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XINMIN SECONDARY SCHOOL SEKOLAH MENENGAH XINMIN Preliminary Examination 2023 CANDIDATE’S NAME CLASS INDEX NUMBER ENGLISH LANGUAGE Paper 2 Comprehension Insert Secondary 4 Express Setter: Mrs Amy Chan Vetters: Ms Jasmine Lim, Ms Sharon Ong, Ms Charlene Chan, Mrs Belinda Goh INSERT 1184/02 18 August 2023 Duration: 1 hour 50 minutes READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST Do not open this booklet until you are told to do so. This Insert contains Text 1, Text 2, Text 3 and Text 4. This document consists of 6 printed pages.

2 Section A Study the poster (Text 1) and the social media post (Text 2) and answer Questions 1–4 in the Question Paper. Text 1 is a poster by Outward Bound Singapore (OBS). Text 2 is taken from a participant’s social media post after his experience at Outward Bound Singapore (OBS). My 5-day OBS Challenge changed my life! I overcame my fear of heights and developed a love for the culinary arts through outdoor cooking! OBS gave me a sense of belonging and also sparked my interest in becoming an OBS Instructor! I want to impact the youth as how OBS has impacted me. I also want to be someone who can connect with the youth and encourage them to be different from their peers.

3 Section B Text 3 The text below is the account of an English family who moved to Greece and were looking for a place to stay. Read the text carefully and answer Questions 5–14 in the Question Paper. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 We climbed into the spacious car and our driver hoisted his bulk behind the steering wheel, engaging his gears with a terrifying sound. We shot through the twisted streets on the outskirts of the town, swerving in and out among the loaded donkeys, the carts, the groups of peasant women and innumerable dogs, our horn honking a deafening warning. Our knuckles turned white gripping the grab handles as our driver conversed with us. Each time he addressed us, he would twist his massive trunk round to see our reactions, and the car would swoop back and forth across the road like a drunken swallow. ‘Yous English? Thought so… My names’ Spiro… I likes the English … best kinds of peoples… Honest to Gods, ifs I wasn’t Greek, I likes to be English.’ We sped down a white road covered in a thick layer of silky dust that rose in a boiling cloud behind us, a road lined with prickly pears like a fence of green plates, each cleverly sitting on another's edges, and splashed with knobs of scarlet fruit. We were amazed to see vineyards where the tiny, stunted vines were laced in green leaves, olive groves where the pitted trunks made a hundred astonished faces at us out of the gloom of their own shadow, and great clumps of zebra -striped cane that fluttered their leaves like a multitude of green flags. At last , we roared to the top of a hill, and Spiro jammed on his brakes unceremoniously and brought the car to a dust-misted halt. ‘Theres you ares,’ he said, pointing with a great stubby forefinger, ‘that’s the villa with the bathrooms, likes you wanted.’ Mother, who had kept her eyes firmly shut throughout the dr ive, now opened them cautiously and looked. Spiro was pointing at a gentle curve of hillside that rose from the glittering sea. The hill and the valleys around it were an eiderdown of olive groves that shone with a fish-like gleam where the breeze touched the leaves. Halfway up the slope, guarded by a group of tall cypress trees, nestled a strawberry-pink villa. The villa was small and square, standing in its tiny garden with an air of pink-faced determination. Its shutters had been faded by the sun to a delicate creamy-green, cracked and bubbled in places. The garden, surrounded by tall fuchsia hedges, had the flowerbeds marked with smooth white stones. The r ose bushes dropped petals that seemed as big and smooth as saucers, flame -red, moon-white, glossy and unwrinkled; marigolds like broods of shaggy suns stood watching their parent's progress through the sky. In the low growth , the pansies pushed their velvety, innocent faces through the leaves, and the violets dangled under their heart-shaped leaves. The bougainvillea hung lavishly over the balcony like a reception banner. In th is fuchsia hedge, a thousand ballerina-like blooms quivered expectantly to usher us in . As soon as we saw it, we wanted to live there – we felt we had come home. Having lumbered so unexpectedly into our lives, Spiro now took over complete control of our affairs. It was better, he explained, for him to do things, as everyone knew him, and he would make sure we were not swindled. ‘Don’ts you worrys yourselfs about anythings, Mrs Durrells, ’ he had scowled, ‘leaves everythings to me.’ 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

4 9 So he took us shopping, and after an hour of sweating and roaring, he got the price of an article reduced by perhaps two drachmas (this was approximately a penny). It was not the cash but the principle of the thing, he explained. The fact that he was Greek and adored bargaining was, of course, another reason. It was Spiro who, on discovering that our money had not yet arrived from England, went and sp oke severely to the bank manager about his lack of organisation. That it was not the poor manager's fault did not deter him in the least. It was Spiro who took it upon himself to pay our hotel bill, who organised a cart to carry our luggage to the villa, and who drove us out there himself, with his car piled high with groceries that he had purchased for us. Adapted from My family and other animals by Gerald Durrell 45

5 Section C Text 4 The article below is about the origin of coffee, its rise in popularity and the problems that come with it. Read it carefully and answer Questions 15–20 in the Question Paper. 1 2 3 4 5 According to popular legend, the origin of coffee can be traced to a ninth century Ethiopian goatherd, Kaldi, who, having observed that his goats pranced and frolicked about when they nibbled the berries of a certain bush, decided to copy them and found that the berries had an energising effect on him too. Another story is that a monk in Ethiopia noticed some particularly lively birds and, on sampling the berries they had been eating, experienced increased vitality. Other accounts attribute the discovery to an Ethiopian holy man called Oman, who not only ate the berries but also roasted and boiled them in water, which produced the fragrant brown liquid now known as coffee. However, no direct evidence has ever been found to indicate where exactly in Africa coffee first grew, or even that it existed before the fifteenth century. Coffee beans were exported from Africa to Yemen, a vibrant civilisation at that time, and references to coffee drinking and knowledge of the coffee plant appeared in monasteries there. Monks used it to keep themselves alert during long periods of night prayer. However, coffee was banned by religious leaders who frowned on its narcotic power. Places where coffee was drunk and warehouses where it was stored were attacked and ransacked. But through the passing of time, coffee became acceptable and was drunk at home as part of the daily routine, as well as to show hospitality to guests. Outside of the home, people visited coffee houses to not only drink coffee but to engage in conversation, listen to music, watch performers, play chess, gossip and catch up on news. Coffee- houses grew to be epicentres for exchangi