Le sujet 2006 - Bac L - Anglais LV1 - Traduction |
Avis du professeur :
La difficulté réside dans le niveau de langue d'Irma qui ne
maîtrise pas l'anglais étant probablement d'origine étrangère. Attention, à
bien adapter ses erreurs grammaticales. |
Midway through the ninth year of Irma's
employment, Dr Marilyn Lattimore came down with an
uncharacteristic cold and was home for two
days.
It was in the breakfast room that the
conversation took place. Dr Marilyn sat reading the paper and
sipping tea and dabbing at her red, drippy
nose. Irma was in the adjoining kitchen, had removed
5 the covers of the stove-burners and was
scrubbing them single-mindedly.
"Do
you believe this, Irma? A week of surgeries and I come down with this arrogant
little virus." Dr
Marilyn's voice, normally husky, now
bordered on masculine.
"Back
in medical school, Irma, when I rotated through pediatrics, I caught every
virus known to
mankind. And later, of course, when I had
the children. But it's been years since I've been sick and
10 I find this positively insulting. I'm sure
some patient gave it to me. I'd just like to know who so I
could thank them personally."
Dr Marilyn was a pretty woman, small, with
honey-colored hair, who looked much younger than her
age. She walked two miles every morning at
six a.m.
Irma said, "You strong, you get better
soon."
15 "I certainly hope so ... thank you for
that bit of optimism, Irma ... would you be a dear and get me
some of the fig preserve for my toast?"
Irma fetched the jar and brought it over.
"Thank you, dear."
"Something else, Doctor Em?"
20 "No, thank you, dear. Are you all
right, Irma?"
Irma forced a smile. "Yes."
"You're sure?"
"Sure, yes, Doctor Em."
"Hmm ... don't spare me because of my
cold. If there's something on your mind, get it out."
25 Irma started to head back to the kitchen.
"Dear," Dr Marilyn called after
her, "I know you well, and it's obvious something's on your mind. You
wore that exact same look until we had your
papers taken care of. Then you did it again, worrying
about
whether or not the amnesty would take effect. Something's definitely on
your mind"
"I fine, Doctor Em."
30 "Irma"
"I worry about Isaac."
"Isaac? Is he all right?"
"Yes, he very good. Very smart."
Irma broke down in tears.
35 "He's smart and you're crying?"
said Dr Marilyn. "Am I missing something?"
They had tea and fig jam on thin toast and
Irma told Dr Marilyn all of it. How Isaac kept coming
home from school crying with frustration and
boredom. How he'd finished all of his sixth-grade(1)
work in two months, taken it upon himself to
"borrow" seventh- and eighth- and even some ninth-
grade books and had sped through them as
well. Finally, he was caught reading a pre-algebra
40 workbook slipped out of a supply room and
was sent to the principal's office for "unauthorized study
and irregular behavior".
Irma visited the school, tried to handle it
on her own. The principal had nothing but disdain for
Irma's simple clothes and thick accent; her
firm suggestion was that Isaac stop being "precocious"
and concentrate on conforming to "class
standards".
45 When Irma tried to point out that the boy
was well ahead of class standards, the principal cut her
off and informed her that Isaac was just
going to have to be content repeating everything.
"That's outrageous," said Dr
Marilyn. "Absolutely outrageous. There, there, dry your eyes ... three
years ahead? On his own?'"
"Two, some three."
50 "'My eldest, John, was somewhat like
that. Not quite as smart as your Isaac seems to be, but
school was always tedious for him because he
moved too fast. Oh, dear, we had some dustups
with him ... Now John's the chief
resident(2) in psychiatry at Stanford(3)." Dr Marilyn brightened.
"Perhaps your Isaac could be a
physician. Wouldn't that be fabulous, Irma?"
Irma nodded, half listening as Dr Marilyn
prattled.
55 "A child that bright, Irma, there's no
limit .... Give me that principal's number and I'Il have a little
chat with her." She sneezed, coughed,
wiped her nose. Laughed. "With this baritone, I'II sound
positively authoritative."
Irma didn't speak.
"What's the number, dear?"
60 Silence.
"Irma?"
"I don' wan' no trouble, Dr Em."
"You've already got trouble, Irma. Now
we have to find a solution."
Adapted from Jonathan Kellerman, Twisted, 2005
(1) sixth-grade: correspond à la classe de 6ème
(2) resident: interne
(3) Stanford (University): université prestigieuse de Californie
Translate into French from line 12 (Dr Marilyn was a pretty woman ...)
to line 18 ("Thank you, dear.") and from line 36 (They had tea ...)
to line 39 (...them as well.).
I - L'ANALYSE ET LES DIFFICULTES DU TEXTE
1. Vous deviez mettre
l'article devant le titre de docteur.
2. Vous deviez aussi étoffer l'adjectif "small" et ne pas
oublier de mettre "toast" au pluriel en français.
Il faut aussi faire attention au niveau de langue d'Irma qui ne parle pas bien
l'anglais.
Attention finalement à la ligne 17 qui nécessite une tournure pour éviter les
lourdeurs.
II - LES REPONSES ATTENDUES
Le docteur Marilyn était une belle femme de petite taille
avec des cheveux aux reflets de miel qui paraissait beaucoup plus jeune que son
âge.
Tous les matins à 6 heures elle parcourait deux miles à pied.
- "Oh vous forte, vous aller mieux bientôt" dit
Irma.
- "J'espère bien... merci pour ce brin d'optimisme Irma... soyez gentille,
pouvez-vous aller me chercher de la confiture de figue pour mes toasts ?"
Irma sortit et revint avec le pot.
- "Merci, c'est gentil".
Elles prirent leur thé avec de fines tranches de pain grillé à la confiture de
figue, puis Irma raconta tout au docteur Marilyn : comment Isaac rentrait tous
les jours de l'école, pleurant sous le coup de la frustration et de l'ennui et
comment, en deux mois, il avait fait tout le programme de 6ème et
avait emprunté de son propre chef des livres de 5ème, 4ème,
voire certains de 3eme, qu'il avait parcourus tout aussi rapidement.