TD10 Niveau : difficile - Université de Poitiers

LICENCE 1 | ANGLAIS
TD10
Niveau : difficile
OBJECTIFS
> COMPREHENSION GENERALE ET DETAILLEE D’UN ARTICLE DE PRESSE EN ANGLAIS
> LEXIQUE : TRADUCTION, FORMES REDUITES (AIN’T, GOTTA, WANNA), AMALGAMES LEXICAUX
> GRAMMAIRE : FORME ING, QUESTIONS INDIRECTES, PRONOMS & REFERENTS, COMPARATIFS & SUPERLATIFS
 1. Overall comprehension: read the text and answer the following questions
Living Too Much in the Bubble?
An American Tragedy - Time, Sep. 19, 2005
A bungled initial response to Katrina exposed the perils of a rigid, insular White House. Inside
Bush's plan to show he isn't isolated.
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President Bush was seated in the White House Situation Room, watching military and disaster officials
beaming in from the Gulf Coast on the giant screen of his secure video-teleconferencing system. It had been
nearly a week since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, ripping gashes in the Superdome and swamping
homes up to their eaves. Bush, more fidgety than usual, was hearing a jumble of conflicting reports about the
number of refugees in the Convention Center and the whereabouts of two trucks and trailers loaded with water
and food. Furious, he interrupted and glared at the camera transmitting his image back to Mississippi. "I know
y'all are trying as hard as you can, but it ain't cuttin' it," the Commander in Chief barked. "I wanna know why.
We gotta do better."
This was not so much a moment of executive command as one that betrayed Bush's growing sense that his
presidency was taking a beating too. A TIME poll conducted last week shows how badly it has been wounded:
his overall approval rating has dropped to 42%, his lowest mark since taking office. And while 36% of
respondents said they were satisfied with his explanation of why the government was not able to provide relief to
hurricane victims sooner, 57% said they were dissatisfied--an ominous result for a politician who banks on his
image as a straight shooter.
Longtime Bush watchers say they are not shocked that he missed his moment--one of his most trusted
confidants calls him "a better third- and fourth-quarter player," who focuses and delivers when he sees the
stakes. What surprised them was that he still appeared to be stutter-stepping in the second week of the crisis,
struggling to make up for past lapses instead of taking control with a grand gesture. Just as Katrina exposed the
lurking problems of race and poverty, it also revealed the limitations of Bush's rigid, top-down approach to the
presidency. "The extremely highly centralized control of the government--the engine of Bush's success--failed
him this time," a key adviser said.
The missteps on Katrina came at a crucial moment in Bush's second term, when his top legislative priority at
home, Social Security reform, was already on life support and the war in Iraq was becoming a mounting
economic and political burden. The Administration that had been determined to defy history and ward off the
second-term curse--and early lame-duck status--by controlling the agenda and seizing opportunities appears
increasingly at the mercy of events, at home and abroad. [...]
Bush has always said the Presidency is about doing big things, and a friend who chatted with him one
evening in July said he seemed to be craving a fresh mission even though the one he has pursued in Iraq is far
from being on a steady footing. "He was looking for the next really important thing to do," the friend said. "You
could hear him almost sorting it out to himself. He just sort of figured it would come."
But when it did, he did not immediately show that he sensed its magnitude. On the Monday that Hurricane
Katrina landed and the Crescent City began drowning, Bush was joshing with Senator John McCain on the
tarmac of an Air Force base in Arizona, posing with a melting birthday cake. Like a scene out of a Michael
Moore mockumentary, he was heading into a long-planned Medicare round table at a local country club,
joking that he had "spiced up" his entourage by bringing the First Lady, then noting to the audience that he had
phoned Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff from Air Force One. "I said, 'Are you working with the
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Governor?'" Bush recounted. "He said, 'You bet we are.'" But the President was not talking about the killer
storm. He was talking about immigration, and the Governor was Arizona's.
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The day after Katrina's landfall, Bush awoke in San Diego and just after 5 a.m. local time talked to an aide
about the seriousness of the storm, then convened an emergency conference call of his top staff. He was
scheduled to spend a few more nights at the ranch, but an aide said he blurted out, "We're going back." Bush also
said he wanted Cabinet members recalled from vacations. At a Cabinet meeting last week, according to a
participant, Bush said he knew he had "a big problem to solve."
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From tarmac to Cabinet room, the President's performance was uneven at the very least, and associates say
that can be explained by several factors. Some are specific to his CEO style, others endemic to second terms, but
all of them came together in early September much like Katrina itself. The first was his elongated summer
vacation: Bush upped to nearly five weeks his traditional month of working vacation at the Crawford ranch, a
vacuum that always alarmed his aides because it gave others an opening for capturing the news agenda. While
the staff agonized about whether he should try to head off mounting criticism of the Iraq war by meeting a
second time with Cindy Sheehan to discuss the death of her soldier son, Bush rejected the idea, saying part of the
job is to expect protesters wherever he goes and he needs to "go on with my life, to keep a balanced life." [...]
Dan Bartlett, counselor to the President, contends that the public will judge Bush on the future, not the past.
"They want to know what happened," he said. "But they're more interested in how we're helping these people get
back on their feet." Nonetheless, Bush, whose stump patter often includes a paean to maternal wisdom, is
learning the hard way a lesson any mother could have imparted: you have only one chance to make a first
impression.
a. What is the idea conveyed by this article?
 President Bush did not react quickly enough to deal with hurricane Katrina.
 President Bush reacted quickly enough but he didn't know what to do exactly.
 President Bush did not react at all.
b. What does the verb to glare mean? (l.8)
 to look angrily
 to yell
 to speak loudly  to grab
c. What does the verb to make up for [...] mean? (l.20)
 to forget  to compensate for
 to remember  to justify
d. What does lurking mean? (l.21)
 hiding
 true
 severe
 upcoming
e. What does a lame-duck status mean? (l.27)
 a favourable position  an unfavourable position
f. What does heading into [...] mean? (l.36)
 avoiding  working on  leaving
 going into
g. What does Bush upped to nearly five weeks his [...] vacation mean? (l.49)
 He spent more than five weeks  He spent at least five weeks
 He spent less than five weeks
 He spent no more than five weeks
h. What does the verb contend mean? (l.54)
 to claim
 to compete
 to struggle
 2 Vocabulary
a. Find in the text the English equivalents of the following words and expressions.
Nerveux, soucieux
Porter secours
Trahir
Un sondage
Soutient, aide
Qui agit vite
Les enjeux
Hésitant
Approche hiérarchique
Les ratages, erreurs
Mandat
Un fardeau
Repousser
Une malédiction
Impatient
Irrégulier
Président Directeur Général
Vacances, absence
Equilibré
Une ode
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b. Rephrase correctly the underlined parts: I know y'all are trying as hard as you can, but it ain't
cuttin' it [...] I wanna know why. We gotta do better (l.8-10).
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c. What are the words mockumentary (l.36) and Medicare (l.36) composed of? Translate into
French.
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 3. Grammar in context
a. Donner la nature et la fonction des segments soulignés.
Bush's growing sense that his presidency was taking a beating too (l.11/12) ; [...] it gave others an
opening for capturing the news agenda (l.50)
b. A quoi réfèrent les pronoms suivants ?
1) He was scheduled to spend a few more nights at the ranch (l.42/43)
2) [...] the one he has pursued (l.30) ; [...] he sensed its magnitude (l.33) ; [...] all of them (l.48)
 4. Syntax
 Comparatifs et superlatifs de supériorité
▪ Adjectifs longs : "Plus... que" (comparatif de supériorité) se traduit par more... than avec les adjectifs de deux
syllabes ou plus (sauf ceux terminés par -y). "Le plus..." (superlatif) se traduit par the most. She's more sensitive
than us ; She's the most sensitive person I know.
▪ Adjectifs courts : On forme leur comparatif ou superlatif en ajoutant respectivement -er et -est à l'adjectif.
Cette règle s'applique aux adjectifs monosyllabique et à ceux de 2 syllabes terminés par -y (-y devient i). Aux
adjectifs terminés par -e, on ajoute -r et -st. Pour ceux qui se terminent par une consonne précédée d'une
seule voyelle, il faut redoubler la consonne.
happy > happier-happiest ; fast > faster-fastest ; late > later-latest ; big > bigger-biggest
▪ Formes irrégulières : good > better-the best ; bad > worse-the worst ; far > farther/further-the farthest/furthest
a. Traduire en anglais les énoncés suivants en utilisant un comparatif ou un superlatif.
1. Katrina était plus puissante que Rita.
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2. Les sauveteurs ont essayé d'être aussi efficaces que possible.
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3. La Louisiane est une des régions les plus pauvres des États-Unis.
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4. L'administration a réagi moins rapidement que d'habitude.
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5. Les tsunamis figurent parmi les phénomènes climatiques les plus dangereux.
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b. Compléter avec un comparatif ou un superlatif.
1. History is …………………….. than geography. (interesting)
2. Spring is the …………………….. season of the year. (nice)
3. I think the …………………….. thing in life is to be happy. (important)
4. I'm …………………….. at football than at volley-ball. (good)
5. The …………………….. planet from the sun is called Pluto. (far)
6. Biology is …………………….. than maths. (easy)
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c. Compléter avec better, best, worse, worst.
1. My …………………….. friend has just decided to go to Canada.
2. The film last night was ... than I expected.
3. The …………………….. experience of my life was a car accident last year.
4. This winter is even …………………….. than last winter.
 Comparatif et superlatif d'infériorité - Doubles comparatifs
▪ Pour l’infériorité : Less… than (“Moins… que“) et The least… (“Le moins”).
▪ Little = peu de (+ singulier) - less = moins de - the least = le moins.
▪ Few = peu de (+ pluriel) - fewer = moins de - the fewest = le moins de.
▪ More and more ou -er and -er = de plus en plus - less and less = de moins en moins.
d. Compléter avec less, the least ou fewer.
1. It's ... interesting book I've ever read.
2. I was ... nervous than I thought I would be.
3. I need at ... eight hours' sleep every night.
4. There are ... exploited workers than there used to be.
5. His latest film has had ... success than the previous ones.
e. Traduire en anglais.
1. La vie devient de plus en plus longue.
2. Il fait de plus en plus chaud.
3. J'ai de plus en plus de travail.
4. Nous avons de moins en moins de temps.
5. Jimmy est le plus vieux des deux.
6. Quelles sont les dernières nouvelles ?
7. C’est la pire solution.
8. Il y a de moins en moins de monde.
f. Reformuler en utilisant des doubles comparatifs
ex: We eat less. We are thin > The less we eat, the thinner we are.
1. He had less money – he had fewer friends.
2. The orator was speaking louder – we understood what he said less.
3. The fighting was worse – the men were more tired.
4. As planes get bigger, accidents are more horrifying.
5. You possess more things – You need more things to keep yourself happy.
6. If there are more laws, there are more offenders.
7. If you give him more, he will ask for more.
8. When you have less to do, you find less time to do it.
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