Chapter 2 Text – “The Good Samaritans“ Task 1 Anticipation The text is an extract from a magazine article, it deals with the rich and famous and with humanitarian issues.

Task 2 Compréhension du texte Lisez toutes les questions avant de répondre à la première question. 1. Characters and general understanding a) Complete the grid. Answer in complete sentences. What type of text?

Date of publication?

Name of the author?

What is it about?

This is an extract from a magazine article. It is taken from Time magazine.

The article was written in the Time issue of December 2005/ January 2006.

It was written by Nancy It’s about Bill and Gibbs. Melinda Gates’, as well as Bono’s involvement in humanitarian aid.

b) Bill Gates is a computer expert. He co-founded Microsoft. He is considered “the great predator of the internet age” (line 4), he has worked on “Microsoft” for years (line 10). c) Bono is a rock singer (line 23: “an Irish rock star”). d) The title: “The Good Samaritans” refers to an episode in the Bible. Jesus tells the story of a Samaritan who once helped a wounded man, although he was a stranger to him. A good Samaritan is thus someone who practises charity. The Gates and Bono are such persons. e) The article contains 5 paragraphs. The titles are in the following order: 1. Unlikely rescuers 2. Charity is a passion 3. The same standards can apply to the software and charitable markets. 4. Bono asks help on all sides 5. Gates’ new challenge is charity The first paragraph of the article a) The first paragraph informs us that the Gates and Bono behave as normal billionaires or celebrities do and indulge themselves. The examples of this are given by Bono drinking Pinot Noir costing “several thousand dollars at a restaurant” and Bill Gates having a “$100 million house”. Yet, they have also chosen the nonprestigious task of people who work for charity and want “to save the world”. b) The behaviours of Bono and Bill Gates appear contradictory. They spend a fortune on themselves yet they also spend a fortune on helping the poor. We could wonder why they don’t give all their money away but they don’t behave as saints or martyrs. c) Bono and Bill Gates influence us because they behave in a way untrue to the image we have of celebrities. They could live in a protected world, in the limelight, but have chosen to give back their wealth. Instead of glamour they are concerned with the poorest among us. If the richest man in the world and one of the world’s most famous rock star can do that, why not us? d) Vocabulary venir au secours: to come to the rescue voyager en classe normale fly commercial brilliant shiny ces types these guys superficiel shallow s’associer avec to partner with individus creatures autrement otherwise nichés nestled s’occuper de causes care about causes richesse wealth réclamer require composer eux-mêmes un numéro de téléphone to place their own calls rester sans rien faire staying on the sidelines The second paragraph e) In the eyes of Bill Gates poverty is “stupid“ and unprofitable. The poor die because they have no money to buy medicine. But all human lives are “valuable”. f) Bill Gates uses the expression “a system failure” as it is an expression which applies to the computer world. In this context he wants to eradicate world poverty and diseases by applying to them the same logical and efficient methods he uses when solving a “system failure” on a computer. He is a strategic thinker.

g) Bill Gates has decided to act now because he has “the resources that could make a big impact” (line 13). Therefore, he wants to act now and not wait until he retires while people are dying now. h) Vocabulary par manque de for want of une panne du système a system failure une pilule a pill de valeur valuable se détacher de to draw away from Je vais m’occuper de ça I’ll get around to that avoir l’intention de to intend to Restez là sans rien faire Stand by changer d’intérêt to shift his focus Paragraph 3 i) Bill Gates has revolutionized the “charitable market” by treating it as he treated “the software business”. He demands “the best” from everyone. He wants to know where all his money goes. He demands “efficiency”. He has “rigor”. He studies the problems and approaches them as he does a computer problem. For example he can “fix malaria in 10 years.” j) It is an advantage for Bono to be working with Bill Gates because the rock star is now taken seriously. He no longer runs the risk of being considered as a star indulging in charitable action. k) Vocabulary ressentir l’appel feel the call l’efficacité efficiency des bâtiments en marbre:marble buildings le risque de ne pas être pris au sérieux: the risk of not being taken seriously la santé health coupable guilty plaisanter (familier) to kid harceler to pester façonner to shape se concentrer sur to focus on une bourse, une allocation:a grant régler (familier) to fix avoir tant d’importance mean so much to tableaux (sur ordinateur) :spreadsheets Paragraph 4 l) Bono manages to convince people to give money by making them feel involved in his charitable aid. “He invites everyone into the game.” m) The fact that he is “willing to work” with all spectrum of society makes him open to criticism. n) Vocabulary comprendre, saisir to grasp faire comprendre to make them think hurler to yell vrai, sincère genuine auditoire audience pour l’effet for show impuissant helpless être prêt à to be willing to Paragraph 5 o) Pity is compassion and tries to make people suffer less, passion is a revolt against poverty. Passion warns us that we must give the poor the possibility of working: “the poor are fully capable of helping themselves if given the chance.” (line 38). p) Vocabulary la souffrance suffering prévenir, avertir to warn soulager la douleur:to ease the pain les pauvres du monde the world’s poor les puissants the powerful se mettre en colère (familier) to get mad