DM d'anglais

Sujet du devoir

le texte : Le texte:

I didn't know how early one could decently begin asking for a room in England, so I thought I would leave it till mid-morning. With time on my hands, I made a thorough search for a guesthouse that looked attractive and quiet, but friendly and not too expensive, and at the stroke of ten o'clock presented myself on the doorstep of the one I had carefully selected, taking care not to discompose the milk bottles. It was a small hotel that was really a guesthouse, indeed was really a boarding-house.

I don't remember its name, but I well recall the proprietress, a formidable creature of late middle years called Mrs Smegma, who showed me to a room, then gave me a tour of the facilities and outlined the many complicated rules for residing there -when breakfast was served, how to turn on the heater for the bath, which hours of the day I would have to vacate the premises and during which brief period a bath was permitted (these seemed, oddly, to coincide), how much notice I should give if I intended to receive a phone call or remain out after 10 p.m., how to flush the loo and use the loo brush, which materials were permitted in the bedroom waste-basket and which had to be carefully conveyed to the outside dustbin, where and how to wipe my feet at each point of entry, how to operate the three-bar fire in my bedroom and when that would be permitted (essentially, during an Ice Age). This was all bewilderingly new to me. Where I came from, you got a room in a motel, spent ten hours making a lavish and possibly irredeemable mess of it, and left early the next morning. This was like joining the Army.

'The minimum stay,' Mrs Smegma went on, 'is five nights at one pound a night, including full English breakfast.'
'Five nights?' I said in a small gasp. I'd only intended to stay the one. What on earth was I going to do with myself in Dover for five days?
Mrs Smegma arched an eyebrow. 'Were you hoping to stay longer?'
'No,' I said. 'No. As a matter of-'
'Good, because we have a party of Scottish pensioners coming for the weekend and it would have been awkward. Actually, quite impossible.' She surveyed me critically, as she might a carpet stain, and considered if there was anything else she could do to make my life wretched. There was. 'I'm going out shortly, so may I ask that you vacate your room within quarter of an hour?'
I was confused again. 'I'm sorry, you want me to leave? I've just got here.'
'As per the house rules. You may return at four.' She made to depart but then turned back. 'Oh, and do be so good, would you, as to remove your counterpane each night. We've had some unfortunate occurrences with stains. If you do damage the counterpane, I will have to charge you. You do understand, of course?'

I nodded dumbly. And with that she was gone. I stood there, feeling lost and weary and far from home. I'd spent an hysterically uncomfortable night out of doors. My muscles ached, I was dented all over from sleeping on boltheads, and my skin was lightly oiled with the dirt and grit of two nations. I had sustained myself to this point with the thought that soon I would be immersed in a hot, soothing bath, followed by about fourteen hours of deep, peaceful, wallowing sleep, on plump pillows under a downy comforter.

As I stood there absorbing the realization that my nightmare, far from drawing to a close, was only just beginning, the door opened and Mrs Smegma was striding across the room to the strip light above the sink. She had shown me the correct method for turning it on -'There's no need to yank it. A gentle tug is sufficient' -and evidently remembered that she had left it burning. She turned it off now with what seemed to me a sharp yank, then gave me and the room a final suspicious once-over, and departed again.
When I was sure she was quite gone, I quietly locked the door, drew shut the curtains and had a pee in the sink. I dug a book from my backpack; then stood for a long minute by the door surveying the tidy, unfamiliar contents of my lonely room .

Les questions:

1.Pick out the sentence that shows that the narrator is not familiar with English manners .
2.Guess the narrator's nationality, and justify your choice by quoting from the text .
3.When does the scene take place at the very beginning of the text ? Choose the correct answer
a. at noon
b. in the middle of the morning
c. early in the morning
4. From the following list choose two adjectives that best qualify the narrator when he arrives at the boarding-house. Justify your choice by quoting from the text .
a. fit
b. relaxed
c. dirty
d. exhausted
e. thrilled
5. Analyse the narrator's perception of Mrs smegma
6. Show that the narrator had high expectations about his stay at the boarding house, and that little by little his hopes vanish .
7. What is Mrs Smegma's attitude towards the narrator ?
8.Who or what do the underlined words refer to ?
a. You got a room in a motel
b. Spent ten hours making a lavish and possibly irredeemable mess of it .
c. This was like joining the Army
d. It would have been awkward
9.True or False ?
a. At the boarding-house the narrator is free to come and go as he wishes
b. Mrs Smegma is very specific as regards waste
c. The narrator is not supposed to use the heater whenever he feels cold.
d. The narrator thinks the town of Dover is worth visiting .
10.How does the narrator feel at the end of the passage, and why ?





Subject 1: In the evening, after dinner, the narrator decides to write to his brother back home; write the letter, in which he tells him about his first day in England. (300 words)
Subject 2: Have you ever experienced being lost in an unfamiliar environment? Explain the circumstances and describe how you felt. (300 words)

Où j'en suis dans mon devoir

J'ai fait l'expression écrite du sujet 1. j'ai compris en gros le texte mais je n'arrive pas a répondre aux questions ( a trouver les bonnes citations)