2 and 3 that can be replaced by the following: (4 marks)
i)
mocked
ii) intense anger
iii) forbidden
iv) media
5. According to Leger, what is the aim of Charlie Hebdo?
6. Where was the office of Charlie Hebdo located?
3
© 2015 ATHENS EDUCATION
7. How did the terrorists gain access to Charlie Hebdo’s office on 7 January 2015?
8. What is the purpose of paragraphs 5–6?
A. To show the effectiveness of the French police
B. To show what happened to the suspects involved in the attack
C. To show the total number of casualties when the case closed
D. To show how young terrorists can be
A
B
C
D




9. What does ‘the premises’ (line 32) refer to?
10. Based on the information in paragraphs 5–6, complete the summary by writing ONE word to fill in each
blank. You should make sure that your answers are grammatically correct, paying attention to word form,
plurals, etc.
(8 marks)
On 9 January, while the Kouachi brothers, two suspects of the Charlie Hebdo (i) _____________, held
a person hostage in Dammartin-en-Goële, Amédy Coulibaly seized (ii) _______________ in a Jewish
(iii) _______________ in eastern Paris. French police (iv) ________________ the place when he was
at prayer. (v) ______________ the hostage crisis, they began to (vi) ________________ down for a
suspected female (vii) _____________ who had probably escaped to Syria (viii) ___________ Turkey.
11. What does ‘the assault’ (line 44) refer to?
12. In paragraph 8, find a word that is similar in meaning to ‘flooded’.
13. Why did people take to the streets after the terror attacks?
14. World leaders gathered in Paris for the mass rally …
A. because François Hollande asked people to be united.
B. to show how much they wanted to be at the head of the march.
C. to demonstrate their unity in the fight against Islamic extremism.
A
B
C
D
D. to condemn the Kouachi brothers’ reckless attack.




End of paper
4
© 2015 ATHENS EDUCATION
Weekly News Archive
The world stands by Charlie Hebdo’s side
Answer Key
1. C
2. Political personalities and religious leaders
3. (i) T (line 2)
(ii) F (lines 6–8)
(iii) NG
(iv) F (lines 7–9)
(v) F (lines 11–12)
4. (i) poked fun at (line 7)
(ii) indignation (line 8)
(iii) prohibited (line 9)
(iv) press (line 15)
5. To laugh at the extremists regardless of their religion, be they Muslim, Jewish or Catholic (lines 16–17)
6. Paris’s 11th arrondissement (line 21)
7. The terrorists first shot down the security guard of the building. They then forced an employee to enter
the passcode to the door and stormed into the building. (lines 20–22)
8. B
9. The printing house in Dammartin-en-Goële where the Kouachi brothers held their hostage
10. (i)
(ii)
massacre (line 29) / shooting (line 34)
hostage (line 35)
(iii) supermarket (line 35) / store (line 35)
(iv) stormed (line 35) / raided (line 32)
(v)
After (line 36)
(vi) hunt (line 37)
(vii) accomplice (line 38)
(viii) through (line 38–39)
11. The attack on Charlie Hebdo (line 42)
12. inundated (line 49)
13. Because they wanted to demonstrate unity after the series of attacks (line 48) / Because they wanted to
show support for the victims (line 50)
14. C
5
© 2015 ATHENS EDUCATION