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Annales gratuites Bac L : Compréhension du texte

Le sujet  1997 - Bac L - Anglais LV1 - Compréhension écrite Imprimer le sujet
LE SUJET

Almost the first thing he could remember was his mother standing on as tool in the kitchen, piling tins of food into the top cupboard. On the table there were more tins : pineapple, little oranges - you could tell by the pictures. He asked her :
- What are tall those tins for ?
The sun was shining through the kitchen window behind her head, and though he screwed up his eyes against the dazzle he couldn't see her face properly, but he remembered her looking down at him for what seemed a long time before she said :
- Because there's a war, dear.
- What's a war ? he asked. But he could never remember what she answered.
Soon he found out that war was a Mickey Mouse gasmask that steamed up when you breathed and his father getting a tin hat and a whistle and Jill crying because her Dad was going away to join the Air Force and the wireless on all the time and black paper stuck over the front-door windows and sirens going and getting up in the middle of the night because of the raids. It was fun getting up in the middle of the night.
They didn't have their own shelter. He and his mother went up the road, to Jill's house, number 64, which had a shelter in the back garden. Jill's Dad had made it himself.
His own Dad was usually on duty during an air raid, he was a Warden, making sure everybody was in a shelter, and not letting any lights show through their curtains. If the German planes saw a light shining through your curtains they would know where you were and they would drop a bomb on you. Sometimes in the middle of a raid his father would call in at number 64 and come down to the shelter to see that they were all right. Or he would come and fetch them after the All Clear had sounded. Sometimes he would carry Timothy home asleep, and he would wake up in the morning in his own bed without having heard the All Clear. The All-Clear siren was all the same noise, but the Air-Raid siren was up and down, uhhhERRR… uhhhERRR… uhhhERRR… It was clever to have two different sirens that sounded like what they meant. The All Clear was a tired, safe sound, like you felt going home, yawning, after a raid, but the Air-Raid siren sounded frightened.
Not that Timothy was frightened. After a while he got so used to the Air Raid sirens that his mother had to wake him to go up the road to Jill's before the German bombers came over. Jill was the same age as he was, five, but he was older because his birthday came first. Jill was pretty. He was going to marry her when they were grown up. His sister Kath was much older than he was, sixteen, almost grown up, but she wasn't living at home any more. She had gone away to the country, with the nuns. Kath's school had gone away because of the raids. The raids were because of the War. They were called the Blitz. His mother said that if the Blitz went on much longer she would take Timothy to live in the country too. They lived in London, which was the biggest city in the whole world. Timothy didn't want to go and live in the country. He had been there once and stung himself on some nettles and fell into a cow's business. But he didn't want the raids to stop either, because it was fun getting up in the middle of the night.

David LODGE, Out of the shelter.



1 - Which war is it ? Find 4 elements in the text to support your answer.


2 - a. How many characters are mentioned in the text ?

b. What is the relationship between them ?

c. What did the two fathers do in the war ?

d. Say in your own words why Kath did not live with them.


3 - a. What was Timothy's first recollection of the war ? (In your own words.)

b. What did his father get a tin hat and a whistle for ?

c. What were they always listening to ? Why ?

d. Why were the front-door windows stuck over with black paper ?


4 - The sentence : "It was fun getting up in the middle of the night" is repeated at the end of the text :

a. What does this repetition reveal about the way Timothy considered the war ?

b. Would you say the adults shared Timothy's impressions ? Justify your answer. (about 40 words)


5 - Read the last paragraph carefully.
Whose point of view is mostly expressed in these lines ?
What do you think of the style chosen by the writer ?
(about 50 words)


6 - "The All-Clear was a tired , safe sound, like you felt going home, yawning after a raid, but the Air-Raid Siren sounded frightened."

a. Underline the adjectives in the sentence.

b. Explain the author's intention in choosing these adjectives.


7 - Compare the different uses of WOULD in the following sentences :

a. "If the German planes saw a light shining through your curtains they WOULD know where you were and they WOULD drop a bomb on you."

b. "Sometimes he WOULD carry Timothy's home asleep, and he WOULD wake up in the morning in his own bed without having heard the All Clear."

What do they express ?

a.

b.


8 - Choose one of the following subjects (about 250 words)

a. Do you think that the world of adults should be kept unrevealed to children ? Justify your point.

b. Kath is writing to her parents about her experiences away from home in the country.

LE CORRIGÉ

1. Which war is it ? Find 4 elements in the text to support your answer.

World War II

- Black paper stuck...
- sirens going
- The Raids
- their own shelter
- The Blitz


2. a. How many characters are mentioned in the text ?

Six characters are mentioned in the text.

b. What is the relationship between them ?

There is Timothy (1), his sister(2), mother(3) and father (4).
There is Jill (5), Timothy's friend, her father (6).

c. What did the two fathers do in the war ?

Jill's father was in the Air Force.
Timothy's father was a Warden in charge of neighbourhood protection during raids.

d. Say in your own words why Kath did not live with them.

Kath did not live with them because her Catholic school had been evacuated to the country because of the bombings over London.


3. a. What was Timothy's first recollection of the war ? (In your own words.)

Timothy first remembers his mother putting the stored food away in the kitchen.

b. What did his father get a tin hat and a whistle for ?

His father got a tin hat and a whistle because he was a Warden, i.e., a tin hat for protection and a whistle to marshal people into the shelters.

c. What were they always listening to ? Why ?

They listened to the radio (wireless) all the time to hear the news about the war.

d. Why were the front-door windows stuck over with black paper ?

The black paper prevented the light from shining outside and, therefore, the Germans from pinpointing a target for their bombs.


4. The sentence : It was fun getting up in the middle of the night" is repeated at the end of the text :

a. What does this repetition reveal about the way Timothy considered the war ?

The repetition shows that Timothy thought the war was great fun because getting up in the middle of the night is usually (in normal circumstances) against the (adults) rules.

b. Would you say the adults shared Timothy's impressions ? Justify your answer (about 40 words.)

The adults do not share Timothy's impressions. His mother is taken aback when he asks her why she has all the tins. His father worries and keeps ducking on his family.

In fact, the parents have already sent one child away to the country to protect her. Timothy's mother considering sending Timothy out of London, too.


5. Read the last paragraph carefully.
Whose point of view is mostly expressed in these lines ?
What do you think of the style chosen by the writer ? (about 50 words.)



Timothy's point of view is mostly expressed in these lines. The lodge efficiently shifts to the child's point of view and by doing so highlights how a war can be "trivialised", so to speak, through the eyes of a child. The reader can almost forget the horror of war and share Timothy's experience of a "fun time".


6. "The All-Clear was a tired , safe sound, like you feel going home, yawning after a raid, but the Air-Raid Siren sounded frightened ."

a. Underline the adjectives in the sentence.
b. Explain the author's intention in choosing these adjectives.


The author intends to convey the way Timothy feels when he hears the All-Clear and Air-Raid Siren.


7. Compare the different uses of WOULD in the following sentences :

a "If the German planes saw a light shining through your curtains they WOULD know where you were and they WOULD drop a bomb on you."
b "Sometimes he WOULD carry Timothy's home asleep, and he WOULD wake up in the morning in his own bed without having heard the All Clear."


What do they express ?

a. Would indicates sure knowledge and firm determination.

b. Would indicates a conditional, ie, an occurrence subject to circumstances or conditions.

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