Session Juin 2000, Série L LV1

	Deirdre Fount looked down at her new dress, laid out on the hotel bed, and
«	remembered the only time she had bought clothes without consulting her mother. For
	they had always gone shopping together, and shared a changing room when both were
	buying. «I know what suits you, Deirdre,» Mrs Winifred Oddicott would say, «I have a
5	good eye and you do not, you will try on something highly unsuitable and then allow
	yourself to be talked into buying it by some little shop girl.»
	But this one time she had sneaked off (1) to Hattersley and Porter’s alone, to buy a
	dress for her honeymoon. If I do not begin now, to act by myself, make my own
	decisions, she had thought, I shall be lost once I am married. Not foreseeing that, even
10	then, her mother would manage her life for her.
	«I want something silky,» she had said to the girl, «silky and patterned, and frivolous,»
	and she had bought exactly that, in pinks and purples, with a draped neckline. She had
	started off for home with the dress in its box and her heart beating with triumph and
	excitement, because the dress was her own purchase, her very own choice, and
15	because when she wore it she would be a married woman. Her mother had had
	nothing to do with it. Though as she got nearer and nearer home, she began to have
	misgivings, for it was such a different type of dress and the colours were very dramatic.
	Perhaps she had not the presence to carry them off.
	Mrs Oddicott had taken a single swift glance at it, pursed her lips and said nothing.
20	«Oh, mother, but it’s a beautiful dress! Feel it, look at it. It is so soft and silky. I think
	it’s very smart indeed, very alluring.»
	Mrs Oddicott had turned and gone on with rolling out pastry, her back very straight.
	Disappointment and resentment had welled up within Deirdre Oddicott. What little
	assurance she had gained that afternoon was quite lost.
25	«Well l like it, and what is more, Aubrey will like it, and that is the important thing.
	So I do not care at all what you think.»
	«But I have said nothing about it, Deirdre! I have not commented, not at all. You
	cannot accuse me of trying to influence you in any way. It is your dress and if you have
	bought it and are happy with it, then you must wear it, and I am sure nothing I might
30	say would make the slightest difference. It has nothing to do with me.»
	«No. No, it has not,» Deirdre Oddicott shouted in defiance, and gathered up the
	dress and its box, and took them upstairs to her room. But that evening, she had gone
	back and looked at it and known that she would never wear it.
	«She wants to spoil everything for me,» she said at first, «she is jealous because I
35	have gone out on my own to buy it, she is jealous of everything I do these days,
	jealous that I am going to be married.»
	But it was of no use, for her mother was right, the dress was awful, awful. She put
	it on and looked at herself in the long mirror and the purple and pink dress stood out so
	boldly that she herself faded away behind its colours, and the low neck hung down
40	limply over her flat breasts. She had burst into tears of misery and frustration because
	everything had gone wrong and there was no hope for her. I am ugly, she said
	furiously, thin and plain and awkward, nice clothes do not suit me, the only things I do
	not look entirely foolish in are the things my mother selects, for she is right, she does
	know me best. That was the worst thing of all, knowing that her mother was right,
45	because in her heart she felt sick with fear that Mrs Oddicott might be right about many
	other things.
A Change for the Better, Susan HILL, (Penguin Books, 1969)
	(1) sneak off (I. 7) = go in secret.

I) COMPREHENSION / EXPRESSION	14 pts
1. Choose the most suitable title and justify your choice.
	The dress	 A daughter under influence 	 Shopping for clothes

	
2. How do we know that the main part of the text is a flashback? Pick out three clues of a different kind and indicate the lines.

	1) (line 	)  	
	2) (line 	)  	
	3) (line 	) . 	
3. "I know what suits you, Deirdre, Mrs W. Oddicott would say, "I have a good eye and you do not, you will try on something highly unsuitable and then allow yourself to be talked into buying it by some little shop girl!" (line 4 to line 6)
a) What do these words reveal about the mother’s attitude towards Deirdre? (30 words)

	
	
b) What does would" indicate in the sentence Mrs W. Oddicott would say" ? (25 words)

	
	
c) "l shall be lost once I am married". (line 9)
What does this sentence imply about her relationship with her future husband? (30 words)

	
	
4. Read the text from line 11 to the end. Match each adjective with a short passage from the text. Quote the text and indicate the lines. The adjectives do not necessarily follow the order of the text.
a. persuasive:
(line ………………………)  	
	
b upset:
(line ………………………)  	
	
c. doubtful:
(line ………………………)  	
	
d. self‑deprecating:
(line ………………………)  	
	
e. self‑satisfied:
(line ………………………)  	
	
5. "But this one time she had sneaked off" (line 7). What does this detail reveal about how Deirdre felt at the time? (20 words)

	
6. a) Between line 19 and line 24, how does the mother express her disapproval of her daughter’s choice? Write a short paragraph in your own words. (30 words)

	

b) How does this affect her daughter’s opinion on her new dress? (20 words) 

	
Quote the text to justify your answer:
•	(line ………………………)  	
	
•	(line ………………………)  	
	
7. "... everything had gone wrong" (line 41) Explain how Deirdre’s perception of things changes between lines 34 and 46. Who and what does she hold responsible for her failure? (40 words)

	

8. "... she felt sick with fear that Mrs Oddicott might be right about many other things." (lines 45‑46) Imagine what these "other things" might be. (40 words)

	

9. From line 30 («It has nothing to do with me ...»), imagine a different ending to the scene in the form of a dialogue or a narrative. (150 words)

	

	

	

	

	
10. Teenagers often dislike their parents’ influence on their personal choices (clothes, music, friends, studies...). How do you feel about it? I What about you? (200 words)

	

	

	

	

	

II ) TRADUCTION	6 pts
Translate into French from She had burst" (line 40) to many other things". (line 46)