Name: Reg.

No: Class:

END-OF-YEAR EXAMINATION 2014

Secondary Two Express

ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Paper 2 Comprehension 0750 0940

30 September 2014
INSERT 1 hour 50 minutes

This insert contains the comprehension texts 1, 2 and 3.

This Insert consists of 6 printed pages including the cover page.

HAI SING CATHOLIC 2014 [Turn over]

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 Section A
Text 1

Study the advertisement below and answer Questions 1- 3 in the Question Paper Booklet.

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 Section B
Text 2
The story below is about a doctor and his experience with a young patient.

1 The child was fully dressed and sitting on her father's lap near the kitchen table. He tried to get up, but
I motioned for him not to bother, took off my overcoat and started to look things over. I could see that
they were all very nervous, eyeing me up and down distrustfully. As often, in such cases, they weren't
telling me more than they had to. It was up to me to tell them; that's why they were spending three
dollars on me. 5

2 The child was fairly eating me up with her cold, steady eyes, and no expression to her face whatever.
She did not move and seemed, inwardly, quiet; an unusually attractive little thing, and as strong as an
ox in appearance. But her face was flushed, she was breathing rapidly, and I realised that she had a
high fever. She had magnificent blonde hair, in abundance. She was like one of those picture children
often reproduced in advertising leaflets. 10

3 She's had a fever for three days, began the father, and we don't know where it comes from. My wife
has given her things, you know, like people do, but it hasnt done any good. And there's been a lot of
sickness around. So we thought you'd better look her over and tell us what is the matter.

4 Has she had a sore throat?

5 Does your throat hurt you? asked the mother to the child. But the little girl's expression didn't change 15
nor did she move her eyes from my face.

6 Have you looked?

7 I tried to, said the mother, but I couldn't see.

8 As it happens we had been having a number of cases of diphtheria* in the school to which this child
went during that month and we were all, quite apparently, thinking of that, though no one had as yet 20
spoken of the thing.

9 Well, I said, suppose we take a look at the throat first. I smiled in my best professional manner and
asking for the child's first name I said, Come on, Mathilda, open your mouth and let's take a look at
your throat.

10 Nothing happens. 25

11 Aw, come on, I coaxed, just open your mouth wide and let me take a look. Look, I said opening both
hands wide, I dont have anything in my hands. Just open up and let me see.

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12 Such a nice man, put in the mother. Look how kind he is to you. Come on, do what he tells you to.
He won't hurt you. At that, I ground my teeth in disgust. If only they wouldn't use the word "hurt" I
might be able to get somewhere. 30

13 But I did not allow myself to be hurried or disturbed, but speaking quietly and slowly I approached the
child again. As I moved my chair a little nearer, suddenly, with one cat-like movement, both her hands
clawed instinctively for my eyes and she almost reached them too. In fact she knocked my glasses
flying and they fell, though unbroken, several feet away from me on the kitchen floor.

14 Both the mother and father almost turned themselves inside out in embarrassment and apology. You 35
bad girl, said the mother, taking her and shaking her by one arm. Look what you've done. The nice
man . . .

15 For heaven's sake, I broke in. Don't call me a nice man to her. I'm here to look at her throat on the
chance that she might have diphtheria* and possibly die of it. But that's nothing to her. Look here, I
said to the child, we're going to look at your throat. You're old enough to understand what I'm saying. 40
Will you open it now by yourself or shall we have to open it for you?

16 Not a move. Even her expression did not change. Her breaths, however, were coming faster and
faster. Then the battle began. I had to do it. I had to have a throat culture for her own protection. But
first, I told the parents that it was entirely up to them. I explained the danger but said that I would not
insist on a throat examination so long as they would take the responsibility. 45

17 If you don't do what the doctor says you'll have to go to the hospital, the mother admonished her
severely.

18 I had to smile to myself. After all, I had already fallen in love with the savage brat.

The Use of Force by William Carlos Williams,

Adapted from http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/force.html

*diphtheria: an acute and highly contagious bacterial disease causing inflammation of the mucous membranes,
formation of a false membrane in the throat which hinders breathing and swallowing, and potentially fatal heart and
nerve damage by a bacterial toxin in the blood. It is now rare in developed countries owing to immunization.

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 Section C
Text 3
Chocolate, a commonly eaten commodity, but many may not know what actually goes on in the production
of it.

1 Chocolate is a product of the cacao bean, which grows primarily in the tropical climates of Western
Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The cacao bean is more commonly referred to as cocoa, so that is
the term that will be used throughout this article. Western African countries, mostly Ghana and the
Ivory Coast, supply more than 70% of the worlds cocoa. The cocoa they grow and harvest is sold to
a majority of chocolate companies, including the largest in the world. 5

2 In recent years, a handful of organisations and journalists have exposed the widespread use of child
labour, and in some cases slavery, on cocoa farms in Western Africa. Since then, the industry has
become increasingly secretive, making it difficult for reporters to not only access farms where human
rights violations still occur, but also to disseminate this information to the public.

3 In Western Africa, cocoa is a commodity crop grown primarily for export; 60% of the Ivory Coasts 10
export revenue comes from its cocoa. As the chocolate industry has grown over the years, so has the
demand for cheap cocoa. On average, cocoa farmers earn less than $2 per day, an income below
the poverty line. As a result, they often resort to the use of child labour to keep their prices
competitive.

4 The children of Western Africa are surrounded by intense poverty, and most begin working at a 15
young age to help support their families. Some children end up on the cocoa farms because they
need work and traffickers tell them that the job pays well. Other children are sold to traffickers or
farm owners by their own relatives, who are unaware of the dangerous work environment and the
lack of any provisions for an education. Often, traffickers abduct the young children from small
villages in neighbouring African countries, such as Burkina Faso and Mali, two of the poorest 20
countries in the world. Once they have been taken to the cocoa farms, the children may not see their
families for years, if ever.

5 Most of the children labouring on cocoa farms are between the ages of 12 and 16, but reporters have
found children as young as 5. In addition, 40% of these children are girls, and some stay for a few
months, while others end up working on the cocoa farms through adulthood. 25

6 A childs workday typically begins at six in the morning and ends in the evening. Some of the children
use chainsaws to clear the forests. Other children climb the cocoa trees to cut bean pods using a
machete. These large, heavy, dangerous knives are the standard tools for children on the cocoa
farms, which violates international labour laws and a UN convention on eliminating the worst forms of
child labour. Once they cut the bean pods from the trees, the children pack the pods into sacks that 30
weigh more than 100 pounds when full and drag them through the forest. Aly Diabate, a former
cocoa slave, said, Some of the bags were taller than me. It took two people to put the bag on my
head. And when you didnt hurry, you were beaten.

7 Holding a single large pod in one hand, each child has to strike the pod with a machete and pry it
open with the tip of the blade to expose the cocoa beans. Every strike of the machete has the 35
potential to slice a childs flesh. The majority of children have scars on their hands, arms, legs or
shoulders from the machetes.

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8 In addition to the hazards of using machetes, children are also exposed to agricultural chemicals on
cocoa farms in Western Africa. Tropical regions such as Ghana and the Ivory Coast consistently deal
with prolific insect populations and choose to spray the pods with large amounts of industrial 40
chemicals. In Ghana, children as young as 10 spray the pods with these toxins without wearing
protective clothing.

9 The farm owners using child labour usually provide the children with the cheapest food available,
such as corn paste and bananas. In some cases, the children sleep on wooden planks in small
windowless buildings with no access to clean water or sanitary bathrooms. 45

10 On cocoa farms, 10% of child labourers in Ghana and 40% in the Ivory Coast do not attend school,
which violates the International Labour Organizations (ILO) Child Labour Standards. Depriving these
children of an education has many short-term and long-term effects. Without an education, the
children of the cocoa farms have little hope of ever breaking the cycle of poverty.

Adapted from: http://www.foodispower.org/slavery-chocolate/

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