exam
X115/201
NATIONAL
QUALIFICATIONS
2008
THURSDAY, 15 MAY
1.00 PM – 2.00 PM
ENGLISH
INTERMEDIATE 2
Close Reading
Answer all questions.
30 marks are allocated to this paper.
Read the passage carefully and then answer all the questions, using your own words as far as possible. The questions will ask you to show that: you understand the main ideas and important details in the passage—in other words, what the writer has said (Understanding—U); you can identify, using appropriate terms, the techniques the writer has used to get across these ideas—in other words, how he has said it (Analysis—A); you can, using appropriate evidence, comment on how effective the writer has been—in other words, how well he has said it (Evaluation—E).
A code letter (U, A, E) is used alongside each question to identify its purpose for you. The number
SA X115/201 6/29970
*X115/201*
©
Afar, far away
Matthew Parris describes the harsh conditions of life in North Africa, and suggests what may be in store for the region and the nomadic (wandering) people who live there.
At the beginning of this month I was in a hellish yet beautiful place. I was making a programme for Radio 4 about one of the world’s most ancient trade routes. Every year, since (we suppose) at least the time of the Ancient Greeks, hundreds of thousands of camels are led, strung together in trains, from the highlands of Ethiopia into the Danakil
5 depression: a descent into the desert of nearly 10,000 feet, a journey of about 100 miles.
Here, by the edge of a blue-black and bitter salt lake, great floes of rock salt encrusting the mud are prised up, hacked into slabs and loaded on to the camels.
Then the camels and their drivers make the climb through dry mountains back into the highlands, where the slabs are bound with tape and distributed across the Horn of
10 Africa. The camels drink only twice on their journey, walking often at night, and carrying with them straw to eat on the
NATIONAL
QUALIFICATIONS
2008
THURSDAY, 15 MAY
1.00 PM – 2.00 PM
ENGLISH
INTERMEDIATE 2
Close Reading
Answer all questions.
30 marks are allocated to this paper.
Read the passage carefully and then answer all the questions, using your own words as far as possible. The questions will ask you to show that: you understand the main ideas and important details in the passage—in other words, what the writer has said (Understanding—U); you can identify, using appropriate terms, the techniques the writer has used to get across these ideas—in other words, how he has said it (Analysis—A); you can, using appropriate evidence, comment on how effective the writer has been—in other words, how well he has said it (Evaluation—E).
A code letter (U, A, E) is used alongside each question to identify its purpose for you. The number
SA X115/201 6/29970
*X115/201*
©
Afar, far away
Matthew Parris describes the harsh conditions of life in North Africa, and suggests what may be in store for the region and the nomadic (wandering) people who live there.
At the beginning of this month I was in a hellish yet beautiful place. I was making a programme for Radio 4 about one of the world’s most ancient trade routes. Every year, since (we suppose) at least the time of the Ancient Greeks, hundreds of thousands of camels are led, strung together in trains, from the highlands of Ethiopia into the Danakil
5 depression: a descent into the desert of nearly 10,000 feet, a journey of about 100 miles.
Here, by the edge of a blue-black and bitter salt lake, great floes of rock salt encrusting the mud are prised up, hacked into slabs and loaded on to the camels.
Then the camels and their drivers make the climb through dry mountains back into the highlands, where the slabs are bound with tape and distributed across the Horn of
10 Africa. The camels drink only twice on their journey, walking often at night, and carrying with them straw to eat on the