RVHS 2026 Prelim P2

RIVER VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL Higher 1 JC2 Preliminary Examination ________________________________________________________________________________________ GENERAL PAPER Paper 2 INSERT 8881/02 2 September 2026 1 hour 30 minutes READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST This insert contains the passages for Paper 2. This document consists of 4 printed pages.

2 RVHS 2026 8881/02/JC2Prelims Passage 1. An author considers why eating has become increasingly complicated in modern life. 1 For millennia, eating was a necessity woven into the rhythms of daily life. People ate what the land provided, what the seasons allowed, and what their cultures prescribed . Eating was therefore simultaneously about the food eaten and not about it . Simply put, it did not draw attention to itself : it mattered less as an object of scrutiny than as an unremarkable daily necessity. A warm bowl of hearty borscht1 shared among Ukrainian peasants on a bitter wintry evening, accompanied by chatter about the minutiae of daily life, carried warmth and necessity far beyond its nutritional value. 5 2 Fast forward to this era : eating has become a veritable minefield, an exhausting exercise in decision-making. Modern society increasingly treats food as a problem to be solved, beyond mere accessibility and availability. This transformation has been driven largely by nutrition science, with scientists and governments identifying nutrients, measuring risks and issuing ever-changing advice. Where science ought to anchor us in assurance, it appears to unmoor us, bringing greater stress and uncertainty. One decade praises a food while the next condemns it. Red meat is one such victim : once blamed for clogging arteries, it was later celebrated as a tool for weight loss and muscle building, and is now treated with renewed suspicion because of its possible link to cancer. Should the growing teenager avoid it to reduce future health risks, or consume it as a useful source of protein? Such flip -flopping has made the modern eater navigate a battlefield of claims, warnings and anxieties. 10 15 3 Adding to these health complexities are the ethical implications of eating meat. The meat paradox describes the unease that can accompany eating animals: to continue eating meat, one may avoid knowing too much, thereby making it easier to downplay the animal’s sentience. More broadly, people want cheap and readily available meat while objecting to the intensive farming practices that make such abundance possible. Animal activists are quick to expose another human inconsistency, such as cond emning the cat and dog meat trade while eating octopus, even as evidence suggests that octopuses can experience pain and possess striking intelligence. The meat paradox therefore leaves individuals to rationalise their preferences. 20 25 4 As a result, many people no longer trust their own instincts about food. Somewhere online, a wellness influencer with hollow credentials insists that your pantry is toxic and your body inflamed. Supermarket aisles resemble moral battlegrounds, where every label promises redemption: Low-fat. High -protein. Sustainable. Plant -based. Gluten -free. Dietary choices increasingly serve as shorthand for identity, suggesting whether one is ethical, environmentally aware, health -conscious, or simply committed to efficiency . Even simple meals can feel burdened with guilt, as though eating the ‘wrong’ food reflects personal failure rather than a normal human choice. When eating becomes a moral performance, meals risk turning into silent indictments of character. 30 35 5 Although knowledge about nutrition can certainly improve health, society may have gone too far in turning eating into a carefully controlled activity. Food is not merely fuel for the body; it is also connected to pleasure, tradition and human connection. B y constantly analysing every meal, people risk losing the simple happiness that eating once provided. 1 borscht: a sour soup, often made with beetroot, commonly eaten in Ukraine and other parts of Eastern Europe.

3 RVHS 2026 8881/02/JC2Prelims Passage 2. An author argues that modern food culture needs to become more responsible. 1 What we eat matters far more than our waistlines. Modern food culture, which encourages impulsive purchasing and indiscriminate disposal, has left consumers increasingly detached from how their food is produced. Overeating, once regarded as an indulgence requiring restraint, is now progressively normalised, as exemplified by the popularity o f competitive eating events, in which participants consume extraordinary quantities of food for entertainment. The decline of cooking as an essential life skill, coupled with the embrace of takeaway culture, reflects changing attitudes towards food. Having grown accustomed to food being easily available, we scarcely question the expectation that it should always be within reach. The proliferation of twenty-four-hour supermarkets, for instance, enables purchases at virtually any hour. As familiarity with ingredients and their origins diminishes, so too does awareness of the environmental consequences of what we consume. 5 10 2 Yet responsible and sustainable eating need not entail a joyless existence defined by guilt and deprivation. Addressing the problem requires more than simply restraining individual appetites; it requires challenging the values that modern society rewards . Renewed interest in cooking, for instance, may help restore a meaningful connection between consumers and the ingredients they eat, while choosing seasonal produce can both reduce environmental strain and challenge the expectation that every ingredient sh ould be available throughout the year. Responsible consumption also demands that we challenge the expectation of visual perfection by accepting edible but misshapen produce, as doing so challenges narrow assumptions about what constitutes quality food. 15 20 3 Today, every meal reveals our indifference towards the value we place on food. What we eat should instead be a genuine commitment to environmental responsibility. Since human survival ultimately depends upon the planet – not the other way around – choosing to value food more thoughtfully is a mark of maturity and respect for our world.

4 RVHS 2026 8881/02/JC2Prelims Passage 3. A writer reflects on giving up food delivery apps. 1 A few months ago, I deleted the food delivery apps from my phone. Not because I disliked them. I loved them. There was something almost indecently luxurious about lying on the sofa, tapping a few buttons, and having exactly the food I wanted arrive half an hour later. It made exhaustion easier. It made laziness respectable. It made dinner feel like a problem technology had solved. 2 But I also realised that food had become another thing I was outsourcing, optimising and barely thinking about ; the convenience began to leave an aftertaste. I started noticing the plastic containers, the extra charges, the riders hurrying through traffic, the restaurants that seemed increasingly dependent on platforms they did not control. Every order felt small, b ut together they added up to a way of eating that asked very little of me and a great deal of everyone else. Ultra-convenience is addictive precisely because it hides its costs so well. 5 10 3 Living without the apps has not made me virtuous. Some nights I still eat badly. Sometimes even a plain meal of toast, eggs or leftovers can carry comfort, pause and care beyond the fact of being fed. Cooking has changed the pace of my evenings. It forces me to stop working, look at what I already have, and accept that food need not always be instant,