Consignes
- Answer all the questions in English.
- Write clearly and check your spelling.
- Dictionaries are not allowed.
Part I — Reading comprehension
Text — The women of the shea butter
In a village near Léo, forty women meet three mornings a week under a big karité tree. They collect the nuts, dry them, crush them, and produce shea butter. Their group was created in 2011 with eleven members and one machine.
Before that, each woman worked alone at home. She sold her butter to a trader who came by motorcycle and who decided the price. « We could not refuse », says Salamata Kaboré, the president. « If you refused, he went to your neighbour, and you kept your butter. »
The group changed that. Because the forty women sell together, they now negotiate one price for the whole village. They also learned to write receipts, to keep accounts, and to speak to buyers. Last year they signed a contract with a company that exports to Europe.
The money is not the only result. Twenty-six of the women have learned to read in the evening classes organised by the group. « I can read the numbers on the contract », one of them says. « Before, I signed with my thumb and I hoped. »
a) How did the women sell their butter before 2011?
b) What happened when a woman refused the trader's price?
a) The group has always had forty members.
b) All the women of the group can now read.