2024 YIJC JC2 Prelim P2 Insert

©YIJC [Turn over YISHUN INNOVA JUNIOR COLLEGE JC 2 PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION Higher 1 GENERAL PAPER Paper 2 INSERT 8881/02 23 Aug 2024 1 hour 30 minutes READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST This Insert contains the passages for comprehension. This document consists of 4 printed pages.

2 Passage 1. An author writes about the value of pursuing excellence. 1 In 2021, so many people were quitting their jobs the media began calling it the “Great Resignation”. Then, people started “quiet quitting”, proudly doing the bare minimum at work without resigning. Data shows that preference for part -time work is rising and, at least according to one 2022 study, the pandemic ushered a sharp decline in the number of hours adults want to work. Increasingly, it seems, people are eschewing the entrenched norms of stress and burnout traditionally baked into work culture, opting instead for a more languorous and serene lifestyle. To them, the obsessive pursuit of ever higher standards, rather than propelling achievement, is mainly a scourge. 5 2 However, embracing mediocrity goes against everything many of us are taught to believe. Something about being human makes it difficult to feel that we have done, or are, enough. We are unwilling to extinguish the hope that, one day, we will be recognised as exceptional: the perfect being that our parents once placed on a pedestal. Hard work has been valued throughout history on the belief that labour was inextricably linked with salvation. The idea that anyone can succeed with enough hard work forms the backbone of the “American Dream”. This belief is reinforced by our media -driven world which tells us that only through hard work can we attain a successful life . If we fall for the complacency of ‘good enough’, we lose out on opportunities to better our lives. Settling for mediocrity is abdicating our responsibility to be better. The world is already filled with mediocrity, and we should not settle for adding more meaningless white noise. 10 15 3 Besides, as a society, we need people with extraordinary intellect and prodigious talent. They stand as the vanguards propelling civilisation to new frontiers: they cure diseases, they make discoveries, and they compose brilliant music and artwork that move millions of people. Every single facet of human life thrives because of the spark that comes from the pursuit of excellence. Our schools and workplaces must imbue within us the audacity to aspire to loftier pinnacles. Only with this audacity to imagine and pursue a better future can we continue to plant the seeds of a flourishing tomorrow. The way forward has always been clear – excel, or be left in the dust. 20 25 4 Sure, pursuing excellence does have its costs, usually in the form of sacrifices and foregoing short -term gratification.