Anglais

# Concours ATS

## Epreuve de Langue Vivante Anglais

Durée 2 h

Si, au cours de l’épreuve, un candidat repère ce qui lui semble être une erreur d’énoncé, d’une part il le signale au chef de salle, d’autre part il le signale sur sa copie et poursuit sa composition en indiquant les raisons des initiatives qu’il est amené à prendre.

Pour cette épreuve, l’usage de tout appareil électronique et dictionnaire est interdit.

## CONSIGNES :

- L’usage de stylo à friction, stylo plume, stylo feutre, liquide de correction et dérouleur de ruban correcteur est strictement interdit. Les surveillants et surveillantes se réservent le droit de les confisquer.
- Remplir sur chaque copie en MAJUSCULES toutes vos informations d’identification : nom, prénom, numéro inscription, date de naissance, le libellé du concours, le libellé de l’épreuve et la session.
- Une feuille, dont l’entête n’a pas été intégralement renseigné, ne sera pas prise en compte.
- Il est interdit aux candidats de signer leur composition ou d’y mettre un signe quelconque pouvant indiquer sa provenance. La présence d’une information d’identification en dehors du cartouche donnera lieu à un point de pénalité et la page concernée pourra être soustraite de la correction.

**Réponse juste : +3**

**Réponse fausse : -1**

**Pas de réponse : 0**

1) We really enjoyed ... to him last night.

a) talk  
b) to talk  
c) talking  
d) talked

2) Rome is well worth ...

a) visits  
b) visiting  
c) to visit  
d) to visiting

3) We had better ... our Christmas presents before it gets too busy in shops.

a) buying  
b) buy  
c) bought  
d) to buy

4) ... the current global warming, there are more and more climate disasters all around the world.

a) Give  
b) Given  
c) Gives  
d) Giving

5) We can schedule the meeting for Tuesday or Wednesday; ... days suit me.

a) both  
b) each  
c) either  
d) every

6) The government wants to get ... on crime.

a) tougher  
b) hardly  
c) bad  
d) worse

7) Most students disapprove ... the government’s policy.

a) off  
b) of  
c) with  
d) about

8) I look forward to ... her.

a) meeting  
b) meet  
c) met  
d) have met

9) Oil and gas ... off the coast of Greenland is getting more intense these days.

a) explore  
b) explorative  
c) explorer  
d) exploration

10) Our website seems to be ... normally again.

a) work  
b) working  
c) worked  
d) works

11) Let me look at your ... first, and then I’ll ask you a few questions.

a) CVs  
b) resume  
c) pay slip  
d) bulletin

12) The spokesman has put ... some very interesting suggestions to improve the situation.

a) about  
b) on  
c) forward  
d) toward

13) Jack and Tom have known ... for many years as they were at college together.

a) each  
b) each other  
c) theirs  
d) themselves

14) Humanitarian experts consider education ... the driving force in developing countries.

a) be  
b) being  
c) to be  
d) to being

15) If the problem ... again, I think we’ll be able to fix it.

a) comes out  
b) will happen  
c) came  
d) happens

16) It looks as ... it’s going to be a splendid afternoon.

a) like  
b) that  
c) though  
d) why

17) Why not ask your boss for a pay ...?

a) rise  
b) raising  
c) augmentation  
d) raises

18) He is a very conscientious student and has always been a ... worker.

a) hard  
b) indolent  
c) idle  
d) hardly

19) He is a ... qualified chemical engineer.

a) mainly  
b) fully  
c) part  
d) hardly

20) There are ... actual pieces of evidence that prove that he is the murderer.

a) not  
b) no  
c) none  
d) any

21) Istanbul is divided ... 2 parts, one on each side of the Bosphorus river.

a) on  
b) into  
c) onto  
d) ∅

22) I don’t want to go to that concert and he doesn’t want to go ...

a) either  
b) neither  
c) as well  
d) also

23) To promote their brand new line of trainers, Nike has created a strong ... strategy.

a) promotions  
b) promoting  
c) promotional  
d) promoted

24) Any government ... tax cuts is bound to be popular.

a) to proposing  
b) proposing  
c) proposed  
d) will propose

25) My business school is situated just ... the city. It’s great!

a) at  
b) on  
c) into  
d) outside

26) The speaker was so popular that there were not ... chairs in the room.

a) almost  
b) nearly  
c) enough  
d) many

27) Could I have ... milk in my tea, please?

a) little  
b) a little  
c) any  
d) a few

28) Who ... the laws in the US?

a) inflicts  
b) enforces  
c) compells  
d) allows

29) It’s high time we ... if we don’t want to miss our train.

a) get up  
b) are getting up  
c) should get up  
d) got up

30) “You don’t like fish, do you?” “No, I ... like fish.”

a) didn’t  
b) doesn’t  
c) did  
d) don’t

31) When I ... older, I want to take a gap year and travel around the world.

a) will be  
b) may be  
c) am  
d) was

32) My brother wants to become ... football player.

a) the  
b) a  
c) ∅  
d) an

33) I ran ... food while trekking in the mountains. It was tough, believe me.

a) away with  
b) off  
c) out of  
d) without

34) Without ... much about the situation, I would say you had better apologize.

a) I know  
b) knowing  
c) to know  
d) to knowing

35) The person ... invited me over is my best friend’s grandma.

a) who  
b) which  
c) whom  
d) what

36) “How did the meeting go?” “Everything ran like ...”

a) perfect  
b) clockwork  
c) a breeze  
d) easily

37) It was a very ... situation, wasn’t it?

a) embarrassed  
b) embarrassing  
c) embarrassive  
d) embarrass

38) When I got home, on the day of my birthday, I ... by all my friends who had gathered to celebrate my birthday with me.

a) greeted  
b) ’ve been greeted  
c) was greeted  
d) will greet

39) She would prefer ... an internship in Germany.

a) to carry up  
b) to carry out  
c) to carry in  
d) to carry

40) She was so happy that she cried tears ... joy.

a) with  
b) out of  
c) off  
d) of

41) In the United Kingdom, a 15-year-old teenager is too young to ... in a pub.

a) be allowed  
b) be introduced  
c) being invited  
d) being inserted

42) “Stop it, Tom. You ... naughty!”

a) aren’t  
b) are being  
c) are been  
d) have not been

43) What ... with your life lately?

a) do you do  
b) have you been doing  
c) did you do  
d) are you done

44) It seems that their business is doing very ... these days.

a) badly  
b) harshly  
c) toughly  
d) hardly

45) There are quite a few problems to sort ...

a) out  
b) away  
c) into  
d) on

46) “... is going on here?”

a) Which  
b) Who  
c) Why  
d) What

47) You had ... go now or you’ll be late for work.

a) rather  
b) better  
c) further  
d) farther

48) The ... you get up, the ... you can do in the morning.

a) more earlier / more  
b) early / more  
c) earlier / more  
d) earliest / most

49) Can I interrupt and tell you what is ... my mind?

a) in  
b) into  
c) on  
d) onto

50) He is a lazy student who doesn’t want to think for ...

a) his  
b) him  
c) himself  
d) his self

51) You ... worry. We won’t be late.

a) have to  
b) don’t have  
c) needn’t  
d) must

52) Have you heard his ... hit? If you ask me, it’s really awesome.

a) last  
b) late  
c) later  
d) latest

53) Where would you go on holiday if you ... take a break at Christmas time?

a) can  
b) will  
c) could  
d) might

54) The exam was a piece of ...

a) cake  
b) cookie  
c) apple pie  
d) chocolate

55) We were quietly reading a book when we ... a big noise.

a) are hearing  
b) heard  
c) hear  
d) have heard

56) He was over the speed limit on the motorway and as a result he got a ...

a) reward  
b) penalty  
c) fine  
d) form

57) What are you passionate ...?

a) about  
b) for  
c) with  
d) in

58) ... cats are usually very independent animals.

a) Every  
b) Any  
c) The  
d) ∅

59) Empathy is the ... important soft skill in companies today.

a) more  
b) most  
c) mostly  
d) so

60) What is she studying? ..., I think.

a) Electronic  
b) Electronics  
c) Electronical  
d) Electronicals

61) Are you ... out tonight?

a) go  
b) to go  
c) going  
d) gone

62) Where does he come from? I believe he is a ...

a) Spanish  
b) Spaniard  
c) Spain guy  
d) Spanniard

63) My school is within ... from my flat.

a) walking distance  
b) waking distance  
c) distance  
d) no distance

64) The project must be finished ... 2 weeks. It’s rather urgent.

a) on  
b) without  
c) within  
d) less than

65) The shop is open Monday ... Friday.

a) onto  
b) nor  
c) through  
d) over

66) After ... with his girlfriend, he went on a round-the-world trip.

a) breaking out  
b) breaking up  
c) breaking into  
d) breaking onto

67) ... phone has she borrowed ?

a) Whom  
b) Who’s  
c) Whose  
d) Whoever

68) ... it is illegal, lots of people duplicate software programmes.

a) And yet  
b) Despite  
c) Although  
d) In spite of

69) Let’s go and work upstairs ... be disturbed.

a) so as to  
b) so as to not to  
c) for not to  
d) with a view to

70) She has other qualities ... intelligence and humour.

a) besides  
b) beside  
c) behind  
d) before

71) The dog was running ... the road when it got hit by a car.

a) around  
b) across  
c) through  
d) amidst

72) As the plane was ... the clouds, we could not see the Trump Tower in New York.

a) below  
b) under  
c) above  
d) onto

73) She was eating ... Joe when she dropped her glasses in her soup and splashed soup all over his sweater.

a) opposite  
b) under  
c) on top of  
d) below

74) He would rather ... a holiday in Egypt than in Tunisia because he loves history.

a) spend  
b) to spend  
c) to spending  
d) spent

75) My grandma’s house is ... the church next to the forest.

a) under  
b) over  
c) beside  
d) in front

76) ... the pandemic, he did not catch Covid.

a) In spite  
b) Despite  
c) Although  
d) Because of

77) We ... three Asian countries in the last two months.

a) will visit  
b) have visited  
c) are visiting  
d) visit

78) The last president died in office ... natural causes.

a) of  
b) off  
c) due  
d) because of

79) “I haven’t said anything.” “Neither ...”

a) hasn’t she  
b) she has  
c) has she  
d) had she

80) His new film is ... better than his first one.

a) far  
b) something  
c) ways  
d) fair

81) It was the last of a ... of accidents.

a) serie  
b) series  
c) serial  
d) serials

82) We are collecting as ... information as we can on that organization.

a) much  
b) such  
c) many  
d) ∅

83) He left at 4, so he ... here in a few minutes.

a) has been  
b) can’t have been  
c) should be  
d) ought to being

84) I wish him ...

a) succeed  
b) success  
c) having succeeded  
d) successful

85) You ... better results if you were more organized.

a) would get  
b) would have got  
c) get  
d) will get

86) The part of Northern California ... as Silicon Valley is very famous.

a) is known  
b) has known  
c) better known as  
d) knew

87) She wondered how she ... ten years before.

a) would react  
b) will react  
c) must react  
d) would have reacted

88) Look at the sky, it’s very ... it will snow soon.

a) probably  
b) likely  
c) possibly  
d) certainly

89) Thanks to this medical breakthrough, hundreds of lives ... be saved.

a) were able  
b) were allowed to  
c) could have  
d) could

90) “If you want to lose weight, you ... make an effort and give up on junk food.”

a) must  
b) may  
c) can’t  
d) needn’t

91) After ... the results, he realized he had won a million dollars.

a) having check  
b) checked  
c) checking  
d) he checks

92) He earns ... more than his wife.

a) few  
b) many  
c) a little  
d) a few

93) He knew about her death. I’m sure somebody ... told him.

a) may  
b) must have  
c) can’t have  
d) can

94) What about ... your parents for dinner tomorrow?

a) invited  
b) inviting  
c) to invite  
d) an invite

95) Not only ... happy for this opportunity, but she was also grateful.

a) she wouldn’t be  
b) was she  
c) she wasn’t  
d) wasn’t she

96) In those days, it was hard ... in America.

a) to survive  
b) to surviving  
c) survive  
d) for survive

97) I don’t quite understand why I ... to pay when so many people don’t.

a) must  
b) needn’t  
c) should  
d) have

98) She married the man ... she met at my wedding.

a) ∅  
b) than  
c) whose  
d) what

99) As the night was dreadfully cold, there were very ... people on the streets.

a) many  
b) little  
c) few  
d) much

100) Did you realize he is not ... than you are?

a) as smart  
b) as smarter  
c) so smart  
d) any smarter

## Text one

Answer the questions, paying attention to the context.

> **‘I’ve made friends for life’: Rising number of travellers find going solo is the ticket to happiness**
>
> **Holidays alone are getting easier. The number of single trips has risen from 6% in 2011 to 16% in 2023, according to latest figures from the Association of British Travel Agents.**
>
> James Tapper, 20 Jan 2024, *The Guardian*
>
> The idea of making proper friends with people you meet on holiday is so hilarious to British sensibilities that Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat turned it into a West End comedy. The Unfriend, starring Lee Mack and Sarah Alexander as a British couple who meet Elsa, an American woman travelling solo, is based on the premise that she takes their polite suggestion of a visit as a genuine invitation.
>
> The play may be funny, but it seems that increasing numbers of people are on Elsa’s side. Solo travel is on the rise and the chance to make lifelong friendships is at the heart of it. The number of people going on holiday by themselves has risen from 6% in 2011 to 16% in 2023 according to the Association of British Travel Agents, which said people had a “strong appetite to go it alone”. Some operators have seen big increases — solo bookings accounted for 46% of Tourhub’s business last year.
>
> Solo doesn’t always mean alone though. Lots of solo travellers join group tours, as Jen Burton did last year. “I didn’t know anyone at all and turned up at the airport completely terrified,” said Burton, 40, who opened the Bea and Aud Lifestyle clothes shop in Buckingham last year. “Now I’ve made friends for life.”
>
> She had recently split from her husband of 19 years, and had decided to join an Intrepid Travel trip to Jordan for 16 women organised by Claire and Laura Jopson, who run the travel blog Twin Perspectives.
>
> “I walked up to some of the ladies in the check-in queue and straight away they kind of knew that I’d been having a really tough time,” she said. “The support you can get from a group of women you don’t even know is phenomenal.” Burton, who was the oldest, added: “[I had] never laughed so hard in my whole life. But then in the next instance we’d have these amazing feminist chats.”
>
> Since the Jordan trip, many of the women have stayed in touch and last week Burton was hosting an Australian friend she met while travelling. Norway is next. “This time I’ll share a room,” she said. “I felt like I was slightly missing out in my own room.”
>
> Companies such as Just You and Flash Pack cater specifically for solo travellers, while others, including Newmarket Holidays, Riviera Travel and Jules Verne, offer solo-only or solo-friendly trips.
>
> “Sixty per cent of our travellers are solo,” said Yves Marceau, vice president for products at G Adventures. He said the company went to great efforts to design tours that fostered friendships, making sure there was enough time for people to meet each other and mingle. Tour guides were trained to create a sense of camaraderie and to spot when people might not be getting on.
>
> “A young man in his early 20s wrote to us about his trip,” Marceau said. “He was sharing a room with a guy who was 75. He said ‘my initial reaction was, Oh, my God, this is going to be a dreadful experience. But over the course of the first few days, I became so connected with this gentleman that we are still friends.’ Those [stories] are the reason we do this.”

**101) The Unfriend is:**

a) a film  
b) a series  
c) a play  
d) a book

**102) Solo travelling is on the increase because:**

a) many people have no friends to travel with whatsoever  
b) people are becoming increasingly antisocial  
c) people see it as a way to make long-lasting friendships  
d) people hope to make friends on the way

**103) Jen Burton joined a group tour and realized:**

a) she was terrified of loneliness  
b) she wanted to split the expenses  
c) she got lots of support from the other group members  
d) it was an all-woman group

**104) Jen Burton said:**

a) she had never been laughed at so hard in her life  
b) she had never made so much fun of people before  
c) she had never had so much fun before  
d) laughing hard is essential in life

**105) “Last week Burton was hosting an Australian friend” means that:**

a) she put up an Australian friend  
b) she was talking to an Australian friend  
c) her place is listed on Airbnb to make Australian friends  
d) she has Australian paying guests at her place

**106) “I felt like I was slightly missing out in my own room” means that Jen:**

a) was glad she had her own room in the hotel  
b) had the feeling that sharing a room could have been enjoyable  
c) really badly regretted not sharing a room  
d) felt lonely and depressed all alone in her hotel room

**107) So far, Jen has been to:**

a) Jordan  
b) Jordan and Norway  
c) Jordan, Norway and Australia  
d) None of these countries

**108) Yves Marceau from G Adventures believes that his customers:**

a) should be mature enough to reach out to other customers  
b) must get out of their comfort zone and talk to strangers  
c) may be shy and need help from professional tour guides to socialize with others  
d) should stay home if they are unable to interact with others

**109) “Tour guides were trained (...) to spot when people might not be getting on” means that tour guides had to:**

a) talk to the customers who did not look pleased  
b) stop the customers who had a fight  
c) identify who was not on good terms with other customers  
d) be attentive, identify the problems and report them to their boss

**110) A 20-year-old customer had:**

a) a dreadful experience with his room mate  
b) an unexpected and pleasant experience with his room mate  
c) an OK experience with his room mate  
d) a strange experience with his room mate

## Text two

Try and identify the best choice (one answer possible only).

> **Hong Kong’s plan to lure back visitors? It’s black and white and eats bamboo**
>
> Dec. 24, 2024, by Kim Gu, Lexi Tian and Jennifer Jett for NBC
>
> The Chinese territory, which now has more giant pandas than any place outside mainland China, hopes the _111_ bears will help bring back tourists.
>
> In Hong Kong, it’s pandas, pandas, everywhere.
>
> About 2,500 giant panda sculptures are on display around Hong Kong as the Chinese territory hopes to capitalize _112_ its growing panda population to regain its position as one of the top travel destinations in Asia.
>
> Hong Kong has _113_ to attract tourists in their previous numbers after three years of pandemic border restrictions and a _114_ on dissent following 2019 antigovernment protests tarnished the city’s international image.
>
> Hong Kong _115_ has six pandas. Its reigning pair, Ying Ying and Le Le, had twins in August, when Ying Ying became the world’s oldest first-time panda mother after years of failed _116_ efforts. The _117_ could make their public debut in February.
>
> In September, Hong Kong also _118_ a pair of 5-year-old pandas that were sent by Beijing, giving it the largest population of giant pandas outside mainland China.
>
> The panda windfall has inspired Hong Kong _119_ to talk about a “panda economy,” encouraging restaurants and businesses to launch panda-themed products.
>
> At a Dec. 7 ceremony introducing the two Beijing-gifted _120_ to the public, Hong Kong’s leader, John Lee, said there was a “craze for giant pandas” in the city.
>
> The ceremony at Ocean Park, an animal theme park that has been _121_ financially, was attended by top mainland Chinese and local officials.

111) a) beloved  
b) loving  
c) love  
d) lover

112) a) in  
b) on  
c) into  
d) onto

113) a) struggled  
b) refused  
c) hesitated  
d) wanted

114) a) crackdown  
b) letdown  
c) countdown  
d) cutdown

115) a) clearly  
b) currently  
c) commonly  
d) quietly

116) a) breed  
b) breeding  
c) breading  
d) breaded

117) a) baby  
b) cub  
c) cubs  
d) pets

118) a) welcomed  
b) welcomes  
c) welcoming  
d) has welcome

119) a) policemen  
b) workers  
c) officials  
d) politics

120) a) pets  
b) babies  
c) teddy bears  
d) bears

121) a) struggling  
b) struggle  
c) struggled  
d) struggles

## Text three

What is the meaning of the underlined phrase? Make the right choice.

> **How to Stop an Argument?**
>
> **Sometimes a simple circuit breaker is needed; here’s how to deploy one.**
>
> May 28, 2023, *The Independent*
>
> When you have an argument with someone you actually care about in some way, if your goal is to win the argument, you will lose. Failed marriages, relationships, friendships, teams, bands, and business partnerships <u>are littered with</u> scoreboards in which, maybe one of the people made better points than the other or others.
>
> But when it comes to any <u>meaningful relationship</u>, truly winning an argument means finding some way to make the proceedings more constructive than destructive. And when you see an argument headed down a destructive path, it can help to throw in a circuit breaker.
>
> I was party to an argument the other day in which, as it proceeded, the same things were being repeated but with progressive escalation. This can happen when both sides believe that they are not being fully heard by the other. <u>Each side can end up digging further into their entrenched position</u>, leading the argument to get hotter and hotter. Such a dynamic can inadvertently shift the goal of the argument from trying to understand each other to one party trying <u>to outdo the other</u>, which can ultimately lead to a very ugly explosion of resentment.
>
> What changed the progression of that argument was a 10-minute break. During that break, I took out the trash, literally and figuratively.
>
> The physical activity of hauling several garbage cans gave me the opportunity to wonder, “Why are we even having this argument <u>when we should be on the same page</u>?” and ponder how best to approach things in a less-charged manner when I returned.

**122) “are littered with” is synonymous with:**

a) empty of  
b) full of  
c) devoid of  
d) lacking in

**123) “meaningful relationships” means relationships that:**

a) count  
b) don’t matter  
c) are casual  
d) are humdrum

**124) “Each side can end up digging further into their entrenched position” means that each side:**

a) sticks to their argument and doesn’t budge  
b) is willing to make an effort to understand the other’s opinion  
c) listens to the other’s argument  
d) is angry with the diverging opinion

**125) “to outdo the other” means:**

a) to do better than the other  
b) to trick the other  
c) to cheat  
d) to break them

**126) “when we should be on the same page” means that we should:**

a) be unhappy with each other  
b) agree with each other  
c) talk to each other  
d) appreciate each other

## Text four

Answer the questions, paying attention to the context.

> **My week with a man bag: am I cool enough for winter’s hottest trend?**
>
> **Timothée Chalamet, Pharrell Williams and Jacob Elordi have no qualms about using one. But can our writer carry it off?**
>
> By Tim Dowling, 30 Jan 2025, *The Guardian*
>
> The woman at the veg shop is admiring my new ivory padded shoulder bag. Perhaps admiring is the wrong word.
>
> “So, is this, like, a thing now?” she says.
>
> “Apparently,” I say. [...]
>
> Then, last July, I was watching news footage of some young men fighting in the streets of an English town. Almost all of them were wearing an identical summer uniform: white T-shirt, shorts and a black cross-body bumbag. I thought: I have missed something.
>
> The latest evolution of the man bag is also a form of extinction: fashionable men have begun to appear in public wearing what we might once have described, for lack of a better term, as ladies’ handbags. Timothée Chalamet pairs a baseball cap with a tiny chain-strap Chanel number. Harry Styles goes about town with a bamboo-handled Gucci bag. In his debut 2024 spring-summer collection, Pharrell Williams revived the Louis Vuitton Speedy — once the bag of choice for Jessica Simpson and Miley Cyrus— as a menswear accessory. Again, I have missed something. How can I hope to catch up?
>
> Ill-at-ease as I may be with the idea of sporting a “woman’s handbag”, I am absolutely at sea when it comes to shopping for one. I have pictures on my phone of popular women’s bags being worn by men, but I am incapable of discerning whether any of the bags on the shelves in the stores are a suitable match. They all look the same to me. I am beginning to perspire in TK Maxx. I think I may be bag blind.
>
> Finally, I track down a shearling bag in the women’s department of M&S that seems to fit the bill. Without trying it on, I take it to the till.
>
> “Do you need a bag for your bag, or are you just going to carry it?” asks the saleswoman.
>
> “Oh no, I need a bag,” I say. [...]
>
> “I’m not going out with you while you’re wearing that,” my wife says the next day, pointing to the shearling bag over my shoulder.
>
> “Really? Which one should I wear?” I say, indicating the array of statement bags lined up on the sofa.
>
> When it becomes apparent that I will be going to the shops by myself, I select the brown <u>Asos</u> weave tote [...].
>
> But, on the way to the shops, I realise I am having trouble making the look my own. The extent of the discomfort I feel carrying a women’s tote catches me by surprise: it triggers memories of my mother making me hold her bag while she tried something on in the aisle of a dress shop. It is a memory of undiluted mortification. I am doing now what I did then — holding the bag slightly out in front of me, as if it contains something I am allergic to.
>
> Fortunately, it is 2025 and I live in London, so there is nothing to be embarrassed about; no one cares what you are putting your shopping in at the self-checkout. In any case, the very idea of a gender-specific bag now seems obsolete. The kind of style this chocolate-brown tote represents is timeless [...].

**127) This article is about:**

a) the new trends in ladies’ bags  
b) the catching on of “ladies’ bags” for men  
c) the resistance of women to using a handbag  
d) male stars and their different tastes in handbags

**128) At the beginning of the article, the lady is looking at the man’s handbag because:**

a) she bought the same for her daughter  
b) she wants the same handbag  
c) she has exactly the same handbag  
d) she is probably surprised at seeing a man using a handbag

**129) “I thought: I have missed something” means that the journalist:**

a) has forgotten something  
b) is perplexed by the youngsters’ handbags  
c) has lost something  
d) is unaware of the situation

**130) Actor Timothée Chalamet and singer Pharrell Williams both have:**

a) a bumbag  
b) a Gucci bag  
c) a bamboo-handled bag  
d) pricey handbags from glamorous brands

**131) “I am absolutely at sea when it comes to shopping for one” means that when it comes to buying a handbag, the journalist:**

a) gets very excited  
b) gets nervous  
c) is totally lost  
d) finds it a piece of cake

**132) “I think I may be bag blind” means that the journalist cannot:**

a) visualize bags  
b) is blinded by bags  
c) finds it difficult to see differences between bags  
d) does not care about handbags

**133) “that seems to fit the bill” means that the handbag:**

a) is good value for money  
b) is what the man is looking for  
c) is both for men and women  
d) corresponds to the brand the man was looking for

**134) “I’m not going out with you while you’re wearing that,” my wife says”, probably means that the lady:**

a) doesn’t like going out with her husband  
b) doesn’t feel like going for a walk  
c) is jealous of her husband’s bag  
d) doesn’t like her husband sporting a handbag

**135) On the way to the shops with his handbag, the journalist feels:**

a) embarrassed and self-conscious  
b) excited and carefree  
c) fashion-conscious and proud  
d) really special

**136) In 2025, in London, it seems that when it comes to bags, people:**

a) are judgmental  
b) don’t need bags  
c) don’t care about what people use for a bag  
d) believe men should not sport a bag

**137) In: “In any case, the very idea of a gender-specific bag now seems obsolete”, obsolete means:**

a) stupid  
b) outdated  
c) sexist  
d) original

FIN DE L’EPREUVE