Extended

IGCSE style Paper (2015 IGCSE STYLE)

First Language English 0522

Paper 2 Reading Passages Extended 2015

2 hours

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Name:_______________________ Class:___________

Teacher/Teaching group: _______

Pre Public Exam Paper 2 – Extended

Read Passage A carefully and then answer Questions 1 and 2 on the Question Paper

Passage A: Oliver Jones

In this passage, Edward Jones describes how he found out his son Oliver had gone missing in the Australian Blue Mountains.

It was late July, at about midnight our landline released a piercing noise and woke us from our previously deep sleep. I assumed it would just be another nuisance phone call, as this had frequently been happening since we had moved house earlier that month. However, when I heard an Australian accent on the other end of the line I would have been eternally grateful had it been the suspected nuisance call. However, this was someone from the Australian Embassy informing us that our 19-year-old son was missing.

Oliver had always been stubborn and confident; some would call it the arrogance of youth. He had insisted that he wanted to take a year to travel before he went to university. He wanted to visit Laos, Vietnam, and Nepal as well Australia. We had violently resisted his plans, suspicious that this would be his doorway into a new world of refusing to settle down and get a job, like we had always urged him. However, our resistance was futile, he had saved up the money and was determined to go – he was 19, what could we do? He was the of the generation who believed that “finding yourself” had to be done on distant shores rather than in the day to day grind of the daily commute.

The last we heard from him was when he arrived in Australia in Katoomba, New South Wales. He was staying at a hostel, the rest of the details were as vague as fog, typical Oliver, never one for embellishing the minimum amount of detail. He phoned occasionally but usually when he needed money. It was not unusual to not hear from him for over 7 days; he was fiercely independent and didn’t want to be wrapped in cotton wool. On this occasion though perhaps we should have listened to the nagging doubts within.

It turned out that Oliver had gone for a walk in the Blue Mountains and had found himself near the Narrow Neck fire trail. Narrow Neck, southwest of Katoomba, is around 1,000m above sea level and surrounded by dense forested hills which could ensnare the most experienced trekker. Nighttime temperatures in the area could often get to below freezing, wrapping everything in a suffocating layer of frost. The terrain was rough and its difficulty deceiving. Oliver had naively embarked on a solitary 10-mile walk without a mobile phone or any specialist equipment. An ill-conceived wander into the forested hills nearly led him into the arms of silent death.

During his 14 days in the forests he lost so much weight that his already slim, boy-ish frame had become skeletal. A diet of grass and seeds had seen the life and vitality drain from his body. In order to keep warm he would wrap his thin jacket around his torso like a shroud. With the last bit of strength he had he dug a grave like pit to sleep in and found foliage to cover himself with. There he waited for death to creep up and catch him unawares, the sound of distant helicopters adding to his

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anguish. Depressed and dazed, he would stagger to an opening and cry to a God who he felt had cruelly abandoned him.

It was on the fourteenth day of his ordeal that he was finally found by two experienced and well-equipped bush walkers. Unlike Oliver, they had the necessary equipment to tend to his frail body, but most importantly, a mobile phone to contact the emergency services.

When we saw Oliver he was in hospital, tearful, exhausted, remorseful and embarrassed. He was scrawny and subdued; his assured demeanor was a long distant memory. He was child-like again; all of his allusions of grandeur had been stripped away by the knowledge that his schoolboy error had nearly led to him not only loosing his life, but to millions of pounds being spent on a 14-day rescue effort.

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Part 2

Read Passage B carefully, and then answer Question 3 on the Question Paper.

Passage B

This leaflet is trying to promote the benefits of walking.

Walking is the poor relation of running. When a sprightly sprinter passes your front window they are given an admiration not given to those who embark on a slower paced 6 mile walk despite it taking many hours longer. Yet the humble act of walking for 30 minutes a day can have significant benefits in many areas of our lives.

Why walk when we don’t have to? There are many reasons to walk it has many physical benefits as it strengthens your heart, reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke. It improves circulation, breathing and endocrine functions. Not only that but it also tones muscles and strengthens bones, reducing the risk of osteoporosis as well as reducing blood fat and cholesterol. It can also help with weight loss as it burns calories (in a low impact way, unlike running) and helps you manage your weight; that in turn boosts mental performance and contributes to a healthy mind. Many walkers have found other benefits too; it enables you to solve problems, manage stress and reduce anxiety. It can provide that all-important ‘time out’ in a busy day so that it becomes possible to think clearly and unwind.

Even if you feel you have no time outside work to do any physical exercise, walking can fit in with the most rigid of work commitments. To get fit does require discipline and dedication. You need to organise your week to make time to do some form of exercise. Perhaps you could get up an hour earlier and go out for a brisk walk; those who have dogs will have a ready-made opportunity. If you can walk to work, do so, you may well arrive feeling more prepared for the day ahead. If you get to work by bus or train, you could get off a stop or two earlier than usual, so that you walk a small distance each day – it doesn’t have to be miles. If you drive, you could park further away than usual, or walk a longer route to work, you may save yourself some inner city parking fees in the process.

You could also use your lunchtimes or breaks to take regular brisk walks around your work area, not just a stroll around the local shops. If you haven’t got much time but are feeling ready for the challenge then find a steep set of stairs in your office and climb them five times, at least three times per week. If in the dark nights of winter, walking round the local area or up the office steps doesn’t fill you with enthusiasm then why not join a gym? Most good gyms have a walking machine, or even better a stair climber, where you can cover more ‘virtual ground’ more safely and comfortably. You are also amongst other people striving for the same goal and this can be motivational. At least at the gym you don’t have to do the journey back to where you started, you just stop and head to the changing room.

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