Annales gratuites Bac ES : Compréhension écrite

That day it was cool and rainy. Anna decided that she had to buy shoes. We were going to a hotel in the Catskill Mountains and she needed a pair of summer shoes. We had a neighbor who had a daughter of fifteen. This girl loved our little Natasha. Her name was Dorothy. Anna had complete confidence in Dorothy, and she left Natasha with her. Because of Anna's lack of English, I accompanied her. She would never enter a store without buying something, so as not to disappoint the merchant. But when it comes to footwear one cannot be too considerate. I was supposed to see to it that she didn't buy shoes that would be too tight or a pair that the salesman wanted to get rid of. We lived on Second Avenue and Eifnteenth Street, which was then considered uptown, and many wealthy people had moved into this neighborhood. By this time I had become a dental technician. It was a new profession in America, and it paid well. There were many shoe stores on the avenue and we window-shopped, passing from one to the other. After a while I tired of the whole business. I had a laboraory in my apartment and I wanted to return to my work. Anna had already bougnt socks and panties for the baby, and she gave them to me, saying, "If I don't find the shoes I want, perhaps I will try Fifth Avenue."

Those were her last words to me. That was the last time I saw her. Many hours later, I informed the police. It was evening. The Irish policeman considered the whole affair a joke and he advised me to wait until later that night, or until the next morning. About one o'clock, I returned to the station, and the policeman on the night shift suggested that my wife was probably visiting her boyfriend. Just the same, he wrote down everything and told me to come the next day if she had not returned. I went back for days and weeks. Anna had disappeared like a stone in the water. People came up with the theories you would expect. Perhaps she had a clandestine lover. Perhaps she had found her lost fiancé, Vladimir Machtei, and the old love had rekindled. Perhaps she had decided to return to Russia and throw a bomb at the czar. From the police I had learned that not only men ran away in America but women as well. But none of the cases about which I heard compared to mine. Anna had no lovers. The baby was dear to her. If Vladimir Machtei wanted to know Anna's whereabouts, he could have written to her grand parents. In all the years we had been in America, he never showed a sign of life. Deep inside me, I knew the tragic and unbelievable truth : that Anna was by nature or fate - call it as you like - a person born to lose and to be lost. She lost her money, her possessions, her fiancé. She might have lost the child, too if she had not got lost herself. I say "deep in me" because my reason would never accept anything so irrational. What does it mean ? How can a thing become nothing ? The Pyramids have stood in place for six thousand years, and unless there is an unusual earthquake, they may last for another six thousand - or sixty thousand. In the British Museum and here in the Metropolitan, you find mummies and artifacts that have endured for many centuries. If matter can turn to nothing, all of nature is a nightmare. That is what my logic dictates to me.

A crown of feathers, Isaac BASHEVIS SINGER (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Inc. 1970)


I - Who's who ? Complete the following grid when possible. If the answer is not in the text, put a cross (X) in the corresponding box :

 

II - What sort of social background do the main character belong to ? Justify your answer with three elements from the text (indicate the lines) :

1) (line...)

2) (line...)

3) (line...)


III - In what city does the story take place ? Justify your answer with two elements from the text (indicate the lines)

1) the city is :

2) first element :

3) second element :


IV - Why didn't Anna go shopping alone on that particular day ? Find three reasons by quoting from the text.

1) (line...)

2) (line...)

3) (line...)


V - Why did the narrator go to the police station ? (20 words)


VI - What was the conclusion of the policeman who was on duty ? (20 words)


VII - Give two examples of what her people thought might have happened.

1)

2)


VIII - What is the narrator's own interpretation of the facts ?


IX - In the last lines what is the narrator's state of mind ? Tick the right answer and justify by quoting 2 elements from the text (indicate the lines) :


a) (line...)

b) (line...)


X - Explain why the author mentions the pyramids (30 words)

That day it was cool and rainy. Anna decided that she had to buy shoes. We were going to a hotel in the Catskill Mountains and she needed a pair of summer shoes. We had a neighbor who had a daughter of fifteen. This girl loved our little Natasha. Her name was Dorothy. Anna had complete confidence in Dorothy, and she left Natasha with her. Because of Anna's lack of English, I accompanied her. She would never enter a store without buying something, so as not to disappoint the merchant. But when it comes to footwear one cannot be too considerate. I was supposed to see to it that she didn't buy shoes that would be too tight or a pair that the salesman wanted to get rid of. We lived on Second Avenue and Eifnteenth Street, which was then considered uptown, and many wealthy people had moved into this neighborhood. By this time I had become a dental technician. It was a new profession in America, and it paid well. There were many shoe stores on the avenue and we window-shopped, passing from one to the other. After a while I tired of the whole business. I had a laboraory in my apartment and I wanted to return to my work. Anna had already bougnt socks and panties for the baby, and she gave them to me, saying, "If I don't find the shoes I want, perhaps I will try Fifth Avenue."


Those were her last words to me. That was the last time I saw her. Many hours later, I informed the police. It was evening. The Irish policeman considered the whole affair a joke and he advised me to wait until later that night, or until the next morning. About one o'clock, I returned to the station, and the policeman on the night shift suggested that my wife was probably visiting her boyfriend. Just the same, he wrote down everything and told me to come the next day if she had not returned. I went back for days and weeks. Anna had disappeared like a stone in the water. People came up with the theories you would expect. Perhaps she had a clandestine lover. Perhaps she had found her lost fiancé, Vladimir Machtei, and the old love had rekindled. Perhaps she had decided to return to Russia and throw a bomb at the czar. From the police I had learned that not only men ran away in America but women as well. But none of the cases about which I heard compared to mine. Anna had no lovers. The baby was dear to her. If Vladimir Machtei wanted to know Anna's whereabouts, he could have written to her grand parents. In all the years we had been in America, he never showed a sign of life. Deep inside me, I knew the tragic and unbelievable truth : that Anna was by nature or fate - call it as you like - a person born to lose and to be lost. She lost her money, her possessions, her fiancé. She might have lost the child, too if she had not got lost herself. I say "deep in me" because my reason would never accept anything so irrational. What does it mean ? How can a thing become nothing ? The Pyramids have stood in place for six thousand years, and unless there is an unusual earthquake, they may last for another six thousand - or sixty thousand. In the British Museum and here in the Metropolitan, you find mummies and artifacts that have endured for many centuries. If matter can turn to nothing, all of nature is a nightmare. That is what my logic dictates to me.


A crown of feathers, Isaac BASHEVIS SINGER (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Inc. 1970)



I - Who's who ? Complete the following grid when possible. If the answer is not in the text, put a cross (X) in the corresponding box :

II - What sort of social background do the main character belong to ? Justify your answer with three elements from the text :

1) "We were going to a hotel in the Catskill Mountains"

2) "...many wealthy people had moved into this neighborhood"

3) "...a dental technician. It was a new profession in America and it paid well"


III - In what city does the story take place ? Justify your answer with two elements from the text.

1) the city is : New York

2) first element : Second Avenue and Eighteenth Street

3) second element : Fifth Avenue


IV - Why didn't Anna go shopping alone on that particular day ? Find three reasons by quoting from the text.

1) "because of Anna's lack of English"

2) "she would never enter a store without buying something"

3) "I was supposed to see to it that she didn't buy shoes that would be too tight,..."


V - Why did the narrator go to the police station ? (20 words)

He goes there to report his missing wife, who vanished while buying shoes and who hardly speaks any English at all.


VI - What was the conclusion of the policeman who was on duty ? (20 words)

He thought it was a big joke and told the narrator to come back later that night because his wife was probably visiting her boyfriend.


VII - Give two examples of what other people thought might have happened.

1) The policeman thought Anna was visiting her boyfriend.

2) The narrator thought she might have returned to her old lover in Russia.


VIII - What is the narrator's own interpretation of the facts ?

He thought Anna was born to lose and to be lost.


IX - In the last lines what is the narrator's state of mind ? Tick the right answer and justify by quoting 2 elements from the text :

a) "What does it mean ? How can a thing become nothing ?"

b) "If matter can turn to nothing, all of nature is a nightmare."


X - Explain why the author mentions the pyramids (30 words)

He mentions them as a symbol of things that endure over the centuries and give the impression, like mummies that nature is not only nothingness.


XI - Explain the following expressions in your own words :

1) "The old love had rekindled"

They had fallen in love again.

2) "wanted to know Anna whereabouts"

wanted to know where she was.

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