2022 EL EOY Victoria School

Section A Study the online poster ( Text 1) and the excerpt from a newspaper report ( Text 2) and answer Question 1-4 in the Question Booklet. Text 1 is taken from an online poster for a police-community alert service. Text 2 is taken from a Straits Times article on a Digital Workshop. Madam Linda Lee, 78, Said she was often confused by unknown callers and had reported suspi cious calls to the police on several occasions. She added, “I’m afraid that they’d scam me so I need to learn and know how to identify these clues. Technology is very convenient, but it progresses so quickly.”

Section B Text 3 The text below is an account of Kingshaw running away from home when he was attacked by the largest crow he had ever seen. Read the text carefully and answer Question 5-13 in the Question Booklet. 1 When he first saw the crow, he took no notice. There had been several crows. This one glided down into the corn on its enormous. ragged black wings. He began to be aware of it when it rose up suddenly, circled overhead, and then dived, to not very far away from him. Kings haw could see the feathers on its he ad, shining devilish black between the butter -coloured cornstalks. Then it rose, and circled, hovering like and eagled eyeing its prey. It then swooped down again, this time not quite landing, but flapping about his head, beating its wings and making a sou nd like flat leather pieces being slapped together. It was the largest crow he had ever seen . As it came down for the third time, he looked up and noticed its hard, chisel -like beak, opening in a screech. The inside of its mouth was scarlet; its small eyes glinting with evil intent. 5 10 2 With his heart in his mouth, Kingshaw got up and flapped his arms. For a moment, the bird retreated a little way off, and higher up in the sky. He began to walk rather quickly back, through the path in the corn, looking ahead of him, beads of perspiration forming on his forehead while his bre ath came in quick staccatos. Stupid to be scared of a rotten bird. What could a bird do But he felt his own extreme isolation, high up in the cornfield. For a moment, he could only hear the sound thudding of his own footsteps, and the silky sound of the co rn, brushing against him. Then, there was a rush of air, as the great crow came beating down, and wheeled about his head. The beak opened and the hoarse caw came again and again, from inside the scarlet mouth. 15 20 3 His heart now like a wild beast trying to break free from its cage, Kingshaw began to run, not caring now if he trampled the corn, wanting to get away, far far away down into the field. He thought that the corn might be some kind of crow’s food store, in which he was seen as and invader. Perhaps this was only the first of a whole battalion of crows that would rise up and swoop at him. ‘Get on the grass then’, he thought, ‘get on the grass, that’ll be safe. It’ll go away. ’ He wondered if it had mistaken him for some hostile animal, lurking down in the corn. 25 4 His progress was very slow, through the cornfield, the thick stalks bunched together and got in his way, and he had to shove them back with his arms. But he reached the gate and climbed it, and dropped onto the grass of the field on the other side. Sweat was running down his forehead. He blinked rapidly. It stung. He looked up. The crow kept coming on. He ran. 30 5 However, it was not easy to run down this field either, bec ause of the tractor ruts. He began to leap wildly from side to side of them, his legs stretched as wide as he could go, and for a short time, it seemed that he did go faster. The crow dived again, and as it rose, Kingshaw felt the tip of its black wing bea ting against his face. He gave a sudden dry sob. Then his left foot caught in one of the ruts and he keeled over. He felt himself going down, plummeting straight forward. 35

6 He lay with his face in the coarse grass, panting and sobbing by turns, with the sound of his own blood pumping through his ears. He felt the sun on the back of his neck, and his ankle was wrenched. But he would be able to get up. He raised his head and wiped two fingers across his face. A streak of blood came off, from where a thistle had scratched him. He got unsteadily to his feet, taking in deep desperate breaths of close air. He could not see the crow. 40 7 However, when he began to walk forward again, it rose up from the grass a little way off and began to ci rcle and swoop - the stalking had begun, once again. Kingshaw broke into a run, sobbing and wiping the damp mess of tears and sweat off his face with one hand. There was a blister on his ankle, rubbed raw by the sandal strap. The crow was still quite high. Soaring easily, to keep pace with him. Now, he had scrambled over the third gate, and he was in the field next to the one belonging to the Warings. He could see the back of the house. He began to run much faster. 45 50

Section C Text 4 The text below is about microplastics. Read the text carefully and answer Question 14-21 in the Question Booklet. 1 As plastic waste proliferates around the world, and essential question remains unanswered: What harm, if any, does it cause to human health? A few years ago, as microplastics began turning up in the guts of fish and shellfish, the concern was focused on th e safety of seafood. Shellfish were a particular worry, because in their case, unlike fish, we eat the entire animal –stomach, microplastics and all. In 2017, it was estimated that seafood lovers could consume up to 11,000 plastic particles a year by eating mussels, a favourite dish in Belgium. 5 2 By then, however, scientists already understood that plastics continuously fragment in the environment, shredding over time into fibers even smaller than a strand of human hair particles so small they easily become airborne. A study was done the U.K.’s University of Plymouth to compare the threat from eating contaminated wild mussels in Scotland to that of breathing air in a typical home. The study concluded that people will take in more plastic during a mussels dimmer by inhaling tiny, invisible plastic fibers floating in the air around them than they will by eating the mussels. They can also ingest fibers shed by their own clothes, carpets, and upholstery. 10 15 3 Scientists have been studying microplastics, defined as particles measuring less than five millimeters across, for a quarter century. The term was coined in 2004 after finding piles of rice -sized plastic bits above the tideline on an English beach. In the ensuing years, scientists located microplastics all over the globe, from the floor of the Mariana Trench to the summit of Mount Everest. 20 4 Determining if they cause harm is much harder. Plastics are made from a complex combination of chemicals, including additives that give them strength and flexibility. Both plastics and chemical additives can be toxic. A recent analysis identified more than 10,000 unique chemicals used in plastics, of which more than 2,400 are of potential concern. Many are not adequately regulated in Third -word countries, a nd include hundreds of chemicals that are not approved for use in food packaging in some jurisdictions. 25 5 Additives can leach into water depending on factors that include sunlight and length of time. The same study found up to 8,681 unique chem icals and additives associated with a single plastic product. Sorting out which particular chemical combinations is problematic, and finding the level and length of exposure that causes harm in such a convoluted brew is no easy task. 30 6 As plastic production continues to increase dramatically, many are concerned because so much about microplastics remains unknown. In 2020, 367 million metric tonne