Commentary On Touching The Void By Joe Simpson

Specification A
Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts
Background
Touching the Void is a book by Joe Simpson. It is a true story of how he and
Simon Yates set out to become the first people to climb Siula Grande in Peru.
Following a disastrous accident in which Joe breaks his leg, Simon is forced to cut the rope supporting Joe. Simon returns down the mountain, believing Joe is dead. Although his leg is broken, Joe crawls his way back down the mountain and is eventually rescued.
The book is an autobiography, but unusually presents both Joe’s and Simon’s points of view in the first person. In 2003 the book was turned into an awardwinning documentary film of the same name.

Joe and Simon are mountain climbing in the Andes, when Joe has
a terrible accident. Overleaf are two accounts by Joe and Simon of what happened.

Assessment Objective 2(i)
Read with insight and engagement, making appropriate reference to texts and developing and sustaining interpretations of them.

Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

Touching the Void

Figure 1.1 From the 2003 documentary film Touching the Void.

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Joe’s account

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I hit the slope at the base of the cliff before I saw it coming. I was facing into the slope and both knees locked as I struck it. I felt a shattering blow in my knee, felt bones splitting, and screamed. The impact catapulted me over backwards and down the slope of the East Face. I slid, head-first, on my back.
The rushing speed of it confused me. I thought of the drop below but felt nothing. Simon would be ripped off the mountain. He couldn’t hold this. I screamed again as I jerked to a sudden violent stop.

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I hung, head down, on my back, left leg tangled in the rope above me and my right leg hanging slackly to one side. I lifted my head from the snow and stared, up across my chest, at a grotesque distortion in the right knee, twisting the leg into a strange zigzag. I didn’t connect it with the pain which burnt my groin. That had nothing to do with my knee. I kicked my left leg free of the rope and swung round until I was hanging against the snow on my chest, feet down. The pain eased. I kicked my left foot into the slope and stood up. 20

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Everything was still, silent. My thoughts raced madly. Then pain flooded down my thigh – a fierce burning fire coming down the inside of my thigh, seeming to ball in my groin, building and building until I cried out at it, and my breathing came in ragged gasps. My leg!... My leg!

A wave of nausea surged over me. I pressed my face into the snow, and the sharp cold seemed to calm me. Something terrible, something dark with dread occurred to me, and as I thought about it I felt the dark thought break into panic: ‘I’ve broken my leg, that’s it. I’m dead. Everyone said it… if there’s just two of you a broken ankle could turn into a death sentence… if it’s broken… if… It doesn’t hurt so much, maybe I’ve just ripped something.’
I kicked my right leg against the slope, feeling sure it wasn’t broken. My knee exploded. Bone grated, and the fireball rushed from groin to knee. I screamed.
I looked down at the knee and could see it was broken, yet I tried not to believe what I was seeing. It wasn’t just broken, it was ruptured, twisted, crushed, and I could see the kink in the joint and knew what had happened. The impact had driven my lower leg up through the knee joint. …
I dug my axes into the snow, and pounded my good leg deeply into the soft slope until I felt sure it wouldn’t slip. The effort brought back the nausea and I felt my head spin giddily to the point of fainting. I moved and a searing spasm of pain cleared away the faintness. I could see the summit of Seria Norte away to the west. I was not far below it. The sight drove home how desperately things had changed. We were above 19,000 feet, still on the ridge, and very much alone. I looked south at the small rise I had hoped to scale quickly and it seemed to grow with every second that I stared. I would never get over it.
Simon would not be able to get me up it. He would leave me. He had no choice. I held my breath, thinking about it. Left here? Alone?… For an age I felt overwhelmed at the notion of being left; I felt like screaming, and I felt like swearing, but stayed silent. If I said a word, I would panic. I could feel myself teetering on the edge of it.

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Simon’s account
Joe had disappeared behind a rise in the ridge and began moving faster than I could go. I was glad we had put the steep section behind us at last. … I felt tired and was grateful to be able to follow Joe’s tracks instead of breaking trail*.
I rested a while when I saw that Joe had stopped moving. Obviously he had found an obstacle and I thought I would wait until he started moving again.
When the rope moved again I trudged forward after it, slowly.
Suddenly there was a sharp tug as the rope lashed out taut across the slope.
I was pulled forward several feet as I pushed my axes into the snow and braced myself for another jerk. Nothing happened. I knew that Joe had fallen, but I couldn’t see him, so I stayed put. I waited for about ten minutes until the tautened rope went slack on the snow and I felt sure that Joe had got his weight off me. I began to move along his footsteps cautiously, half expecting something else to happen. I kept tensed up and ready to dig my axes in at the first sign of trouble.
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As I crested the rise, I could see down a slope to where the rope disappeared over the edge of a drop. I approached slowly, wondering what had happened.
When I reached the top of the drop I saw Joe below me. He had one foot dug in and was leaning against the slope with his face buried in the snow. I asked him what had happened and he looked at me in surprise. I knew he was injured, but the significance didn’t hit me at first.
He told me very calmly that he had broken his leg. He looked pathetic, and my immediate thought came without any emotion. … You’re dead… no two ways about it! I think he knew it too. I could see it in his face. It was all totally rational. I knew where we were, I took in everything around me instantly, and knew he was dead. It never occurred to me that I might also die. I accepted without question that I could get off the mountain alone. I had no doubt about that.

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*breaking trail: being in front

… Below him I could see thousands of feet of open face falling into the eastern glacier bay. I watched him quite dispassionately. I couldn’t help him, and it occurred to me that in all likelihood he would fall to his death. I wasn’t disturbed by the thought. In a way I hoped he would fall. I knew I couldn’t leave him while he was still fighting for it, but I had no idea how I might help him. I could get down. If I tried to get him down I might die with him. It didn’t frighten me. It just seemed a waste. It would be pointless. I kept staring at him, expecting him to fall…
Joe Simpson

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After you have finished reading
1. Do some web-based research yourself. You might want to look at: www.touchingthevoid.co.uk www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/joe-simpson-high-flyer-395867. html 2. Can you find other examples of mountain climbing incidents?
3. Are there other examples of explorers who have been seriously injured but have struggled to safety?

Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

4. In a small group or with a fellow student, discuss the following questions:
(a) Do you think it is acceptable to sacrifice the life of one person, to avoid two people dying?
(b) Should we admire people like Joe Simpson, or are these the sort of risks you accept if you take part in dangerous sports?

Understanding the text
Joe Simpson writes to describe his accident on the mountain and how he and
Simon felt about it and how they reacted to it. The audience for this autobiography is anyone who is interested in the story. Joe does not use any technical language associated with mountaineering, and in this way he does not seek to exclude the general reader. In fact, some of Joe’s account is written in very simple language that can easily be understood by a wide range of readers.
The key to understanding the piece is to appreciate the different ways that Joe and
Simon respond to the accident.
Complete the following table by referring closely to the passage.
Joe’s account
Joe uses a lot of short sentences.
Joe emphasises how physically painful his accident is.
Joe writes about being lonely.
Joe uses modal verbs (must, could, would, should, shall, will) to speculate about the future.
Joe uses punctuation to achieve a particular effect.
Simon’s account
Simon is careful and considered.
Simon is a realist and understands the situation. Simon is hard-hearted and uses unsympathetic language.
Simon uses modal verbs (must, could, would, should, shall, will) to speculate about the future.
Simon uses punctuation to achieve a particular effect.

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Evidence

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Matching task
• Find an example of each of these and say what effect it has:

º
º
º
º
º

ellipsis exclamation mark direct speech emotive language rhetorical questions.

Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

Speaking and listening task
• Imagine that you had witnessed Joe’s accident. Write and present a short and dramatic news item for the radio or TV news.

Writing tasks
• Think about an event, real or imaginary, that might seem very different depending upon your point of view. Write TWO first person accounts of the same event from two different standpoints.

• Take a very ordinary event, such as travelling to school, and try to write about it in such a way that it sounds dangerous and exciting.

Your Guide to Beach Safety
Background
The RNLI is the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, a charitable organisation that saves lives at sea in the UK and Republic of Ireland. It also produces leaflets such as the one shown here, giving advice to prevent people getting into trouble at the seaside.

Assessment Objective 2(i)
Read with insight and engagement, making appropriate reference to texts and developing and sustaining interpretations of them.

Before you start reading
1. Visit the RNLI web site to see the full extent of what it does: www.rnli.org.uk
2. Look at www.nhs.uk/livewell/healthyholidays/pages/beachsafety.aspx and watch the lifeguard’s presentation on beach safety. Consider how it is similar to, and how it differs from, the RNLI leaflet.
3. In a small group or with a fellow student, share your ideas on the following questions: (a) To reduce accidents, should there be an age limit below which young children should not be allowed to swim in the sea? What age should that be?
(b) All of the RNLI lifeboat crews and some of their beach lifeguards are volunteers. Do members of your group, or people that they know, give up their time to volunteer in some way? Explore why you think people volunteer.
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Carolyne Yard will never forget her

holiday in June 2007

‘It was our last day and I was relaxin g on the beach with my daughter and friend Mark. My sons,
Angus and Will, were swimming in the sea. But Mark noticed that the boys had been swept towards some rocks, and they started shouting for help. They’re big teenagers who don’t usually call for their mum so I knew something was seriously wrong.
‘They were caught in a strong rip current
, and they couldn’t swim back to shore. The water was like a whirlpool. They were so close, and yet in so much trouble.
‘Mark and a surfer called Mike got in the water to help while I dialled 999 for the Coastguard on my mobile phone.
They called the RNLI lifeguards from the neighbouring beach. It only took minutes for the rescue boat to arrive, but when you think your boys are going to drown, it seems to take a lifetime. I lost sight of them, which was terrifying.
‘One of the lifeguards, Bernadette, jumped into the water. Mike had helped Angus to get to one side of the current, and Bernadette helped them both up onto a rock.
Then she guided Mark and Will out of the current and between the rocks.
‘Angus and Will were shaking with shock. I was crying, and just so relieved that we were all back together safely.
It still makes me cry when I think about it. ‘I’ll certainly always go to a lifegua rd-patrolled beach in future, and I know the boys will too. I will be eternally grateful to the lifeguards – if they hadn’t been there that day, my boys would have drowned.’

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Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

ws to provide rk with lifeboat cre
Our lifeguards wo the beach to the service from a seamless rescue f seconds open sea. drowning inthe sur
When someone is on the beach ed expert lifesavers count, so we ne rk is ready to act. our lifeguards’ wo
As much as 95% of potential is, they look out for ing t eth preventative – tha y develop into som problems before the ive advice and information act worse, and give pro g its to beachgoers. continue expandin t we
The RNLI aims to whole country – bu
c.
service across the lifeguard port from the publi without sup can’t achieve this
£450 to equip and at least
Every year it costs u help us meet lifeguard – will yo
£900 to train each that need? to or go to rnli.org.uk you. k Phone [phone] e lives at sea. Than help sav donate now and shore fisherman cuing an off
Whether we’re res exists to save t to sea, the RNLI or a child swept ou
Life first.

Figure 1.2 Reproduced from the leaflet ‘On the Beach’ 2008 by permission of the RNLI.

Understanding the text
The text consists of a number of related but different individual texts, put together in a single leaflet. There is no named writer for most of the leaflet, but in all cases the texts’ purposes are to give information and advice. Through this they hope to reduce the number of people who get into trouble in the water and need help from the RNLI.
The key to understanding the leaflet is being able to recognise the different methods used to engage the interest of the reader. The most obvious difference between the leaflet and every other passage in the Anthology is the use of visual presentational devices, including images.
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Look through the text to complete the grid of images below.
Type of image

Describe the image

Intended effect

Photographic image 1

The photo of a boy and girl playing in the surf.

The children are happy and safe, presenting the seaside as a place for fun, for families and for both boys and girls.

Drawn images

Triangular road sign with three different central images.

Triangular signs in the
UK are those that give warnings. This is a familiar shorthand device to warn the readers of danger. The use of the exclamation mark stands for all other forms of possible danger.

Logos and lettering

RNLI flag

Photographic image 2

Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

Photographic image 3

First person / Second person
Advice leaflets are often written in the second person and address the reader directly as ‘you’. This is a strong and direct approach that helps to get the message across. The ‘True story’ section of the leaflet is a true story recounted by Carolyne
Yard. She uses the first person to enable the reader to understand what it felt like to be her, when her sons were nearly washed away by a strong current.
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Find TWO examples of each type of writing (first / second person).

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Explain why you think the writer has chosen first / second person and how effective you think they have been.

Layout
When looking at a leaflet it is important to comment on the layout features. Discuss the use of:
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sub-headings

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bullet-pointed lists

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the order in which the sections are placed.

Use of language
Compare the use of language in the ‘True story’ and ‘The RNLI’ sections.
Remember that although they both contribute to the overall impact of the leaflet, they are written in different ways for different purposes.

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Which text?

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Language feature

Find examples

Use of statistics and figures to present a factual case that cannot be denied.
Use of emotive language to connect with the reader on an emotional level. Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

Use of illustration to emphasise practical lifesaving by the RNLI.
Use of illustration to emphasise gratitude of those saved.

Speaking and listening tasks
• In groups, decide upon some important pieces of advice about road safety. Using the second person, present your advice to the rest of the class.

• Imagine that you were a reporter able to interview Carolyne Yard, her son and a lifeguard. Get the group to role play each of the roles in an effort to draw out advice about water safety.

Writing tasks
• Using illustrations, the second person and an eye witness account, design and produce a leaflet about road safety or about behaving safely in another situation, such as being safe online. You may wish to work in groups to devise this.

• Write a story entitled ‘The Rescue’.

Climate Change: The Facts
Background
The article overleaf was part of a booklet which came with a newspaper, and provided readers with information about key scientific issues facing the world today. Assessment Objective 2(i)
Read with insight and engagement, making appropriate reference to texts and developing and sustaining interpretations of them.

The passage is headed ‘Climate Change: The Facts’, and focuses on global warming as the main cause of this. Read the text and then do some further research into the topic.

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CLIMATE CHANGE: THE FACTS

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Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

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he subject of global warming has become impossible to ignore. But what are its implications? And is mankind really to blame?
Twenty years ago global warming was a fringe subject – it seemed absurd that we could be having an effect on the Earth’s climate. Today global warming has become a political hot potato and the majority of scientists agree that it is a reality and here to stay. What determines the temperature of the earth?

What is global warming?
Extra carbon dioxide [CO2] in the atmosphere enhances a natural process known as the greenhouse effect.
Greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, absorb heat and release it slowly. Without this process, Earth
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would be too cold for life to survive.
Over the past 200 years mankind has increased the proportion of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere, primarily by burning fossil fuels. The higher levels of greenhouse
Invisible infrared energy is radiated from the Earth to outer space

Solar energy emitted from the sun radiates to the Earth
The temperature of the Earth results from the balance of these two
The greenhouse effect on the atmosphere

SOURCE: HADLEY CENTRE

2 Most escapes to outer space and cools the Earth

1 Sunlight passes

through the atmosphere and warms the Earth

4 Some IR is trapped

by gasses in the air thus reducing the cooling

3 infrared

radiation is given off by the
Earth

CO2 is the major contributor to global warming
Current emissions effect over next 100 years

Projection of global average temperature 2100
IPPC estimate

Carbon dioxide

17C
16C

Nitrous oxide

15C

Others 396

14C
1880

Figure 1.3 Diagram of global warming.

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High

19C

Methane

10%

Medium

18C

63%

24%

Low

1920

1950

2000

2040

2080

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Is global warming really caused
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by humans?
Since 1958 scientists at the Mauna
Loa Observatory in Hawaii have taken continuous measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The lev- 90 els go up and down with the seasons, but overall they demonstrate a relentless rise.
Bubbles of gas from ice cores and the chemical composition of fossil shells provide us with a record of atmospheric carbon dioxide going back millions of years. There have been warm periods in the past where carbon dioxide was at levels similar to 100 those seen today. However, the rate of change that we see today is exceptional: carbon dioxide levels have never risen so fast. By 2000 they were 17% higher than in 1959.
Accompanying this rapid increase in carbon dioxide we see a rise in average global temperatures. Warming in the past 100 years has caused about a 0.8°C increase in global average temperature. Eleven 110 of the 12 years in the period 1995–
2006 rank among the top 12 warmest years since 1850.
There is little doubt that humanity is responsible for the rapid rise in carbon dioxide levels. The rise in temperatures that has accompanied our fossil fuel addiction seems too much of a coincidence to be just chance.
Most people now agree that our 120 actions are having an effect on
Earth’s climate.

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potentially pushing temperatures sky
high.
Is it just carbon dioxide we need to worry about?
No. Carbon dioxide is just one of a number of greenhouse gases, which include water vapour, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone. Livestock farming (farting cows) and rice paddy farming (rotting vegetation) have contributed to higher levels of methane in the atmosphere.
What is more, methane has a nasty sting in its tail. Although it only hangs around in the atmosphere for about
10 years, it is far more potent as a greenhouse gas, trapping about 20 times as much heat as carbon dioxide.

How hot will it get?
Estimates from some of the world’s best climate scientists – the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) – suggest that the average global temperature will have risen between 2.5°C and 10.4°C by
2100.
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Whether it will be the lower or upper end of this estimate is unclear.
Currently, oceans and trees are helping to mop up some of the heat by absorbing carbon dioxide, but eventually they will reach capacity and be unable to absorb more. At this point the atmosphere will take the full load,

Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

gases are causing our planet to warm
– global warming.

What are tipping points?
A steady rise in greenhouse
gases won’t necessarily cause a steady rise in global temperatures. Earth’s climate is highly complicated and scientists fear that many delicate thresholds exist, which once passed could trigger a dramatic change.
These thresholds have become known as ‘tipping points’.
One potential trigger could be the release of methane from methane clathrate compounds buried on the sea floor. Currently these deposits are frozen, but if the oceans warm sufficiently they could melt, burping vast quantities of methane into the atmosphere. Scientists fear that this sudden release may cause a runaway greenhouse effect.
How will global warming affect us? Although average global temperatures are predicted to rise, this doesn’t necessarily mean that we’ll be sitting in our deckchairs all year round. The extra energy from the added warmth in the Earth’s atmosphere will need to find a release, and the result is likely to be more extreme weather.
If we stop emitting CO2 now will it get better straight away?
Unfortunately not. Research shows that we are already committed to an average global temperature rise of nearly 1°C, lasting for at least the next 500 years.
Kate Ravilious

Adapted from an article published in the Guardian newspaper supplement –
‘Science Course Part III: The Earth’ (in association with the Science Museum)
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After you have finished reading
1. Do some web-based research yourself. This is a controversial subject and there are many viewpoints. Find out the arguments used by those who do not believe in global warming. Compare these with the arguments used in the passage.
2. In a small group or with a fellow student, share your ideas on the following question: Do you think governments should give priority to spending money on preventing global warming (by limiting the amount of greenhouse gases we emit), or on providing better services for people?

Understanding the text

Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

First of all it is important to understand what the purpose of the text is and who it is written for. The writer, Kate Ravilious, intends to inform the reader about the facts of global warming and to explain what global warming is, what it may cause and how badly the Earth may be affected.
The audience for this is the newspaper reader or anyone who is interested enough in the topic to read about it, but who may not know much about science.
In short, then, she has to present the subject in a scientific way (clear, logical and based on fact) but also in a way which will ensure any reader can understand it.
This is a challenging task and, in order to make it clearer, the article has a section of diagrams and charts which illustrate the ideas.
The following task will help you to focus on the key features of the presentation.
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tions
1
ses key ques
The writer u icle. her art to structure

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Look at the following statements about presentation, then decide how TRUE and how FALSE each description is:

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The writer uses scientific terms sparingly and usually tries to explain them.

The writer uses straightforwar d, direct language to mak e the explanatio ns clear.

phrasing to

6 The writer uses colloquial of her article.

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scientific
The writer uses complicated, points more convincing. language to make the

7 The writer uses facts and statistics, and quotes

scientific sources, as evidence for the points.

impact enhance the

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and e always simple
The sentences ar to the point.

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9 Th e writer uses a variety of sent ences to engage and su stain the read er’s interest.

The writer is careful to give a balanced view her subject.

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The writer uses emotive and colourful language to persuad e her readers.

of

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The writer is very biased.

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Evidence

Look at the illustration on page 10. Make a list of the ways in which this illustration makes the text clearer and adds to it.

Speaking and listening task
• Give an individual presentation to your class or year group on the topic of saving energy. You should give advice on how individuals can make a contribution to help prevent global warming.

Writing tasks

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Now choose the descriptions which you think are most true and find evidence to support each. Then complete the following table.

Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

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• Consider the following two statements:
‘Climate change is caused by human beings. Unless we change our ways, the planet will be destroyed.’
‘The more economic and technological progress we make, the better it will be for everyone on Earth.’

• With which of these viewpoints do you agree, and why?

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Assessment Objective 2(i)
Read with insight and engagement, making appropriate reference to texts and developing and sustaining interpretations of them.

A Game of Polo with a Headless Goat
Background
This extract comes from a book which was written as a spin-off from Emma
Levine’s television series about strange and unusual sports. It is a travelogue
(a book which describes travel in a foreign country) in which she describes these sports, the people involved and her experiences of filming them. In doing so, she gives an insight not just into the sports themselves, but into the lives and culture of the people who take part in (and watch) them.

Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

Before you start reading
1. Do some research yourself:
(a) Find some information about Emma Levine. You can visit her website at www.emma-levine.com. (b) Find a newspaper report on a motor race, perhaps a Formula 1 Grand Prix, which many consider to be the top race in motorsport.
(c) What is the strangest sport or game you know or can find information about? 2. In a small group or with a fellow student, share your ideas on the following questions: (a) Do you prefer to take part in sport or watch it?
(b) How important is sport in your life?
(c) Does the involvement of money in sport (for instance, gambling or excessive pay for sportspeople) ruin sport?

A Game of Polo with a Headless Goat
We drove off to find the best viewing spot, which turned out to be the crest of the hill so we could see the approaching race. I asked the lads if we could join in the ‘Wacky Races’ and follow the donkeys, and they loved the idea.
‘We’ll open the car boot, you climb inside and point your camera towards the race. As the donkeys overtake us, we’ll join the cars.’ ‘But will you try and get to the front?’ ‘Oh yes, that’s no problem.’

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The two lads who had never been interested in this Karachi sport were suddenly fired up with enthusiasm. We waited for eternity on the brow of the hill, me perched in the boot with a zoom lens pointing out. Nearly one hour later I was beginning to feel rather silly when the only action was a villager on a wobbly bicycle, who nearly fell off as he cycled past and gazed around at us.
Several vehicles went past, and some donkey-carts carrying spectators. ‘Are they coming?’ we called out to them. ‘Coming, coming,’ came the reply. I was beginning to lose faith in its happening, but the lads remained confident. 14

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Figure 1.4 Donkey racing in Karachi.

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Just as I was assuming that the race had been cancelled, we spotted two approaching donkey-carts in front of a cloud of fumes and dust created by some fifty vehicles roaring up in their wake. As they drew nearer, Yaqoob revved up the engine and began to inch the car out of the lay-by. The two donkeys were almost dwarfed by their entourage; but there was no denying their speed – the
Kibla donkey is said to achieve speeds of up to 40 kph, and this looked close. The two were neck-and-neck, their jockeys perched on top of the tiny carts using their whips energetically, although not cruelly.
The noise of the approaching vehicles grew; horns tooting, bells ringing, and the special rattles used just for this purpose (like maracas, a metal container filled with dried beans). Men standing on top of their cars and vans, hanging out of taxis and perched on lorries, all cheered and shouted, while the vehicles jostled to get to the front of the convoy.

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Yaqoob chose exactly the right moment to edge out of the road and swerve in front of the nearest car, finding the perfect place to see the two donkeys and at the front of the vehicles. This was Formula One without rules, or a city-centre rush hour gone anarchic*; a complete flouting* of every type of traffic rule and common sense.

*anarchic: lawless
*flouting: breaking

Our young driver relished this unusual test of driving skills. It was survival of the fittest, and depended upon the ability to cut in front of a vehicle with a sharp flick of the steering wheel (no lane discipline here); quick reflexes to spot a gap in the traffic for a couple of seconds; nerves of steel, and an effective horn. There were two races – the motorized spectators at the back; in front, the two donkeys, still running close and amazingly not put off by the uproar just behind them.
Ahead of the donkeys, oncoming traffic – for it was a main road – had to dive into the ditch and wait there until we had passed. Yaqoob loved it. We stayed near to the front, his hand permanently on the horn and his language growing more colourful with every vehicle that tried to cut in front.
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The road straightened and levelled, and everyone picked up speed as we neared the end of the race. But just as they were reaching the finishing line, the hospital gate, there was a near pile-up as the leading donkey swerved, lost his footing and he and the cart tumbled over. The race was over.

Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

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And then the trouble began. I assumed the winner was the one who completed the race but it was not seen that way by everyone. Apart from the two jockeys and ‘officials’ (who, it turned out, were actually monitoring the race) there were over a hundred punters who had all staked money on the race, and therefore had strong opinions. Some were claiming that the donkey had fallen because the other one had been ridden too close to him. Voices were raised, fists were out and tempers rising. Everyone gathered around one jockey and official, while the bookmakers were trying to insist that the race should be re-run.
Yaqoob and Iqbal were nervous of hanging around a volatile situation. They agreed to find out for me what was happening, ordering me to stay inside the car as they were swallowed up by the crowd. They emerged sometime later. ‘It’s still not resolved,’ said Iqbal, ‘but it’s starting to get nasty. I think we should leave.’ As we drove away, Yaqoob reflected on his driving skills. ‘I really enjoyed that,’ he said as we drove off at a more sedate pace. ‘But I don’t even have my licence yet because I’m underage!’
They both found this hilarious, but I was glad he hadn’t told me before; an inexperienced, underage driver causing a massive pile-up in the middle of the high-stakes donkey race could have caused problems.
Emma Levine

Understanding the text
Emma Levine’s purpose in writing her book was to describe and inform. She obviously has to engage and hold the reader’s interest. As you study this text, you need to think about how she does this.

Reading tasks
•
On the surface the passage seems a straightforward description and narrative of the race, but it isn’t. First of all, there is not just one race happening, but three:

º
º
º

The donkey race
The spectators’ race
The writer’s race to get the best pictures.

Find one quotation for each of these, to show that there are three races taking place. • Is the main focus of the reader’s interest the race, or the people involved? What do you think? Find some evidence to support your point of view.

16

The passage can be defined as a series of linked paragraphs, describing events in a sequence of time and concluding with the end of the race and the writer’s overview of what happened. The internal structure is much more complex than this simple outline suggests.

Spec A

Structure and form

Structure and form tasks
• The following list presents the kinds of writing that can be found in the passage: dialogue evaluation informational writing

narrative

commentary

Read through the text and highlight or note down one example of each of the above kinds of writing.

• How does each of the examples you have found add to the reader’s interest in the passage?

What can I say about language?
Most newspaper reports of sports races are serious in tone, and try to give the facts of the race and what it was like. Emma Levine’s purpose is much more complicated.
In this passage there is a real mixture of the comic and the serious, with a lot of information given as well. You need to consider each part of it carefully.
Complete the following table to help you understand how language is used.
Question

Answer and evidence

What words and phrases try to bring out the humour of the race?

Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

description

1. the ‘Wacky Races’ – This reference in the first paragraph to a famous TV cartoon series puts the race in a comic context.
2.
3.

What words and phrases help to convey the excitement of the races?
• words that convey movement

1. some fifty vehicles roaring up in their wake – This conveys the speed of the following cars and the speed of the donkeys. 2.
3.

• words that suggest sound

1.
2.
3.

• words that create visual images

1.
2.
3.
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Spec A

Question

Answer and evidence

What words and phrases show that the passage has some serious moments?

1. Yaqoob and Iqbal were nervous of hanging around a volatile situation –
This shows the danger of the situation and how quickly the mood of the spectators might change.
2.
3.

Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

Speaking and listening tasks
Either:
• Explain the rules of a game or sport to a stranger who knows nothing about it. or: • Give a commentary on an exciting race, e.g. Grand Prix, athletics, horse race.

Writing tasks
• Write a short story about a race or a hunt.
• Write a newspaper report on a game involving a team sport – for instance, football, cricket or basketball.

• ‘ Taking part in sport is more important than winning.’ Argue either in favour of this statement or against it.

Assessment Objective 2(i)
Read with insight and engagement, making appropriate reference to texts and developing and sustaining interpretations of them.

A Passage to Africa
Background
George Alagiah was born in Sri Lanka, but when he was five years old his family moved to live in West Africa. He now lives in the United Kingdom and works as a newscaster for the BBC.
This passage comes from his book A Passage to Africa. In this autobiography, he writes about his life and experiences as a TV reporter working mainly in
Africa. In this extract, he writes about a report he made when he was covering the civil war in Somalia for the BBC.

Before you start reading
1. Find some information about George Alagiah. You can look for a profile on him at www.bbc.co.uk.
2. Try to find out something about the civil war in Somalia in the 1990s, which continues to this day.
3. In a small group or with a fellow student, share your ideas on the following questions: 18

(b) Have you ever watched a news programme reporting a war or a humanitarian crisis, for instance a famine or an earthquake? What do you remember about it and the effect it had on you?

Spec A

(a) Why do you think people watch news on television? Do you watch it? If you don’t, why not?

(c) Does the TV reporting of terrible events (e.g. floods, famine) help the people who are suffering?

I saw a thousand hungry, lean, scared and betrayed faces as I criss-crossed
Somalia between the end of 1991 and December 1992, but there is one I will never forget.
I was in a little hamlet just outside Gufgaduud, a village in the back of beyond, a place the aid agencies had yet to reach. In my notebook I had jotted down instructions on how to get there. ‘Take the Badale Road for a few kilometres till the end of the tarmac, turn right on to a dirt track, stay on it for about forty-five minutes – Gufgaduud. Go another fifteen minutes approx. – like a ghost village.’
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30

In the ghoulish manner of journalists on the hunt for the most striking pictures, my cameraman and I tramped from one hut to another. What might have appalled us when we’d started our trip just a few days before no longer impressed us much. The search for the shocking is like the craving for a drug: you require heavier and more frequent doses the longer you’re at it.
Pictures that stun the editors one day are written off as the same old stuff the next. This sounds callous, but it is just a fact of life. It’s how we collect and compile the images that so move people in the comfort of their sitting rooms back home.

Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

A Passage to Africa

There was Amina Abdirahman, who had gone out that morning in search of wild, edible roots, leaving her two young girls lying on the dirt floor of their hut. They had been sick for days, and were reaching the final, enervating stages of terminal hunger. Habiba was ten years old and her sister, Ayaan, was nine. By the time Amina returned, she had only one daughter. Habiba had died. No rage, no whimpering, just a passing away – that simple, frictionless, motionless deliverance from a state of half-life to death itself. It was, as I said at the time in my dispatch, a vision of ‘famine away from the headlines, a famine of quiet suffering and lonely death’.
There was the old woman who lay in her hut, abandoned by relations who were too weak to carry her on their journey to find food. It was the smell that drew me to her doorway: the smell of decaying flesh. Where her shinbone should have been there was a festering wound the size of my hand.
She’d been shot in the leg as the retreating army of the deposed dictator took revenge on whoever it found in its way. The shattered leg had fused into the gentle V-shape of a boomerang. It was rotting; she was rotting. You could see it in her sick, yellow eyes and smell it in the putrid air she recycled with every struggling breath she took.
And then there was the face I will never forget.

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Spec A
Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

Figure 1.5 George Alagiah reporting on the Somali War in 1991.

*revulsion: disgust

40

*surreptitiously: secretly

50

My reaction to everyone else I met that day was a mixture of pity and revulsion*. Yes, revulsion. The degeneration of the human body, sucked of its natural vitality by the twin evils of hunger and disease, is a disgusting thing. We never say so in our TV reports. It’s a taboo that has yet to be breached. To be in a feeding centre is to hear and smell the excretion of fluids by people who are beyond controlling their bodily functions. To be in a feeding centre is surreptitiously* to wipe your hands on the back of your trousers after you’ve held the clammy palm of a mother who has just cleaned vomit from her child’s mouth.
There’s pity, too, because even in this state of utter despair they aspire to a dignity that is almost impossible to achieve. An old woman will cover her shrivelled body with a soiled cloth as your gaze turns towards her. Or the old and dying man who keeps his hoe next to the mat with which, one day soon, they will shroud his corpse, as if he means to go out and till the soil once all this is over.
I saw that face for only a few seconds, a fleeting meeting of eyes before the face turned away, as its owner retreated into the darkness of another hut. In those brief moments there had been a smile, not from me, but from the face. It was not a smile of greeting, it was not a smile of joy – how could it be? – but it was a smile nonetheless. It touched me in a way I could not explain. It moved me in a way that went beyond pity or revulsion.

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*inured: hardened

20

What was it about that smile? I had to find out. I urged my translator to ask the man why he had smiled. He came back with an answer. ‘It’s just that he was embarrassed to be found in this condition,’ the translator explained. And then it clicked. That’s what the smile had been about. It was the feeble smile that goes with apology, the kind of smile you might give if you felt you had done something wrong.
Normally inured* to stories of suffering, accustomed to the evidence of deprivation, I was unsettled by this one smile in a way I had never been before. There is an unwritten code between the journalist and his subjects

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Spec A

in these situations. The journalist observes, the subject is observed. The journalist is active, the subject is passive. But this smile had turned the tables on that tacit agreement. Without uttering a single word, the man had posed a question that cut to the heart of the relationship between me and him, between us and them, between the rich world and the poor world. If he was embarrassed to be found weakened by hunger and ground down by conflict, how should I feel to be standing there so strong and confident?

80

I have one regret about that brief encounter in Gufgaduud. Having searched through my notes and studied the dispatch that the BBC broadcast, I see that I never found out what the man’s name was. Yet meeting him was a seminal moment in the gradual collection of experiences we call context. Facts and figures are the easy part of journalism. Knowing where they sit in the great scheme of things is much harder. So, my nameless friend, if you are still alive, I owe you one.
George Alagiah

Understanding the text
George Alagiah’s purpose is to explain his role as a reporter, giving his thoughts and feelings about a particularly challenging incident. He is also trying to challenge us as readers, to make us think about our role.

Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

I resolved there and then that I would write the story of Gufgaduud with all the power and purpose I could muster. It seemed at the time, and still does, the only adequate answer a reporter can give to the man’s question.

The following questions will help you into this aspect of the text. Read the text again and try to find answers to the following questions. Remember, more than one point can be made in answer to each question.
Question

Answer and evidence

What kinds of pictures and stories do the television news companies want?

1. Powerful images – the most striking pictures 2.
3.

What do the television news companies not want to show or report? 1. Yesterday’s news – old pictures are written off as the same old stuff
2.
3.

What do we learn about TV audiences from this passage?

1.
2.
3.

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Spec A

The man’s smile
This smile is the key to a full understanding of the passage because it makes such an impact on the writer.
1. Look at the following list of statements about the smile and then find a quotation to illustrate each one: it reverses roles

it asks questions

it stimulates actions

it affects the writer very powerfully

Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

2. Now try to put into your own words what you think the importance of the smile is. Contradictions
What happens in the passage is often puzzling because of the contradictions. For instance, a smile is usually a sign of happiness, but not here. Can you find any other examples of things which seem to be the opposite of what they should be?

What can I say about language?
In this passage George Alagiah is writing both as a journalist and about being a journalist. He describes what he saw in a vivid way but at the same time he gives the reader an insight into the world of reporting where journalists compete with each other to get the highest ratings.
Complete the following table to think about the differing uses and kinds of language in the passage.
Language style

Example

Emotive words are used to convey the world of the victims.

1. Adjectives emphasise their poverty –
e.g. hungry, lean, scared
2.
3.

Words give you a vivid image of the world of the television journalist.

1. They are like predators – e.g. on the hunt 2.
3.

Sentence structure is varied to engage the reader.

1. Incomplete sentences are used for effect, for instance: And then there was the face I will never forget.
2.
3.

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Spec A

Writing tasks
• Imagine you are a television or radio news reporter:

º
º

Describe a vivid and dramatic scene for a television news item. You can either give this account live to the class or write the script for it.
Write an entry for a personal diary giving your real thoughts and feelings about what you saw.

• In his book, George Alagiah writes, ‘In global terms, if you have a roof over your

• Write a short story entitled ‘The Smile’.

The Explorer’s Daughter
Background
Kari Herbert, whose father was a polar explorer, lived as a child with her family in northwest Greenland in the Arctic. She was so fascinated by the place she returned there later as an adult to write about it.
The book from which this extract is taken is partly a memoir (a form of autobiography) and partly a travel book, giving the reader information about this strange and beautiful place, its people and its animals. She found that the way of life of the Inughuit people was changing under the impact of the modern world, but that they still retained aspects of their traditional way of life, for instance hunting for food and driving teams of dogs.

Assessment Objective 2(i)
Read with insight and engagement, making appropriate reference to texts and developing and sustaining interpretations of them.

Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

head, food on the table, a doctor who will not charge you when you are ill and a school place that does not depend on your ability to pay, then, my friend, you are rich.’ Comment on this, giving your ideas on what makes you rich.

A major part of the passage is an account of a hunt for narwhal whales.
Hunting is a very emotive issue and many conservationists argue that whales should be protected. Kari Herbert’s feelings are divided on this topic. She sympathises with both the narwhal and the hunters, who face incredible danger. They hunt in kayaks – flimsy canoes – in water so cold that they would die quickly if their kayak overturned.

Before you start reading
1. Do some research yourself:
(a) Find some information about Kari Herbert. You can visit her website: www.kariherbert.com. (b) Find out as much as you can about the Inughuit people (sometimes spelt
Inuit and formerly known as Eskimo) and their way of life.
(c) Find pictures of the narwhal and information about them.
2. Some people think that hunting animals should be banned. In a small group or with a fellow student, share your ideas on the following questions:
(a) What arguments can you think of in favour of hunting animals?
(b) What arguments can you think of against hunting animals?
(c) Do you think hunting wild animals should be banned?
(d) How important is it to protect endangered species?
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Spec A
Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

The Explorer's Daughter

Figure 1.6 Two narwhal in the Arctic Ocean.

pods*: small groups of whales fjord*: a long, narrow inlet of the sea with steep sides

10

Two hours after the last of the hunters had returned and eaten, narwhal were spotted again, this time very close. Within an hour even those of us on shore could with the naked eye see the plumes of spray from the narwhal catching the light in a spectral play of colour. Two large pods* of narwhal circled in the fjord*, often looking as if they were going to merge, but always slowly, methodically passing each other by. Scrambling back up to the lookout I looked across the glittering kingdom in front of me and took a sharp intake of breath. The hunters were dotted all around the fjord. The evening light was turning butter-gold, glinting off man and whale and catching the soft billows of smoke from a lone hunter’s pipe. From where we sat at the lookout it looked as though the hunters were close enough to touch the narwhal with their bare hands and yet they never moved.
Distances are always deceptive in the Arctic, and I fell to wondering if the narwhal existed at all or were instead mischievous tricks of the shifting light.
The narwhal rarely stray from High Arctic waters, escaping only to the slightly more temperate waters towards the Arctic Circle in the dead of winter, but never entering the warmer southern seas. In summer the hunters of Thule are fortunate to witness the annual return of the narwhal to the Inglefield Fjord, on the side of which we now sat.

20

mattak or blubber*: the fatty skin of the whale

scurvy*: a painful, weakening disease caused by lack of vitamin C

24

The narwhal is an essential contributor to the survival of the hunters in the High Arctic. The mattak or blubber* of the whale is rich in necessary minerals and vitamins, and in a place where the climate prohibits the growth of vegetables or fruit, this rich source of vitamin C was the one reason that the Eskimos have never suffered from scurvy*. For centuries the blubber of the whales was also the only source of light and heat, and the dark rich meat is still a valuable part of the diet for both man and dogs (a single narwhal can feed a team of dogs for an entire month). Its single ivory tusk, which can grow up to six feet in length, was used for harpoon tips and handles for other hunting implements (although the

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50

The women clustered on the knoll of the lookout, binoculars pointing in every direction, each woman focusing on her husband or family member, occasionally spinning round at a small gasp or jump as one of the women saw a hunter near a narwhal. Each wife knew her husband instinctively and watched their progress intently; it was crucial to her that her husband catch a narwhal – it was part of their staple diet, and some of the mattak and meat could be sold to other hunters who hadn’t been so lucky, bringing in some much-needed extra income. Every hunter was on the water. It was like watching a vast, waterborne game with the hunters spread like a net around the sound.
The narwhal are intelligent creatures, their senses are keen and they talk to one another under the water. Their hearing is particularly developed and they can hear the sound of a paddling kayak from a great distance. That was why the hunters had to sit so very still in the water.
One hunter was almost on top of a pair of narwhal, and they were huge. He gently picked up his harpoon and aimed – in that split second my heart leapt for both hunter and narwhal. I urged the man on in my head; he was so close, and so brave to attempt what he was about to do – he was miles from land in a flimsy kayak, and could easily be capsized and drowned. The hunter had no rifle, only one harpoon with two heads and one bladder. It was a foolhardy exercise and one that could only inspire respect. And yet at the same time my heart also urged the narwhal to dive, to leave, to survive.

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tupilaks*: figures with magical powers, charms Spec A

ivory was found to be brittle and not hugely satisfactory as a weapon), for carving protective tupilaks*, and even as a central beam for their small ancient dwellings. Strangely, the tusk seems to have little use for the narwhal itself; they do not use the tusk to break through ice as a breathing hole, nor will they use it to catch or attack prey, but rather the primary use seems to be to disturb the top of the sea bed in order to catch Arctic halibut for which they have a particular predilection*. Often the ends of their tusks are worn down or even broken from such usage.

predilection*: liking

Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

30

This dilemma stayed with me the whole time that I was in Greenland. I understand the harshness of life in the Arctic and the needs of the hunters and their families to hunt and live on animals and sea mammals that we demand to be protected because of their beauty. And I know that one cannot afford to be sentimental in the Arctic. ‘How can you possibly eat seal?’ I have been asked over and over again. True, the images that bombarded us several years ago of men battering seals for their fur hasn’t helped the issue of polar hunting, but the Inughuit do not kill seals using this method, nor do they kill for sport. They use every part of the animals they kill, and most of the food in Thule is still brought in by the huntergatherers and fishermen. Imported goods can only ever account for part of the food supply; there is still only one annual supply ship that makes it through the ice to Qaanaaq, and the small twice-weekly plane from West
Greenland can only carry a certain amount of goods. Hunting is still an absolute necessity in Thule.
Kari Herbert

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Spec A

Understanding the text
Kari Herbert sympathises with both hunter and hunted, and this tension is shown in this passage. Complete the following table to highlight this aspect of the passage.
Question

Answer and evidence

Why do the Inughuit hunt the narwhal? Find as many reasons as you can. 1. Its meat provides crucial food – a valuable part of the diet for both man and dogs
2.

Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

3.
What details show the difficulties and dangers faced by the Inughuit in the hunt? 1.

What details show the writer’s respect and sympathy for the narwhal?

1.

2.
3.

2.
3.

What can I say about language?
This passage has many purposes. The writer uses language in differing ways to fulfil these. She uses description to convey the beauty of the setting, gives us information about the Inughuit and the narwhal, dramatises the hunt, and gives us an insight into her own thoughts and feelings. Complete the following table to help you sort out these various strands.
Language style

Evidence

Language to convey the effects of light

1. glittering kingdom
2.
3.

Language to give information: factual, scientific other specialised language

1. Precise, scientific language makes the information more authoritative
– [Its] mattak or blubber… is rich in necessary minerals and vitamins
2.
3.

Language to create tension

1. The way the women react suggest their nervousness – e.g. spinning round at a small gasp
2.
3.

26

Evidence

Language to show the conflict in the writer’s personal feelings and thoughts

Spec A

Language style

1.
2.
3.

Speaking and listening task
• Your class is to debate the topic ‘All sports involving unnecessary cruelty to animals

Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

should be banned’. Write the script for a speech to be given in this debate arguing either in favour of this view or against it.

Writing tasks
• Write about a place you know well, or have re-visited, that has changed significantly. Analyse the ways in which it has changed, giving your thoughts and feelings about these changes.

• Some people think that not enough is being done to preserve traditions and customs. What aspects of your way of life would you most want to keep and why?

Explorers, or boys messing about? Either way, taxpayer gets rescue bill
Background
This is a newspaper article that tells the story of two men rescued by the
Chilean Navy when their helicopter crashed in the sea off Antarctica.

Assessment Objective 2(i)
Read with insight and engagement, making appropriate reference to texts and developing and sustaining interpretations of them.

Before you start reading
1. Do some web-based research yourself.
(a) You might want to look at the original article: www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2003/jan/28/stevenmorris. (b) Compare this with how it was reported in other newspapers such as: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-156876/Britons-rescued-Antarctichelicopter-crash.html. Or: www.allbusiness.com/services/museums-art-galleries-botanicalzoological/4359095-1.html.
2. In a small group or with a fellow student, share your ideas on the following questions: (a) Do you think it is fair that the taxpayer has to pay for people to be rescued, such as these two explorers?
27

Spec A

(b) What do you see as the advantages and disadvantages of:
(i) requiring all explorers to buy additional insurance?
(ii) explorers having to buy licences from the government, without which they would not be allowed to explore?
(iii) explorers being required to do work in the community to repay any money spent on rescuing them?

EXPLORERS,
EITHER

WAY, TAXPAYER GETS RESCUE BILL

Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

T

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20

Falmouth*: coastal town in Cornwall, England

30

40

28

OR BOYS MESSING ABOUT?

heir last expedition ended in farce when the Russians threatened to send in military planes to intercept them as they tried to cross into Siberia via the icebound Bering Strait.
Yesterday a new adventure undertaken by British explorers Steve Brooks and Quentin Smith almost led to tragedy when their helicopter plunged into the sea off Antarctica.
The men were plucked from the icy water by a Chilean naval ship after a nine-hour rescue which began when
Mr Brooks contacted his wife, Jo Vestey, on his satellite phone asking for assistance. The rescue involved the Royal
Navy, the RAF and British coastguards.
Last night there was resentment in some quarters that the men’s adventure had cost the taxpayers of Britain and Chile tens of thousands of pounds.
Experts questioned the wisdom of taking a small helicopter – the fourseater Robinson R44 has a single engine – into such a hostile environment.
There was also confusion about what exactly the men were trying to achieve.
A website set up to promote the Bering
Strait expedition claims the team were planning to fly from the north to south pole in their ‘trusty helicopter’.
But Ms Vestey claimed she did not know what the pair were up to, describing them as ‘boys messing about with a helicopter’. The drama began at around 1 am
British time when Mr Brooks, 42, and
40-year-old Mr Smith, also known as
Q, ditched into the sea 100 miles off
Antarctica, about 36 miles north of

Figure 1.7 A Robinson R44 helicopter.

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Smith Island, and scrambled into their liferaft. Mr Brooks called his wife in London on his satellite phone. She said: ‘He said they were both in the liferaft but were okay and could I call the emergency people?’
Meanwhile, distress signals were being beamed from the ditched helicopter and from Mr Brooks’ Breitling emergency watch, a wedding present.
The signals from the aircraft were deciphered by Falmouth* coastguard and passed on to the rescue coordination centre at RAF Kinloss in Scotland.
The Royal Navy’s ice patrol ship,
HMS Endurance, which was 180 miles away surveying uncharted waters, began steaming towards the scene and dispatched its two Lynx helicopters.
One was driven back because of poor visibility but the second was on its way when the men were picked up by a
Chilean naval vessel at about 10.20 am
British time.
Though the pair wore survival suits and the weather at the spot where they

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Spec A

But they were forced to call a halt after the Russian authorities told them they would scramble military helicopters to lift them off the ice if they crossed the border.
Ironically, one of the aims of the expedition, for which Mr Smith provided air back-up, was to demonstrate how good relations between east and west had become.
The wisdom of the team’s latest adventure was questioned by, among others, Günter Endres, editor of Jane’s
Helicopter Markets and Systems, who said: ‘I’m surprised they used the R44.
I wouldn’t use a helicopter like that to go so far over the sea. It sounds as if they were pushing it to the maximum.’
A spokesman for the pair said it was not known what had gone wrong. The flying conditions had been ‘excellent’.
The Ministry of Defence said the taxpayer would pick up the bill, as was normal in rescues in the UK and abroad. The spokesperson said it was
‘highly unlikely’ it would recover any of the money.
Last night the men were on their way to the Chilean naval base Eduardo Frei, where HMS Endurance was to pick them up. Ms Vestey said: ‘They have been checked and appear to be well. I don’t know what will happen to them once they have been picked up by HMS
Endurance – they’ll probably have their bottoms kicked and be sent home the long way.’
Steven Morris

Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

ditched was clear, one Antarctic explorer told Mr Brooks’ wife it was ‘nothing short of a miracle’ that they had survived.
Both men are experienced adventurers. Mr Brooks, a property developer from London, has taken part in expeditions to 70 countries in 15 years. He has trekked solo to Everest base camp and walked barefoot for three days in the Himalayas. He has negotiated the
80 white water rapids of the Zambezi river by kayak and survived a charge by a silver back gorilla in the Congo. He is also a qualified mechanical engineer and pilot.
He and his wife spent their honeymoon flying the helicopter from Alaska to Chile. The 16,000-mile trip took three months.
Mr Smith, also from London, claims
90 to have been flying since the age of five.
He has twice flown a helicopter around the globe and won the world freestyle helicopter flying championship.
Despite their experience, it is not the first time they have hit the headlines for the wrong reasons.
In April, Mr Brooks and another explorer, Graham Stratford, were poised to become the first to complete a
100 crossing of the 56-mile wide frozen
Bering Strait between the US and
Russia in an amphibious vehicle,
Snowbird VI, which could carve its way through ice floes and float in the water in between.
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Adapted from an article published in the Guardian newspaper, Tuesday January 28
2003

Understanding the text
On the surface this may appear to be an information text, as the article explains what happened to the two men and how they were rescued. But beyond this, the writer takes a strongly critical stance on what he sees as irresponsible behaviour on the part of the two explorers. The key to understanding the passage is recognising how the writer makes his opinions clear.
The following table will help you into this aspect of the text. Read it through and try to find answers to the following questions.

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Spec A

The writer’s opinions

Explanation and evidence

The two explorers are presented as childish. 1. Mr Smith has a nickname, which suggests a juvenile nature.
2. When they get in trouble they phone home, like running home to their mother.

Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

3. Ms Vestey dismisses them as boys and describes their antics as messing. The writer uses irony to express his opinions. 1. Mr Smith’s nickname is ironic as Q is the character from James Bond who is good with technical devices.
2.
3.

The two explorers are not really as expert as they claim to be.

1.
2.
3.

The Navy is used to criticise the two men. 1.
2.
3.

The writer uses experts to voice his criticisms for him.

1.
2.
3.

The writer uses emotive language.

1.
2.
3.

Now see if you can write a single paragraph that directly expresses how the writer feels, rather than using the range of indirect criticisms that the writer uses.

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Background
Ellen MacArthur achieved fame as a yachtswoman, breaking the world record for a solo circumnavigation of the globe by a woman in 2001 and by anyone in 2005. Her writing is autobiographical, a true story in which she describes her attempt to repair the mast.

Assessment Objective 2(i)
Read with insight and engagement, making appropriate reference to texts and developing and sustaining interpretations of them.

Spec A

Taking on the World

Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

The key to understanding this passage is being able to appreciate the dangers that Ellen faced, how she reacted to them and what this tells us about her character. Before you start reading
1. Do some web-based research yourself:
(a) You might want to look at www.ellenmacarthur.com or www.ellenmacarthurtrust.org. (b) Find out about the sort of boat that Ellen sailed and what some of the technical language she uses actually means. See if you can find some images to support your research.
2. In a small group or with a fellow student, discuss the following:
(a) What makes some people want to push themselves to be the best, like Ellen
MacArthur?
(b) Is it brave and adventurous?
(c) Should we admire people like Ellen?
(d) What record would you try to break if you were able?

Taking on the World

10

I climbed the mast on Christmas Eve, and though I had time to get ready, it was the hardest climb to date. I had worked through the night preparing for it, making sure I had all the tools, mouse lines* and bits I might need, and had agonized for hours over how I should prepare the halyard* so that it would stream out easily below me and not get caught as I climbed.
When it got light I decided that the time was right. I kitted up in my middle-layer clothes as I didn’t want to wear so much that I wouldn’t be able to move freely up there. The most dangerous thing apart from falling off is to be thrown against the mast, and though I would be wearing a helmet it would not be difficult to break bones up there.
I laid out the new halyard on deck, flaking it neatly so there were no twists. As I took the mast in my hands and began to climb I felt almost as if I was stepping on to the moon – a world over which I had no control. You can’t ease the sheets* or take a reef *, nor can you alter the settings for the autopilot.
If something goes wrong you are not there to attend to it. You are a passive observer looking down at your boat some 90 feet below you. After climbing

mouse line*: length of wire wrapped across the mouth of a hook, or through a shackle pin and around the shackle, for the sake of security halyard*: a rope used for raising and lowering sails sheet*: a line to control the sails reef*: reduces area of sails

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Spec A
Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

jumar*: a climbing device that grips the rope so that it can be climbed

20

30

spreader*: a bar attached to a yacht’s mast

40

50

60

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just a couple of metres I realized how hard it was going to be, I couldn’t feel my fingers – I’d need gloves, despite the loss in dexterity. I climbed down, getting soaked as we ploughed into a wave – the decks around my feet were awash. I unclipped my jumar* from the halyard and put on a pair of sailing gloves. There would be no second climb on this one – I knew that I would not have the energy.
As I climbed my hands were more comfortable, and initially progress was positive. But it got harder and harder as I was not only pulling my own weight up as I climbed but also the increasingly heavy halyard – nearly 200 feet of rope by the time I made it to the top. The physical drain came far less from the climbing than from the clinging on. The hardest thing is just to hang on as the mast slices erratically through the air. There would be the odd massive wave which I could feel us surf down, knowing we would pile into the wave in front. I would wrap my arms around the mast and press my face against its cold and slippery carbon surface, waiting for the shuddering slowdown. Eyes closed and teeth gritted, I hung on tight, wrists clenched together, and hoped. Occasionally on the smaller waves I would be thrown before I could hold on tight, and my body and the tools I carried were thrown away from the mast; I’d be hanging on by just one arm, trying to stop myself from smacking back into the rig.
By the third spreader* I was exhausted; the halyard was heavier and the motion more violent. I held on to her spreader base and hung there, holding tight to breathe more deeply and conjure up more energy. But I realized that the halyard was tight and that it had caught on something. I knew that if I went down to free it I would not have the energy to climb up once again. I tugged and tugged on the rope – the frustration was unreal. It had to come, quite simply the rope had to come free. Luckily with all the pulling I managed to create enough slack to make it to the top, but now I was even more exhausted. I squinted at the grey sky above me and watched the masthead whip across the clouds. The wind whistled past us, made visible by the snow that had begun to fall.
Below the sea stretched out for ever, the size and length of the waves emphasized by this new aerial view.
This is what it must look like to the albatross. I rallied once more and left the safety of the final spreader for my last hike to the top. The motion was worse than ever, and as I climbed I thought to myself, not far now, kiddo, come on, just keep moving...
As the mast-head came within reach there was a short moment of relief; at least there was no giving up now I had made it – whatever happened
Figure 1.8 Ellen after crossing the finish line at
Ushant, in a later race. now I had the whole mast to climb

Understanding the text
Ellen faces many hardships and demonstrates that she is a resourceful and determined person, possessed of physical and emotional strength. See if you can find evidence to support these aspects of her character.
Characteristic

Answer and evidence

We admire Ellen because she overcomes physical discomfort to achieve her goal.

1. It is so cold she couldn’t feel her fingers at one stage.
2.
3.

She is methodical and prepares carefully for the climb.

Spec A
Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

70

down. I fumbled at the top of the rig, feeding in the halyard and connecting the other end to the top of Kingfisher’s mast. The job only took half an hour
– then I began my descent. This was by far the most dangerous part and I had my heart in my mouth – no time for complacency now, I thought, not till you reach the deck, kiddo, it’s far from over…
It was almost four hours before I called Mark back and I shook with exhaustion as we spoke. We had been surfing at well over 20 knots while I was up there. My limbs were bruised and my head was spinning, but I felt like a million dollars as I spoke on the phone. Santa had called on Kingfisher early and we had the best present ever – a new halyard.
Ellen MacArthur

1. The climb takes almost four hours
2.
3.

She is determined.

1. as I climbed I thought to myself, not far now, kiddo
2.
3.

She is physically strong, despite being small. 1.
2.
3.

She is brave, despite being in danger.

1.
2.
3.

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Spec A

What can I say about language?
Language style

Evidence

Ellen is an experienced sailor and she uses specialist sailing jargon to convince us of her expertise.

1.
2.
3.

Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

Ellen uses ellipses and dashes to extend sentences and to increase tension as she climbs.

1.
2.
3.

There is some use of repetition for suspense and emphasis.

1.
2.
3.

She uses vivid images.

1. I had my heart in my mouth
2.
3.

Paragraph openings use temporal markers to move the story along.

1.
2.
3.

Speaking and listening task
• Prepare a short talk to be given to your group or your class on your main interest or passion in any field, not just sporting.

Writing tasks
• Write about a place where you have lived, saying what you would miss about your life there if you were away at sea for a long period of time.

• Collect technical language or jargon used by specialists in any fields that interest you, such as medicine, music or sport.

• Write a story entitled ‘The Stormy Night’.

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Background
Chinese Cinderella is an autobiography by Adeline Yen Mah in which she describes growing up in a wealthy family in Hong Kong in the 1950s. She is rejected by her stepmother and her father is a distant, though powerful, character. She spends much of her time in boarding school.

Assessment Objective 2(i)
Read with insight and engagement, making appropriate reference to texts and developing and sustaining interpretations of them.

Spec A

Chinese Cinderella

Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

Chinese Cinderella
Time went by relentlessly and it was Saturday again. Eight weeks more and it would be the end of term… in my case perhaps the end of school forever.
Four of us were playing Monopoly. My heart was not in it and I was losing steadily. Outside it was hot and there was a warm wind blowing. The radio warned of a possible typhoon the next day. It was my turn and I threw the dice.
As I played, the thought of leaving school throbbed at the back of my mind like a persistent toothache.
‘Adeline!’ Ma-mien Valentino was calling.
10

‘You can’t go now,’ Mary protested. ‘For once I’m winning. One, two, three, four. Good! You’ve landed on my property. Thirty-five dollars, please. Oh, good afternoon, Mother Valentino!’
We all stood up and greeted her.
‘Adeline, didn’t you hear me call you? Hurry up downstairs! Your chauffeur is waiting to take you home!’
Full of foreboding, I ran downstairs as in a nightmare, wondering who had died this time. Father’s chauffeur assured me everyone was healthy.

Figure 1.9 Adeline Yen Mah.

‘Then why are you taking me home?’ I asked.
‘How should I know?’ he answered defensively, shrugging his shoulders. ‘Your guess is as good as mine. They give the orders and I carry them out.’
20

During the short drive home, my heart was full of dread and I wondered what I had done wrong. Our car stopped at an elegant villa at mid-level, halfway up the hill between the peak and the harbour.
‘Where are we?’ I asked foolishly.
‘Don’t you know anything?’ the chauffeur replied rudely. ‘This is your new home. Your parents moved here a few months ago.’
‘I had forgotten,’ I said as I got out.
Ah Gum opened the door. Inside, it was quiet and cool.
‘Where is everyone?’

30

‘Your mother is out playing bridge. Your two brothers and Little Sister are sunbathing by the swimming-pool. Your father is in his room and wants to see you as soon as you get home.’
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Spec A

‘See me in his room?’ I was overwhelmed by the thought that I had been summoned by Father to enter the Holy of Holies – a place to which I had never been invited. Why?
Timidly, I knocked on the door. Father was alone, looking relaxed in his slippers and bathrobe, reading a newspaper. He smiled as I entered and I saw he was in a happy mood. I breathed a small sigh of relief at first but became uneasy when I wondered why he was being so nice, thinking, Is this a giant ruse on his part to trick me? Dare I let my guard down?

Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

40

‘Sit down! Sit down!’ He pointed to a chair. ‘Don’t look so scared. Here, take a look at this! They’re writing about someone we both know, I think.’
He handed me the day’s newspaper and there, in one corner, I saw my name
ADELINE YEN in capital letters prominently displayed.

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‘It was announced today that 14-year-old Hong Kong schoolgirl ADELINE
JUN-LING YEN of Sacred Heart Canossian School, Caine Road, Hong Kong, has won first prize in the International Play-writing Competition held in
London, England, for the 1951–1952 school year. It is the first time that any local Chinese student from Hong Kong has won such a prestigious event.
Besides a medal, the prize comes with a cash reward of FIFTY ENGLISH
POUNDS. Our sincere congratulations, ADELINE YEN, for bringing honour to
Hong Kong. We are proud of you.’
Is it possible? Am I dreaming? Me, the winner?
‘I was going up the lift this morning with my friend C.Y. Tung when he showed me this article and asked me, “Is the winner Adeline Jun-ling Yen related to you? The two of you have the same uncommon last name.” Now
C.Y. himself has a few children about your age but so far none of them has won an international literary prize, as far as I know. So I was quite pleased to tell him you are my daughter. Well done!’

60

He looked radiant. For once, he was proud of me. In front of his revered colleague, C.Y. Tung, a prominent fellow businessman also from Shanghai, I had given him face. I thought, Is this the big moment I have been waiting for? My whole being vibrated with all the joy in the world. I only had to stretch out my hand to reach the stars.
‘Tell me, how did you do it?’ he continued. ‘How come you won?’
‘Well, the rules and regulations were so very complicated. One really has to be dedicated just to understand what they want. Perhaps I was the only one determined enough to enter and there were no other competitors!’
He laughed approvingly. ‘I doubt it very much but that’s a good answer.’

70

‘Please, Father,’ I asked boldly, thinking it was now or never. ‘May I go to university in England too, just like my brothers?’
‘I do believe you have potential. Tell me, what would you study?’

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Spec A

My heart gave a giant lurch as it dawned on me that he was agreeing to let me go. How marvellous it was simply to be alive! Study? I thought. Going to
England is like entering heaven. Does it matter what you do after you get to heaven? But Father was expecting an answer. What about creative writing? After all,
I had just won first prize in an international writing competition!

80

‘Writer!’ he scoffed. ‘You are going to starve! What language are you going to write in and who is going to read your writing? Though you may think you’re an expert in both Chinese and English, your Chinese is actually rather elementary. As for your English, don’t you think the native English speakers can write better than you?’
I waited in silence. I did not wish to contradict him.
‘You will go to England with Third Brother this summer and you will go to medical school. After you graduate, you will specialise in obstetrics*.
Women will always be having babies. Women patients prefer women doctors. You will learn to deliver their babies. That’s a foolproof profession for you. Don’t you agree?’

90

Agree? Of course I agreed. Apparently, he had it all planned out. As long as he let me go to university in England, I would study anything he wished.
How did that line go in Wordsworth’s poem? Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive. ‘Father, I shall go to medical school in England and become a doctor. Thank you very, very much.’

obstetrics*: caring for women who are having babies Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

‘I plan to study literature. I’ll be a writer.’

Adeline Yen Mah

After you have finished reading
1. Do some web-based research yourself:
(a) You might want to look at http://adelineyenmah.com or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adeline_Yen_Mah. (b) Can you find other examples of childhood autobiographies?
2. In a small group or with a fellow student, discuss the following questions:
(a) Do you think that adults always remember the incidents of their childhood accurately? Does it matter when we read Chinese Cinderella?
(b) What do you think of the view that characters in Chinese Cinderella are all good or all bad, and that there are very few realistic characters?

Understanding the text
Adeline Yen Mah writes to inform, explain and describe. She is writing for a general audience who may be interested in childhood memoirs, or perhaps in
37

Spec A

understanding the different culture that Adeline comes from. Adeline writes in such a way that we understand not just what happens, but the emotional impact on her of each incident in the passage.
The key to understanding the piece is to understand Adeline and her thoughts and feelings about boarding school and her ambition to travel to England. Most important of all is her relationship with her father.
Complete the following table by referring closely to the passage.

Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

Adeline’s feelings before she meets her father

Evidence

Her first reaction on hearing that he wants to see her.

She is overwhelmed.

How she suggests her father’s room is somewhere uniquely special, a place to be revered, an inner sanctum to which few, if any, are admitted.

1. The Holy of Holies.

Her feelings on entering her father’s room. 1. She knocks timidly.

2. A place to which I had never been invited. 3.

2.
3.

Adeline’s feelings as she meets her father Evidence

He is commanding – as indicated by the repetition and use of exclamation.

1. Use of exclamation marks
2. He orders her to Sit down! and repeats it.
3.

He is reassuring.

1.
2.
3.

Their relationship lacks warmth and closeness. 1.
2.
3.

He appears to be relaxed and at ease, in contrast to her tension.

1.
2.
3.

She is desperate to please her father and her reaction to his pleasure is overwhelming. 38

1.
2.
3.

Evidence

She emphasises her timidity.

1.

Spec A

Adeline’s feelings as she meets her father 2.
3.
1.
2.
3.

What can I say about language?
Like all writers, Adeline Yen Mah uses certain effects in order to create a response in the reader. Explain the effect which you think she was trying to achieve with the following techniques.
Technique

Intended effect

Slips into the present tense.

Emphasises her timidity and the strength of her worry.

Use of repetition by her father.

Indicates either impatience or vigour.

Use of punctuation and short sentences. Develops the reader’s understanding of character. Use of triple rhetorical question; all written in the present tense.

Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

She emphasises that she is wary of him. 1.
2.
3.

Use of cliché.

1.
2.
3.

Use of numbers rather than names for children. 1.
2.
3.

The passage starts in the past tense, moves through the present tense and ends with the past tense.

1.
2.
3.

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Spec A

Speaking and listening tasks
• ‘ Despite everything that has happened to give men and women equal chances in life, it is still an unequal world.’ Prepare for a class debate giving your views on this statement. • Imagine that you could interview Adeline about her thoughts and feelings. Role play the interview.

Writing tasks

Chapter 1: Section A Anthology Texts

• Consider the following two statements:

40

‘Boarding schools teach young people to become confident and well-rounded adults.’ ‘Sending young children away to boarding school is cruel and unnatural.’

• Write arguing in favour of one of these statements.
• Describe what your dream is for your future, and how it would feel to be granted your dream.