Anglais niveau 3 Proof

UFR d’Etudes Interculturelles de Langues Appliquées
Anglais niveau 3
Département LANSAD
EXAMEN (session 2)
1 et/ou 2ème semestre 2012/2013
Samedi 22 juin 2013
er
Durée : 2 heures - aucun document autorisé.
_________________________________________________________
Proof
After the death of their father, a famous mathematician, two sisters meet to discuss the future. Hal was a
student of Claire and Catherine’s father.
Claire: We’re selling the house.
(Beat.)
Catherine: What?
Claire: We—I’m selling it.
5
Catherine: When?
Claire: I’m hoping to do the paperwork1 this week. I know it seems sudden.
Catherine: No one was here looking at the place, who are you selling it to?
Claire: The university. They’ve wanted the block for years.
Catherine: I live here.
10
Claire: Honey, now that Dad’s gone it doesn’t make sense. It’s in bad shape. It costs a fortune to heat. It’s
time to let it go. Mitch agrees, it’s a very smart move. We’re lucky, we have a great offer—
Catherine: Where am I supposed to live?
Claire: Come to New York.
Catherine: I can’t believe this.
15
Claire: It’ll be so good. You deserve a change. This would be a whole new adventure for you.
Catherine: Why are you doing this?
Claire: I want to help.
Catherine: By kicking me out of my house?
Claire: It was my house too.
1
The paperwork : la paperasse
20
Catherine: You haven’t lived here for years.
Claire: I know that. You were on your own2. I really regret that, Katie.
Catherine: Don’t.
Claire: I know I let you down. I feel awful about it. Now I’m trying to help.
Catherine: You want to help now?
25
Claire: Yes.
Catherine: Dad is dead.
Claire: I know.
Catherine: He’s dead. Now that he’s dead you fly in for the weekend and decide you want to help? You’re
late. Where have you been?
30
Claire: I—
Catherine: Where were you five years ago? You weren’t helping then.
Claire: I was working.
Catherine: I was here. I lived with him alone.
Claire: I was working fourteen-hour days. I paid every bill here. I paid off the mortgage 3 on this three-
35
bedroom house while I was living in a studio in Brooklyn.
Catherine: You had your life. You got to finish school.
Claire: You could have stayed in school!
Catherine: How?
Claire: I would have done anything—I told you that. I told you a million times to do anything you wanted.
40
Catherine: What about Dad? Someone had to take care of him.
Claire: He was ill. He should have been in a full-time professional-care situation.
Catherine: He didn’t belong in the nuthouse.
Claire: He might have been better off4.
Catherine: How can you say that?
45
Claire: This is where I’m supposed to feel guilty, right?
Catherine: Sure, go for it.
Claire: I’m heartless. My own father.
Catherine: He needed to be here. In his own house, near the university, near his students, near everything
that made him happy.
50
Claire: Maybe. Or maybe some real professional care would have done him more good than rattling around
in a filthy house5 with you looking after him.
I’m sorry, Catherine, it’s not your fault. It’s my fault for letting you do it.
Catherine: I was right to keep him here.
Claire: No.
55
Catherine: What about his remission? Four years ago. He was healthy for almost a year.
2
3
4
5
To be on one's own : être seul, se débrouiller seul
Emprunt ou hypothèque
To be better off : s'en trouver mieux, se porter mieux que si...
+/- tourner en rond dans une maison trop grande et crasseuse
Claire: And then he went right downhill again.
Catherine: He might have been worse in a hospital.
Claire: And he might have been better. Did he ever do any work again?
Catherine: No.
60
Claire: No. (Beat.) And you might have been better.
Catherine: (Keeping her voice under control) Better than what?
Claire: Living here with him didn’t do you any good. You said that yourself.
You had so much talent . . .
Catherine: You think I’m like Dad.
65
Claire: I think you have some of his talent and some of his tendency toward . . . instability.
(Beat.)
Catherine: Claire, in addition to the “cute apartments” that you’ve “scouted6” for me in New York, would
you by any chance also have devoted some of your considerable energies toward scouting out another type of
—
70
Claire: No.
Catherine: —living facility7 for your bughouse8 little sister?
Claire: No! Absolutely not. That is not what this is about.
Catherine: Don’t lie to me, Claire. I’m smarter than you.
(Beat.)
75
Claire: The resources . . . I’ve investigated—
Catherine: Oh my God.
Claire: —if you wanted to, all I’m saying is, the doctors in New York and the people are the best, and they—
Catherine: I hate you.
Claire: Don’t yell, please. Calm down.
80
Catherine: I hate you. I—
(Hal enters, holding a notebook. Claire and Catherine stop suddenly. Beat.)
Claire: What are you doing here? . . .
(Claire stares at Catherine.)
Hal: How long have you known about this?
85
Catherine: A while.
Hal: Why didn’t you tell me about it?
Catherine: I wasn’t sure I wanted to.
(Beat.)
Hal: Thank you.
90
Catherine: You’re welcome.
Claire: What’s going on?
6
7
8
To scout : explorer, partir à la recherche de
Facility : structure, équipement
Bughouse = madhouse = nuthouse
Hal: God, Catherine, thank you.
Catherine: I thought you’d like to see it.
Claire: What is it?
95
Hal: It’s incredible.
Claire: What is it?
Hal: Oh, uh, it’s a result. A proof. I mean it looks like a proof. I mean it is a proof, a very long proof, I
haven’t read it all of course, or checked it, I don’t even know if I could check it, but if it is a proof of what I
think it’s a proof of, it’s . . . a very . . . important . . . proof.
100
Claire: What does it prove?
Hal: It looks like it proves a theorem . . . a mathematical theorem about prime numbers 9, something
mathematicians have been trying to prove since . . . since there were mathematicians, basically. Most people
thought it couldn’t be done.
Claire: Where did you find it?
105
Hal: In your father’s desk. Cathy told me about it.
Claire: You know what this is?
Catherine: Sure.
Claire: Is it good?
Catherine: Yes.
110
Hal: It’s historic. If it checks out.
Claire: What does it say?
Hal: I don’t know yet. I’ve just read the first few pages.
Claire: But what does it mean?
Hal: It means that during a time when everyone thought your dad was crazy . . . or barely functioning . . . he
115
was doing some of the most important mathematics in the world. If it checks out, it means you publish
instantly. It means newspapers all over the world are going to want to talk to the person who found this
notebook.
Claire: Cathy.
Hal: Cathy.
120
Catherine: I didn’t find it.
Hal: Yes you did.
Catherine: No.
Claire: Well did you find it or did Hal find it?
Hal: I didn’t find it.
125
Catherine: I didn’t find it. I wrote it.
(Curtain)
Excerpted from Proof, a play by David Auburn, winner of the Pulitzer prize for Drama in 2001.
9
Nombres premiers
QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT
A1. TEXT ANALYSIS. Choisissez une seule réponse. (4 points)
Q1. Dans les répliques de Catherine, les mots en italiques expriment :
A. her sadness
B. her outrage
C. her curiosity
D. her eagerness
Q2. Quel effet est produit par la relative brièveté des répliques ?
A. This emphasizes the sisters’ sorrow about their father.
B. This emphasizes the heated pace of the sisters’ argument.
C. This shows how tired the sisters are of fighting.
D. This shows how interested the sisters are in the proof.
Q3. Dans ces lignes extraites du texte...
Claire : I think you have some of his talent and some of his tendency toward . . .
instability. (line 65)
Claire : The resources . . . I’ve investigated— (line 75)
… les ellipses ou points de suspension indiquent que Claire:
A. is being evasive.
B. has a lot of energy.
C. has a generous nature.
D. is jealous of her sister.
Q4. Quel effet produit l'entrée en scène de Hal en ligne 81 ?
A. The focus of the scene shifts.
B. The sisters become reconciled.
C. The father’s illness is revealed.
D. The setting of the play changes.
A2. TEXT ANALYSIS (10 points)
Répondez en deux à trois lignes standard et justifiez votre réponse par de courtes citations du
texte.
1. Why does Claire want to sell the house ?
2. What is Claire sorry about ?
3. What would Claire like Catherine to do ?
4. Why is Catherine not happy with Claire's plans for her ?
5. What did each sister do in the past five years ?
6. What do the sisters mostly disagree about ?
7. What does the notebook prove ? (Réponses multiples, 2 points)
8. Based on the dialogue, show that Claire is right when she says Catherine has a tendency
towards instability ? (2 points)
B. GRAMMAR, SYNTAX, TENSES
B.1 Traduisez en vous aidant du texte. (8 points)
a. Cela fait des années que je ne l'ai pas vu.
b. Pour elle, je serais allé n'importe où.
c. Pendant que tu étais là-bas, je faisais des semaines de six jours.
d. Tu l'as dit toi-même, il n'avait rien à faire à l'asile.
B.2 Posez une question portant sur la partie soulignée de la phrase. (4 points)
Exemples :
She wrote to her sister two weeks ago = who did she write to ?
ou bien
She wrote to her sister two weeks ago = when did she write to her sister ?
a. Most people thought it couldn’t be done.
b. Most people thought it couldn’t be done.
B.3 Dans le texte, repérez les traductions des mots ou expressions suivantes : (2 points)
a. Pause.
c. « Il n'y a pas de quoi. »
b. Se vérifier, s'avérer exact.
d. Rideau.
4. SUMMARY, COMMENTARY . (6+6 points)
a. Summarize the scene in approximately 60 words.
b. What should the sisters do now ? Write your own recommendation to them, as if you had
been asked for advice. Write 120 words or more.