POLYNÉSIE FRANÇAISE, SESSION DE JUIN 1995 LANGUE VIVANTE I

He went to the foot of the stairs and shouted: "You corne down here, Sonny, you corne down here this instant or you won't have any television for a month. Do you hear me? You corne down here at once or you won't have any television for a month."

5 The boy came slowly down the stairs. "Now you corne here and sit down," Nailles said, "and we'll talk this over. I' ve said that you can have an hour each day and all you have to do is to tell me which hour you want."

"I don't know," Tony said. "I like the four-o'clock show and 10 the six-o'clock show and the seven-o'clock show..."

"You mean you can't confine yourself to an hour, is that it?" "I don't know," Tony said. [...]

"Well if you can't decide," Nailles said, "I'm going to decide for you. First I'm going to make sure that you do your homework 15 before you turn on the set."

"I don't get home until half past three," Tony said, "and some-times the bus is late and if I do my homework I'll miss the four-o' clock show."

"That' s just too bad," Nailles said, "that's just too bad."

20     "Oh leave him alone," Nellie said. "Please leave him alone. He's had enough for tonight."

"It isn't tonight we're talking about, it's every single night in the year including Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. Since no one around here seems able to reach any sort of agreement I'm going

25 to make a decision myself. I'm going to throw that darrmed thing out the backdoor."

"Oh no, Daddy, no", Tony cried. "Please don't do that. Please,

please, please.      try to do better".

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"You've been trying for months without any success," Nailles 30 said. "You keep saying that you' 11 try to cut down and all you do is to watch more and more. Your intentions may have been good but there haven' t been any noticeable results. Out it goes".

"Oh please don't, Eliot," Nellie cried. "Please don't. He loves his television. Can't you see that he loves it?"

35 "I know that he loves it," Nailles said. "That's why I'm going to throw it out the door."[...]

He unplugged ' the television set with a yank and picked the box up in his arms. The box was heavy for his strength, and an awk-ward size, and in order to carry it he had to arch bis back a little like

40 a pregnant woman². With the cord trading behind him he started for the kitchen door.

"Oh, Daddy, Daddy," Tony cried. "Don't, don't, don't" and he tell to his knees with his hands joined in a conventional, supplica-tory position that he might have leamed from watching some me-45 lodrama on the box.

"Eliot, Eliot," Nellie screamed. "Don't, don't. You'll be sorry, Eliot. You'll be sorry."

Tony ran to his mother and she took him in her arms. They were both crying.

50 "I'm not doing this because I want to," Nailles shouted. "After all I like watching football and baseball when I'm home and I paid for the damned thing. I'm not doing this because I want to. I'm doing this because I have to."

John CHEEVER, Bullet Park

1.        Unplugged (1. 37) : débrancha.

2.        Pregnant woman (1. 40) : femme enceinte.

1. Compréhension de l'écrit

Compréhension globale Circle the right answer.

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