Pénaliser le candidat qui
-a à la fois répondu dans le désordre et sans
numéroter ses questions, sans dépasser –1 sur 10
-n’a pas respecté le nombre de mots minimum
indiqué
-n’a pas précisé clairement le(s) numéro(s) de ses
citations (moitié des points affectés)
-a recopié le texte lorsqu’on lui demandait de
répondre avec ses propres mots.
-a répondu dans un anglais TRES incorrect, à
hauteur de –20% des points
1.a) Who is the narrator ? How is he/ she related
to Sam?
/2
The narrator is a woman, she is Sam’s wife.
The narrator is Sam’s wife
b) Justify your answer by quoting from the
text.
/2
une seule citation suffisait
lines 4-5 “we produced two sons”
line 12 “our honeymoon”
line 16 “my husband’s parents”
1. Match one element from column A with an
element from column B
5X2=10
1 D Sam had a heart attack at the age of fifty-two
(lines 7-8 Sam’s coronary at the age of fifty-two)
2C
They had children in the early eighties
line 4 “we produced 2 sons who grew up like
saplings in the never-ending sunshine” they had 2
sons while abroad, that is between the 70s when
they left England and ’99 when they went back to
England.
3 A They got married in 76
(line 12 “we’d spent our honeymoon in Dorset in
‘76”)
4B
Sam found a good job abroad in the late
70’s
(line 23 they were in England in the 70’s, so they
must have moved abroad afterwards.)
5E
They moved back to England in the
summer of ‘99
‘line 10 “we returned to England in the summer of
‘99”)
3.What consequences did Sam’s job have on his
life? (30 words)
/10
3 points exigés:
- too much work
- health problems
- decision to go back to
England.
Sam led a busy stressful life / had a hectic lifestyle
and his work had been harmful to his health. He
spent his time travelling, entertaining clients and
was not used to practising sport. He led an
unhealthy life. As a result he had a heart attack and
was bound to have another one. So the family
decided to move back to England.
4.Choose the right answer
/3
They decided to a) buy a brick house in Richmond
b) rent a place in Dorset
(line 13, 31)
c) buy a farmhouse in Devon
d) rent a flat in Torquay
From line 18 to line 29 (“fixtures” = rencontres)
5. a) line 19 “there was no immediate hurry for
either of us to find a job” What does it reveal
about their standard of living while abroad? (15
words)
/5
exiger l’idée de richesse
They had enjoyed a comfortable life overseas and
had managed to save up/ put aside some money.
They had a high standard of living
They must have earned/made a lot of money
They must have been rich/wealthy/affluent/well-off
b)line19-20 “Or so we imagined” What does it
mean ?
/6
exiger l’idée de - they were wrong
ne pas accepter que des citations
- they had to find a job
They were wrong to assume they would be able to
live on their savings; they soon realized they would
have to find jobs quickly.
6. How do they see the British society on their
return to their homeland? (30 words) / 10
exiger l’idée de - changes
- wealth / higher standard of living
They hadn’t expected so many changes and now
found it hard to recognize the British society they
had left some twenty years before. The standard of
living had increased and Britain had turned into a
consumer society.
7. Find a key sentence showing that it wasn’t
difficult for their children to adapt to their new
environment.
/2
line 25-26 “hastily (= quickly) the boys abandoned
us for their own age group.”
Questions 8 to 12 focus on lines 38 to the end
8.
a) Who was Sam in touch with some time
after their return?
/2
He was in touch with Jock Williams (an old friend
of theirs) (line 34-35)
b) What did they talk about on the phone?
/2
They talked about money/ their business/ their
financial situation. (line 35“he told me he made a
couple of million last year by selling one of his
businesses”)
9. Say who the underlined words refer to (lines
39-42)
/4X1
I
= narrator / Sam’s wife
b/c/d = he/ him / you = Sam
10.line 38 “I lied through my teeth.” What did
Sam lie about? Why did he feel the need to lie?
(30 words)
/10
He lied about his financial situation. He felt he was
in competition with Jock and was too proud to admit
he hadn’t as well as him.
(accepter les sentiments de gêne, de honte, de
vanité : he may have felt ashamed/ uneasy/ ill-atease/ embarrassed)
11. Did the narrator and Sam share the same
vision of jock Williams?
/8
idée d’opposition confiance / méfiance
No, they didn’t. Contrary to her husband who was
fooled by him, she didn’t believe a word of what he
boasted about.
(“why it had never occurred to Sam that…”line 40
“a fantasist”= un doux rêveur / “to trumpet”=
trompeter= connotation négative /” no time –or
money ? –to fly out for a visit” )
12. What is Sam’s state of mind at the end of the
passage? (20 words)
/8
tristesse + regrets
He feels despondent and sad. He sounds regretful
and wishes they hadn’t sold their Richmond house
before moving abroad.
(gloom= mélancolie, tristesse) (regrets= line52 “if
we’d (=had) had any sense we’d (would) have hung
on to …)
13. Translate into French from “the idea was to
have…” line 14 to “…Torquay”line 17. /16
traduction divisée en 8 segments
The idea was to have an extended summer holiday
Nous avions en tête de prolonger nos vacances
d’été
while we looked around for
(to look around/
about = regarder autour de soi ≠ look for= chercher)
tout en prospectant pour trouver un logement
somewhere more permanent to settle
où nous installer plus durablement.
Neither of us had connections (1. lien / rapport / 2.
=kinship
lien de parenté, relative= parent
connections= la famille)
Ni l’un ni l’autre n’avions de lien particulier
with any particular part of England.
avec une région de l’Angleterre.
My husband’s parents were dead
Les parents de mon mari étaient décédés
and my own parents had retired to the neighbouring
county of Devon
to retire = se retirer , prendre sa retraite
et les miens s’étaient retirés dans le comté voisin
du Devon
and the balmy climate of Torquay.
Balmy= mild doux
pour profiter de la douceur climatique de
Torquay.