Practice FrenchC1Full sample
L’heure bleue sur le pont
Blue Hour on the Bridge — At blue hour on a bridge, a shared pause may be a truce or only a private silence.
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L’heure bleue n’appartient à personne, et c’est pour cela qu’on s’y retrouve sans se l’avouer. Sur le pont, les cyclistes ralentissent sans raison visible. Un couple se tait. Un homme seul pose son sac et regarde l’eau comme on regarde une décision qu’on n’a pas encore prise. Je viens ici quand la journée a trop parlé. Les voitures en contrebas deviennent un bruit plus sourd, presque acceptable. Le fleuve restitue les lumières de la ville avec un retard d’une seconde, assez pour que le décor paraisse déjà un souvenir. Il m’arrive de croire que cette pause est collective, une trêve. Cette idée me console et m’irrite en même temps. Il m’arrive aussi de la trouver égoïste : chacun vient chercher un silence qu’il n’offre pas aux autres. Ce soir, une femme a demandé l’heure à un inconnu, puis elle a ri de n’en avoir pas besoin. Personne ne photographie rien, pour une fois. Le pont n’a rien tranché. Il a seulement tenu, le temps d’un ciel trop beau pour rester.
Vocabulary
- l’heure bleuethe blue hour (dusk)
- s’avouerto admit to oneself
- une trêvea truce
- en contrebasbelow / down below
- trancherto settle / to decide
Show English translation
The blue hour belongs to no one, and that is why people find themselves there without admitting it. On the bridge, cyclists slow down for no visible reason. A couple falls silent. A man on his own sets down his bag and looks at the water the way one looks at a decision not yet taken. I come here when the day has talked too much. The cars below become a duller noise, almost acceptable. The river gives back the city’s lights with a one-second delay, enough for the scene to already look like a memory. Sometimes I believe this pause is collective, a truce. The idea both comforts and irritates me. Sometimes I also find it selfish: each person comes looking for a silence they do not offer others. This evening a woman asked a stranger for the time, then laughed at not needing it. For once, nobody photographs anything. The bridge settled nothing. It only held, for as long as a sky too beautiful to stay.
Comprehension questions
1. Why does the narrator come to the bridge?
- When the day has talked too much
- To photograph the skyline
- To meet a regular group of friends
- To decide whether to move cities
Show answer
When the day has talked too much
2. What does the woman on the bridge do?
- She asks a stranger for the time, then laughs
- She photographs the river
- She offers the narrator a truce
- She tells a couple to be quiet
Show answer
She asks a stranger for the time, then laughs
3. The narrator is sure that the pause on the bridge is only generous and collective.
Show answer
false
4. Complete with what she asked for: Sur le pont, une passante a demandé l’___ sans en avoir vraiment besoin.
Show answer
heure
5. In this passage, “une trêve” is closest to:
- a truce
- a photograph
- a traffic jam
- a confession
Show answer
a truce
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