Cambridge Assessment International Education

TERM 1 EXAMINATION
[2023-24]

CANDIDATE
NAME JUAN ARUN JOSEPH

CANDIDATE
E-MAIL juanarunjoseph2011@gmail.com

SCORE / 50 GRADE

NAME OF EXAMINER SIGN

HRITHIK S.

Cambridge Lower Secondary STAGE- 8

ENGLISH (0861)
PAPER 2 – FICTION 1 Hour
10 Minutes
No additional material needed

INSTRUCTIONS
• Answer all questions.
• Write your answer to each question in the space provided. Nothing written in the
gutter space will be evaluated.
• You should pay attention to punctuation, spelling and handwriting.

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].
Suggestions for how long to spend on each section are given in the booklet.
 SESSION A: READING
(Spend 30 minutes on this session)

Text Extract from Holiday Memory by Dylan Thomas

August Bank Holiday. A tune on an ice-cream cornet. A slap of sea and a tickle
of sand. A fanfare of sunshades opening. A wince and whinny of
bathers dancing into deceptive water. A tuck of dresses. A rolling of
trousers. A compromise of paddlers. A sunburn of girls and a lark of boys. A
silent hullabaloo of balloons.
I remember the sea telling lies in a shell held to my ear for a whole
harmonious, hollow minute by a small, wet girl in an enormous bathing suit.

I remember sharing the last of my moist buns with a boy and a lion. Tawny
and savage, with cruel nails and rapacious mouth, the little boy tore and
devoured. Wild as seedcake, ferocious as a hearthrug, the depressed and
verminous lion nibbled like a mouse at his half a bun and hiccupped in the
sad dusk of his cage.
I remember a man with a bag of monkey-nuts in his hand, crying ‘Ride ’em,
cowboy!’ time and again he whirled in his chair-o-plane* giddily above the
upturned laughing faces of the town girls bold as brass and the boys with
padded shoulders and shoes sharp as knives; and the monkey-nuts flew
through the air like salty hail.

Children all day capered or squealed by the glazed or bashing sea, and the
steam-organ wheezed its waltzes in the threadbare playground and the waste
lot, where the dodgems dodged, behind the pickle factory.
And mothers loudly warned their proud pink daughters or sons to put that
jellyfish down; and fathers spread newspapers over their faces; and sand fleas
hopped on the picnic lettuce; and someone had forgotten the salt.

In those always radiant, rainless, lazily rowdy and sky blue summers
departed, I remember August Monday from the rising of the sun over the
stained and royal town to the husky hushing of the roundabout music in the
seaside fair: from bubble-and-squeak* to the last of the sandy sandwiches.
There was no need, that holiday morning, for the sluggardly boys to be
shouted down to breakfast; out of their jumbled beds they tumbled, and
scrambled into their rumpled clothes; quickly at the bathroom basin they cat
licked their hands and faces, but never forgot to run the water loud and long
as though they washed like colliers*; in front of the cracked looking-glass, in
their treasure-trove bedrooms, they whisked a gap tooth comb through their
surly hair; and with shining cheeks and noses and tide marked necks, they
took the stairs three at a time.
But for all their scramble and scamper, clamour on the landing, cat lick and
toothbrush flick, hair whisk and stair-jump, their sisters were always there
before them. Up with the lady lark, they had prinked and frizzed and hot-ironed;
and smug in their blossoming dresses, ribboned for the sun, in gym shoes white
as the blanco’s snow, neat and silly, with tomatoes they helped in the higgedly
kitchen.

They were calm; they were virtuous; they had washed their necks; they did
not romp, or fidget; and only the smallest sister put out her tongue at the
boys.

And the woman who lived next door came into the kitchen and said that her
mother, an ancient uncertain body who wore a hat with cherries, was having one
of her days and had insisted, that very holiday morning, in carrying, all 40 the
way to the tram stop, a photograph album and the cut glass fruit bowl from the
front room.

This was the morning when father, mending one hole in the thermos-flask,
made three; when the sun declared war on the butter, and the butter ran;
when dogs, with all the sweet-binned backyards to wag and sniff and
bicker in, chased their tails, worried sandshoes, snapped at flies, writhed
between legs, scratched among towels, sat smiling.

And if you could have listened at some of the open doors of some of the houses
in the street you might have heard:
“Uncle Owen says he can’t find the bottle-opener…”
“Has he looked under the hallstand?”
“Willy’s cut his finger …”
“Got your spade?”
“Uncle Owen says why should the bottle-opener be under the hallstand?”
“Never again, never again …”
“I know I put the pepper somewhere…”
“Willy's bleeding …”
“Look, there’s a bootlace in my bucket…”
“Oh come on, come on …”
“Let’s have a look at the bootlace in your bucket.”
“If I lay my hands on that dog …”
“Uncle Owen’s found the bottle-opener …”
“Willy's bleeding over the cheese …”
And the trams that hissed like ganders* took us all to the beautiful beach.
There was cricket on the sand, and sand in the sponge cake, sandflies in
the watercress […] In the distance a cross man on an orange-box shouted
that holidays were wrong.
Read the text extract, and then answer the questions 1-18

Q1. What is the mood of the writer? Tick one option. [1]
a) Optimistic
b) Fearful
c) Nostalgic
d) Suspenseful

Q2. Look at the first paragraph. What is unusual about the short sentences in this
paragraph?

The short sentences used different words to make a sentence.

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

Q3. Look at lines 5-6. What two literary techniques does the write use. Tick two opt. [2]
a) Onomatopoeia
b) Simile
c) Hyperbole
d) Alliteration
e) Personification

Q4. From paragraphs 4, 5 or 6, find a word that means showing high moral standards.

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

Q5. a) Look at lines 7-10. Find one word that means greedy.

Rapacious
………………………………………………………………………………………………….. [1]
 b) What is unusual about the way the lion eats the bun.

The fact that he nibbled the bun

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

Q6. Look at lines 5-14. How has the writer structured the text here?

He has structured the text in a nostalgic way.

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

Q7. Look at the third paragraph. What is the difference between the attitudes of the
children and the parents?

The children ran around playing and squealing. The mothers warned them not to cause
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
mischief and the fathers read newspapers.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………….. [2]

Q8. Look at the fourth paragraph. Give one phrase that tells us that the narrator stayed
up until the end of the event.

He stayed until the last of sandy sandwiches.

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

Q9. What is the effect of the long sentence in the fourth paragraph?

The long sentence keeps the reader engaged.

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

Q10. Look at the fifth paragraph. The writer uses ‘But’ to contrast two ideas. What are
they?

The writer uses 'But' to differentiate between the behaviour of the siblings.
………………………………………………………………………………………………….. [1]
Q11. What literary device does the writer use with the words scramble and clamour?

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

Q12. Look at the seventh paragraph. The neighbour’s mother is doing something which
the mother doesn’t agree with. Which one word tells the reader this?

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

Q13. Look at the eighth paragraph. How does the reader know that the weather is hot?
Give one quotation.

'The sun declared war on the butter and the butter ran.'
………………………………………………………………………………………………….. [1]

Q14. Look at the final paragraph. Why has the writer used ellipsis (…)?

It is used for a pause

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

Q15. Give two features of autobiographical writing, like shown in the text extract.

 The writer uses this text to explain an aspect in his life.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

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

Q16. What kind of community is the writer describing? Give one idea. Explain your
answer using evidence from the text extract.
The writer lives in a community where the people come together. The writer shares buns with
……………………………………………………………………………………………………..

a lion and people talk to each other.

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

Q17. The writer shows that August Bank Holiday is a noisy occasion. How does the
writer show this? Give two phrases.

The children ran around hastily and were messy. The music had increased volume and
………………………………………………………………………………………………………

there was much

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

Q18. Explain how you think the day was less than perfect. Give one piece of evidence
to support your answer.
The day was filled with many wrong things. Insults, mess, noise and of
Explanation: ………………………………………………………………………………..

course the hot sun.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………
There was cricket on the sand, and sand in the sponge cake, sandflies in the
Quotation: …………………………………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………………………………………………….. [2]
 SESSION B: WRITING
(Spend 30 minutes on this session)

Q19. Write a story about a day out. You should consider the following:

• the viewpoint – 1st person, 3rd person

• the place – the sounds, sights and smells
• what your character(s) did, felt, said, wore
• any funny, interesting or memorable moments.

SPACE FOR YOUR PLAN

Write your story on the next page [25]

I wok up with the sound of birds chirping. The warmth of the sum attacked my face. I did not

want to wake up but then my misery was replaced by one fact and one fact only. School was out

for summer' Though I had nothing planned for the day, I did not have to spend it listening to Mrs.

Springfield's history lesson of how early people hunted for food. I was elated by this thought. I

rushed to the toilet with a I - love - the - world - and - my - life face. I was then interrupted by the

smell of freshly cooked eggs and crisped toast. I then rushed down and was greeted by the face

of my father plastered on the newspaper. I sat down for breakfast and ate my food with joy.(not

that that happens rarely) After putting the paper down my father elated us with fabulous news.

"We're going to the Bahamas!' He exclaimed. As soon as those words entered my ears, my

mind started dancing like Michael Jackson tot he song 'Billie Jean'. We packed up with hastle.

and left first thing after eating breakfast. My father had already booked the tickets without my

knowledge. The plane trip was 3, 1/2 hours as I lived in Canada. As soon as I arrived at the

airport I got out and was greeted by that Tropical-Bahamian smell. The sights around us was

breathtaking. The coconut trees lined with alignment added beauty to the scene before me. We

stopped at the hotel which was very huge and fancy. We unpacked and left for the only place I

came here for, the beach! After getting out of the taxi I smelled the sandy smell of the beach.

The horizon looked limited but not the people at the beach. It was so crowded that oxygen was

a concept available to some. I ran to the shore and ran along it. The waves splashing at my feet.

I then played with tiny sea anemones. which felt both peculiar and exciting. I then got tired and

decided to sleep. I took my mat and made a clothed-chair to rest but I guess the leaf-strings

weren't strong because the second I said on it, I fell to the ground with a thump along with the

mate. I just decided to sit down after that. The leaved bristled and swayed. The wind blew

vigourously so much that a blonde girl's hair whipped around her face. But all good things must
of course come to an end. We sadly had to leave beacause of course I had to explore other

aspects of Bahamas too. I had a quick shower and left for a Chinese Cuisine Restaurant for

dinner. I had the best Ramen and fish of my life. But that was it for today. I am eager to know

what surprises fate might hold for me tomorrow.

********************EXAMINATION OVER********************