Bonjour, je galere un peu pour terminer mon dm d'anglais pouvez vous m'aider merci 


My father tended to sit silently
indoors now, only going to the labour exchange and the public
assistance committee, because he was more ragged than the most
poverty-stricken tramp I ever encountered. My mother still made
valiant efforts to keep her appearance reasonable so
that she could apply to shops and
offices for work.



One sunny Sunday in March, however,
father decided he could stand the rank atmosphere of the house no
more and he and Brian went for a walk in the town, which was fairly
deserted on Sundays. Father always feared being arrested for
vagrancy, but he hoped police would be few and far
between on this day of rest.



Two hours later, a petrified Brian came
rushing up the stairs and into our living-room, where I was rocking
Edward to sleep in his Chariot. He buried his face in my shoulder.



‘Daddy’s been arrested,’ he
cried.



I jumped up in alarm and Edward cried
out as the rocking ceased.



‘Oh, Heavens! Whatever did he do?’



Brian continued to sob in my arms in
sheer fright.



‘Tell me, Brian. What did he do? Did
he steal some cigarettes?’



I felt Brian nod negatively.



‘Well, he must have done something!’



‘He didn’t do anything.’



I knelt down and hugged Brian close.



‘Well, tell me what happened. Come
on, love, tell me.’



Brian’s sobs reduced to sniffs and
with all the maddening long-windedness of children, he said, ‘Well,
we walked down into the town and we looked in Cooper’s and
MacSymon’s windows at all the lovely food – they had peaches in
brandy in Cooper’s. And then we looked in the furniture
stores and Daddy showed me a jade idol
in Bunney’s, at the corner of Whitechapel. Then we walked up Lord
Street – opposite Frisby Dykes – and looked at the tailors’
shops in North John Street.’



‘Yes, yes,’ I said impatiently.






‘Well, then Daddy wanted to look at
the gentlemen’s shops in the arcade in Cook Street – and it was
at the corner of Cook Street that we saw this strange man.’



‘What kind of strange man?’



‘Well, he was big and nicely dressed
with lovely polished boots. Daddy said he was a plain-clothes
policeman – and we were both a bit scared – but Daddy said to
keep on walking as if there was nothing wrong.’ Brian wiped his
nose on the cuff of his jersey. ‘So we did – and we looked at
all the pipes and tobacco and suits and
things and this man started to walk up behind us.’



‘What did you do?’



‘We started to walk faster and faster
and when we got to Castle Street and turned the corner, we ran like
anything and the man ran after us. Daddy pushed me into a doorway by
a pillar and told me to stay there, and went on running. When the
policeman had passed me by, I peeped out – and
the policeman had his hand on Daddy’s
shoulder like they do in books.’ Brian burst into tears again. ‘So,
I doubled back down Cook Street and came home.’ he wailed.



‘Never mind, Brian. I am sure Daddy
will be all right. It is probably a mis-take.
We’ll tell Mummy about it. You just
wait here a minute.’



Mother was taking a little nap in the
bedroom and I was very afraid that if I
woke her with Brian’s story she would
have one of her periodic outbursts
of temper, or perhaps have hysterics;
but she sat on the edge of the old
mattress while she considered it, and
then said quite sensibly, ‘I don’t
think we can do anything except wait.
We don’t know which police station
he is in. I expect they will let us
know what he is charged with.’



Her calmness calmed Brian and me, and
he went off to play with Tony,
while I went back to my book. I could
not read, however. I realized
suddenly how much officialdom Father
coped with on our behalf. Without
him, we were defenceless against those
who would put us in the
workhouse.



I began to shake with fear, fear for my
father and terror at the inhumanity
of the workhouse.



Twopence to Cross the Mersey
(Chapter 24), Helen Forrester



[This passage is an extract from one
of Helen Forrester’s autobiographical
novels. The narrator is actually
Helen Forrester herself.]



Reprinted by permission of
Harpercollins Publishers Ltd © 1974 Jamunadevi
Bhatia.








voici les questions


7.Vocabulary

a. Find 3 verbs in the text which mean ‘to cry’.


1. .......................... 2. ........................ 3. ..............


b. Find 3 adjectives in the text which mean ‘frightened’.


1. ........................ 2. .................... 3. ......................


c. Find a synonym for each word/expression in the end part of the text from «We started to walk faster ..» to the end of the text.


to turn back / to turn round : .........................


a short sleep : ............................


to be accused of : .......................


bureaucracy : ....................................