St. Patrick's School Sec 4G3/5G2 English Sem 2 Resource Booklet

Sec 4 G3 / 5G2 EL Sem 2 Resource Booklet

2 CONTENTS PAGE S/N Item Page Number 1 Temasek Secondary School 2023 Prelims 3 2 Methodist Girls’ School 2023 Prelims 15 3 Paya Lebar Methodist Girls School 2024 Prelims 26 4 Kuo Chuan Presbyterian 2023 Prelims 38 5 Hai Sing Catholic School 2023 Prelims 50 6 Cedar Girls Secondary School 2023 Prelims 63 7 Anglican High School 2023 Prelims 75 8 Victoria School 2024 Prelims 87 9 Methodist Girls’ School 2025 Prelims 99 10 Montfort Secondary School 2025 Prelims 112 11 Tanjong Katong Girls’ School 2025 Prelims 126 12 Geylang Methodist School (Secondary) 2025 Prelims 138 13 Temasek Secondary School 2025 Prelims 152 14 Formal Email Exemplars 166 15 Informal Email Exemplars 178

3 Temasek Secondary School 2023 Prelims 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 taken from a poster to encourage good neighbourly relations. Text 2 is taken from a comment on what can be done to be a good neighbour. We can enjoy our favourite shows and music late into the night – but let’s be considerate and keep our volume down. Let’s keep our homes peaceful and conducive for all both in the day and at night. Be Greater. More than just doing small and random acts, kindness should be purposeful, and become second nature and sustainable. Choose kindness. #BeGreaterSG #SGUnited I treat my neighbours like my relatives. As long as I greet my neighbours with a smile and communicate with everyone openly, I will be able to find someone who requires my help. If it is within my means, I will help as much as I can. We don’t have to be so calculating about everything. That’s my secret to being a good neighbour!

4 Section B Text 3 The text below describes Kate and Nadia’s encounter with the lions. Read the text carefully and answer Questions 5–16 in Question Booklet 1. 1 The last mists of sleep dissipated completely and Kate jolted upright on her cot, her throat constricting with a parched terror and her heart pounding with a wild rhythm of fearful anticipation. No doubt about it; something was out there, just on the other side of the cloth tent. Very carefully, trying not to make any noise, she felt in the darkness for her flashlight, which she always kept nearby. When she held it in her hand, she realised she was sweating in fear; her fingers were too moist to switch it on. She kept trying, but was diverted when she heard the voice of Nadia, with whom she shared the tent. 5 2 “Shh, Kate! Don’t turn on the light,” the girl whispered. “What is it?” “Lions. Don’t be afraid,” Nadia, who believed she could communicate with animals, answered. 10 3 The flashlight, which Kate had finally managed to pick up, dropped again from her hand. She felt her bones turn to mash, and a scream from her gut lodged in her throat. A single slash of a lion’s claws would rip the thin nylon tent and the cat would be on them. It would not be the first time that a tourist had died that way on safari. During their treks they had seen lions so close that they could count their teeth; she had decided that she did not care to meet them in the flesh. An image flashed through her mind: prisoners in the Roman coliseum, condemned to be eaten alive by the beasts. Sweat ran down her face as she groped on the ground for the flashlight, by now entangled in the mosquito netting that hung around her cot. 15 20 4 Soon she heard the purring of a great cat and new scratchings. Then the tent shook, as if a tree had dropped on it. Terrified, Kate dimly realised that Nadia was purring back. Finally, she found the flashlight and with wet, trembling fingers she switched it on. She saw Nadia crouching down, her face against the cloth of the tent, enthralled, engaged in an exchange of deep purrs with the beast on the other side. The scream that had been stuck inside Kate escaped as a terrible howl that took Nadia by surprise, literally knocking her off her feet. Kate swept up the girl in one arm and began trying to pull her. New screams, this time accompanied by the chilling roars of the lions, shattered the quiet of the camp. 25 5 Within a few seconds, staff and visitors were outside, despite the specific instructions of Mushasha their local guide, who had warned them a hundred times of the dangers of leaving their tents at night. Kate was still tugging Nadia, dragging her outside as the girl kicked and struggled trying to get free. Half of the tent collapsed in the tug of war, and one of the nettings broke loose and fell over them, enveloping them completely. They looked like two larvae trying to break out of a cocoon. Alexander, Kate’s grandson, and 30 35

5 the first to arrive, ran to them and tried to untangle them from the netting. Once she was free, Nadia pushed him away, furious because her conversation with the lions had been interrupted in such an uncivilised fashion. 6 As that was going on, Mushasha fired his pistol into the air, and the roars of the lions faded in the distance. The guards lit torches, sheathed their weapons, and set off to explore the area around the camp. By then the elephants were in an uproar, and their keepers were trying to calm them before they escaped their enclosures and stampeded through the camp. 40 45 7 Joel, the group’s photographer had by then been woken up by the noise of all the commotion. He ran outside yelling, his heart in his mouth. “Snakes! A python!” “Lions,” Kate corrected. Joel stopped short, bewildered. “It’s not snakes?” he hesitated. “No, only lions,” Kate repeated. “And you woke me up for that?” sputtered the photographer. 50

6 Section C Text 4 Read the article carefully and answer Questions 17–22 in the Question Paper. 1 The mushroom kingdom holds many shapes and secrets beyond those of the little white buttons and baby bellas found at the grocery store. Fungi are a versatile and adaptable group, which is why they offer a range of benefits to a variety of people. They are a multifaceted food source, providing fibre, protein, and other nutrients. They can be used to create dyes, build structures, or breed new strains of mushrooms. In essence, they are really cool, and they are inspiring biologists, artists, and engineers to develop practices that can make the world prosper. 5 2 Head to the supplement aisle in any health food store, and you are bound to find shelf space dedicated to the medicinal wonder of mushrooms. Research on fruit flies and mice shows that cordyceps, popular among consumers, has anti -cancer properties and possibly anti-aging effects, too. Reishi and turkey tail are coveted for their potential immune -stimulating effects, while lion’s mane may help soften dementia, according to a small pilot study. Most of these benefits have only been investigated on animals or in test tubes however, making it challenging to draw conclusions on human health. If you are looking for guaranteed results, it is better to grab fresh, whole mushrooms from the produce section than spend all your money on pills and potions. 10 15 3 Though they are certainly delicious, there is much more you can do with mushrooms than eat them, including making pigments for fabric dyes, ink, and all varieties of paint. In fact, the vastness of the fungus kingdom covers every colour of the rainbow, says Julie Beeler, a naturalist, teacher, and artist. While the practice is grow