BTS  Informatique industrielle (Regroupement 9)

ANGLAIS Session 2005

Durée 2 heures

Spécialités :

- Fluides-Energies-Environnements - Coefficient 1

- Informatique et Réseaux pour l'Industrie et les Services techniques - Coefficient 1

In the new village of Hamstreet , in Kent , Richard Dumill prepares for a new day. There is a slight hum as the family water purifier switches on, and as he walks down the hallway he taps the electricity meter and sees it shows that the family is in credit : his own windmill generator and solar panels are putting more energy into the grid than the household is using, adding to the family income.

Downstairs his wife, Sarah, is complaining. The so-called "smart fridge" has malfunctioned and the order for milk and bread which should have reached the local delivery service has not been sent. The grocer will have to be telephoned instead. Food deliveries go in a special lockable box rather than on the doorstep since theft of these increasingly expensive essentials is a growing problem. The clampdown on preservatives in food and high oil prices means that sending fresh food long distances is prohibitively expensive.

Both parents now work to pay off the 55-year mortgage on their house. Richard normally works from home but is going in a shared hydrogen powered car to the office at the waste and recycling brokerage where he works. He quotes prices for the market in which companies buy waste products to use in future manufacturing.

When working at home, a telephone gadget in his ear, which operates on electricity generated by his brain, allows his manager to speak to him at any time during working hours. The agency's picture of life in Britain in 2020 is not all bad. The air is cleaner, public transport is much better and because of congestion charges and home working, traffic jams are becoming a distant memory.

The vision of a vastly changed lifestyle for the Dumill family is based on papers being presented to a two-day conference, 2020 Vision, in London starting today. Among the speakers is the environment secretary, Margaret Beckett, and Tony Juniper, director of Friends of the Earth, who both warn of the dangers to Britain of the inequality between rich and poor countries.

Today Ms Beckett is expected to say that destruction of the environment at current levels is going to be a long term threat to peace and security in the UK . Millions of people will be on the move across the world because of flooding and droughts. She has ordered a new report on water and sanitization, and a taskforce has been set up to push Britain towards sustainable development. This kind of initiative will lead to every household having its own water purification and recycling unit to cut down on the need for new supplies. Modernising regulation so that use of respurces like power, water and wood are minimised is essential. The electronic devices will merely help us to measure what is going on and prevent our excesses.

I - COMPRÉHENSION (24/3 = 8 points)

1. True or false? Justify your answers with quotations from the text. (14 points)

a) Future houses will be equipped to produce their own electricity.

b) The household appliances of the future will be totally reliable.

c) In Hamstreet, food deliveries used to be left outside the house front door.

d) In 2020 food will contain high levels of preservatives.

e) There will be more and more traffic jams in 2020.

f) The Environment Agency's vision of the future is not totally pessimistic

g) Electronic devices will be the absolute answer.

2. Find a synonym for these words in the text. (4 points)

a) extremely

b) a loan

c) produced

d) to reduce

3. Fill in the blanks with words from the text. (6 points)

a) In 2020 more houses will be equipped with .................................................... and

.................................................. .

b) If something hasn't worked correctly, it has ..................................................... .

c) The country's electrical network is called the ....................................................... .

d) ..................................................... are what drivers must pay to go into city centres.

e) People must keep ..................................................... in mind to preserve the planet in the

long run.

II - TRANSLATION (5 points)

Translate from "Today Ms Beckett is expected ..." down to "the need for new supplies". 

III - EXPRESSION (7 points)

Does technology increase or decrease the problem of pollution in the world? Discuss, using your own examples. (150 words) (mention the number of words at the end of your essay)