Louarred Abid Middle School School year: 2020/2021

Level: 4th year all classes Duration: 90 minutes

The First English Exam

Moufdi Zakaria is one of the outstanding figures in the Algerian history. He was a poet and writer. He
wrote "Qassaman", the Algerian national anthem while in prison. His real name was Cheikh Zakaria Ben
Slimane. He was given the name “Moufdi” by a school friend. Moufdi Zakaria was born on 12 June 1908.
He was born and attended school in Beni Yezguen; a small village in Ghardaia. His university education
was in Tunis where he met a number of poets including Aboul-Qacem Echebbi. His first poetry was
published in a Tunisian newspaper in 1925. When he returned to Algeria, he was imprisoned many times
for his politics. In 1956, he was in Serkadji prison when he wrote a poem called “Qassaman”. It was said
that he wrote the poem on the walls of his cell using his own blood. The poem was later set to music by
Mohamed Triki in 1956 and then by Mohamed Fawzi. The final song was heard in 1957. This poem
became the Algerian national anthem shortly after 5 July 1962 when independence was achieved. Moufdi
Zakaria died on August 17th, 1977 in Tunisia but his body was buried in Algeria.

Adapted from www.PoemHunter.com

Section One : Reading & Interpreting

A/ Reading Comprehension Read the text carefully then do the following activities (7pts)

Activity One: I read the text then answer these questions (2pts)

a. Did Moufdi Zakaria go to university?

b. What did he do when he was in prison?

Activity Two: I read the text again and complete the ID Card (3pts)

ID CARD
Name : ………………… ………………………
Date of birth : ……………………………
Place of birth : Beni Yezguen
Nationality: ……………………………..
Nickname : Moufdi Zakaria
Occupation : …………………………………
Date of death : ……………………………
Place of death: …………………………

Activity Three:

1- I find in the text words that are closest in meaning to the following (1pt)
a) famous = ………… b) came back =……………

2- I find in the text words that are opposites in meaning to the following (1pt)
a) taken ≠ …………. b) big ≠ ………….

1
B/ Mastery of the Language (7pts)

Activity One: I reorder the words to get a meaningful sentence: (2pts)

than / wrote / 25 books / Malek Bennabi / more / .

Activity Two: I join each pair of sentences using the right connector (3pts)
because – whereas – therefore
1- a- Zohra Drif placed a bomb in a milk bar café.
b- She was arrested by the French army in 1957.
2- a- Mouloud Feraoun was assassinated by the French OAS.
b- He supported the cause for Algerian Independence.
3- a- Larbi Ben M’hidi was captured in February 1957.
b- His death was announced in March of the same year.

Activity Three: I classify the words in the table according to the "ed" pronunciation (2pts)
wanted – divorced – called – finished
/t/ /d/ / id /

Section Two : Written Expression (6pts)

Topic: I write a short biography about Abdelhamid Ben Badis. Use the clues below:
 ( to be born ) December 4th, 1889
 ( to memorize ) the Quorane at the age of 13.
 1908 ( to travel ) to Tunis and ( to study ) at Zaitouna University.
 1913 ( to return ) to Algeria and ( to settle ) in Constantine. ( to start ) teaching Islamic sciences,
Arabic language, literature, and history at Sidi Qammouch mosque.
 1931 ( to found ) the Association of Algerian Muslim.
 ( to die ) 16 April 1940 Constantine.

Best of
luck