Graded story

C1 French reading: three accounts of the same workplace incident

Read three C1 French accounts of a meeting incident, with eight glosses and translation. Compare selective detail, responsibility and direct contradictions.

In short

All three speakers describe the wrong spreadsheet appearing during a client meeting. Compare them by issue: who chose the file, what was visible and how long it stayed on screen. A missing detail is different from a direct contradiction.

Colleagues watching quietly as a presenter rolls up a blank projection screen.
Different accounts surround un incident at a client meeting. Illustration: Atelier

C1 · three first-person accounts · eight glosses

Le mauvais fichier

Élise, responsable de projet

J’avais demandé une présentation des résultats, pas des données individuelles. Une feuille de calcul a été projetée par erreur devant les clients ; l’affichage a été interrompu presque aussitôt. Aucun nom complet n’était visible, j’en suis certaine. J’ai proposé que nous passions au point suivant pour ne pas amplifier1 l’incident. On me reproche aujourd’hui mon silence, alors que mon souci était de préserver le déroulement2 de la réunion. Le choix technique du fichier ne relevait pas de moi.

Karim, chargé de la projection

Élise m’a envoyé le lien dix minutes avant la réunion, avec ce message : « Voici la version à montrer. » J’ai ouvert le document indiqué. Quand Ana a signalé le problème, j’ai cherché la commande pour arrêter le partage. L’affichage a duré plusieurs minutes : je ne dirais donc pas qu’il a été coupé sur-le-champ3. J’aurais dû vérifier les onglets, je le concède4. Mais parler d’une simple erreur technique escamote5 la question de la validation.

Ana, assistante

Je n’avais pas reçu le fichier avant la séance. Sur l’écran, j’ai lu le prénom et le nom d’une collègue, à côté d’un montant. Je l’ai dit à voix haute. Élise a demandé de poursuivre ; Karim manipulait son clavier. Je serais incapable de chiffrer6 la durée de l’affichage. Ce qui m’a frappée, c’est qu’après la réunion on m’a demandé de ne pas ébruiter7 l’affaire, sans me demander ce que j’avais vu. J’aimerais que mon témoignage soit consigné8, même s’il dérange la version retenue.

Read it in English

Élise, project manager: I had asked for a presentation of results, not individual data. A working spreadsheet was projected by mistake in front of the clients; the display was stopped almost immediately. No full name was visible, I am certain of that. I suggested moving to the next item to avoid magnifying the incident. People now criticise my silence, whereas my concern was to keep the meeting running. The technical choice of file was not my responsibility.

Karim, responsible for projection: Élise sent me the link ten minutes before the meeting, with this message: "Here is the version to show." I opened the specified document. When Ana flagged the problem, I looked for the command to stop sharing. The display lasted several minutes: I would therefore not say it was stopped immediately. I should have checked the tabs, I concede that. But calling it a simple technical error glosses over the question of approval.

Ana, assistant: I had not received the file before the session. On the screen, I read a colleague’s first name and surname beside an amount. I said so aloud. Élise asked us to continue; Karim was working at his keyboard. I could not put a number on how long the display lasted. What struck me was that after the meeting I was asked not to spread the story, without being asked what I had seen. I would like my account recorded, even if it challenges the version adopted.

Compare by issue, rather than retelling each account
IssueÉliseKarimAna
DurationAlmost immediately stoppedSeveral minutesCannot quantify it
Names visibleNo full nameDoes not address namesFirst name and surname seen
ResponsibilityDistances herself from technical choiceAcknowledges unchecked tabs; questions approvalAsks for her observation to be recorded

Selon Karim, Élise lui avait transmis la version à montrer ; ce lien ne permet toutefois pas, à lui seul, d’établir qui avait vérifié les onglets.

According to Karim, Élise had sent him the version to show; that link alone, however, does not establish who had checked the tabs.

Attribute a claim before discussing what it can establish.

Question 1No account needed
Which pair contains a direct factual contradiction?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

Élise says no full name was visible; Ana says she read a first name and surname.. Both claims concern the presence of a full name on the displayed file, and they cannot both be accurate as stated.

Question 2No account needed
What does Karim explicitly acknowledge?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

That he should have checked the tabs.. His concession concerns checking the tabs; he also disputes reducing the event to a technical mistake.

Question 3No account needed
Which neutral synthesis stays within the accounts?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

The accounts conflict on duration and visible names; approval remains to be clarified.. Duration and names are contested, while Karim’s account of a link does not settle who validated its contents.

Prepare a short neutral summary

  • Write 70–90 French words organised around duration, visible information and responsibility. Use selon to attribute disputed claims.
  • Include Ana’s limit: she cannot quantify the duration. Her uncertainty about time does not cancel her stated observation of a name.
  • End with one item that could help resolve an issue, such as a meeting recording or the message containing the link. Mark it as evidence to seek.