Mock Exam Paper 2 – Extended

First Language English 0522

Paper 2 Reading Passages Extended October/November 2013

2 hours

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Mock Exam Paper 2 – Extended

Read Passage A carefully and then answer questions 1 and 2

Passage A

Brian Keenan was kidnapped one morning on his way to work. He was a lecturer in a university in Beirut. It was four and a half years before he was released. In the extract he describes his prison cell.

It was built very shoddily of rough-cut concrete blocks haphazardly put together and joined by crude slapdash cement-work. Inside, and only on the inside, the walls were plastered over with that same dull grey cement. There was no paint. There was no colour, just the constant monotony of rough grey concrete.

The cell was six feet long and four feet wide. I could stand up and touch those walls with my outstretched hands and walk those six feet in no more than four paces. On the floor was a foam mattress. With the mattress laid out I had a pacing stage of little more than a foot’s width. In one corner there was a bottle of water which I replenished daily when I went to the toilet, and in another corner was a bottle for urine, which I took with me to empty. There was also a plastic cup in which I kept a much abused and broken toothbrush. On the mattress was an old, ragged, filthy cover. It had originally been a curtain. There was one blanket which I never used, due to the heat, filth and the heavy smell, stale and almost putrid, of the last person who had slept there. The cell had no windows. A steel door was padlocked every day, sounding like a thump on the head to remind me where I was.

At the head of the mattress I kept my briefcase with my school text books. Behind the briefcase I hid my shoes. I was forever afraid that I would lose those shoes. If I did, I felt it would be a sure sign that I would never leave that cell.

“An Evil Cradling” by Brian Keenan

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1 Imagine you are Brian Keenan writing a letter home about his experience of being held captive.

In your letter, you should explore:

The place that you were captured

Your thoughts and emotions about the past, present and future

Base your letter on what you have read in Passage A and be careful to use your own words.

Begin your letter, “Dear Mother…”

Up to fifteen marks will be available for the content of your answer, and up to five marks for the quality of your writing.

(20 marks)

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2 Re-read the descriptions of:

(a) The cell in paragraph 2

(b) Brian’s state of mind in paragraph 3

Select words and phrases from these descriptions, and explain how the writer has created effects by using this language.

(10 marks)

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(Turn over for part 2)

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Part 2

Question 3 is based on both Passage A and Passage B.

Read Passage B carefully, and then re-read Passage A.

Passage B

History of Beirut

For most outsiders, Beirut’s history begins and ends with its bloody civil war, waged for 15 years along the infamous Green Line that cut the city in two, with Muslims to the west and Christians to the east. But its story stretches back much further than its modern strife and the city’s surface today conceals a fascinating, though often barely visible, ancient history.

The earliest traces of habitation in Beirut date from the Stone Age when the area now occupied by the city was in fact two islands in the delta of the Beirut River. Later, when the river silted up, the area became one land mass. Excavations in the Downtown area have revealed a Canaanite site dating from 1900 BC, with an entrance gate of dressed stone, and, nearby, the remains of Phoenician canals.

The city’s name is probably a derivative of the Arabic for ‘well’ or ‘spring’ (modern Arabic still uses the word bir for well).

By the 3rd century AD, the city’s importance as a trading hub and centre of learning continued as the Roman Empire gave way to the Byzantine; its commercial enterprises flourished around the silk trade. But then, in 551, a devastating earthquake, combined with a tidal wave, almost destroyed the city, killing a vast number of citizens. The calamity marked a decline of the city that was to last for centuries.

During WWI, Beirut suffered a blockade by the Allies, which was intended to starve out the Turks. This, combined with a series of natural disasters, resulted in widespread famine, followed by plague, which killed more than a quarter of the population. A revolt broke out against the Turks and resulted in the mass hanging of the rebel leaders in what became known as the Place des Martyrs (Martyrs’ Sq).

The 1975 civil war saw Beirut transformed into a bloody, terrifying epicentre of anarchy. The city was ruled, area by area, by militias loyal to one of various factions; the infamous Green Line tore the city into Christian and Muslim halves, while massacres, hostage-takings and suicide bombings soon became commonplace.

Lonely Planet

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3 Summarise:

(a) The history of the city, as described in Passage B;

(b) The place where Keenan was imprisoned as described in Passage A.

Use your own words as far as possible.

You should write about 1 side in total, allowing for the size of your handwriting.

Up to fifteen marks will be available for the content of your answer, and up to five marks for the quality of your writing.

(20 marks)

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Please note that this is an exemplar paper and does not feature unseen texts of sufficient length, it is designed for the purpose of modelling question types featured in the Extended paper.

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