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Text
At the end of every summer, the French diplomatic service summons all its ambassadors from around the world to Paris for a week of brainstorming and fine cuisine. Usually, the assembled crowd is monochrome, middle-aged and male. Since 2015, however, it has been marked by silk scarves and coloured jackets: in that year, nearly a third of the ambassadorial corps was made up of women, compared to 19% in Britain and 26% in the United States.
Indeed, France has transformed the place of female diplomats. Surely, this has not happened without an official push: a few years ago, in 2012, France decided to reserve a share of top public-service appointments for women, with a target of 40% by 2018.
Does a female ambassador change anything? Besides the pressing linguistic question of whether to call her Madame l’Ambassadrice (favoured by some younger diplomats) or Madame l’Ambassadeur (which some prefer in order to avoid being taken for an ambassador’s wife ), the answer may be: not all that much. Perhaps most importantly, a less male representation projects a less fusty national image at a time when soft power counts for ever more. In fact, feminisation seems to be part of a broader French effort to “renew our global diplomacy for the 21st century”, said Laurent Fabius, the foreign minister, whose predecessor but one was a woman, Michèle Alliot-Marie.
No longer so male and stale. Internet: < www.economist.com> (adapted ).
Decide whether the statements below, concerning the ideas and the vocabulary of text, are right or wrong.
The mentioning of “fine cuisine” suggests that the French ambassadors were in Paris also to learn about French gastronomy, due to its relevance in French culture.
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Text
At the end of every summer, the French diplomatic service summons all its ambassadors from around the world to Paris for a week of brainstorming and fine cuisine. Usually, the assembled crowd is monochrome, middle-aged and male. Since 2015, however, it has been marked by silk scarves and coloured jackets: in that year, nearly a third of the ambassadorial corps was made up of women, compared to 19% in Britain and 26% in the United States.
Indeed, France has transformed the place of female diplomats. Surely, this has not happened without an official push: a few years ago, in 2012, France decided to reserve a share of top public-service appointments for women, with a target of 40% by 2018.
Does a female ambassador change anything? Besides the pressing linguistic question of whether to call her Madame l’Ambassadrice (favoured by some younger diplomats) or Madame l’Ambassadeur (which some prefer in order to avoid being taken for an ambassador’s wife ), the answer may be: not all that much. Perhaps most importantly, a less male representation projects a less fusty national image at a time when soft power counts for ever more. In fact, feminisation seems to be part of a broader French effort to “renew our global diplomacy for the 21st century”, said Laurent Fabius, the foreign minister, whose predecessor but one was a woman, Michèle Alliot-Marie.
No longer so male and stale. Internet: < www.economist.com> (adapted ).
Decide whether the statements below, concerning the ideas and the vocabulary of text, are right or wrong.
According to the text, the foreign minister Laurent Fabius was appointed immediately after Mrs. Alliot-Marie’s term.
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Text
At the end of every summer, the French diplomatic service summons all its ambassadors from around the world to Paris for a week of brainstorming and fine cuisine. Usually, the assembled crowd is monochrome, middle-aged and male. Since 2015, however, it has been marked by silk scarves and coloured jackets: in that year, nearly a third of the ambassadorial corps was made up of women, compared to 19% in Britain and 26% in the United States.
Indeed, France has transformed the place of female diplomats. Surely, this has not happened without an official push: a few years ago, in 2012, France decided to reserve a share of top public-service appointments for women, with a target of 40% by 2018.
Does a female ambassador change anything? Besides the pressing linguistic question of whether to call her Madame l’Ambassadrice (favoured by some younger diplomats) or Madame l’Ambassadeur (which some prefer in order to avoid being taken for an ambassador’s wife ), the answer may be: not all that much. Perhaps most importantly, a less male representation projects a less fusty national image at a time when soft power counts for ever more. In fact, feminisation seems to be part of a broader French effort to “renew our global diplomacy for the 21st century”, said Laurent Fabius, the foreign minister, whose predecessor but one was a woman, Michèle Alliot-Marie.
No longer so male and stale. Internet: < www.economist.com> (adapted ).
Decide whether the statements below, concerning the ideas and the vocabulary of text, are right or wrong.
In spite of some passages which might be taken as ironic, it is correct to conclude that the text considers the changes in French diplomacy to be positive.
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When I joined the Foreign Office, I was astonished at the lack of formal preparation for the job. In those days, the Civil and Diplomatic Service entrance exams took place in three stages, by the end of which hundreds of unsuccessful candidates had been knocked out. Only a score or so survived the final stage to be admitted to the Foreign Office.
My induction course lasted about a month. Then, one morning, I was taken to the West and Central Africa Department, told that I would be responsible for French-speaking African countries plus Liberia. And that was that. I was now, at the tender age of twenty-two, a wet-behind-the-ears but fully functioning British diplomat.
I was put unsparingly to the test in my first month. I was summoned to the office of the Minister of State, a genial politician called George Thompson, who was about to receive an official visitor from the Central African Republic. I was there to interpret between English and French. The usual pleasantries of a courtesy call were easy enough to translate. But, just as I was beginning to relax, the official told Thompson that one of the main exports from his country was roselle. What on earth was roselle? With panic rising in my gorge, something made me blurt out “jute”. To my horror, there ensued a lively conversation in which Thompson said “jute” and the African minister said roselle.
After the meeting, I raced back to my office and looked in my dictionary. Roselle was not there. I tried out the mystery word on a French friend, but he had not heard of it either. But the next day, he called back. What was a British minister doing, he asked, talking to a politician from the Central African Republic about a plant that was used as a diuretic and food-colouring agent? My heart sank. I saw my career slipping beneath the waves before it had hardly begun. “Oh, and by the way,” he added, “it’s also used sometimes as a substitute for jute fibre — if that’s of any interest to you.”.
Christopher Meyer. Getting Our Way: 500 years of adventure and intrigue: the inside story of british diplomacy. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2009, p. 7-9 (adapted ).
Decide whether the statements below, which concern the ideas of text and the vocabulary used in it, are right or wrong.
The word “unsparingly” can be correctly replaced by unmercifully, without this changing the meaning of the text.
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When I joined the Foreign Office, I was astonished at the lack of formal preparation for the job. In those days, the Civil and Diplomatic Service entrance exams took place in three stages, by the end of which hundreds of unsuccessful candidates had been knocked out. Only a score or so survived the final stage to be admitted to the Foreign Office.
My induction course lasted about a month. Then, one morning, I was taken to the West and Central Africa Department, told that I would be responsible for French-speaking African countries plus Liberia. And that was that. I was now, at the tender age of twenty-two, a wet-behind-the-ears but fully functioning British diplomat.
I was put unsparingly to the test in my first month. I was summoned to the office of the Minister of State, a genial politician called George Thompson, who was about to receive an official visitor from the Central African Republic. I was there to interpret between English and French. The usual pleasantries of a courtesy call were easy enough to translate. But, just as I was beginning to relax, the official told Thompson that one of the main exports from his country was roselle. What on earth was roselle? With panic rising in my gorge, something made me blurt out “jute”. To my horror, there ensued a lively conversation in which Thompson said “jute” and the African minister said roselle.
After the meeting, I raced back to my office and looked in my dictionary. Roselle was not there. I tried out the mystery word on a French friend, but he had not heard of it either. But the next day, he called back. What was a British minister doing, he asked, talking to a politician from the Central African Republic about a plant that was used as a diuretic and food-colouring agent? My heart sank. I saw my career slipping beneath the waves before it had hardly begun. “Oh, and by the way,” he added, “it’s also used sometimes as a substitute for jute fibre — if that’s of any interest to you.”.
Christopher Meyer. Getting Our Way: 500 years of adventure and intrigue: the inside story of british diplomacy. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2009, p. 7-9 (adapted ).
Decide whether the statements below, which concern the ideas of text and the vocabulary used in it, are right or wrong.
From the author’s account, it can be correctly inferred that he was expected to be able to translate from French to English and vice versa, as part of his job as a diplomat.
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Text
When I joined the Foreign Office, I was astonished at the lack of formal preparation for the job. In those days, the Civil and Diplomatic Service entrance exams took place in three stages, by the end of which hundreds of unsuccessful candidates had been knocked out. Only a score or so survived the final stage to be admitted to the Foreign Office.
My induction course lasted about a month. Then, one morning, I was taken to the West and Central Africa Department, told that I would be responsible for French-speaking African countries plus Liberia. And that was that. I was now, at the tender age of twenty-two, a wet-behind-the-ears but fully functioning British diplomat.
I was put unsparingly to the test in my first month. I was summoned to the office of the Minister of State, a genial politician called George Thompson, who was about to receive an official visitor from the Central African Republic. I was there to interpret between English and French. The usual pleasantries of a courtesy call were easy enough to translate. But, just as I was beginning to relax, the official told Thompson that one of the main exports from his country was roselle. What on earth was roselle? With panic rising in my gorge, something made me blurt out “jute”. To my horror, there ensued a lively conversation in which Thompson said “jute” and the African minister said roselle.
After the meeting, I raced back to my office and looked in my dictionary. Roselle was not there. I tried out the mystery word on a French friend, but he had not heard of it either. But the next day, he called back. What was a British minister doing, he asked, talking to a politician from the Central African Republic about a plant that was used as a diuretic and food-colouring agent? My heart sank. I saw my career slipping beneath the waves before it had hardly begun. “Oh, and by the way,” he added, “it’s also used sometimes as a substitute for jute fibre — if that’s of any interest to you.”.
Christopher Meyer. Getting Our Way: 500 years of adventure and intrigue: the inside story of british diplomacy. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2009, p. 7-9 (adapted ).
Decide whether the statements below, which concern the ideas of text and the vocabulary used in it, are right or wrong.
The passage “a wet-behind-the-ears but fully functioning British diplomat” indicates that the author’s inexperience didn’t prevent him from getting a position of responsibility in the Foreign Office.
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Text
When I joined the Foreign Office, I was astonished at the lack of formal preparation for the job. In those days, the Civil and Diplomatic Service entrance exams took place in three stages, by the end of which hundreds of unsuccessful candidates had been knocked out. Only a score or so survived the final stage to be admitted to the Foreign Office.
My induction course lasted about a month. Then, one morning, I was taken to the West and Central Africa Department, told that I would be responsible for French-speaking African countries plus Liberia. And that was that. I was now, at the tender age of twenty-two, a wet-behind-the-ears but fully functioning British diplomat.
I was put unsparingly to the test in my first month. I was summoned to the office of the Minister of State, a genial politician called George Thompson, who was about to receive an official visitor from the Central African Republic. I was there to interpret between English and French. The usual pleasantries of a courtesy call were easy enough to translate. But, just as I was beginning to relax, the official told Thompson that one of the main exports from his country was roselle. What on earth was roselle? With panic rising in my gorge, something made me blurt out “jute”. To my horror, there ensued a lively conversation in which Thompson said “jute” and the African minister said roselle.
After the meeting, I raced back to my office and looked in my dictionary. Roselle was not there. I tried out the mystery word on a French friend, but he had not heard of it either. But the next day, he called back. What was a British minister doing, he asked, talking to a politician from the Central African Republic about a plant that was used as a diuretic and food-colouring agent? My heart sank. I saw my career slipping beneath the waves before it had hardly begun. “Oh, and by the way,” he added, “it’s also used sometimes as a substitute for jute fibre — if that’s of any interest to you.”.
Christopher Meyer. Getting Our Way: 500 years of adventure and intrigue: the inside story of british diplomacy. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2009, p. 7-9 (adapted ).
Decide whether the statements below, which concern the ideas of text and the vocabulary used in it, are right or wrong.
The fact that the author didn’t know the meaning of the word “roselle” and translated it as “jute” was prejudicial to the British Minister.
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Text
When I joined the Foreign Office, I was astonished at the lack of formal preparation for the job. In those days, the Civil and Diplomatic Service entrance exams took place in three stages, by the end of which hundreds of unsuccessful candidates had been knocked out. Only a score or so survived the final stage to be admitted to the Foreign Office.
My induction course lasted about a month. Then, one morning, I was taken to the West and Central Africa Department, told that I would be responsible for French-speaking African countries plus Liberia. And that was that. I was now, at the tender age of twenty-two, a wet-behind-the-ears but fully functioning British diplomat.
I was put unsparingly to the test in my first month. I was summoned to the office of the Minister of State, a genial politician called George Thompson, who was about to receive an official visitor from the Central African Republic. I was there to interpret between English and French. The usual pleasantries of a courtesy call were easy enough to translate. But, just as I was beginning to relax, the official told Thompson that one of the main exports from his country was roselle. What on earth was roselle? With panic rising in my gorge, something made me blurt out “jute”. To my horror, there ensued a lively conversation in which Thompson said “jute” and the African minister said roselle.
After the meeting, I raced back to my office and looked in my dictionary. Roselle was not there. I tried out the mystery word on a French friend, but he had not heard of it either. But the next day, he called back. What was a British minister doing, he asked, talking to a politician from the Central African Republic about a plant that was used as a diuretic and food-colouring agent? My heart sank. I saw my career slipping beneath the waves before it had hardly begun. “Oh, and by the way,” he added, “it’s also used sometimes as a substitute for jute fibre — if that’s of any interest to you.”.
Christopher Meyer. Getting Our Way: 500 years of adventure and intrigue: the inside story of british diplomacy. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2009, p. 7-9 (adapted ).
Considering the ideas and the vocabulary of text, decide whether the statements below are right or wrong.
It can be correctly inferred that, when it came to hiring, the Foreign Office had a clear preference for bright young people.
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Text
When I joined the Foreign Office, I was astonished at the lack of formal preparation for the job. In those days, the Civil and Diplomatic Service entrance exams took place in three stages, by the end of which hundreds of unsuccessful candidates had been knocked out. Only a score or so survived the final stage to be admitted to the Foreign Office.
My induction course lasted about a month. Then, one morning, I was taken to the West and Central Africa Department, told that I would be responsible for French-speaking African countries plus Liberia. And that was that. I was now, at the tender age of twenty-two, a wet-behind-the-ears but fully functioning British diplomat.
I was put unsparingly to the test in my first month. I was summoned to the office of the Minister of State, a genial politician called George Thompson, who was about to receive an official visitor from the Central African Republic. I was there to interpret between English and French. The usual pleasantries of a courtesy call were easy enough to translate. But, just as I was beginning to relax, the official told Thompson that one of the main exports from his country was roselle. What on earth was roselle? With panic rising in my gorge, something made me blurt out “jute”. To my horror, there ensued a lively conversation in which Thompson said “jute” and the African minister said roselle.
After the meeting, I raced back to my office and looked in my dictionary. Roselle was not there. I tried out the mystery word on a French friend, but he had not heard of it either. But the next day, he called back. What was a British minister doing, he asked, talking to a politician from the Central African Republic about a plant that was used as a diuretic and food-colouring agent? My heart sank. I saw my career slipping beneath the waves before it had hardly begun. “Oh, and by the way,” he added, “it’s also used sometimes as a substitute for jute fibre — if that’s of any interest to you.”.
Christopher Meyer. Getting Our Way: 500 years of adventure and intrigue: the inside story of british diplomacy. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2009, p. 7-9 (adapted ).
Considering the ideas and the vocabulary of text, decide whether the statements below are right or wrong.
The word “genial” means unusually intelligent.
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Text
When I joined the Foreign Office, I was astonished at the lack of formal preparation for the job. In those days, the Civil and Diplomatic Service entrance exams took place in three stages, by the end of which hundreds of unsuccessful candidates had been knocked out. Only a score or so survived the final stage to be admitted to the Foreign Office.
My induction course lasted about a month. Then, one morning, I was taken to the West and Central Africa Department, told that I would be responsible for French-speaking African countries plus Liberia. And that was that. I was now, at the tender age of twenty-two, a wet-behind-the-ears but fully functioning British diplomat.
I was put unsparingly to the test in my first month. I was summoned to the office of the Minister of State, a genial politician called George Thompson, who was about to receive an official visitor from the Central African Republic. I was there to interpret between English and French. The usual pleasantries of a courtesy call were easy enough to translate. But, just as I was beginning to relax, the official told Thompson that one of the main exports from his country was roselle. What on earth was roselle? With panic rising in my gorge, something made me blurt out “jute”. To my horror, there ensued a lively conversation in which Thompson said “jute” and the African minister said roselle.
After the meeting, I raced back to my office and looked in my dictionary. Roselle was not there. I tried out the mystery word on a French friend, but he had not heard of it either. But the next day, he called back. What was a British minister doing, he asked, talking to a politician from the Central African Republic about a plant that was used as a diuretic and food-colouring agent? My heart sank. I saw my career slipping beneath the waves before it had hardly begun. “Oh, and by the way,” he added, “it’s also used sometimes as a substitute for jute fibre — if that’s of any interest to you.”.
Christopher Meyer. Getting Our Way: 500 years of adventure and intrigue: the inside story of british diplomacy. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2009, p. 7-9 (adapted ).
Considering the ideas and the vocabulary of text, decide whether the statements below are right or wrong.
With the expression “And that was that”, the author reinforces the idea indicated by “the lack of formal preparation for the job”.Provas
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