Sujet Anglais LV1 — Terminale — Polynésie — Bac 2014

DOCUMENT 1 After ten rings there was at last a clunk, and a heavily accented voice: ‘St Bernadine’s Hospice. Good afternoon.’ ‘I’d like to speak to a patient, please. Her name is Queenie Hennessy.’ There was a pause. 5 He added, ‘It’s very urgent. I need to know that she’s all right.’ The woman made a sound as if she was breathing out a long sigh. Harold’s spine chilled. Queenie was dead; he was too late. He clamped his knuckle to his mouth. The voice said, ‘I’m afraid Miss Hennessy is asleep. Can I take a message?’ Small clouds sent shadows scurrying across the land. The light was smoky over the distant hills, 10 not with the dust but with the map of space that lay ahead. He pictured Queenie dozing at one end of England and himself in a phone box at the other, with things in between that he didn’t know and could only imagine: roads, fields, rivers, woods, moors, peaks and valleys, and so many people. He would meet and pass them all. There was no deliberation, no reasoning. The decision came in the same moment as the idea. He was laughing at the simplicity of it. 15 ‘Tell her Harold Fry is on his way. All she has to do is wait. Because I’m going to save her, you see. I will keep walking and she must keep living. Will you say that?’ The voice said she would. Was there anything else? Did he know visiting hours, for instance? Parking restrictions? He insisted, ‘I’m not in a car. I want her to live.’ 20 ‘I’m sorry, did you say something about your car?’ ‘I’m coming by foot. From South Devon all the way up to Berwick-upon-Tweed.’ The voice gave an exasperated sigh. ‘It’s a terrible line. What are you doing?’ ‘I’m walking,’ he shouted. ‘I see,’ said the voice slowly, as if the woman had picked up a pen and was jotting this down. 25 ‘Walking. I’ll tell her. Should I say anything else?’ ‘I’m setting off right now. As long as I walk, she must live. Please tell her this time I won’t let her down.’ When Harold hung up and stepped out of the phone box, his heart was pounding so fast it felt too big for his chest. […] 30 Harold stared at the ribbon of road that lay ahead, and the glowering