Niveau : Tles L Epreuve : Anglais

The daily detoxification

The siren goes off at 7 p.m. every evening in Vadgaon, a village of about 3,000 people, made up largely of
farmers and sugar mill workers. That is the indication to all residents to switch off their TV sets and mobile
phones. The two instruments of addiction can be switched on when the village council sounds the siren
again at 8.30 p.m. "We decided at the village meeting on 14 August that we needed to stop this addiction,"
Vijay Mohite, president of the village council, told BBC Hindi. "From the next day, all television sets and
mobiles were shut down when the siren went off."
Mr Mohite said children had become dependent on TV and mobile phones because of online classes during
the Covid-19 pandemic. Today, they return from class to either play on their mobile phones or sit and
watch television. In addition, many adults were also spending too much time on their devices and not
talking to each other. Some parents were finding it difficult to supervise their children too because they
would be focused completely on playing with the phone or watching TV. Since this new norm began, it is
far easier for husbands to return home from work and help them study. That allows women to do their
work in the kitchen peacefully.
The digital detoxication was not easy. The decision was difficult to implement because groups of villagers
had to go around and urge people to switch off their TVs and mobile phones. Men scoffed at the idea while
women accepted that the villagers could shut down televisions and mobiles for a few hours. It is important
to ensure children have adequate offline leisure activities to avoid problematic internet use, which is an
excessive non-productive usage of the internet. It can cause psychological stress or harm many aspects of
adolescent life. It can make them skip personal social interactions, social get-togethers, family interactions
and extracurricular events to finally become isolated.
Conscious digital fasting for a family to engage in quality-based activities is crucial for decreasing
dependence on online activities, Dr Sharma says. "You need to talk to children and ensure they have
physical or offline leisure activities as well as adequate sleep and food intake," he says. Dilip Mohite, a
sugarcane farmer who has three sons going to school, says he can see the difference the decision has
made. "The children were just not concentrating on their studies before," he says. "Now, there is normal
conversation at home, even among the adults and the students have now bettered their school
performances."
Adapted from: https://www-bbc-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.bbc.com
I. Comprehension
A. Multiple choice questions: Choose the best option a ; b; or c (1.5 pts)
1. The disconnection period was of:
a) ninety minutes b) nineteen minutes c) sixty minutes
2. Men scoffed at the idea could mean:
a) Men adopted the idea b) Men laughed at the idea c) Men ignored the decision
3. The decision was difficult to implement could mean:
a) The decision was difficult to accept b) The decision was difficult to propose
c) The decision was difficult to apply
B. Vocabulary : Complete the passage with words or expressions from the indicated
paragraph (02 pts.)
The sound of the siren at 7 is the …….………..……….. (4) (P.1) for the villagers to get disconnected. It was the
decision from the village council after it had noticed that children as well as adults were addicted to both
television and cell phones. The adults used to spend long hours alone using those ………………….. (5) (P.2)
The decision was not easy to ………………...….. (6) (P.3) .Fortunately, every villager finally realized that only
………… ……………………..…….(7) (P.4) was the solution which can help them solve that problem of addiction.
C. Information gap: Complete the chart with information from the text (01.5 pts.)
Causes Benefits
For Children
Decision to get 8……………………………………… 10…………………………………………
disconnected ……………………………………… …………………………………………..
For adults
9………………………………………
 ………………………………………
D. True or False Statements: The following statements true or false ? quote relevant
passages from the text to justify your choice. (2 pts)
11. All the villagers voluntarily accepted to respect the decision of the council. T / F
.…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
12. The decision taken had no repercussion on children studies. T / F
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
E. Referencing: What do the following words refer to in the text? (1 pt.)
13. that (line 2) : …………………………………
14. It (line 18): …………………………………….
II. Linguistic and communicative competence
F. Skeleton dialog: Fanta and her brother Dembo are discussing at home after their father
has decided to turn off the connection every day at 7 p.m. Complete the dialog
correctly. (3 pts.)
Fanta: ………………………………………………………………………………………………..(15) ?
Dembo: Nothing! The Wi-Fi ………………………… (16) (to turn) off by father some minutes ago.
Fanta: Why?
Dembo: ………………………(17) ( Though/But /Because) our school performances have lately been bad.
He simply wants us, from now on, to spend the few hours we have before sleeping on our revisions.
Fanta: That is not normal! I would rather he ………………………. (18) (to leave) us alone, we are grown up
enough to know when and how to learn.
Dembo: Sorry but we aren’t because we haven’t had even the average. We had better ………. …… (19) (to
follow) his advice. I think that it is better for us.
Fanta : It is complicated to live in this house you know. I wish I ………..……… (20) (to be) born in another
family.
Dembo : I think you are mad … (laughing)
G. Gap-filling : Fill in the gaps using the best form of the words in brackets (2.5 pts)
It is obvious today that the internet is …….…………………. (21) (strong) affecting some students’ results. Many
parents’ attitude against that situation is really ………………………. (22) (acceptable). They simply do not react
and it is really ………………………… (23)(fortunate). Before it is late, most of them should take their
………………..……..(24) (responsible) if ever they want to see their children ……………………. (25) (success) in life.

H. Table completion: Choose from the propositions below to complete the table
appropriately. (1.5 pts)
contrast condition addition consequence
26 You can pass the Bac provided that you work seriously.
……………………
27 She isn’t the smartest of the class, however she always fights to have the
mark. …………………...
28 They spend nearly all nights watching TV; as a result, they sleep during
classes. ……………………
III. Writing: Write between 150-200 words. (5 pts)
Topic : Cell phones seem to be a big problem in our schools. Write a letter to the Minister in charge of
education to tell him the problems they are causing. Propose him some solutions for an efficient use of cell
phones at school.