Reading: The Host Family Profile and the Vegetarian Problem
A reading task presents a host family profile in French. Key lines: 'Nous habitons une maison à la campagne, à vingt minutes en bus du centre-ville. Nous avons deux enfants de huit et onze ans. Je suis végétarienne depuis cinq ans; mon mari adore la cuisine française traditionnelle. Le dimanche, nous faisons souvent une randonnée.' A question asks: 'Quels sont les avantages et les inconvénients possibles pour un étudiant qui ne mange pas de viande et qui n'aime pas marcher?' You answer: 'Aucun problème, la famille est végétarienne.' A second question asks how far the house is from town; you write 'vingt minutes à pied'. The marker's comments say you inferred too much from one word and misread a transport expression.
1. Correct both answers and explain the inference errors.
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First answer: 'Je suis végétarienne' refers to one person, the host mother, not the household; the husband 'adore la cuisine française traditionnelle', which often includes meat. So the honest answer is mixed: an advantage is that the mother understands vegetarian eating and may cook suitable meals, but a possible inconvenience is that meals are shared and the husband's preferences may dominate. Saying 'aucun problème, la famille est végétarienne' overgeneralises a singular subject. Second answer: 'à vingt minutes en bus' means twenty minutes by bus, not on foot; 'en bus' is a mode-of-transport expression, and the student who dislikes walking is actually better served by a bus than by a walk. Also note the Sunday hiking habit is a possible inconvenience for someone who dislikes walking, since it may be a family expectation.
2. How should you phrase answers that require inference rather than literal recall?
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Separate what the text states from what you conclude. Use a formula in your own head: 'The text says X; therefore for this student Y is likely.' Quote or paraphrase the evidence briefly, then give the consequence. For advantages and disadvantages questions, aim for one of each and hedge appropriately ('probablement', 'peut-être', 'il est possible que'), because the text rarely states disadvantages outright. Check subject and verb agreement before drawing conclusions: 'je suis végétarienne' is first person singular, so it cannot describe the whole family. Finally, re-read transport and quantity expressions ('en bus', 'à pied', 'en voiture') as fixed phrases, not word by word.