2021 Y4 DHS English MYE (paper 1 qns + paper 2)

I Name: I I Index Number: DUNMAN HIGH SCHOOL Mid-Year Examination 2021 YEAR4 DHP ENGLISH LANGUAGE I Class: I PAPER 1 Essay 29 April 2021 1 hour 10 minutes --Aaartronar Materiars: -w-rrtmg -paper& Planntng r-emptate -· READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST Write your name, class and register number in the spaces provided and on all the work you hand in. Write in dark blue or black ink on both sides of the writing paper. Do not use staples, correction fluid or correction tape. Answer ONE question. The first 1 O minutes of the duration should only be used for essay planning. You will write your essay within the remaining 1 hour. The planning template must be submitted together with your essay. You are reminded of the need for good English and clear presentation in your answers. This document consists of 2 printed pages [Turn over @OHS 2021 EUMYE/Y4/P 1

2 [30 marks] Essay You are advised to write between 500 and 600 words on~ of-the following topics. At the head of your composition, write the number of the topic you have cnosen . 1. It is better to follow than to' lead. Do you agree? 2. 'Look before you leap.' Is this always good advice? 3. To be successful in Singapore, one has to be well-educated. Do you agree? -4. How has the past shaped the way we live today? @DHS 2021 EL/MYE/Y4/P1

2 Section A: Narrative Text [15 Marks] The text below describes a story about a 12-year-old boy who lives wit~ his rri0th8', a popiah seller. Read the text carefully and answer Questions 1 - 8 in the Question Booklet. 1 A few days before my mother's birthday, her thirty-sixth, I planned a ~Lirpri~ed From my daily pocket money and the change tne sta_ll qwner~ gave m~, I sav~ · ten dollars, which I hoped was enough to buy a small cake·and a gift. A few~o~ ths earlier, I had discovered her date of birth from her identification card, which she kept in a plastic case in her wardrobe. This was unexpected though. I stared at the picture,· trying to find my mother behirid the smifing young girl. She looks very different in the photograph on the card, with long, dark h~ir tucked behinq hE?~ ears 5 and a bright, lively spark in her eyes. My mother does not like me going through her things so I had to take great care to put everything back in place, 2 Once, she caught me rummaging through the drawer of her dresser, where she keeps jewellery, letters and wedding photographs, and caned me. She told me it was wrong to look through other people's .belongings and that she did not raise me to be a thief. When I asked her· who the man in the ptiotograph was, she brought the cane down on my-thighs again, crying hard even as she left long streaks all over my legs. 10 15 3 On her birthday, I headed to the neighbourhood bakery, where I realised I could 4 afford only a slice and not a· whole cake. I deliberated for some time before choosing her favourite flavour: pandan. I also bought a photo frame with a border of plastic flowers and inserted a photograph of us taken during my birthday trip to Sentosa the year before. In it, she had her arm across my tanned shoulders and was holding a hand above her eyes, shielding them from the sun. I put the cake in the fridge and hid the frame under her pillow. 20 Then I went to the kopitiam and waited for my mother to finish work. It was dinner time and the place was packed with customers eating while watching the news on a television hanging o~ the wa_ll. The sti~~Y sm~II of deep frying and cigarette 25 smoke permeated the air, suffusing the kop1t1am with an oppressive warmth. Drink orders flew through the air as servers moved like clockwork from table to tabl clearing cups and rel~yi~~ requests. From a ~ab\e of beer drinkers, they broke in~~ boistero~s laughter, mc1tmg ?ne another with Bottoms up!' A short queue had formed m front of Uncle Ben s stall, where he was busy chopping up glistenin roasted ducks. My mother saw me and push~d out two orders of popiah, indicating with a nod where to take the plates. Immediately, I served the food and dr ~ 30 the payment into a large tin can in which my mother kept her money ;.rie having to ask, I doubled up, serving the popiah and washing pl~t I out chopsticks. It was a flurry of activities as I responded to the constant st~~ and orders. I had to double up. For the next hour or so I forgot why I was there i;;' of ~~~- ~ 5 When the dinner crowd started to dwindle, and the ingredients ran out 35 called it a day. I offered -to help with the dishes but she shoved a tw~ ~~tother in my hand and told me to buy what I wanted. I put the money in m O ar note walked to the edge of the field. The sky was clotted with bruised P1ocket and 40 speckled with stars. I turned and looked back into the brightness of th~ O~d~ _and My mother was busy behi~d her st~II, cleaning and putting away the opit1~rn. utensils, limping as she did so. I hked to observe my mother When cook1n_g unconscious of her movements, the rhythms of her body in mar she 1s looked around for me, I could feel my body moving in response10r/Vhen she 4S ©DHS120211Y4/EUMYE ' a ing a step

3 forward, towards her. When she was finally done, and the lights above the stall were switched off, I returned to the kopitiam and we walked home together. 6 We sauntered through the neighbourhood in the cool breeze, cutting through the outdoor carpark. Near our block of flats, the smelly man came up to us again, 50 barefoot and swearing under his breath. He held out his dirt-streaked h~md and stopped us in our tracks. He looked frightened, frightening. My mother c;1ug around in her pocket and dropped a few coins into his hand. The man trundled on, his hand still extended, and resumed his tirade. My mother stared at his retreating shape and sighed. 55 7 "Do you know what today is?" I asked, hoping to change the mood. a "Today? It's a Thursday, right?" she said, turning to look at me. Then she continued walking, her limp more pronounced, heavier than usual. 9 "Guess, guess. It's a special day, don't you rememberr 10 "All I know is it's been a long, tiring day and I can't wait to have a shower and 60 relax. Then we can have our dinner." 11 When we arrived home, I dragged her to the refrigerator. She found the cake and with a finger, she scraped the whipped· cream off the top and tasted it. •tt's delicious," she remarked, holding· her smile. "Now· you can have the rest," she said, passing the slice to me. 65 12 Then I took her to her bedroom and told her to search for the second surprise. She laughed, lifted my head, kissed it and went to find her present. She tore off the wrapping, studied the photograph in the frame and put it on her bedside table. Her features dissolved into a softness I had not seen in a long time. 13 "Happy birthday, mum," I said. She hugged me and announced that we were going 70 out for a big dinner to celebrate. ©DHS/2021 /Y 4/E UMYE

4 Section 8: Non-Narrative Text [35 Marks] The article below is about Asian-American parenting. Read the text carefully and answer Questions 9-16 in the Question Booklet. 1 2 3 . 4 5 6 Why do so many Asian~American kids do so well in school? Researchers_ are zeroing in on one important reason: the uni_que style of Asian-American parenting. A visit to the University of California's most_seleqtive· c~tnpuse$ ~~QWS how very wen· Asian-American kids do academkally: While Asian Am~ncans constituted 14 percent of the state population, they made up about 40 ~er~nt of the freshm~n c!ass at UCLA and 37 p~rcent of the .,ent~ring cl1;:1ss, at Urn.versJty of California, Berkeley: · : • - But it is notj1;Jst ~~ C~lifomia, ~nd it is not just.in college. "T:he2000_Cen~4s,fp1:1nd that 44 percent of Asian Americans had ·a bachelor's degree, compared with 26 percent of the white pqpulation. Their outsize presence in higher education has made their success legend. In 2017, stan'dardised·'tests administered to ·u.s. el~m.entar:y and s~co11dary.students, showed tha~ A~