BAC 2013 / SERIES GENERALES / ANGLAIS LV1
COMPREHENSION
Document A
Lines 1 to 17
A. 3
B. Simon is ambitious and has no other choice than Oxford to make his career in politics (l.10 "Future Prime
Ministers aren't educated at Durham")
Lines 18 to the end (erreur de ligne, il est mentionné 'line 17 to the end')
C. Simon is in OXFORD. He intends to visit all the COLLEGES to see if they have a PLACE. He intends to visit six every day until he is ADMITTED / ACCEPTED
D. determined
E. Yes, he does. "Mrs Kerslake was not surprised when her son (Simon) went on to be president of the Oxford
Union"

Document B
F. The characters present in the text are the narrator (probably Mitch Albom, the author) and Morrie. As far as we know, both met in college, years before.
G. The two periods are his college years and his ten-year working life in Detroit
H.

1. Right. (l.3) "I traded a lot of dreams for a bigger paycheck".
2. Right. (l. 5 & 6) "Yet here was Morrie talking with the wonder of our college years, as if I'd simply been on a long vacation"
3. Right. (l. 12 & 13) "I once promised myself I would never work for money, that I would join the
Peace Corps, that I would live in beautiful, inspirational places."
4. Wrong. (l.20) "My days were full, yet I remained, much of the time, unsatisfied."

I. Morrie's presence and intrusive questions – about his social and love life and his career – reveal the narrator's existentialist crisis as he is going to turn 40. As a student, he had sort of idealistic ambitions (never work for money, join the Peace Corps, live in beautiful, inspirational places), but he has become a sort of workaholic (tied to his computer and cellphone) who has settled into a routine and probably aged too early
(getting fat and going bald), leading a humdrum life which sounds far from satisfactory. (85 words)
J. We (the readers) realize that the narrator was not aware of or hiding from his unsatisfactory life until he meets his long-time