English

Name:

Class: Date:

Section A: Reading

Read the newspaper article below then answer the

questions that follow it.

A cockroach got stuck in my ear

1 It was January 2014, and I was living in Darwin,
Australia, with a couple of friends. It had been an
uneventful Tuesday evening and I went to sleep as
normal, around midnight.
5 I woke up at about 2am and realised I couldn’t
hear in one ear. I was sleepy and perplexed, but I
knew something was in there. It was hard to know
what it was but it felt like the inside of my ear had
swollen up.
10 I later learned that a 2cm bush cockroach had
flown into my right ear.
Cockroaches, I’ve since learned, can’t move
backwards. It was pretty big, so it wouldn’t have had
room to move. Its only option was to move forward,
15 so it clawed further in, burrowing deeper with its
mouth; it was scratching and chewing on my eardrum.
It was excruciatingly painful, like someone sticking a
knitting needle in your ear then tapping on it.

1
 I shook my head to try to get it out. That didn’t do
20 anything. Then I got the vacuum cleaner and held
the nozzle against my ear to try to suck out
whatever it was. That didn’t work either; the more I
irritated the thing in my ear, the more pain it caused
me. I was gritting my teeth too hard to cry.
25 I knew I had to go to hospital and woke my
­housemate, Stuart. This was at about 4.30am.
We got to the emergency department of the R ­ oyal
­Darwin hospital and I described the pain I was
­experiencing. They saw me within five minutes.
30 A doctor examined my ear and was surprised to
see a cockroach in there. (I was relieved to find out
it wasn’t a poisonous spider.) The doctor poured
oil into my ear. It took about 15 minutes for the
­cockroach to die. The doctor slowly drew it out
35 with a pair of long tweezers. It felt really good.
The doctor said the cockroach was probably one
of the largest insects she’d ever heard of being in
someone’s ear. She said if it had been in there much
longer it could have damaged my eardrum, which
40 could have caused hearing loss.
I’ve since learned that insects enter people’s ears
all the time. Still, I don’t bother to wear earplugs or
earphones in bed. There are lots of worse things in
life than having a bug crawl into your ear.

Source: Copyright Guardian News & Media Ltd 2018

2
3
1 How has the writer’s life been changed by the
­experience he describes in the article?

A He is nervous of insects.
B He is in pain.

C His hearing has been affected.

D It has not changed his life at all.

1

2 Look again at lines 2–3 of the article.

Explain one way in which the writer suggests that
nothing dramatic or interesting happened on the day
before he woke up with a cockroach in his ear.
Remember to support your ideas with evidence from
the extract.

4
3 The writer begins the article by suggesting that
nothing dramatic or interesting happened on the
day before he woke up with a cockroach in his ear.
Explain one reason why the writer might have
­chosen to begin the article in this way.

4 Look again at line 10–11 of the extract.

Explain one reason why the writer has chosen
to place this sentence by itself in a very short
­paragraph.

5
5 Look again at lines 12–18 of the article.
Explain two ways in which the writer creates a
­negative impression of the cockroach.
Remember to support your ideas with evidence
from the extract.

6
6 Look again at lines 19–24 of the article.
Explain two ways in which the writer has described
his thoughts and feelings in this paragraph.
Remember to support your ideas with evidence from
the extract.

Look again at this part of the text:

A doctor examined my ear and was surprised to see

a cockroach in there. (I was relieved to find out it
wasn’t a poisonous spider.)

7 Explain one reason why the writer has used brackets here.

7
8 a) Look at the final paragraph of the article. In
which tense is this paragraph mainly written?

A Simple past tense

B Present tense

C Future tense

D Past continuous tense

b) 
The writer has used this tense in the final
paragraph because:

A This experience happened a few years ago.

B He is explaining how he feels his life will

change over the next few years.

C 
He is explaining how he now feels about
his experience, and the effect it still has
on his life.

D 
He is describing something that has
already happened. 2

8
9 The writer suggests in different ways that a cockroach
burrowing into his ear was a serious problem. Which
of these does NOT suggest how serious it was?

A He could not hear in one ear.

B A doctor saw him within five minutes

of his arrival at hospital.

C It was excruciatingly painful.

D It could have caused hearing loss if it

had not been removed.
1

Total for section A = 19 marks

9
 Section B: Writing

10 Describe an unpleasant or dangerous experience you

have had. You could write about:
• what happened and why
• what you did to improve the situation
• your thoughts and feelings at that time.

10
11
 20

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 Total for test : 39 marks
My score: marks

What went well

How to improve

The author and the publisher would like to thank the following individuals and
organisations for permission to use copyright material: Guardian News & Media Ltd.
© Pearson Education Ltd 2018. Copying permitted for purchasing
institution only. This material is not copyright free.

13
 English

Name:

Class: Date:

Section A: Reading
Read the extract below then answer the questions
that follow it.

1 Ana slowly pulled her bedroom door closed

behind her. Eventually, it closed with a quiet click.
She stood frozen in cold moonlight, looking
longingly at the stairs and listening. A dog barking
5 somewhere outside, in the darkness of the night.
Her grandmother’s snoring. The warm breeze
whispering gently among the leaves of the acacia
trees in the front garden.
Slowly, so slowly, Ana lifted her right foot and
10 placed it in front of her left foot. A little faster,
she lifted the left foot and placed it in front of the
right foot. She paused, listened for a moment to her
grandmother’s loud, rhythmic snoring, and smiled.
Silently, so silently, Ana walked to the top of the
15 stairs.
Clenching every muscle, Ana lowered her right foot
onto the first step, then lowered her left foot to meet
it. One foot at a time, one step at a time, slowly and
silently, Ana climbed down the dark stairs.

1
20 In the hallway, a puddle of moonlight spilled
through a narrow window onto the dark, tiled
floor. Ana paused for a moment, keeping out of the
moonlight, hiding in the shadows, her back pressed
against the white wall opposite the narrow window.
25 She narrowed her eyes to peer through it to the
outside world. The sky glowed a luminous dark
blue, dotted with gleaming stars, rising above the
black outlines of trees and houses.
In the silence, Ana became aware of the beat of
30 her heart, the blood pulsing in her ears. She became
aware of her breathing: short breaths, each one
held, then silently released. She became aware of
her clenched fists, short jagged nails digging in to
her palms. She became aware of the skin and sweat
35 of her warm, clammy feet sticking to the cold floor,
squeaking as she turned to face the front door.
Ana closed her eyes and tried to calm herself. She
opened her eyes, took two steps forward, placed one
hand on the handle of the front door and turned it,
40 easing the front door open. Cold, fresh, clean night
air rushed in, and the thick, warm, lifeless air of
her grandmother’s house rushed out. Ana breathed
deeply, taking in the smells of the night: pine trees,
flowers, damp earth and dust. Ana stepped through
45 the door, out into the night, and pulled the door
closed behind her.
Freedom.
She had no key, no way to go back inside, no
way to go back to bed without ringing the bell and
50 waking her grandmother. Her choice was made.
She was on her own, outside and alone.
Without another thought in her head, she began to
laugh. And then she began to run.

2
3
1 Look again at lines 1–8 of the text. Identify three
different things that Ana hears.

2 The writer tells us that Ana ‘listened for a moment

to her grandmother’s loud, rhythmic snoring, and
smiled.’ Explain one reason why Ana might have
smiled.

4
3 Look again at lines 9–19.
a) Which answer best describes what the writer
suggests about Ana’s movements?

A Ana moves very carefully.

B Ana moves quickly and silently.

C Ana moves cautiously.

D Ana moves carefully and cautiously.

b) Explain two ways in which the writer has

created this impression.
Remember to support your ideas with evidence
from the extract.

5
4 Look again at lines 29–36 of the text.
a) In this paragraph, the writer describes Ana.
What does this description suggest about Ana’s
feelings?

b) Write down two ways in which the writer

suggests Ana’s feelings in this paragraph.

c) The writer suggests these feelings as Ana

approaches the front door of her ­grandmother’s
house.
Explain one reason why the writer might have
decided to suggest these feelings at this point
in the text.

6
5 Carefully re-read lines 37–53. Why do you think
Ana has gone outside?
Remember to support your ideas with evidence from
the extract.

6 Look again at the whole text. Ana’s thoughts and

feelings when she is inside her grandmother’s house
are very different to her thoughts and feelings when
she is outside her grandmother’s house. Explain one
way in which they differ.
Remember to support your ideas with evidence from
the extract.

Total for section A = 19 marks

7
 Section B: Writing

7 Write about a time when you made a decision that

you regretted.
Think about:
• the decision you made
• the reason you made that decision
• when and how you realised it was the wrong
decision
• your thoughts and feelings at that time.

8
9
 20

10
 Total for test : 39 marks
My score: marks

What went well

How to improve

All text and images copyright Pearson Education.

© Pearson Education Ltd 2018. Copying permitted for purchasing institution only.
This material is not copyright free.

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