On a desert island

"Sur une île déserte"
French C1 writing exercise

Pierre discusses his friend Yves's choice of single item that he would take with him on a desert island.

Pay attention to the hints!

Some vocabulary you may want to look up before or during this exercise: "to end up [somewhere]", "think carefully", "to do without [something]", "doesn't make any sense", "solar-powered", "to assume that...", "a spy movie", "to follow one's reasoning", "not to be a sure thing", "what use would it be", "to starve", "silly goose [US:big dummy]", "to get [someone] to come", "to rescue [someone]".

I’ll give you some sentences to translate into French

  • I’ll show you where you make mistakes
  • I’ll keep track of what you need to practise
  • Change my choices if you want
Start the exercise

Here's a preview of the text for the writing challenge, when you're ready click the start button above:

- Yves, hypothetically, if you ended up alone on a desert island, and you could only take one thing with you, what would you pick? Think carefully before answering! - OK, if I had to take one thing I can't do without, without a doubt it would be my mobile [US:cell] phone! - That doesn't make any sense. And where would you charge it? - Easy, I would bring a solar-powered charger with me! - That already makes two items, but let's assume it doesn't count... You're aware that you wouldn't have any access to the internet? - Why not? All I would need is a phone able to connect directly to a satellite. - So now you're in a spy movie! OK, let's follow your reasoning. Even if you managed to make your phone work - which isn't a sure thing! - what use would it be (to you) to be able to watch funny cat videos if you're slowly starving in the middle of nowhere? - Well, silly goose [US:big dummy], then I would get someone to come and rescue me, obviously!

Thinking...