Anderson Prelim 2023

This document consists of 6 printed pages. Setter: Ms Trixie Ong and Mr Kelvin Lim [Turn over O ANDERSON SECONDARY SCHOOL Preliminary Examination 2023 Secondary Four Express CANDIDATE NAME: CLASS: / INDEX NUMBER: ENGLISH LANGUAGE Paper 2 Comprehension 1184/02 21 August 2023 1 hour 50 minutes 0800 – 0950h INSERT READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST This insert contains Text 1, Text 2, Text 3 and Text 4.

Preliminary Examination 4E EL P2 2023 (1184/02) [Turn over 2 Section A Study the online campaign (Text 1) and the social media post (Text 2) and answer Questions 1 - 4 in the Question Paper. Text 1 is taken from an online campaign about food waste. World Food Day 16 October 2023. Join these inglorious foods for a glorious fight against food waste. Text 2 is taken from a social media post about food waste. Discrimination does not only have to do with humans. Discrimination against ugly vegetables, treating them like trash, only because of their looks, not their nutritional worth, leads to an enormous am ount of food waste, which could feed a lot of hungry people amongst us . Let’s reverse the fate of ugly food from waste to delicious, perfectly edible and nutritious food!

Preliminary Examination 4E EL P2 2023 (1184/02) [Turn over 3 Section B Text 3 The text below is the account of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s struggle to survive with a crew of five men aboard the James Caird, as he travelled through the Drake Passage to seek help for his men stranded on Elephant Island. Read the text carefully and answer Questions 5 -14 in the Question Paper. 1 The little group of dark figures waving goodbye were silhouetted against the white snow, and they made a pathetic picture from the Caird as she lifted to the increasing swell. Worsley held her on a northerly course and Shackleton stood beside him, alternately peering ahead at the approaching ice, and turning again to look at the men he was leaving behind. Both groups knew they might never see one another again. 5 2 A forbidding-looking place, Elephant Island was the refuge of twenty -two men who, at that very moment, were camped on a precarious, storm -washed spit of beach, as helpless and isolated from the outside world as if they were on another planet. Their plight was known only to the six men in this ridiculously little boat, whose responsibility now was to prove that all the laws of chance were wrong – and return with help. It was a staggering trust. 10 3 As darkness deepened, Shackleton confided to Worsley that the decision to separate the party had been a desperately difficult one, and he abhorred having to make it. But somebody had to go for help, and this was not a task to be delegated to another person. As for the journey itself, Shackleton seemed strangely doubtful, and he asked Worsley about their chances of making it. It was evident Shackleton was far from convinced though Worsley was sure they would make it. 15 4 The truth was that Shackleton felt rather out of his element. He had proved himself on land. He had demonstrated there beyond all doubt his ability to pit his matchless tenacity against the elements – and win. But the sea is a different sort of enemy. Unlike the land, where courage and the simple will to endure can often see a man through, the struggle against the sea is an act of physical combat, and there is no escape. It is a battle against a tireless enemy in which man never actually wins; the most that he can hope for is not to be defeated. It gave Shackleton a feeling of uneasiness. He now faced an adversary so formidable that his own strength was nothing in comparison, and he did not enjoy being in a position where boldness and determination count for almost nothing, and in which victory is measured only in survival. But more than anything he was dreadfully tired, and he wanted simply for the journey to be over, and as quickly as possible. 20 25 5 One at a time, they were introduced to the endless miseries which constituted life on board the boat. Always and forever, there was the all -pervading, inescapable water. They had sailed from Elephant Island in rather high spir its, knowing that they were embarked at last for civili zation. But after two days of uninterrupted misery, their cheeriness had worn away. And by noon on April 26, the ordeal to which they were committed had become altogether too real. There was only the consolation that they were making progress – at the agonizingly slow rate of about 1 mile every half hour or so. 30 35 6 This was the Drake Passage, the most dreaded bit of ocean on the globe – and rightly so. Here, nature has been given a proving ground on which to demonstrate what she can do if left alone. The results are impressive. 40

Preliminary Examination 4E EL P2 2023 (1184/02) [Turn over 4 7 It begins with the almost ceaseless, gale -force, westerly winds, often of hurricane intensity and with gust velocities sometimes attaining 150 – 200 miles per hour. Once every ninety seconds or less, the Caird’s sail would go slack as one of these gigantic waves loomed astern, possibly 50 feet above her, and threatening, surely to bury her under a hundred -million tons of wate r. But then, by some phenomenon of buoyancy, she was lifted higher and higher up the face of the onrushing swell until she found herself, rather unexpectedly, caught in the turmoil of foam at the summit and hurtling forward. 45 8 Over and over again, a thousand times each day, this drama was re -enacted. Before long, to the men on board the Caird, it lost all elements of awesomeness and they found it routine and commonplace instead, as a group of people may become inured to the perils of living in the shadow of an active volcano. 50 9 Fortunately, for the first time in forty-four hours, the weather gradually grew less violent. Shortly after noon, as if from nowhere, a magnificent wandering albatross appeared overhead. It soared with ease and grace, riding the gale on wings that never mo ved, rising, only to plunge downward again in a beautifully effortless sweep. 55 10 It was perhaps one of nature’s ironies. Here was her largest and most incomparable creature capable of flight, whose wingspread exceeded 11 feet from tip to tip, and to whom the most violent storm was meaningless, sent to accompany the Caird, as if in mockery of her painful struggles. 60 Adapted from “Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage” by Alfred Lansing.

Preliminary Examination 4E EL P2 2023 (1184/02) [Turn over 5 Section C Text 4 The article below explores the issue of seabed mining. Read the article carefully and answer Questions 15 – 19 in the Question Paper. 1 In October of last year, a massive remote -controlled machine, weighing 90 tons and resembling a small house, was deployed on the Pacifi c Ocean seabed. Lowered from an industrial ship using a lengthy cable, equipped with lights, steel treads, and water jets, it began moving forward. The machine stirred up sediment and dislodged fist-sized black rocks known as polymetallic nodules, which contai