NYJC 2023 H1 General Paper 8807 P2 Insert

1 This insert consists of 4 printed pages including the cover page. NANYANG JUNIOR COLLEGE JC2 PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION 2023 GENERAL PAPER 8807/2 PAPER 2: INSERT Monday 28 August 2023 1 hour 30 minutes READ THIS INSTRUCTION FIRST This insert contains the passages for Paper 2.

2 1 2 3 4 5 Passage 1: Eva Wiseman writes about the benefits of kindness. One cold morning in Bristol, a man named Gavyn Emery tied a scarf to a lamppost, and on a cardboard tag wrote: “I am not lost. ” It was 2016, and rough sleeping in Bristol had risen by more than 800% in seven years. As temperatures plummeted, more people were inspired to do the same, wrapping trees in coats, sticking hats on bollards – essentially providing warmth for anybody who needed it. Scarves started appearing across the UK through that very long winter. It was possible to see a blossoming kindness, visible in wool. Kindness is not new. Aristotle said, “It is the characteristic of the magnanimous man to ask no favour but to be ready to do kindness to others. ” Kindness is also seen as mankind ’s greatest delight. And yet, for a long time it has been seen as sort of… suspicious. As religion’ s hold on our culture has weakened, and with it the insistence upon loving thy neighb our, a certain selfishness has come to be expected. To be kind is also to be weak. Unfocused on achievement. Unsuccessful. Kindness is seen as a nostalgic throwback to simpler times at best, and a con at worst. A man who throws his coat over the puddle is a man whom onlookers suspect must be protecting something valuable in the mud. To go out of one ’s way to be kind suggests an ulterior motive – who has time to look up from their phone, let alone expose themselves to the discomfort of empathising with a stranger? Yet, today, kindness is not only fashionable, appearing in a flood of news st ories about everyday heroism, but also profitable. Online, hashtags highlight small acts of k indness witnessed in public, and GoFundMe campaigns raise thousands for people in need. The publishing industry is calling the trend for kindness ‘up lit’ – as in, illuminated from below, to expose one’s best angles. After a period of dark thrillers, today they are investing in feel -good stories of empathy and care. Heroic storytelling extends to the news media with a curated selection of good news, including regular stories about average people doing good wor k for others. People are yearning for good news because in the age of push notifications, the crush of stories about tragic things happening in the world can seem overwhelming . People want a reminder that, despite the swamp of death and poverty they scroll through, all is not lost. This ‘yearning’ means there is a market for more good news and to seek them out. And storie s of