RÉPUBLIQUE TUNISIENNE

MINISTÈRE DE L’ÉDUCATION Devoir de Synthèse N° 2

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COMMISSARIAT RÉGIONAL DE SFAX 1
ÉPREUVE : ANGLAIS  DURÉE : 2 heures (de 10 h à 12 h)  Le 03 mars 2022
1ère Année Secondaire.

Nom & Prénom: …………………………………………. Classe: ………………………… N° : ………

Le sujet comporte 04 pages

A. READING COMPREHENSION: (15 marks)

The text:

1. Aine Duffy, a musician, singer and songwriter, is now working on the release of her new single after
a long break due to Covid19. She is a motivated person who has always loved building things. Having been
in rented homes for years, she found herself without a place of her own. “Like so many others in a similar
condition, the housing crisis had started to really affect me. My friends never let me down, but as I am
independent and not afraid of hard work, I decided to take things into my own hands,” she said.

2. Aine realized that, with a little creativity, she could create a cozy one-room home for herself.
Therefore, when a tree fell on her parents’ land, she asked them if she could build a home there. They
agreed. “I immediately went to the credit union, where I have some savings, and borrowed €12,000.” Aine
said. She then sought the advice of an expert in tiny homes. From there, she drew up her plan on her iPad
and, together with her family, started building it. “My mother was so helpful. We spent fun time doing it and
she is a great worker,” she said.

3. “As there were tight restrictions because of the pandemic, I was on my own most of the time. I had
the idea last August and was on the final touches in December. Now I have a great house. In total, it cost
€12,550. I bought a few second-hand windows. My bed, wardrobe and kitchen were designed to suit my
needs. Some friends donated pieces of wood, a fridge and a cooker top that they didn’t need. Eventually,
worrying and fighting for housing has been lifted, and what a weight that is!” Aine said.

www.irishtimes.com
By Arlene Harris (Aug 30, 2021)

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*Comprehension Questions:

1. Tick () the statement that best suits the text. (1 mark)

a-  Tiny houses to end housing crisis.

b-  At last, I have a place to live in.
c-  Leaving my family nest.

2. For each of the following statements, pick out one detail from the text showing that it is false.
(3 marks)
a. Aine was staying with her parents before building her house. (Paragraph1)
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b. It was an architect who designed Aine’s house. (Paragraph 2)

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c. Aine was supported by her family throughout the building period. (Paragraph 3)
……………………………………………………………………..………………………………………

3. Fill in each gap with one word from paragraph 2. (3 marks)

The housing crisis and COVID-19 restrictions caused Aine to be both homeless and penniless. Even
the ……………………… she had were not enough to afford a place of her own. When her parents gave her
permission, she ……………………………… started the process of building a house on their land. She also
………………………… help from her friends to have a cozy home.

4. Fill in the table with information about Aine’s house. (Paragraph 3) (2 marks)

Number of rooms Cost Building period

One room ……………………..…… …………………………………

5. Tick () the right option. ‘take things into my own hands’ (paragraph 1) means: (1 mark)
a-  deal with the problem by myself.
b-  turn to my own family for a solution.
c-  ask my friends to give me a hand.

6. Answer the following question from paragraph 3. (2 marks)

How did Aine manage to spend less money on building the house?
a- ………………………………………………………………………………………………………...

b- ………………………………………………………………………………………………………...

7. What do the underlined words in the text refer to? (2 marks)

‘We’ (paragraph 2) refers to: ……………………………………………………….
‘they’ (paragraph 3) refers to: ……………………………………………………

8. Give a personal justified answer to the following question: (1 mark)

If you were as creative as Aine Duffy, would you be willing/ready to build a small home on your own?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
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B. LANGUAGE: (10 marks)
1. Fill in the blanks with 7 words from the list below. (3.5 marks)

[around / therefore / surf / interests / practise / find / mutual / while / looking]

Finding pen pals in several parts of the world is exciting for everyone. It is like you get the chance to
tour the world …………………… sitting in your living room. The Ablo application will help you to find friends
all ………………………… the globe. This app is easy to use – you just need to create an account and start
………………………… for friends in the countries you choose. When you meet someone, the Ablo app
creates a ……………………… chat for you, where later on, you can make a video call if you wish. Here it is
important to mark your ……………………… as well. And it is almost a must to mark the languages that you
would like to ……………………… . Just keep in mind that the video chats can be unsafe sometimes.
………………………, you should first talk attentively to the person and make sure he/she is trustworthy. There
are many weird and crazy people in global video chats nowadays.

2. Put the bracketed words in the right tense and / or form. (3.5 marks)

Michael Crichton received his Medical Degree from Harvard Medical School in 1969. However, he
would rather (concentrate) …………………… on writing and filmmaking career than practice medicine. At
Harvard, Michael wrote book reviews and novels. Written with the (remarkable) …………………… speed
and taste ever, these novels (provide) …………………… him with the means to study at Harvard Medical
School. Now, Crichton (work) …………………… on a novel, screenplay and film exploring the darker side of
(communicate) …………………… between Man and wildlife in Africa. His first novel, The Andromeda Strain,
(publish) …………………… the year he finished medical school. Ever since, he (write) ……………………
six books, including The Great Train Robbery, which remained on the New York Times Bestsellers list for 22
weeks.

3. Circle the right option. (3 marks)

Last year, I shared an apartment with two other friends. It was cheap and I got along (good / better /
well) with both of them. The only problem was that we lived under a family (who / which / whose) kids
apparently loved jumping off furniture randomly at night. We complained (of / about / to) what was happening
to the apartment owner who promised to talk to the family living upstairs, but it was unsuccessful. After several
complaints, the apartment owner (came / has come / was coming) over in the middle of the day, stood in
our apartment for some seconds to finally declare that he didn’t hear (something / anything / nothing). He
then left, completely (ignoring / surviving / worrying) us while we were trying to tell him that the issue was
about the noise happening at night.

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C. WRITING: (15 marks)

1. Use the notes below to write a five-line paragraph about The International Mother Tongue Day. (5
marks)

Foundation 1999 / UNESCO.

Celebration 21 February / every year / world.

Goals -Promote language diversity.

-Make sure children worldwide / taught / their mother tongue / school.
Awards Different prizes / awarded annually / people / organizations / their
important contributions.

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2. Writing a blog post: (10 marks)

You came across the following post:

I celebrated my seventeenth birthday last month and I was so excited because I thought that my parents
would treat me like an adult. Unfortunately, they don’t see it that way. I feel unhappy because they think I
am still young and I can’t make my own decisions yet. Please help me.

Jennifer

Write a 15-line blog post to give advice to Jennifer to help her solve her problem with her parents.

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a) Adherence to task and content adequacy. (4 marks)

b) Lexical appropriacy and grammar accuracy (4 marks)
c) Mechanical accuracy (punctuation, capitalization and spelling). (2 marks)