WINTER BREAK PRACTICE 2

Name: Class :

First Language English Year 7

READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST

Answer all questions in the spaces provided on the question paper.

You should pay attention to punctuation, spelling and handwriting.
The number of marks is given in brackets [ ] at the end of each question
or part question.
The total number of marks for this paper is 25.

FOR EXAMINER’S USE

Marks : _____/ 25 Percentage: _______ Grade: _____

Marked by : Ms. Anne

Extract 1: Reading
Read this extract from ‘Mars: The Dead Planet’ by David McNab. (Text A)

Year 7 – First Language English – Winter Break Practice 2

One night in 1877, Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli was peering at Mars from his
hilltop observatory. Sketching feverishly each time he turned, blinking from his eyepiece,
Schiaparelli was in the middle of the most thorough study of the Martian surface that had
ever been made.

Among many of the details this dedicated astronomer noted was a prevalence of thin, faint 5
lines which criss-crossed the surface of Mars. He described them as ‘channels’ or, in his
native Italian, canali. It wasn’t very long before Victorian society was full of fanciful ideas of
canal-building civilisations on Mars. After all, Mars had many parallels with Earth. Although
it is only half the size of our world, its days last only 36 minutes longer that our own. It has
white polar caps that, from a distance, appear similar to the Earth’s. Its axis, with respect 10
to the sun, is also similarly tilted, so it has similar seasons to ours, although they last twice
as long, as a year on Mars is 687 days. If Venus was seen as our twin, then mars was our
smaller cousin.

When the USA finally turned its rockets on Mars in late 1964, scientists had long
suspected that the planet was too cold to sustain life, but Schiaparelli’s canals were still 15
scored across every map of the red planet. On 15 July 1965 those maps were about to be
redrawn, when Mariner 4 entered the most critical stage of its mission. After eight long
months and hundreds of millions of kilometers, it had a mere 20 minutes to capture the firs
precious images of Mars as it swooped past 10,000 kilometres above its surface. It
performed heroically, grabbing 21 pictures down a narrow strip of the planet from north to 20
south before Mars drifted out of sight.

The rate of data transfer at the time was incredibly slow – eight bits of information
per second (today’s probes send back information about 10,000 times faster). Pictures
were stored on magnetic tape and sent back over the course of the following three weeks.
When the first view of another world trickled back to JPL in California, the blurred image of 25
the edge of the Martian globe against the black of space sent a ripple of excitement
through the watching scientists and journalists. The relief at receiving something, anything,
was tangible and the anticipation grew. The cameras were rolling and they were ready for
their first close-ups.

1 a) What was the name of the famous Italian astronomer who first studied Mars?
................................................................................................................................ [1]

b) How many days on Earth equals one Mars year?

…………………………………………………………………………………………….. [1]

c) How many pictures were taken of Mars from the first probe?

…………………………………………………………………………………………….. [1]

d) What was the rate of data transfer from the probe?

…………………………………………………………………………………………….. [1]

2 (a) What type of text is Text A

Tick () one box.

Year 7 – First Language English – Winter Break Practice 2 2

 Autobiography

Informative Report

Persuasive Report

Newspaper Article

(b) Using your answer in 2(a)

Give one feature of the writing.

…………………………………………………………………………………….. [2]

3 Give one word from paragraph 3, of Text A, which tells you that the images
collected from the probe were rare.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

Give evidence to support your answer.

…………………………………………………………………………………………….. [2]

4 What does the phrase ‘ripple of excitement’ say about how the scientists were
feeling about the pictures (line 26)?

................................................................................................................................ [1]

5 Explain in your own words the meaning of each of the following, as it is used in the
text.

(a) ‘dedicated’ (line 5)

Year 7 – First Language English – Winter Break Practice 2 3

 …………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………….. [1]

(b) ‘tangible’ (line 28)

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………….. [1]

6 What is the purpose of Text A?

Tick (  ) one box.

to describe the mars images taken in the 1960’s.

to explain how the USA got to Mars.

to inform you about a Mars probe mission.

to teach you about Mars weather.

[1]

7 Why were the images the scientists trying to capture so important?

Give two reasons in your own words.

 …………………………………………………………………………………………

 …………………………………………………………………………………….. [2]

8 In your own words, explain what Giovanni Schiaparelli was doing that night in 1877
from his hilltop observatory.

…………………………………………………………………………………………….. [1]

Year 7 – First Language English – Winter Break Practice 2 4

 Give evidence to support your answer from the extract.

…………………………………………………………………………………………….. [1]

9 Look at the sentence ‘The rate of data transfer at the time was incredibly slow’
(line 22)

What type of word is the underlined incredibly?

…………………………………………………………………………………………….. [1]

10 Explain in your own words what ‘a ripple of excitement’ means. (line 26)

................................................................................................................................ [1]

Text B:

When Marine 4 finally delivered, it was a crippling body blow. On frame number seven, the 1
surface finally came into focus and the scientist saw … craters. No canals, no riverbeds,
no valleys or mountains, just craters. A sinking feeling washed over mission control. Mars
looked as dull as the Moon. The Earth, an active planet, destroyed its craters with volcanic
eruptions or shifting tectonic plates, but the presence of so many craters on Mars meant 5
that none of that seemed to have happened. Over the new few days more detailed
pictures came back, but they only rubbed salt into the wound: more craters.

11 What is the name of the literary device used in Text B (line 2) that is three full stops
together?

…………………………………………………………………………………………..… [1]

In your own words, explain what effect this literary device causes?

…………………………………………………………………………………………….. [1]

12 ‘A sinking feeling washed over mission control.’

In your own words, explain the two main reasons that lead to causing this feeling in
mission control.

Year 7 – First Language English – Winter Break Practice 2 5

  …………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………

 …………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………….. [2]

13 Read the extract from Text B, ‘rubbed salt into the wound’.

What literary device does the phrase from Text B represent?

Tick () one box.

Idiom

Metaphor

Simile

Alliteration

[1]

14 Which adjective in Text B is used to compare the two planets, Earth and Mars?

…………………………………………………………………………………………..… [1]

15 Find an example of an adverb from Text B.

…………………………………………………………………………………………….. [1]

Year 7 – First Language English – Winter Break Practice 2 6