French


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Translation

Nicolas Sarkozy, who is the French interior minister, went to New York last weekend to visit the firemen of New York who paid the heaviest price during the 9/11 attacks. Those to whom he awarded a medal of honour were chosen because of their actions and bravery while rescuing the people lucky to escape the horror of Ground Zero. Nicolas Sarkozy met Aidan Fontana, a little boy of 11 whose father died trying to save the lives of others. Sarkozy said that the New York firemen could count on the firemen of France for support. He continued his visit by meeting President Bush and Kofi Annan.

Handy hints

to + town                                what preposition do you need?                                   

to visit                                     the verb is not visiter, which means to visit a place. what do you need to express visit a person?

pay the heaviest price              what phrase have you come across  which means the same thing?

were chosen                             this is a passive construction. what tense of être is needed for were? does the past participle agree with firemen?

because of                               not parce que

those                                        ceux – this agrees with pompiers. The fpl form is celles

to be lucky to                          avoir la chance de + infin

to escape                                 s’échapper de

whose father                            dont le père (literally ‘of whom the father’)

to try    to                                 essayer de + infin

support                                    le soutien


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