THE MOROCCAN BACCALAUREATE ENGLISH EXAM

THE MOROCCAN BACCALAUREATE ENGLISH EXAM

Bill Gates, the richest man in the world, was born in 1955 in Seattle, USA, to a wealthy family. His father was a prominent lawyer and his mother a member of the board of directors of two banks. When he was thirteen, he started to become interested in computers and the development of computer software. In 1972, he made his first big profit of 4,200 $when he sold timetable software to his school.

Bill Gates went to Harvard University and father doing only three years of study; he stopped going there to set up Microsoft, with his old school friend, Paul Allen, in 1975.

Later, Microsoft developed into an enormous international company that employs more then 54,000 people all over the world.

Bill Gates met his wife, Melinda, in 1987 when he was working for Microsoft. They got married in 1994 and now have three children: Jennifer 11, Rory John 8, and phoebe 5.

In 2000, Bill Gates changed his position as chief executive officer at Microsoft to return to his first love, the development of software. In the same year, Bill and his wife founded the Bill and Melida Gates Foundation, a charitable organization. This charity gives money to health and education projects in the third world. For example, the foundation donated 750 million $ to pay for life-saving vaccinations to children in Africa and Asia. In the United States and Canada, the foundation gave money to bring computers, internet access and training to public libraries in poor communities. He and his wife have put more than 29 billion$ into their foundation.

I- COMPREHENSION

BASE ALL YOUR ANSWERS ON THE TEXT

A-ARE THESE SENTENCES TRUE OR FALS? JUSTIFY.

1- Bill Gates started making money when he was still at school.

………………………………………………………………………

2- The Gate’s foundation paid for vaccination for children all over the world.

…………………………………………………………………………

B- ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS

1. How old is Bill Gates?

……………………………………………………………………

2. Why didn’t Bill Gates finish his university studies?

…………………………………………………………………

3. How did the foundation help poor communities in North America?

…………………………………………………………………

C – FIND IN THE TEXT WORDS OR PHRASES THAT MEAN THE SAME AS:

1- Very rich (paragraph1):……………………………

2- Start (paragraph2):…………………………………..

II – LANGUAGE

A – FILL IN THE BLANKS WITH THE APPROPRIATE WORDS FROM THE LIST

Cosmopolitan evidence population corporal labour

1-The Geneva Convention forbids attacking civilian _______________ in wars. More women are being encouraged into the _______________ market these days

D- MATCH THE DEFIN ITIONS WITH THE APPROPRIATE WORDS.


DEFINITIONS

1. substances or products that can be bought or sold

2. People injured or killed in a serious accident or war

WORDS

a. casualties

b.targets

c. decades

d. commodities

e. customs

1. ……… 2. ……

E- PUT THE VERBS BETWEEN BRAKETS IN THE CORRECT TENSE.

When jack was five, his parents (die) …………………….. in a road accident. He survived, but he (be) …………………….. seriously injured. Today, whenever he takes his car, he (drive)………………………. carefully.

III- WRITING

Your friend is not interested in studying and wants to migrate illegally to Europe.

Write him / her letter and try to convince him / her to stay in Morocco and to finish his / her studies. (Approximately 120 words)

The following notes may help you to write the letter.

- Dangerous to cross the sea in a boat…

- Can be arrested by the police…

- difficult to get a job / official papers / or tiring and badly paid jobs

- be away from home / family / friends

- unable to communicate in the foreign language

- Why not stay in Morocco / work hard / finish studies, etc.