HOME TEXT 1 A new home in the country The move to Pagfordhad

Chapeau :Ce sujet d’Anglais de la session 2015est un sujet de type écrit qui concerne les séries L, ES et S.Lorsque vous étiez
plus jeune vous avez sans doute lu Harry Potter. Pour cette session d’examen vous allez découvrir un texte du même auteur
–J.K. Rowling- mais qui ne concerne pas cette saga de livres pour la jeunesse !
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TEXT 1
A new home in the country
The move to Pagfordhad been the worstthingthathadeverhappened to Gaia Bawden.
Exceptingoccasionalvisits to herfather in Reading, London was all thatshehadeverknown. So increduloushad
Gaia been, when Kay had first saidshewanted to move to a tiny West Country town, thatithad been
weeksbeforeshetook the threatseriously. Shehadthoughtit one of Kay’smadideas, like the
twochickensshehadbought for theirtiny back garden in Hackney (killed by a fox a weekafterpurchase), or
deciding to ruinhalftheirsaucepans and permanentlyscarherown hand by making marmelade,
whenshehardlyevercooked.
Wrenchedfromfriendsshehadhadfromprimaryschool, from the house shehadknownsinceshewaseight, from
weekends thatwere, increasingly, about everykind of urban fun, Gaia had been plunged, over the pleas,
threats and protests, into a life shehadneverdreamedexisted. Cobbledstreets and no shops open after six
o’clock, a communal life thatseemed to revolvearound the church, and whereyoucouldoftenhearbirdsong and
nothingelse: Gaia felt as thoughshehadfallenthrough a portal into a land lost in time.
She and Kay hadclungtightly to eachother all Gaia’s life (for herfatherhadneverlivedwiththem, and
Kay’stwo successive relationshipshadnever been formalized), bickering, condoling and growingsteadily
more like flat-mates with passing years. Now, though, Gaia sawnothing but an enemywhenshelookedacross
the kitchen table. Heronly ambition was to return to London, by anymeans possible, and to make Kay as
unhappy as shecould, in revenge. Shecould not decidewhetheritwouldpunish Kay more to fail all her
GCSEs1, or to passthem, and try and getherfather to agree to house her, whilesheattended a sixthformcollege in -London. In the meantime, shehad to exist in alienterritory, whereher looks and her accent,
once instant passports to the most select social circles, hadbecomeforeigncurrency.
J. K. Rowling, The CasualVacancy, 2012.
1. GCSE: diploma for studentsaged 14 to 16 in Britain. Compréhension
•
(10 points)
Read the wholetext.
1. How does Gaia feel about movingfrom London to Pagford? Quote 2 elementsfrom the first paragraph
to support youranswer.
•
Read from line 11 to the end.
2. Quotingfrom the text, whatelementsdoessheassociatewith -London (3 elements) and Pagford
(5 elements)?
3. To whatextentdoesthis move change herrelationshipwith Kay, hermother?
4. How does Gaia intend to punishhermother for moving to Pagford? Find 2 elements in the text.
5. “In the meantime, shehad to exist in alienterritory, whereher looks and her accent, once instant
passports to the most select social circles, hadbecomeforeigncurrency.” (l. 29 to 31)Identify and
explain the twometaphorslinked to the “alienterritory”. (30 WORDS)
Les clefs du sujet
Texte 1
L’auteur
Auteur britannique J.K. Rowling (1965-) a connu un succès planétaire grâce à la série Harry
Potter.CasualVacancy, son premier roman pour adultes publié après, est un roman social d’une inspiration
différente qui a rencontré moins de succès.
Pour en savoir plus : www.jkrowling.com
Résumé du texte
Gaia et sa mère, Kay, ont toujours vécu ensemble en l’absence du père. Elles vécurent longtemps à Londres,
ce qui représente la vraie vie pour Gaia. Puis Kay a soudain décidé, contre toute attente, de s’installer à
Pagford, toute petite ville endormie de province, où Gaia se sent totalement étrangère. Mère et fille ont
cohabité comme des colocataires jusqu’à présent. Ce déménagement altère profondément leurs relations au
point que Gaia cherche un moyen de punir sa mère et envisage éventuellement de rejoindre son père près de
Londres.
Vocabulaire utile à la compréhension
Move, l. 1 (déménagement) ; athreat, l. 6 (une menace) ; purchase, l. 8 (achat) ; to scar, l. 9 (laisser une
cicatrice) ; to wrench, l. 11 (arracher) ; plea, l. 14 (supplication) ; cobbledstreets, l. 15 (rues pavées) ; to cling
to, l. 19 (se cramponner à) ; to bicker, l. 21 (se chamailler) ; to condole, l. 21 (se consoler) ; flat-mates, l. 22
(colocataires) ; to house, l. 28 (loger) ; her looks, l. 30 (son physique) ; currency, l. 31 (monnaie).
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