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Jury de l’enseignement secondaire supérieur général
1, rue Adolphe Lavallée
B-1080 MOLENBEEK-SAINT-JEAN
www.enseignement.be/jurys
Langue moderne I : anglais
(Matière obligatoire – 1er cycle 2017-2018)
Articles servant de base à l’évaluation de la compétence orale
NB : les cinq articles doivent être lus. Deux seront tirés au sort lors de l’examen oral.
1- If you’re working class, these public spaces won’t welcome you!
2- A healthy lifestyle doesn’t guarantee a long life, but it will add life to your years.
3- Fear of flying, for good reason.
4- Nine things you might not know about Anne Frank.
5- How to be a grown-up.
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1- IF YOU’RE WORKING CLASS, THESE PUBLIC SPACES WON’T WELCOME
YOU
BY KATHLEEN KERRIDGE, THE GUARDIAN.COM, APRIL 12TH, 2017
With the news that the Musée d’Orsay in Paris has been accused of discriminatory
practices against France’s students from poorer backgrounds, many people who would
like to believe we’re all in it together may have to review their ideas. Public spaces that
should be accessible to those who don’t usually frequent them are still shockingly
hostile towards anyone who doesn’t fit into a narrow identity.
The Musée d’Orsay may be one of the few places to get called out on it, but this kind of
social pressure on working-class people is more widespread than you’d think. Here are
just a few of the situations that unspoken social codes can make hostile for anyone who
doesn’t seem to “fit in”.
Shopping
This can be unbearable for many working-class people. It’s draining and soul-destroying
to only ever be able to afford to look – but we still like to look. Maybe the security
guards who follow us think they’re invisible, but we know they’re there, right behind us,
waiting in hope for the moment we give into our baser nature and slip something into our
bag or pocket. We can also see the judgmental glances from the sales people as we
wander, under-dressed, as a tourist in Harrods, for example – or, closer to home, in the
designer outlet stores at Gunwharf Quays. No matter how hard I try to ignore the
glances coming my way, I can still see them. There’s no law against browsing, but some
cashiers and floor staff may have missed that memo.
The arts
More specifically, access to learning and training in them. Lessons for acting and dance
are filled with children from families who can afford all the kit without a second
thought. The uniforms are mind-boggling in price: a simple leotard can cost upwards of
£20. Dance class, as I remember from my own childhood, was the place where your
peers knew straight away if you had a hand-me-down outfit – and the subtle sneers and
glances we might receive as adults have nothing on the viciousness of other children.
It’s almost as though, for those at the lower end of the socioeconomic ladder, dance
lessons are the foundation for a life of feeling never quite adequate. Children know
when someone among them is somehow “less than” – a feeling that can follow
disadvantaged children throughout their lives.
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School trips
The humble school trip has become a source of anxiety and dread for parents across
the country. Money is tight, and it’s needed to pay rent and energy bills, and to put food
on the table. To have an exuberant child burst through the door with a letter from
school – one for a trip to Disneyland Paris, no less – and have to explain that they can’t
go is heartbreaking. For children who receive free school meals, the dreaded “paper
bag” lunches declare their status to classmates, and the lack of money to spend in gift
shops or markets instantly makes a child stand out from the crowd. It’s a sad reality
more and more families are having to face. My children don’t even have passports.
There’s no point, after all, in paying for a passport that will never be used. Which brings
me to:
Holidays
The supreme court has spoken, and ruled that children cannot be taken out of
school during term time for a family holiday. This, in theory, is sensible and ensures
that each child gets the most from their education. In reality, things get a little darker
if you’re too poor to pay for a break during school holidays, when prices jump
astronomically.
Eating out
It doesn’t happen often, but when it does it can be a minefield. Family-friendly places
are often essential, as the added cost of childcare can mean the meal can’t go ahead at
all, so the kids come along on date night. If you’re unlucky, you might face “the look”
from a server who (correctly) thinks you should be working there, not eating. I’ve had a
friend who was told to pay for the food she ordered up front, rather than be billed at
the end of the meal like everyone else, in case she couldn’t afford it, or did a runner. If
that’s not discrimination, then I don’t know what is.
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2- A healthy lifestyle doesn’t guarantee a long life, but it will add life to your
years.
By Carrie Dennett, washingtonpost.com, April 18th, 2017
The idea that we can control our health destinies based on how we eat, exercise and live
is an enticing one, especially in our risk-averse society. Unfortunately, an unwavering
belief in the power of a healthy lifestyle can turn the pursuit of health into a sort of
moral imperative, leading to everything from weight stigma to a weighty sense of
personal responsibility. The reality is that a healthy lifestyle can’t eliminate all risk of
sickness and disease, and an unhealthy lifestyle doesn’t necessarily doom us.
I’ve watched cancer patients grapple with guilt, thinking they caused their cancer
because they didn’t eat “healthy enough.” I’ve had healthy patients in larger bodies face
not just weight stigma but also false assumptions that they have diabetes or heart
disease.
How far does food as medicine go?
Yes, food can be good medicine, but although nutrition — or lack of it — does play a role
in whether we develop a chronic disease, it’s only one player. Most diseases arise
because of the complex interactions between our genes, diet and environment.
It’s true that some health conditions respond so well to a change in diet that no
medications are needed. However, other diseases are affected little by nutrition .
Although nutrition and lifestyle can alter the course of some of the diseases we fear
most — diabetes and heart disease come to mind — sometimes they aren’t enough on
their own.
We saw a stunning example of that in February when celebrity fitness trainer Bob
Harper suffered a major heart attack while working out in a New York City gym, despite
being the picture of health. Harper has a family history of heart disease — his mother
died of a heart attack — and even his high level of physical fitness, nutritious eating
habits and lean body didn’t stop this shocking (to him and everyone else) event.
Playing the odds
We humans love the idea of a “magic bullet,” but we also like the certainty of a payoff
for our efforts. When we make it a priority to eat nutritiously and exercise regularly,
it’s often buoyed by the underlying assumption that if we do everything right, we’ll be
healthy and live to a ripe old age. That makes it easy to hear about cases such as
Harper’s and decide, “Well, if all those vegetables and trips to the gym might not stop
me from having a heart attack, why bother?” That’s missing the big picture.
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Nutrition may not be able to cure all that ails you or remove all risk of disease, but
neither are your genes necessarily your destiny. Eating nutritiously and cultivating other
health-promoting habits may help you improve your genetic hand. This really could
prevent, or at least delay, chronic disease and help you live longer — but there are no
guarantees. Just like in poker, life is a gamble. You can shift the odds in your favor, but
like it or not, we’re all going to die someday.
Taking care of yourself with nourishing food, regular activity, adequate sleep and so on
benefit you every day in smaller but no less meaningful ways. Even if this doesn’t add
years to your life, it will probably add life to your years. Everyone benefits from eating
well and being active.
More energy. Nutritious food gives you the vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients and
fiber your body needs to run well and feel well. Put quality gas in your tank.
Better digestion. A diet rich in vegetables, fruits, whole grains and pulses may help
prevent a number of chronic diseases ; it can also help prevent digestive distress on
a daily basis.
Attractive skin. The antioxidants in fruits and vegetables may also help lessen the
effects of sun exposure and age on your skin.
Stronger muscles. We lose muscle as we age unless we take steps to counteract it by
eating enough protein and exercising regularly. Maintaining your muscle will make it
easier to move through life gracefully.
Increased food enjoyment. When you eat food that’s both nutritious and pleasing to
your taste buds, you tend to be more satisfied than when you eat low-nutrient foods.
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3-Fear of Flying, for Good Reason.
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD, nytimes, APRIL 11th, 2017
Flying was once an adventure, more than just a way to get from here to there.
But over the years, it has become something to dread. You wait in endless lines
for the chance to be poked, patted, X-rayed, interrogated, generally insulted
and, in the final indignity, separated by class as you, at last, board. And it can
get worse from there. On Sunday security officials at Chicago’s O’Hare
airport literally yanked a passenger off a United flight because the airline
needed seats for its staff.
That fiasco was captured on videos that set the internet ablaze with outrage,
and could end up costing the airline future business. Clueless United dug itself in
deeper after the story blew up. Its chief executive, Oscar Munoz, apologized on
Monday for having to “re-accommodate these customers” but not for the
manhandling of the passenger, a doctor who was bleeding from the mouth in the
videos. Mr. Munoz made matters even worse by calling the doctor “disruptive and
belligerent” because he had the temerity to object to his removal. Tuesday
afternoon, Mr. Munoz saw the light (and the drop in his company’s stock price)
and said “no one should ever be mistreated this way.”
United’s mistreatment of the doctor was extreme, but inconveniencing
customers is now standard airline operating procedure. This is an oligopolistic
industry that has become increasingly callous toward customers as it rakes in
billions in profits thanks to strong demand and low oil prices. In recent years,
big airlines have squeezed seats in coach closer together, forcing average-size
Americans to become intimately familiar with their knees. In addition to
checked-bag fees, which have been standard on many airlines for years, more
passengers are being required to pay extra for early boarding, more legroom
and, in a recent insult, the right to stash bags in overhead bins.
There is no mystery why air travel has gotten so ugly. Four large airlines —
American, Southwest, Delta and United — commanded nearly 69 percent of the
domestic air-travel market in 2016, up from about 60 percent in 2012, according
to government data. Those numbers actually overstate how much competition
there is. Many people have only one or two options when they fly because the big
airlines have established virtual fortresses at their hub airports. United,
American Airlines and three regional airlines affiliated with them served nearly
80 percent of passengers at O’Hare last year.
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Disgruntled travelers may howl on Twitter or send furious emails, but airline
executives know their bottom lines are for the moment secure. It was not
surprising that none of the Big Four made a list of the 10 best airlines in the
world that TripAdvisor published on Monday based on passenger reviews. Two
smaller companies did — JetBlue (No. 4) and Alaska Airlines (No. 9).
Much of the blame for the increased industry consolidation rests with antitrust
officials in the Obama and Bush administrations who greenlighted a series of
megamergers between airlines like American and US Airways; United and
Continental; and Delta and Northwest. In addition, the Department of
Transportation has historically been reluctant to regulate the industries it
oversees — an unwillingness that persists in the Trump administration. Just last
month, the secretary of transportation, Elaine Chao, put on hold a muchneeded Obama-era proposal to require airlines to more clearly disclose extra
fees for things like baggage. She delayed for a year another rule to require
companies to disclose information about the mishandling of wheelchairs and
motorized scooters for disabled passengers.
As long as the big airlines face neither rigorous competition nor a diligent
government watchdog, they will be able to treat customers like human chattel
and get away with it.
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4- Nine things you might not know about Anne Frank.
From BBC History magazine
Here we round up nine important facts about Anne Frank, who in 1944 at the age of 14
was captured by the Nazis along with her family. Her famous diary was published by her
father, Otto Frank, in 1947.
Anne and her family went into hiding in Amsterdam [in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands]
on 6 July 1942, the day after Anne’s elder sister, Margot, received a call-up for a
German work camp. Anne’s parents, Otto and Edith, had already planned to go into
hiding with their daughters on 16 July, and had been arranging a secret hiding place.
They went into hiding earlier than planned following Margot’s call-up, seeking refuge in
the house behind Otto’s office on Prinsengracht 263.
Four other Jews lived in the secret annex alongside the Frank family: Hermann and
Auguste van Pels with their son Peter, and, for a time, Fritz Pfeffer, a German dentist.
Anne’s diary describes in great detail the tension between the eight individuals, who had
to stay indoors at all times and remain quiet so as not to arouse the suspicion of staff
working in the warehouse downstairs. The entrance to the annex was concealed behind a
moveable bookcase.
Anne’s famous diary was written in an autograph book bound with white and red checked
cloth, and closed with a small lock. It was given to her on her 13th birthday by her
parents. Anne’s first entries describe how her family were segregated and
discriminated against. Anne addressed many of her entries to an imaginary girl friend,
‘Dear Kitty’ or ‘Dearest Kitty’. Anne hoped her diary would be published as a novel after
the war.
With no friends to confide in, Anne used the diary to express her fear, boredom, and
the struggles she faced growing up. On 16 March 1944, she wrote: “The nicest part is
being able to write down all my thoughts and feelings, otherwise I'd absolutely
suffocate.” In addition to her diary, Anne wrote short stories and collated her
favourite sentences by other writers in a notebook.
By 1944, Anne was convinced she wanted to pursue her passion for writing. She dreamt
of becoming a journalist, and then a famous writer. On 28 March, Gerrit Bolkestein,
education minister of the Dutch Government in exile, made a broadcast on Radio
Orange, calling on people to save their diaries. Consequently, Anne started to rework
her diary and called it The Secret Annex.
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On 4 August 1944, everyone in the annex was arrested. Somebody had called the
German Security Police to notify them that Jews were in hiding at Prinsengracht 263.
The identity of the caller has never been established. Otto’s secretary, Miep Gies, who
had helped the Franks go into hiding and visited them frequently, retrieved Anne’s diary
from the annex, hoping to return it to her one day.
Everyone in the annex was deported first to the Westerbork transit camp, and then on
to Auschwitz. Upon arrival at Auschwitz the men and women were separated. Edith,
Margot and Anne stayed together in a barrack, hauling heavy stones and grass mats
during the day. At the end of October or the beginning of November 1944, Anne and
her sister Margot were transported to Bergen-Belsen, a concentration camp in Germany
where almost 4,000 Jews, primarily Dutch, were imprisoned. There, facing unsanitary
conditions and having no food, the girls contracted typhus. They both died in March
1945, just a few weeks before the camp was liberated.
Anne’s father, Otto Frank, was the only person from the secret annex to survive. He
returned to Amsterdam following the liberation of Auschwitz, learning en route of his
wife’s death. In July 1945 he met one of the Brilleslijper sisters, who had been at
Bergen-Belsen with Anne and Margot. From her, he learned that his daughters were
dead.
Miep Gies passed on Anne’s diary to Otto Frank in July 1945. Otto later recalled: “I
began to read slowly, only a few pages each day, more would have been impossible, as I
was overwhelmed by painful memories. For me, it was a revelation. There, was revealed a
completely different Anne to the child that I had lost. I had no idea of the depths of
her thoughts and feelings.” After initially feeling uncertain about publishing Anne’s
diary, he finally decided to fulfill his daughter's wish. The diary of Anne Frank was
published in the Netherlands on 25 June 1947.
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5- How to Be a Grown-Up.
It’s no secret – growing up can be hard to do. That’s why journalist Daisy Buchanan was
inspired to write a book that’s part memoir and part self-help for her fellow millennials
– but the final product bears a message that transcends its target, making « How to Be
a Grown-Up » a must-read for all ages
By David Barnett, April 6th, 2017, independent.co.uk
Life as a grown-up can be no fun. If we’re not worried about going to war with Spain
over Gibraltar, or the possibility of Trump and Kim Jong-un chucking nukes at each
other, we will find time to get bothered about work or paying the rent or even worrying
about finding a job or somewhere to live. Aaaand… relax.
Daisy Buchanan is here, just in time, with a message for everyone: You're all doing fine.
Journalist Daisy has a book out today called « How to Be a Grown-Up », which is like a
“have this double Bombay Sapphire, everything’s going to be fine” manual to navigating
modern life, especially if you’re a woman and born in the last 30-odd years.
Especially, but not exclusively. « How to Be a Grown-Up » is that rare thing, a book that
wears its target market on its sleeve but which is so full of useful stuff that it has
something important to say to pretty much anyone. “I suppose I wrote it because
millennials seem to get a hard time,” says Buchanan. At 32 she’s in that camp, those
people who “came of age” in the year 2000 or thereabouts, and who are often
demonised as over-sensitive snowflakes who spend more time bitching about life on
social media than doing anything constructive with it.
“We have a bad rep. We all grew up thinking that if we worked really hard, and went to
university, and did as we were told then everything was going to be fine.”
It was a model that worked for the millennials’ parents, but things were different then.
University was free, jobs were more plentiful, and houses easier to buy. So it’s hardly
surprising that when the millennials get to adulthood the advice from the previous
generation kind of ceases to be relevant.
“I think we’re super conscientious as a generation,” says Buchanan. “We had lots of
pressure to realise our potential, but then we had to start our careers in tonnes of debt
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and I think many things are harder for us than for the previous generations. “And then
we start to ask ourselves how and when we are supposed to do all that stuff : buy a
house, get married or find a long-term relationship, have children if that’s what you
want to do… and it isn't helped by social media.
“It feels like more and more women have something to be insecure about or frightened
of, and a lot of that can be because more and more people are documenting their lives
online and perhaps setting standards that others feel they need to live up to.”
But what to do? Well, Buchanan has been there, so has decided to share the benefit of
her experience for young women who might be foundering in the onslaught of real life.
Thus « How to Be a Grown-Up » is part memoir, part advice book, but really it’s simply a
message from one woman to anyone who’s reading it that the problems they are facing
are not unusual and rarely insurmountable. It’s witty, funny, not a little shocking, and
written with real heart. Buchanan pulls no punches; she tells of her own sexual assault,
she talks frankly about getting sacked, she talks about the importance of allowing
yourself to be sad.
“The How To Be Sad chapter is really important to me,” she says. “It’s entirely normal
to be sad sometimes but we often run from our feelings, we think we’re failing if we’re
sad about something.
Some people might think some of the things Buchanan relates in the book are indeed
harrowing, but that might be from a male perspective. Women will find her experiences
common to them, and as Buchanan says, that’s the point… nobody is alone in what they’re
going through.
I imagine and hope that although Buchanan’s book is targeted at young women, a good
number of husbands, boyfriends, brothers and dads might do the same. I’ve no doubt
they’ll turn to the section on sex first (chapter nine, just so you know) but will start at
the beginning and read through. “I hope so! ” says Buchanan. It might help men who have
a partner, a sister or a daughter understand them a bit better.”
If you’re a woman, « How to Be a Grown-Up » is essential reading. If you’re a man, well…
maybe come for the sex, but stay for the feminism. You won’t regret it.
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