Consignes
- Answer all the questions in English.
- Write clearly and check your spelling.
- Dictionaries are not allowed.
Part I — Reading comprehension
Text — The bicycle library
Fatimata Zongo is fourteen. Every morning she walks nine kilometres to reach her secondary school, and nine kilometres back in the evening. She leaves home at half past five and returns after seven. « I was always tired », she says. « I could not revise. I fell asleep on my books. »
Two years ago, a small association started an unusual project in her province. Instead of building a library, they bought bicycles — three hundred of them — and lent them to girls who lived more than five kilometres from school. The bicycles are not a gift: each family signs an agreement and must keep the bicycle in good condition. When a girl finishes school, she gives it back for another one.
The results were measured after eighteen months. Girls with bicycles arrived at school on time, missed fewer days, and their marks improved. But the most important figure was another one: among the girls who received a bicycle, the number who left school before the end of the year fell by two thirds.
« People thought our problem was motivation », the director of the association explains. « It was distance. »
a) How long does Fatimata's journey take every day?
b) What must a family do to receive a bicycle?
a) The bicycles are given to the girls for ever.
b) The project improved the girls' results.