THE MOROCCAN BACCALAUREATE ENGLISH EXAM

THE MOROCCAN BACCALAUREATE ENGLISH EXAM

Rosa Lee Parks's refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man started the US civil rights movement. One day in 1955, she was sitting on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, when a white man demanded her seat. Mrs. Parks refused, breaking the law which required blacks to give up their seats to whites. Accordingly, she was arrested and fined. This triggered a three hundred-eighty–one day boycott of the bus system, organized by a then little known Reverend Martin Luther King Junior. The bus boycott opened a seating on Montgomery buses and launched a wave of protests that stopped segregation laws. This marked the birth of the US civil rights movement.

Years later, Rosa Parks, interviewed by a journalist, remembered that the momentous day: “the driver said that if I refused to leave the seat, he would have to call the police and I told him just call them, which he did. When they came, they placed me under arrest.”

“Wasn’t that a frightening thing, to be arrested? “The journalist asked. “No, I wasn’t afraid at all. I had decided that I would have to know once and for all what rights I had as a human being and a citizen, even in Montgomery, Alabama, “she replied.

Her public stance made her a symbol of the civil rights movement. It however, made it hard for her to get work in Alabama. She and her husband, Raymond, moved to Detroit, Where she worked as an assistant in a congressman’s office. Upon her retirement, Mrs. Parks devoted her time to an institute she and her husband founded, aiming at developing leadership among young people.

In 1996, she received the presidential Medal of Freedom, and three years later, she was awarded the United States’ highest civilian honour, the congressional gold Medal. She will be remembered for the way her quiet resolution in the face of injustice helped change America.

I- COMPREHENSION

BASE ALL YOUR ANSWER ON THE TEXT

A- ARE THESE SENTENCES TRUE OR FALSE? JUSTIFY

1- THE law Mrs. Parks violated was discriminatory.

…………………………………………………………………………

2-Mrs. Parks feared to be taken to prison.

…………………………………………………………………………

3-When Mrs. Parks retired, she decided to devote all her time to her children.

………………………………………………………………………

B- ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS.

1- What resulted from the bus boycott and protest?

………………………………………………………………………

2- Why did Mrs. Parks and her husband move to Detroit?

………………………………………………………………………

C- COMPLETE THESE SENTENCES.

1- Martin Luther King Junior organized ……………………………

2- People will remember Mrs. Parks for …………………………

D- FIND IN THE TEXT WORDS OR EXPRESSIONS THAT MEAN THE SAME AS :

1- Caused to happen (paragraph1)……………………………

2- Important and historical (paragraph2)……………………

3- Determination ( paragraph 5) ……………………………

E WHAT DO THE UNDERLINED WORDS IN THE TEXT REFER TO? ( WORDS IN BOLD TYPE AND ITALICS )

1- She :(paragraph 1):…………………………………………

2- He: (paragraph 2)……………………………………… ….

3- It: (paragraph 4)……………………………………………

LANGUAGE

A – FILL IN THE BLANKS WITH THE APPROPRIATE WORDS FROM THE LIST

Look up / turn down / give in / look after / set off

1- Mrs. Smith is looking for someone to ………………………her baby when she is at work.

2- She couldn’t ………………. The job she was offered a week ago.

B- GIVE THE CORRECT FORM OF THE WORDS BETWEEN BRACKETS

1- Bad management of water recourses causes water (short) …………

2- Clients expect (efficiency)…………………….services from suppliers.

3-Education should aim at developing learners’ (autonomous) ……………

C- PUT THE VERBS BETWEEN BRAKETS IN THE CORRECT TENSE

1-we (complete) ………………………………our project by 2010.

2- Tom will post the letter as soon as he (finish)……………..writing it.

3-I’m really sorry. If I had known, I (not / tell) …………………him.

D- REWRITE THE SENTENCES BEGINNING WITH THE WORDS GIVEN

1-The policeman fined the driver for not stopping at the red light.

The driver …………………………………………………………

2- "The government has established a new law to protect the environment", the Prime Minister said.

The Prime minister said ……………………………………….

WRITING

In the last few years, women’s conditions and roles have changed a lot in Morocco (at home, at work, in politics, etc.) Write an essay about women’s conditions and roles both in the past and the present. (Approximately 150 words)