Performance Plus for the HKDSE — All-in-one Exam Practice (Vol.

2) (2nd Edition) Set 6 Paper 2

Part B Question 9
Learning English through Short Stories
You are Pat Chan. As part of an English project, your English teacher is going to ask your class to read some
short stories about unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and aliens. In order to prepare you for this, she has
asked you to do the following writing task.

Write a narrative story for the school magazine

about the sighting of a UFO near your school.

Topic Analysis
Your Role Pat Chan
Your English teacher is going to ask you to read some short stories
Situation / Task Requirements
about UFOs and aliens
Sub-topics Write a narrative story about the sighting of a UFO
Text Type Narrative story
Target Audience Teachers and students
Language and Tone Formal/Semi-formal
• To entertain
Purpose of Writing
• To recount a story

Topic-related Vocabulary
aberration alien bright lights circular
flying saucer notion pitch-black shiny surface
sighting spacecraft to abseil to disappear
to glow to resemble to shine trail
unexplainable vicinity

Writing Plan
Begin the story with a strong opening sentence
Introductory paragraph • Until last weekend, if you had asked me about Unidentified Flying
Objects (UFOs), I would have said they were a whole lot of rubbish.
Describe the setting and the people in the story
• We went to Lantau Island with the members of the school
Mountaineering Club.
• We went there to practise abseiling and to camp out.
Body paragraphs
Tell the reader what you did and what you saw
• Just as we were preparing to go to bed, I was looking into the sky and I
saw a flash of light pass down a rock face.
• I saw a flying object with lights on all sides.

© Pilot Publishing Company Ltd. 2018 All rights reserved. 22

Performance Plus for the HKDSE — All-in-one Exam Practice (Vol. 2) (2nd Edition) Set 6 Paper 2
What happened to the flying object
• It disappeared without a trace.
Tell the reader what you did and how the story ended
Closing paragraph • I didn’t say anything to anyone else but I can’t explain what it was.
• I went into the tent, zipped up the flap and got into my sleeping bag.

Sample Essay
Until last weekend, if you had asked me about Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs), I would have said
they were a whole lot of rubbish. I believed in them as much as man’s ability to grow wings and fly, that is,
they do not exist or the notion is impossible.

As I said, that was until last weekend when I saw something that I wasn’t able to explain in the sky of
Hong Kong. Call me silly, foolish or crazy, but I have now seen something I cannot explain. I’m not sure if
what I saw was just some aberration, a source of unexplainable light or an actual UFO.

The school Mountaineering Club went to Lantau Island to practise abseiling and to camp out near the
trail between Tung Chung and the Big Buddha. It was a normal day and nothing special happened. Mr. Tan
accompanied 10 students and we all did some rope practice off a few rock faces on the way to the summit.
It’s a popular place for beginners to practise.

In the evening, we cooked our meal on a campfire as it was a little chilly. After dinner we sat around
with only the glowing embers lighting the immediate vicinity of our camp. Away from the fire it was
pitch-black and I guess the ideal setting for something to happen.

There was something in the air; I could sense it. The talk turned to discussing scary happenings. I don’t
know what it is, but this has happened before on previous camps.

I don’t think Mr. Tan meant to scare us intentionally but he did reply to a question about the
supernatural by mentioning some scary and unexplained things that had happened to him. Other students also
started talking about such things, but I’m not convinced they were based upon real occurrences or possibly
they came from people watching too much television.

Anyhow, just as we were preparing to go to bed, I was looking into the sky and in the direction of
where we had been abseiling. In the pitch-black of night I swear I saw a flash of light pass down the rock
face we had been climbing on. Then, I saw a flying object in the sky. It was circular in shape, with bright
lights all around. The lights were blue, red and yellow. Suddenly, the flying object disappeared into the sky
without a trace.

I didn’t say anything to anyone else but I can’t explain what it was. Did I imagine something or was I
just dreaming? Whatever it was, I went into the tent, zipped up the flap, got into my sleeping bag and didn’t
© Pilot Publishing Company Ltd. 2018 All rights reserved. 23
Performance Plus for the HKDSE — All-in-one Exam Practice (Vol. 2) (2nd Edition) Set 6 Paper 2
move all night.

© Pilot Publishing Company Ltd. 2018 All rights reserved. 24