Answer three questions in all: one question from Section A and all the questions in Sections B and C.
SECTION A
ESSAY
[5O marks]
Answer one question only from this section.
All questions carry equal marks.
Your answer should not be less than 450 words.
You are advised to spend about 50 minutes on this section.
1. You are the main speaker in a debate on the motion: Inter-school sports and games promote friendship and unity among students. Write your argument for or against the motion.
[25 marks]
2. You have just returned from an excursion organized by your school. Write an account of your experience for publication in your school magazine.
[25 marks]
3. You are staying with your uncle in a faraway city where you attend school. Write a letter to your parents complaining about the unbearable problems you are facing in your uncle's house and requesting that they come for you.
[25 marks]
4. Your school does not have functional laboratories. Write a letter to the Parent-Teacher Association Chairman pointing out at least three effects of this lack on the students and pleading with him to provide some for the school.
[25 marks]
5. Write a story that ends with the statement: When I look back at what happened to us, I consider it a miracle that we escaped with our lives.
[25 marks]
SECTION B
COMPREHENSION
[20 marks]
You are advised to spend about 30 minutes on this section.
6. Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it.
My husband was teaching me how to drive. After several driving lessons, he helped me to Obtain a learner's permit. It was particularly stressful being instructed by my husband. There were numerous occasions when he would shout at me, warning me of a pothole here, an obstruction there, and so on. I nearly had a head-on collision with a car which was racing down on the wrong side of the lane. My husband shouted, "stop!" In my confusion, I stepped on the accelerator pedal instead of the brake pedal. My husband had to pull up the handbrake while ordering me to take my foot off the accelerator. The car ground to a halt and a serious accident was averted.
Gradually, I became more confident. I began to take the car on short trips within the neighbourhood, but my husband was always beside me, watching me like a hawk. He warned me not to drive the car without his consent; and that a licensed driver must always sit beside me. According to him, this was a basic traffic law and doing otherwise posed grave danger to me and other road users.
Soon, I was on annual leave. I planned to visit a friend whose father had just passed to the great beyond and also do my monthly grocery shopping. The following day, after my husband had gone to work, I took the car and set out on these errands. I started by going to the busy market situated along an expressway to buy the provisions I needed for the month. The trip was uneventful and I was very proud of myself for being able to navigate the busy market roads. As I was driving out of the market car park, I saw a colleague of mine and offered her a lift. She was excited to see me drive. Chatting excitedly, we continued the trip.
We were about five hundred metres from where she would alight when a bus driver veered into my lane without giving a signal. I honked the horn, applied the brakes and swerved to the right to avoid a collision. Suddenly, I heard a bang: I had crashed the car into a stationary vehicle! A crowd gathered at the scene and helped us out of the stricken car. My colleague and I were unhurt. Seeing the level of damage to both vehicles, I broke out in a cold sweat. Nervously, I called my husband and relayed to him what had happened. After asking if anyone was hurt, he expressed his disappointment.
After that incident, I learnt an important lesson.
(a) Why did the writer describe her driving lessons with her husband as stressful?
[2 marks]
(b) State two reasons why the writer was warned not to drive alone.
[2 marks]
(c) What caused the accident?
[2 marks]
(d) Why was the writer frightened?
[2 marks]
(e) Why was the writer's husband disappointed?
[2 marks]
(f) What lesson did the writer learn from this experience?
[2 marks]
(g) “… passed to the great beyond …” What figure of speech is contained in this expression?
[2 marks]
(h) “… broke out in a cold sweat …” What is the meaning of this expression?
[2 marks]
(i) As I was driving out of the market car park.
(i). What is the grammatical name given to this expression as it is used in the passage?
(ii). What is its function?
[2 marks]
(j) For each of the following words, find another word or phrase which means the same and can replace it as it is used in the passage:
(i) halt; (ii) grave; (iii) provisions; (iv) excitedly; (v) stationary; (vi) unhurt
SECTION C
SUMMARY
[30 marks]
You are advised to spend about 40 minutes on this section.
1. Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it.
Fair play in sports demands strict adherence to the rules. It enjoins both players and athletes to abide by the rules of the competition. Unfortunately, in recent times, fair play has come under some form of threat. In times past, one hardly heard of violence in sports. Many people engaged in sporting activities as pastime or for the sheer love of it. But now violence has become topical. This may be so because sports has become a profession and sportsmen and women regard themselves as professionals. They take up sports as a full-time career. They do no work apart from sports. This being the main source of the huge salaries they earn, they need to win at all costs. Their success in sports guarantees them a bright future. It was the founder of the modern-day Olympics who noted that: "The important thing in sports is not to triumph but to compete ...... not victory but combat...... not winning but taking part." One would wish that these cherished words applied to professional sports as well.
The entry of big businesses into sports has encouraged a financial reward system. Companies are now willing to invest in it. Games, for example, are sponsored not because of their entertainment values but because they are money-making ventures. Thus, the more one excels, the more the earnings. Sportsmen and women are paid to promote a brand because there is an end profit for the business. The presence of business in sports has not only heightened interest and competitiveness but has also engendered in sportsmen and women the tendency to do violence.
Sports fanatics have also found an avenue to make money by betting. Some fans follow sporting events not because they derive pleasure but because they stand to make a financial gain if their team wins. Betting is not only on a team winning; one can also bet on players, on scores and on the number of fouls committed.
The results are quite evident now at some stadiums all over the world. In those places, sporting events are no longer occasions for celebration. Competitiveness is lost and rivalry has taken over. Competitors now see each other as "enemies" that must be conquered.
In those places, sporting events are theatres of war. For instance, football players go into a game with a killer instinct. This means that they must cheat, break rules and not concede defeat. The healthy rivalry that must be exhibited is all but lost completely.
This rivalry is not lost on the fans either. The fan base of a team is eager to impose their power over the fans of the opposing side. Very often, this creates tension. Sadly, in some situations, fans have unnecessarily died because of Violence. Happily, fair play is pretty much alive at sporting events.
(a) In three sentences, one for each, state three factors that have contributed to the seeming loss of fair play in sports.
[3 marks]
(b) In three sentences, one for each, state three effects of the seeming loss of fair play in sports.
[3 marks]