TEXT

[1] Clark Junior High school is regarded as the top school in the city. I visit, in part, at
the request of school officials who would like me to see Education in the city at its
very best.
[2] "We spend the entire eighth grade year preparing for the state exams, "a teacher
tells me in a top - ranked English class. The teacher seems devoted to the children,
but three students sitting near me sleep through the entire period. Four of the 14
ceiling lights are broken. The corridor outside the room is filled with voices. Outside
the window, where I see no schoolyard, is an empty lot.
[3] In a Mathematics class of 30 children packed into a space that might be adequate for
15 kids, there is one white student - the first white student I have seen in East
St-Louis. She is polishing her nails with bright red polish. A tiny black girl next to
her is writing with a one - inch pencil stub(1).
[4] Uncertain where to start, I ask the students what they've learned about the Civil
Right campaigns of recent decades.
[5] A 14 - year - old girl with short black curly hair says this : "Every year in February,
we are told to read the same old speech of Martin Luther King. We read it every
year. I have a dream … It does begin to seem - what is the word ? "She hesitates
and then she finds the word : "perfunctory(2)."
[6] I ask her what she means.
"We have a school in East St. Louis named for Dr. King", she says.
"The school is full of sewer water and the doors are locked with chains. Every
student in that school is black. It's like a terrible joke on history"… And then she
says : "why are all the dirty businesses like chemicals and waste disposal here ?
This is a big country. Couldn't they find another place to put their poison ?"

Life on the Mississippi, Jonathan Kozol

Glossary :

(1) stub : short end of something the main part of which has been used.
(2) perfunctory : done quickly with no care or interest, superficial, a mere formality.

I. READING COMPREHENSION
1. Underline the right option

The text is about :

a. a school for white pupils.
b. The state of education in a school in a given city.
c. Martin Luther King.
d. exams.

2. Has anybody told the writer to visit schools in the city ? Who ? What for ?

.....................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................

3. Is Clark Junior High School really a good school ? Justify your answer with only two details from
the text.

.....................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................
4. Are all the students interested in the lesson ? Justify your answer with two details from the text.

.....................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................

5. Tick the right answer (×) and justify your choice.

The young black girl is convinced that reading Martin Luther King's speech every year in February has become :
a. a useless duty to perform ;
b. an important thing to do ;
c. a way to improve the situation of the blacks ;
d. a significant event.

Justification: .....................................................................................................................................
..............................................................................................................................................................

6. Tick the right answer (×).

When she says, "it's like a terrible joke on history," she means :
a. the speech ;
b. Dr King ;
c. The fact that the school is named for Dr. King.

7. Tick (×) the two adjectives that best describe the black pupils and justify your choice by means of short
quotations from the text :
On the whole, the young black pupils seem :

Quotations from the text :

a. confident in the 1. ..............................................................................
future. ..............................................................................
..............................................................................
b. irritated. 2. .............................................................................
c. enthusiastic. ..............................................................................
d. disappointed. ..............................................................................

8. Find the two words that mean the following:

a. he is giving his time and effort to his students (paragraph 2)

..............................................................................
b. periods of ten years (paragraph 4)
..............................................................................

9. Underline the right option :

Sewer water (paragraph 6) is :

a. used water
b. sea water
c. drinking water

II. LANGUAGE

1. Fill in the 6 blanks with the 6 words listed in the box :

 lured - settled - move - employment - nation - conditions

Some social scientists attribute American's interest in genealogy to the mobility that has always characterized
American society. From the beginning, America has been a ................. of movers. Once immigrants reached the
United States, they often kept moving, ................. by the hope of better ................. or greater prosperity or
driven by deteriorating social or economic .................. After the western territories were ................., Americans
continued to move from the city to the suburbs and from city to city. Indeed, the idea of being on the .................
approaches something of a national ethic.

2. Underline the correct alternative :

Everyone knows that a woman who smokes during pregnancy (must - may - should) harm (a fetus - the fetus -
fetus). It now appears that secondhand smoke (must - ought to - can) do the same. In tests (at - on - with)
newborns, those (whom - whose - which) mothers worked or lived with smokers had twice the level of (nicotine
- relating ; nicotine - relation ; nicotine - related) compounds in their system (like - than - as) those who had
mothers living in a (smoke - free ; free - smoke ; free - smoked) setting.

3. Math 4 words from column A with 4 words from column B to get 4 meaningful pairs :

A B Pairs
population school 1-
lingering passenger
elementary census 2-
emancipate proprietorship
religious times 3-
surgical laws
ethnic accent 4-
rocky disease

4. Put the verbs in brackets in the right tense and / or form :

Last week, UNICEF published its 50th anniversary issue on the state of the world's children, focusing on the
plight of children (catch) ................. up in wars and conflicts.
The report, "State of the World's Children 1996," says that in the last decade, 2 million
children (be killed) ................. in wars. UNICEF recommends that the minimum age for recruitment of soldiers
(be raised)................. to 18.

III. WRITING

1. In the following letter, there are :

- four grammar mistakes
- three word order mistakes
- two missing capital letters
- one spelling mistake
- two missing words

Write the mistakes and their corrections in the table below the letter.
dear John,
I writing to you to tell you that I completely have changed. I no longer am pessimist about the
future. Life is worth really struggling for. Now I am convincing that I must have more feith
on future .
I owe all this for you. thanks again.

Love
Pauline

mistakes corrections
Grammar 1. 1.
2. 2.
3. 3.
4. 4.
Word order 1. 1.
2. 2.
3. 3.
Capitalization 1. 1.
2. 2.
Spelling 1. 1.
Missing words 1. 1.
2. 2.

2. On April 7th, 1995, Mr. J.N. Edwards, 21, Beacon Road, Brighton, sent an invitation for Mr Fenton Scott,
Villa Selmore, Cambridge. In the letter, Mr. Edwards says that he is planning to have a dinner to celebrate the
fifth anniversary of The Selmore English Teachers' association on the 20th of April 1995.
Mr Fenton Scott is sorry not to be able to accept the invitation. He states his reasons : wife away / children to
look after / expects important visitors on that day / difficult to be away from Cambridge.

Write Mr Scott's reply to Mr Edwards's letter on the 15 th of April 1995 (10 lines).

J.N.Edwards
21,Beacon Road,
Brighton

......................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................
 ......................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................

Corrigé
1. Underline the right option

The text is about :

a. a school for white pupils.
b. The state of education in a school in a given city.
c. Martin Luther King.
d. exams.

2. Has anybody told the writer to visit schools in the city ? Who ? What for ?

Yes / school officials / to see education at its very best.

3. Is Clark Junior High School really a good school ? Justify your answer with only two details from
the text.

No

1. Four of 14 ceiling lights are broken.

2. The corridor is filled with voices.
3. No schoolyard.
4. 30 children in a space made for 15.

4. Are all the students interested in the lesson ? Justify your answer with two details from the text.

No - three students near me sleep through the entire period - she is polishing her nails.

5. Tick the right answer (×) and justify your choice.

x 1. a useless duty to perform ;

2. an important thing to do ;
3. a way to improve the situation of the blacks ;
4. a significant event.
Justification : It does begin to seem perfunctory.

6. Tick the right answer (×).

When she says, "it's like a terrible joke on history," she means :
 a- the speech ;
b- Dr King ;
x c- The fact that the school is named for Dr. King.

7. Tick (×) the two adjectives that best describe the black pupils and justify your choice by means of short
quotations from the text :
On the whole, the young black pupils seem :

Quotations from the text :

a- confident in the future. 1- Couldn't they find ....... poison ?
x b- irritated. or why are all the dirty businesses here ? or a
c- enthusiastic. school ....... but full of sewer water.
x d- disappointed. 2- It's like a terrible joke on history.
- every student ...... is black.
- It does seem perfunctory.
- a school ..... but full of sewer water.

8. Find the two words that mean the following:

a. he is giving his time and effort to his students (paragraph 2)

devoted
b. periods of ten years (paragraph 4)
decades

9. Underline the right option :

Sewer water (paragraph 6) is :

a. used water
b. sea water
c. drinking water

Corrigé

1. Fill in the 6 blanks with the 6 words listed in the box :

lured - settled - move - employment - nation - conditions

Some social scientists attribute American's interest in genealogy to the mobility that has
always characterizd American society. From the beginning, America has been a nation of
movers. Once immigrants reached the United States, they often kept moving, lured by the
hope of better employment or greater prosperity or driven by deteriorating social or
economic conditions. After the western territories were settled, Americans continued to
move from the city to the suburbs and from city to city. Indeed, the idea of being on the move
approaches something of a national ethic.
2. Underline the correct alternative :

Everyone knows that a woman who smokes during pregnancy (must - may - should) harm
(a fetus - the fetus - fetus). It now appears that secondhand smoke (must - ought to - can) do
the same. In tests (at - on - with) newborns, those (whom - whose - which) mothers worked or
lived with smokers had twice the level of (nicotine - relating; nicotine - relation; nicotine -
related) compounds in their system (like - than - as) those who had mothers living in a
(smoke - free; free - smoke; free - smoked) setting

3. Match 4 words from column A with 4 words from column B to get 4 meaningful pairs :

B Pairs
A
population school 1- population
lingering passengers census
elementary census 2- lingering
emancipate proprietorship disease
religious times 3- elementary
surgical laws school
ethnic accent 4- rocky
rocky disease times
4. Put the verbs in brackets in the right tense and / or form :

Last week, UNICEF published its 50th anniversary issue on the state of the world's
children, focusing on the plight of children (catch) caught up in wars and conflicts.The
report, "State of the World's Children 1996,"says that in the last decade, 2 million children
(be killed) have been killed in wars. (Ou "were killed"). UNICEF recommends that the
minimum age for recruitment of soldiers (be raised) be raised (or should be raised) to 18.

Corrigé

1. In the following letter, there are :

- four grammar mistakes
- three word order mistakes
- two missing capital letters
- one spelling mistake
- two missing words

Write the mistakes and their corrections in the table below the letter.

dear John,
I writing to you to tell you that I completely have changed. I no longer am pessimist about the
future. Life is worth really struggling for. Now I am convincing that I must have more feith
on future .
I owe all this for you. thanks again.

Love
Pauline

mistakes corrections
 Grammar 1. pessimist 1. pessimistic
2. convincing 2. convinced
3. on 3. in
4. for 4. to
Word order 1. completely have 1. have completely
changed changed
2. I no longer am 2. I am no longer
3.worth really 3. really worth
Capitalization 1. dear 1. Dear
2. thanks 2. Thanks
Spelling 1. feith 1. faith
Missing words 1. I writing 1. I am writing
2. on future 2. in the future
2. On April 7th, 1995, Mr. J.N. Edwards, 21, Beacon Road, Brighton, sent an invitation for Mr Fenton Scott,
Villa Selmore, Cambridge. In the letter, Mr. Edwards says that he is planning to have a dinner to celebrate the
fifth anniversary of The Selmore English Teachers' association on the 20th of April 1995.
Mr Fenton Scott is sorry not to be able to accept the invitation. He states his reasons : wife away / children to
look after / expects important visitors on that day / difficult to be away from Cambridge.

Write Mr Scott's reply to Mr Edwards's letter on the 15 th of April 1995 (10 lines).

J.N.Edwards
21,Beacon Road, The sender's address
Brighton

date

Dear Mr Edwards
Les critères suivants seront pris en considération lors de la correction
Lay-out
Organisation - cohesion
language
Degree of formality
Spelling punctuation capitalisation

yours truly
Name of sender