QUESTION 1 (50 marks)

Read the text below and answer all the questions that follow.

1 Still in shock, I stumbled about the house trying to decide what to put into the
suitcases. Earlier that evening, I’d received a call from my hometown in Missouri
telling me that my brother, his wife, her sister and both the sister’s children had been
killed in a car crash. “Come as soon as you can,” begged my mother.

2 That’s what I wanted to do – to leave at once, to hurry to my parents. But my husband,

Larry, and I were in the midst of packing all our belongings to move from Ohio to
New Mexico. Our house was in total confusion. Some of the clothes that Larry and I
and our two young children, Eric and Meghan, would need were already taped up in
cartons. Which ones? Stunned by grief, I couldn’t remember. Other clothes lay
unwashed in a pile, one on the other, on the laundry-room floor. Supper dishes still sat
on the kitchen table. Toys were strewn everywhere.

3 While Larry made plane reservations for the following morning, I wandered about the
house, aimlessly picking things up and putting them down. I couldn’t focus. Again and
again, the words I’d heard on the phone echoed through my head: “Bill is gone –
Marilyn too. June – and both the children …”

4 It was as though the message had muffled my brain with cotton. Whenever Larry
spoke, he sounded far away. As I moved through the house, I ran into doors and
tripped over chairs. Larry made arrangements for us to leave by seven o’clock the
next morning. Then he phoned a few friends to tell them what had happened.
Occasionally, someone asked to speak to me. “If there’s anything I can do, let me
know,” that person would offer sympathetically.

5 “Thank you very much,” I’d reply. But I didn’t know what to ask for. I couldn’t
concentrate. I sat in a chair, staring into space, while Larry called Donna King, the
woman with whom I taught a nursery class at church each Sunday. Donna and I were
casual friends, but we didn’t see each other often. She and Emerson, her thin, quiet
husband, were kept busy during the week by their own “nursery” – six children
ranging in age from two to 15. I was glad Larry had thought to warn her that
she’d have the nursery class alone the coming
Sunday.
6 While I sat there, Meghan darted by, holding a ball. Eric chased after her. They
should be in bed, I thought. I followed them into the living room. My legs dragged.
My hands felt gloved with lead. I sank down on the couch in a stupor. When the
doorbell rang, I rose slowly and crept across the room. I opened the door to see
Emerson King standing on the porch.
“I’ve come to clean your shoes,” he said.
Confused, I asked him to repeat.

7 “Donna had to stay with the baby,” he said, “but we want to help you. I remember
when my father died, it took me hours to get the children’s shoes cleaned and shined
for the funeral. So that’s what I’ve come to do for you. Give me your shoes – not
just your good shoes, but all your shoes.”

8 I hadn’t even thought about shoes until he mentioned them. Now I remembered that
Eric had left the sidewalk to wade through the mud in his good shoes after church the
previous Sunday. Not to be outdone by her brother, Meghan had kicked rocks,
scuffing the toes of her shoes. When we’d returned, I’d tossed them into the laundry
room to clean later.

9 While Emerson spread newspapers on the kitchen floor, I gathered Larry’s dress and
everyday shoes, my heels, my flats, the children’s dirty dress shoes, and their sneakers
with the food spots. Emerson found a pan and filled it with soapy water. He got an old
knife out of a drawer and retrieved a sponge from under the sink. Larry had to
rummage through several cartons, but at last he located the shoe polish.

10 Emerson settled himself on the floor and got to work. Watching him work intently on
one task helped me pull my own thoughts. Laundry first, I told myself. As the washer
chugged, Larry and I bathed the children and put them to bed.

11 While we cleared the supper dishes, Emerson continued to work, saying nothing. The
love in the act released my tears at last, healing rain to wash the fog from my mind. I
could move. I could think. I could get on with the business of living.

12 One by one, the jobs fell into place. I went into the laundry room to put a load of wash
into the dryer, returning to the kitchen to find that Emerson had left. In a line against
one wall stood all our shoes, gleaming, spotless. Later, when I
started to pack, I saw that Emerson had even scrubbed the soles. I could put
 the shoes directly into the suitcases.

13 We got to bed late and rose very early, but by the time we left for the airport, all the
jobs had been done. The image of a quiet man kneeling on my kitchen floor with a pan
of water, would sustain me.

14 Now whenever I hear of a friend who has lost a loved one, I no longer call with the
vague offer, “If there’s anything I can do …” Instead I try to think of one specific task
that suits that person’s need – such as washing the family car, taking the dog to the
boarding kennel, or house-sitting during the funeral. And if the person says to me,
“How did you know I needed that done?” I reply, “It’s because a man once cleaned
my shoes.”

Adapted from: http://www.rd.com

Section A (15 marks)

Match the words in Column A to their meanings in Column B as they are used in the
passage.

Column A Column B
e.g. shock (paragraph 1) : trauma
1. begged (paragraph 1) : bumped
focus
2. grief (paragraph 2) :
pleaded
3. pile (paragraph 2) : last sadness
4. ran into (paragraph 4) : heap stood
up trauma
5. sympathetically (paragraph 4) :
attentively
6. concentrate (paragraph 5) : demanded
7. holding (paragraph 6) : extremely clean
compassionately
8. rose (paragraph 6) :
clutching
9. previous (paragraph 8) : confusion thrown
10. tossed (paragraph 8) : search
11. retrieved (paragraph 9) : took out
recovered
12. rummage (paragraph 9) :
13. intently (paragraph 10) :
14. fog (paragraph 11) :
15. spotless (paragraph 12) :

TOTAL
15
Section B (10 marks)
State what the following words or phrases refer to in the text.
e.g. you (paragraph 1) : the writer and her family

1. someone (paragraph 4) :

2. we (paragraph 5) :

3. her (paragraph 5) :

4. them (paragraph 8) :

5. the person (paragraph 14) :

TOTAL
10

Section C (12 marks)

Circle the letter corresponding to the best answer, e.g. A if A is the answer.

1. The accident involved the writer’s

I. sister
II. brother
III. brother’s wife
IV. brother’s children

A. I and II C. II and IV
B. II and III D. III and IV

2. The writer’s mother asked them to return to their hometown in

A. Ohio.
B. Missouri.
C. Maryland.
D. New Mexico.

3. The writer’s home was in total confusion because her family is

A. travelling abroad.
B. moving to another town.
C. returning to her hometown.
D. attending her brother’s funeral.
4. Which of the following statements about Emerson King is TRUE?
I. His father had passed on.
II. He cleaned all the writer’s shoes.
III. He and his wife have six children.
IV. He helped to clean the writer’s kitchen floor.

A. I and III C. I and IV

B. I, II and III D. II and IV

TOTAL
12

Section D (13 marks)

Answer the following questions.

1. Why did Emerson King come to help the writer’s family to clean their shoes?

(2 marks)

2. What did Eric and Meghan do with their shoes after church the previous Sunday?
i. _
ii.
(3 marks)

3. What were the tasks that the writer and her husband managed to do while
Emerson King was at their home?
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
(5 marks)
4. The specific tasks that the writer would do for her friends if they lost a loved one are:
i.
ii.
iii.
(3 marks)

TOTAL
13

QUESTION 2 (20 marks) (not tested in the final exam)

Fill in the blanks with the correct forms of the verb (SIMPLE PRESENT OR PRESENT

PROGRESSIVE).

Dear Editor,

I 1. (write) this letter because it

2. (seem) to me that far too many changes

3. (take) place in my country these days, and, as a result, we 4.

(lose) our identity.

I 5. (live) in a small town but even this town

6. (change) before my eyes. For example, town authorities 7.

(build) a burger place where my favourite restaurant used to

be. Our culture 8. (belong) to everybody, and I

9. (not understand) why the town leaders

10. (not do) anything to preserve it. They simply

11. (not care).

In fact, I 12. (think) of starting an action group. I

13. (appear) on a TV show on Friday evening to make people aware

of how important this issue is. It’s time for us to start doing something before it 14.

(get) too late.

Circle the letter corresponding to the best answer, e.g. A if A is the answer.

1. I bought the of the two books.

A. cheap B. cheaper than

C. cheaper D. cheapest

2. The movie is very moving.

A. slow B. slowly

C. slower D. slowest

3. You have to walk if you do not want to be late.

A. quick B. quickly

C. quickened D. quicker than

4. Let us buy that tie with the for father. I am sure he will love
it.

A. thin blue stripes B. thin and blue stripes

C. blue thin stripes D. thin but blue stripes

5. This is movie ever to be produced in film history.

A. a scary B. as scary as

C. scarier than D. the scariest

6. My brother’s friend for the United States of America two

months

ago.

A. leave B. left

C. is leaving D. leaves

TOTAL
20
QUESTION 3 (30 marks)
In about 250 - 300 words, write an essay on ONE of the following topics.

1. A person who changed your life in a positive way

OR
2. Your first day in college or university