Anglais

Baccalauréat de l'enseignement général

Madagascar

Session 2007

 

 

 

TEXT   :                                 18,000 Homeless : Flooding in Madagascar's Capital

 

"An alarm sounded in our neighborhood. It was raining. l saw neighbors running around and pitching in to help each other get rid of the rain water, but the water level kept rising. l woke my three children because we had to leave our house. Since then this tent is our home."

Martine Rasoamihevitra is one of the 18,000 residents of Antananarivo, Madagascar who have been rendered homeless by the incessant floods that have hit the capital since mid­-January. Fortunately for her, UNICEF has provided tents for 15,000 people including non-­perishable food items, water purification substances, containers, blankets, mosquito nets and even school kits to 1,200 students from elementary schools that lost their school supplies in the floods.

Aid by the local authorities has stopped, now that the water level has gone down. But many families stay in their tents. Their houses aren’t under water any more, but they are full of stinking mud. Some houses have been destroyed completely. After last weeks' cyclone, more than 30,000 people in Madagascar have been affected by the bad weather. Some people lost their houses, others were forced to move.

"We moved here a few years ago", one woman, who lives in one of the Unicef tents in Antanjombato says. "We are originally from Ambohimangakely, but there is no more land for us there”. The women, who live with their families in a little village of wooden huts next to a canal, earn a living carrying bricks, while the men pull pousse-pousse.

For some families, the rainy season is an annual disaster, not just the one that happened this year. "This is the third time that we live in tents on this dike", one woman says. "The rice fields here are the land of our ancestors so we can't leave. It used to be OK here, until they build these dikes around Tana. Now we are flooded every rainy season during three years." The woman, who has a job in a factory, now sleeps with family, a calf and a pet cat in the same tent. Her husband goes out fishing. "Some of the neighbors lost all their rice", she says. "But we didn't, we were lucky. We harvested before the floods started".

By Unicef, with additional reporting by Mada English journal.

 

QUESTIONS

A-            READING COMPREHENSION                        (7 points)

I-     Re-order the following ideas as they appear in the text.                                 (0.25pt x 4)

1) Some people could save their culture before the floods.

2) Madagascar has to endure floods since the beginning of this year.

3) Some people have nowhere to go so they prefer to remain in their tents.

4) The population tried vainly to struggle against the rain water.

II-    Find in the text :                                                                                                (0.50pt x 2)

1) The equivalent of “occurred".

2) The opposite of “partly".

III-   Say if these statements are TRUE or FALSE. Justify your answer.                    (1.00 pt)

1) Martine was still living in her tent when the journalist wrote this article.

2) The woman in the last paragraph of the text lost all her rice in the floods

IV-   Complete with words from the text.                                                                 (1.00 pt)

Some people’s houses have been totally ________ that they have to remain in their tents; some of them have built ________ as shelters until they find new solutions.

V-    Answer the questions.                                                                                       (3.00 pts)

1) Why do some people stay in their tents even if their houses aren’t under water any more?

2) According to the woman in the last paragraph of the text, what is the cause of the floods?

3) Do you agree on the local authorities’ decision to stop aid though many families still stay in their tents? Why or why not?

 

B-            GRAMMAR IN USE                            (2 points)

Fill in the blanks with the right grammatical items.

My cousin Jack is an unlucky young boy. _____ he was among the best students at the University, he can’t find a job. Two weeks _____, he applied _____ a job _____ an assistant manager but he _____not accepted. The fact is that he _____ to neglect English _____ he was in the secondary school. So, he can’t do the job interview well. He regrets it and says: “I _____ I had done English well at school”.

 

C-            INDIRECT TEST OF SPEAKING           (4 points)

I-     Complete the dialogue:                                                                                    (3.00 pts)

Mary is in front of her mirror, holding scissors.

Betty :      ______________?

Mary :      I’m cutting my hair.

Betty :      ______________? (Making  an offer)

Mary :      ______________. Here are the scissors.

Betty :      Let me see. (Later) ______________?

Mary :      Oh, Betty, it’s marvellous ! _____________!

Betty :      You’re welcome. I’m already late. _____________.

Mary :      See you. Give my regards to uncle Jim.

II-    Match the utterances in column A with the functions in column B.                (1.00 pt)

 

 

D-            WRITING                                            (7 points)

 

Nowadays people are getting used to seeing films of violence. Write about their bad effects in our social life today. (about 120 words)