République du Sénégal

Ministère de l’Education nationale

Inspection d’Académie de Saint-Louis

COMPOSITION STANDARDISEE ANGLAIS PREMIER SEMESTRE 2017

Séries : L LV 2 Durée: 3 heures

Street Children
1 Neglected by society and government, street children are deprived of education, proper nutrition, and medical
2 care. They suffer and die from various, often easily treatable, diseases such as head lice, skin parasites, pneumonia,
3 tuberculosis and a host of sexually transmitted diseases, including, yet not limited to, gonorrhea, syphilis and AIDS.
4 Because of the grave lack of outreach and shelter programs, street children often have no place to go and no one from
5 whom they can seek help and protection.
6 Protection is what these street children desperately need because they are prime targets of disturbed, exploitive
7 adults. Child murderers, angry shopkeepers, and pedophiles are a daily threat to the safety and lives of desperate street
8 children.
9 Sexual exploitation of street children by locals and foreigners alike is widespread. For example, a Swiss couple,
10 William and Lily Marti, was arrested in Bombay in 2003 for taking pictures of 8 and 9 year old children in exchange for
11 money. The couple was also accused of kidnapping, molesting, and sexually abusing street children throughout India.
12 Similarly, in 2004, Stephan Irving, a 56 year-old pediatrician from New York was prosecuted for traveling to Mexico to
13 visit places like Castillo Vista del Mar hotel, which provides shelter and food to street children as young as 6, in
14 exchange for sexual activities. However, it is important to note that exploitation is rarely reported.
15 Many believe the most serious threat to street children comes from the very people responsible for their safety
16 and protection – local governmental and law enforcement officials. Unfortunately, police brutality and corruption is
17 common worldwide, and is especially widespread in developing countries with large populations of street children.
18 Unspeakable police brutality reflects the governments’ perception of street children as parasites to be exterminated,
19 rather than as children needing homes and nurturing. A growing number of politicians inaccurately blame increasing
20 levels of violent crime on children and teens, instead of looking at the actual numbers of street children who are
21 victimized or murdered on a regular basis by official security forces.
22 Police overwhelmingly view and treat these street children as sub-human; unworthy of basic human rights.
23 While it is true that street children are sometimes involved in petty theft, drug-trafficking and other criminal activities,
24 the police often assume that violence and brutality are the only means of dealing with this problem. They unjustifiably
25 see a hardened criminal in every street child. For the police and other security forces, street children represent easy and
26 silent targets. They are young, small, poor, ignorant of their rights, and often have no family or advocates who will
27 come to their defense. It does not require much time or effort to detain and torture a child to coerce a confession, and
28 street children are unlikely to register formal complaints

Victimization and Abuse of Street Children Worldwide by Evgenia Berezina. www.yapi.org

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 République du Sénégal
Ministère de l’Education nationale
Inspection d’Académie de Saint-Louis
I. COMPREHENSION (8PTS)
A. Multiple choice. Choose the best answer a, b, or c (1pt, 0.5 each)
1. A hardened criminal means
a) A pitiless criminal b) an experienced criminal c) a protected criminal
2. To coerce a confession means
a) To refuse a confession b) to force a confession c) to accept a confession
B. Referencing. What do the following words refer to in the text (1pt, 0.5 each)
3. Which (which provides food and shelter L13)
4. This problem (dealing with this problem L24)
C. True or False. Circle true or false and justify with quotations from the text. (2pts,
1pt each)
5. Street children are exploited by their own people.
6. Police forces acknowledge that street children have rights.
D. Finding synonyms. Find in the text words similar in meaning to: (1pt, 0.5 each)
7. Helpless (paragraph 2)
8. Killed (paragraph 4)
E. Information Transfer. Complete the table below with information from the text.(3pts,
0,5 each)
SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF STREET CHILDREN
Names Origin Type of crime Time and place
William and 9. …… 10. ….. 11. ….
Lily Marti
12. …… New York 13. ……. 14. ……

II. COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE (6PTS)

F. Verb tense and form. Put the verbs between brackets in the right tense or form (2pts,0.5 each)

In Bulgaria street children of Roma (gypsy) ancestry…… 15 (often, attack) and viciously beaten by
skinhead gangs armed with bats, chains, knives, steel capped boots, and gas guns. A Kenyan street boy
says he’d rather never…… 16 (meet) the police while collecting garbage in sacks because the police beat
them up and put them in their sacks. A Guatemalan street child said if ever the police caught you,

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 République du Sénégal
Ministère de l’Education nationale
Inspection d’Académie de Saint-Louis
they….17 (take) you down to the station and make you clean it, and sometimes you spend a whole day
18… (clean) it”.

G) Complete with the right form of the word between brackets (4pts, 1pt each).

Because of the harsh conditions they undergo everyday; many talibes leave their daara and end up by
being19……………………………. (home) children. They are dirty, scared, bitter, worn out and
20……………………………(help). In this respect, they are exposed to any kind of
21…………………………………………………………….. (threaten) which can endanger their lives.
It is high time we 22……………………………………………………. (sensitization) people about this
phenomenon.

III. ESSAY WRITING (6pts)

Choose one topic and write about 150 words

Topic 1: Do you share the view that street children pose a security problem?

Topic 2: Write a letter to one of your friends abroad and tell him about the living conditions of street
children in your area.