L1TD07 - A Virtual Girlfriend

LICENCE 1 | ANGLAIS
TD07
Niveau : intermédiaire
OBJECTIFS
> COMPREHENSION GENERALE ET DETAILLEE D’UN ARTICLE DE PRESSE EN ANGLAIS
> LEXIQUE : TRADUCTION, VERBES A PARTICULES (PHRASAL VERBS)
> SYNTAXE : LES TYPES DE PROPOSITIONS (COMPLETIVES, RELATIVES, CIRCONSTANCIELLES), DO
EMPHATIQUE, QUESTIONS INDIRECTES, MOTS DE LIAISON, PROPOSITIONS CONDITIONNELLES (TEMPS)
 1. Overall comprehension: read the passage and tick the right answer(s)
Sad and Lonely: Download a Virtual Girlfriend
By KEITH BRADSHER - NYT
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HONG KONG, Feb. 18 - Men, are you tired of
the time, trouble and expense of having a
girlfriend? Irritated by the difficulty of finding a
new one? Eberhard Schöneburg, the chief
executive of the software maker Artificial Life
Inc. of Hong Kong, may have found the answer: a
virtual girlfriend named Vivienne who goes
wherever you go.
Vivienne likes to be taken to movies and bars.
40
At an Internet game parlor here, packed with
45 young men busily shooting or chopping apart a
wide variety of villains and monsters, there was no
clear consensus on whether people would pay to
exchange valentines with Vivienne.
10 She loves to be given virtual flowers and
15
chocolates, and she can translate six languages if
you travel overseas. She never undresses, although
she has some skimpy outfits for the gym, and is
a tease who draws the line at anything beyond
blowing kisses.
20
If you marry her in a virtual ceremony, you
even end up with a virtual mother-in-law who
really does call you in the middle of the night on
your cellphone to ask where you are and whether
you have been treating her daughter right.
25
She may sound like a mixed blessing,
decidedly high maintenance and perhaps the last
resort of losers. But she is nonetheless a concept
that cellphone system operators and handset
manufacturers are starting to embrace.
30
35
Vivienne, the product of computerized voice
synthesis, streaming video and text messages, is
meant not only to bring business to Artificial Life
(she will be available for a monthly fee of $6, not
including the airtime costs paid to cellphone
operators or the price of virtual chocolates and
flowers). But she is also meant to be a lure for the
new, higher-tech, third generation, or 3G,
cellphones.
clothing, hair style and other features of doll-like
images of people. Vivienne - and similar games
that are likely to follow from other companies - is
distinctive in that she is a figurine who appears to
be three-dimensional and moves through 18
different settings like a restaurant, shopping mall
and airport.
"It's a little bit for the losers," said Rick Wong,
50 a 32-year-old off-duty security guard, who
nonetheless added that, "even people who have
girlfriends, well, girlfriends are not perfect, so
they may play anyway."
Vivienne's largest database is for processing
55 those difficult conversations about romance and
intimacy. "People will see that they can't have sex
with her, but they'll try to," and Vivienne has
many ways to hold them off, Mr. Schöneburg
said.
60
65
70
Cellphone games are already available in
Korea and Japan that allow users to change the
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Vivienne is fairly prudish, partly because
Artificial Life is hoping the market will include
teenagers from affluent families. She is now
scheduled to become available, so to speak, in
Singapore and Malaysia by the end of April, in
Western Europe by late spring and possibly in a
few American cities by the end of the year.
Artificial Life is not suggesting Vivienne is
any substitute for a flesh-and-blood girlfriend. "I
hope they think of her as a companion," said
MaryAnna Donaldson, the company's creative
content editor, "and will see her as a practice
round before the real one.
1. "She has some skimpy outfits for the gym" (l.13) implies that:
 The clothes she wears for the gym are too short  The clothes she wears for the gym are not so sexy
2. In the context of the article, "tease" (l.14) means:  Plaisantine  Séductrice  Manipulatrice  Moqueuse
3. "Mixed blessing" (l.21) means:  She has advantages and disadvantages  She only brings trouble
4. "Decidedly" (l.22) is the equivalent of:  Definitely  Undoubtedly  Partly  Certainly  Completely
5. "Likely" (l.39) is synonymous with:  Possibly  Pleasantly  Probably  Friendly
6. "To hold them off" (l.58) means:  To struggle with them  To retain them  To insult them
7. "Scheduled" (l.63) means:  Previewed  Cancelled  Delayed  Programmed
 2. Vocabulary
a. Find the equivalents in the text of the following French words.
Outremer
Appât
Riche
Centre commercial
Belle-mère
Combiné téléphonique
Relativement
Tenues affriolantes
Néanmoins
Caractéristique
b. Pick up 2 phrasal verbs and translate them into French.
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 3. Translate into French the passage from line 26 (Vivienne,...) to line 43 (...airport)
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 4. Syntaxe : les 3 grands types de propositions
 Une proposition est un segment qui comprend un verbe.
1. LES PROPOSITIONS COMPLETIVES : SUBORDONNEES A UN VERBE
Elles occupent la place d'un nom. En ce sens elles complètent un verbe à gauche (=sujet) ou à droite (=objet).
On dit qu'elles sont nominalisées, puisqu’elles sont aptes à occuper une place de nom. Il en existe trois
catégories :
a) Les propositions complétives en That : on parle de nominalisation externe car on se contente d'ajouter that
devant la proposition pour l'imbriquer à une proposition de rang supérieur.
ex : I knew that Mary was celebrating her birthday yesterday night.
Le segment souligné est une proposition complétive objet du verbe know.
ex : That he refused to come is quite astonishing.
Dans ce cas la proposition est une complétive sujet de is.
b) Les propositions infinitives : le verbe subit une modification puisqu'il n'est plus conjugué mais à l'infinitif. Le
sujet change lui aussi de forme et il est introduit par "for".
ex : He likes (for) his wife to dress well.
ex : I want (for) you to come home before noon.
Les segments soulignés sont des propositions complétives infinitives objets des verbes like et want.
ex : For him to do such a crazy thing is unbelievable. Le segment est une prop. complétive infinitive sujet.
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c) Les propositions complétives gérondives : le verbe est au gérondif (=forme -ing). Le sujet est au cas génitif.
ex : Do you mind my smoking in this room?
Le segment souligné est une proposition complétive gérondive objet.
ex : Going to the beach is fun !
Le segments souligné est une proposition complétive gérondive sujet.
2. LES PROPOSITIONS RELATIVES : SUBORDONNEES A UN NOM
Contrairement aux complétives ces propositions sont subordonnées (=rattachées) à un nom. La connexion se
fait grâce à un pronom relatif (déterminé par l'antécédent).
ex : The book that I read the other day was exciting.
Le segment souligné est une proposition relative dont l'antécédent est book.
ex : I love the car which/that is white and red.
Le segment souligné est une proposition relative dont l'antécédent est car.
ex : The man who looks weird is my neighbour.
Le segment souligné est une proposition relative dont l'antécédent est man.
3. LES PROPOSITIONS ADVERBIALES (CIRCONSTANCIELLES) : NON SUBORDONNEES
Ces propositions sont des propositions circonstancielles qui renseignent sur les circonstances de l'évènement,
comme des adverbes. On pourrait les supprimer, la phrase resterait correcte au plan grammatical. Elles ne
dépendent d'aucun élément de la proposition principale, elles ne font qu'apporter des informations
complémentaires et non-nécessaires au bon fonctionnement de l'énoncé. ex : They said they would come
when they are ready (temps) / in order to help us (but)
▪ Les circonstancielles sont aussi appelées adverbiales car elles ont le même rôle que certains adverbes.
▪ Il existe des circonstancielles de temps (when, before, after, while, since), de concession (although, though,
while), de cause (because, as, since), de but (so that, in order to), de conséquence (so that) et de comparaison
(as, like).
▪ Les subordonnées conditionnelles sont introduites par les conjonctions if, unless, provided that.
a. Relever dans l'article deux relatives et une complétive.
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b. Relever une subordonnée concessive et deux questions indirectes.
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c. Relever deux subordonnées conditionnelles et une circonstancielle de cause.
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d. Nommer les circonstancielles ou conditionnelles après les avoir délimitées.
1. Although they left rather late, they got to the station on time.
2. If you got there too late, there wouldn't be any seats left.
3. Since they were in a hurry, they took a taxi.
4. They took a taxi in order to get there on time.
5. They weren't as late as they thought.
6. After they left, they discovered they had forgotten the tickets.
7. The train was late so that they finally had to wait.
8. While they were waiting, they ate a sandwich or two.
9. Since I've stopped smoking, I've felt stronger and healthier.
10. You'd better take some money so that you can pay for the meal.
11. They intend to visit Birmingham while they are in England.
12. He didn't act as though he had a lot of money.
13. As she had paid for the meal, he felt he had to pay for the concert.
14. As long as they don't disturb me, I don't pay attention to what the neighbours do.
15. They intend to visit Birmingham even though some friends told them it wasn't a beautiful city.
16. While I understand their reasons, I can't agree with them.
17. While they were travelling through the desert, they kept thinking about forests and streams.
18. Since you won't follow my advice, I wonder why you asked.
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e. Mots de liaisons : relier les termes anglais avec leurs équivalents français.
1. Actually
2. Anyway
3. As
4. Since
5. Basically
6. By the way
7. Compared to
8. Either... or...
9. Fortunately
10. Given
11. Hopefully
a. Ou bien... ou
b. Par rapport à
c. Puisque
d. Etant donné que
e. En fait, au fond, ben
f. Heureusement
g. De toute façon
h. Puisque
i. Avec un peu de chance
j. En fait
k. A propos
12. Incidentally
13. Mind you
14. Nevertheless
15. Obviously
16. On the other hand
17. On top of that
18. Provided
19. Therefore
20. Unlike
21. Whereas, while
22. However
l. Contrairement à
m. Tandis que
n. En plus
o. Par conséquent
p. Pourvu que
q. Néanmoins
r. Par contre
s. Evidemment
t. Entre parenthèses
u. Remarque, n'empêche
v. Cependant, pourtant
f. Question complémentaire : quelle remarque pouvez-vous faire sur la présence de l'auxiliaire
does à la ligne 18 ?
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 5. Rewrite according to the following example
Concordance des temps dans les propositions conditionnelles :
1. If + present
>
Futur (will + BV)
2. If + preterit
>
Conditionnel present (would + BV)
3. If + past perfect >
Conditionnel passé (would + have + participle passé)
Ex: Paul is rich. Paul buys a car.
a. Paul will buy a car if he is rich
b. Paul would buy a car if he was rich.
c. Paul would have bought a car if he had been rich
a. Paul is reading a book. Paul has his glasses.
b. Mary has a car. Mary goes to London tomorrow.
c. The children can swim. The children go to the swimming pool.
d. The dog sees the cat. The dog barks.
e. The rain has stopped. The children go to the mountain for a walk.
f. The sun is shining. The birds sing.
 6. Translate into English
a. Qu’auriez-vous dit si l’on vous avait demandé votre avis ?
b. Que lui auriez-vous donné s’il vous avait demandé de l’argent ?
c. Qu’auriez-vous compris si l’on vous avait dit cela ?
d. Qu’auriez-vous répondu si vous aviez été dans ma position ?
e. Quelles langues étrangères auriez-vous apprises si vous aviez pu ?
f. Quel type de problèmes auriez-vous abordés si la réunion avait eu lieu ?
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