We French Do Love to Demonstrate – IELTS Reading Answers

The ‘We French Do Love to Demonstrate’ Academic Reading Passage is a good resource for anyone who is preparing for the IELTS Reading test. The passage present in this blog is similar in difficulty to the passages that you will encounter on the actual IELTS Reading test.

By taking the ‘We French Do Love to Demonstrate’ IELTS Reading Answer, you can get a feel for the types of questions that you will be asked and the level of difficulty that you can expect.

The question types in this Reading Passage include:

• IELTS Matching Information (Q. 1-8)
• IELTS True/False/Not Given (Q. 9-14)

For more IELTS Reading practice, take more IELTS reading practice tests.

Reading Passage

We French Do Love to Demonstrate

1. Josiane Bertrand has a small family business – a neighborhood charcuterie selling sausage, poached pigs’ trotters, pate, and jellied pig snouts. Her ham, she says, is the best in Paris and her queue of customers is long. Despite the ceaseless rain outside – among all its other woes, France is now flooding – it’s a convivial crowd waiting to be served, and the animated conversation is all about strikes.
2. If the opinion pages of Le Monde are to be believed, the charcuterie queue is a pretty accurate reflection of the mood of the country. Split, roughly half and half, between those for the Work Bill and those against. Philippe’s 28. He’s landed what most French would regard as a dream job. He’s a fonctionnaire working in local government. A fonctionnaire is an employee of the French state in almost any form of public administration and service. It’s a job for life – with solid pay and conditions, fixed working hours, a good pension, and generous holidays. So, what many young French people aspire to is not to change the world – explore, create, set up alone – but, with self-employment difficult and taxes punitive, they dream of becoming steadily employed bureaucrats.
3. Philippe knows he’s lucky. And he’s against any change. “I’m happy,” he says. “I know exactly where I am and where I’ll be in 40 years’ time, with a good pension.” Eleonore, who has four children, two of them dancing around the shop as they wait, is in her early 40s. As a secondary school teacher, she has also got a job for life and generous state benefits. But, unlike Philippe, she’s all for change. “It can’t go on like this. For every person like me, there are 20 or more with no hope at all,” she says.
4. A quarter of all French people under 25, many of them well-qualified, have no work. A large number of those are from immigrant families, making their chances of employment even slimmer. These are the kind of people who voted Francois Hollande into the presidency in 2012, with his pledge to end the country’s employment troubles.
5. Now he’s made a new promise, putting his own political career on the line – he’s not running for re-election next spring unless he cuts unemployment. A bold move for a president with an approval rating of only 14% in a country riven by industrial disputes. Along with his prime minister, Manuel Valls, and Pierre Gattaz – known as the “boss of bosses”, president of Medef, the largest federation of employers in France – Hollande stands against the combined power of the country’s two biggest unions.
6. The proposed Work Bill runs to over 500 pages. It aims to simplify and liberalize the French Work Code which, at 3,689 pages, is a vast labyrinth beset with perils for employers. The unions won’t even consider negotiations until the bill is removed from parliament. The president and his allies refuse to change a word of it. “It’s a good law, good for France,” says Hollande. The result? Total stalemate. An ongoing siege. Just after one o’clock on the glassed-in terrace of a popular restaurant on the Boulevard Montparnasse, and everything begins to go quiet. The traffic disappears from the street. Cordons of riot police move in, three columns deep, flanked by armored vans. There’s a whirr of helicopters overhead.
7. In the distance, a gathering roar and blare – the protesters. The noise becomes deafening. The riot police take up positions. Frederique, the waiter, temporarily locks the doors – and those having lunch find themselves exhibited in a kind of transparent, gastronomic showcase along with various grilled fish, bottles of wine, and assorted desserts. Looking in from the outside, hundreds of protesters passed down the boulevard, some marching, others ambling, a few dancing to music booming from the accompanying floats. Looking out from the inside, the lunchers. The lunchers comment on the demonstrators, the demonstrators wave cheerily at the lunchers. There’s general resigned, amused talk amid the eating – “Here we go again,” and “Where will this round end?” And self-deprecating comments such as, “We French do love to demonstrate…”
8. Then it all subsides, passes on, the noise, the marchers, the red balloons, and pounding music, leaving a trailing wake of litter. Frederique unlocks the doors. The conversation leaves the political and returns to the personal. Similar reforms have already been implemented in Italy and Spain. Germany did so long ago – its unemployment, at 5%, is less than half that of France, which according to some commentators here now stands alone as the last bastion of 20th Century-style socialism in Europe.

Questions 1-8

1. A bold promise
2. Similar reforms in other countries
3. A refusal to change the law
4. Unemployment rate statistics
5. The dream of young French people
6. Different opinions
7. Best ham in all Paris
8. The demonstration itself

Questions 9-14

9. Most French would say that Philippe has a very good job.
10. Eleonore and Philippe have the same views on the situation.
11. 25% of all people in France have no job.
12. Francois Hollande might not run for re-election next year.
13. The French Work Code is considered simpler than the proposed Work Bill.
14. The unemployment rate in Spain is less than in Italy.

We French Do Love to Demonstrate – IELTS Reading Answers with Location and Explanation

Check out the We French Do Love to Demonstrate IELTS Reading answers with their location and explanations!

1. E

Answer Location: Para E, Line 2

Question Type: Matching Information

Answer Explanation: A bold move for a president with an approval rating of only 14% in a country riven by industrial disputes. Along with his prime minister, Manuel Valls, and Pierre Gattaz – known as the “boss of bosses”, president of Medef, the largest federation of employers in France – Hollande stands against the combined power of the country’s two biggest unions.

2. H

Answer Location: Para H, Line 3

Question Type: Matching Information

Answer Explanation: Similar reforms have already been implemented in Italy and Spain. Germany did so long ago – its unemployment, at 5%, is less than half that of France, which according to some commentators here now stands alone as the last bastion of 20th Century-style socialism in Europe.

3. F

Answer Location: Para F, Line 4

Question Type: Matching Information

Answer Explanation: The president and his allies refuse to change a word of it. “It’s a good law, good for France,” says Hollande. The result? Total stalemate. An ongoing siege. Just after one o’clock on the glassed-in terrace of a popular restaurant on the Boulevard Montparnasse, and everything begins to go quiet.

4. D

Answer Location: Para D, Line 2

Question Type: Matching Information

Answer Explanation: A large number of those are from immigrant families, making their chances of employment even slimmer. These are the kind of people who voted Francois Hollande into the presidency in 2012, with his pledge to end the country’s employment troubles.

5. B

Answer Location: Para B, Line 8

Question Type: Matching Information

Answer Explanation: So, what many young French people aspire to is not to change the world – explore, create, set up alone – but, with self-employment difficult and taxes punitive, they dream of becoming steadily employed bureaucrats.

Tips for Answering the Question Types in We French Do Love to Demonstrate Reading Answers

Now let’s get started with the IELTS exam preparation tips for each question type of the We French Do Love to Demonstrate IELTS Reading passage.

Matching Information

1. Underline or highlight: As you find information that matches the question, underline or highlight it in the passage. This will make it easier to refer back to when answering the questions.
2. Skim the passage: Quickly read through the passage to get a general sense of the content and layout. This will help you identify where the information you need might be located.
3. Read the instructions carefully: Before you start, make sure you understand what you need to match. Sometimes, you’ll be asked to match headings to paragraphs or statements to sections, so be clear on the task.
4. Use keywords: Look for keywords or key phrases in the question and the passage. These words are often repeated or paraphrased in the text and can guide you to the correct answer.
5. Check for synonyms: Be aware of synonyms and paraphrases. Sometimes, the exact words from the question may not appear in the passage, but similar words or phrases will. Keep an eye out for these.

True/False/Not Given

1. Focus on keywords: Identify the keywords in the statement and look for those exact words or synonyms in the passage.
2. Refer to the passage: For each statement, go back to the passage and carefully locate the relevant information. Pay close attention to the wording of the statement and compare it to the information in the passage.
3. Read the instructions carefully: Understand the difference between “True,” “False,” and “Not Given.” “True” means the information is directly stated in the passage, “False” means it contradicts the information in the passage, and “Not Given” means the information isn’t mentioned in the passage.
4. Beware of paraphrasing: Sometimes, the statement is paraphrased in the passage, so be vigilant about synonyms and rephrase sentences.
5. Watch out for distractors: The passage may contain information that seems related to the statement but isn’t directly addressing it. Don’t be tricked by these distractors; the answer should directly match the statement.

Also, check:

• IELTS Reading recent actual test
• IELTS Academic Reading test papers with answers pdf
• The Mysteries of Water Reading Answers
• Indian Classical Music Reading Answers