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Nandi North District Mock - English Paper 2 Question Paper

Nandi North District Mock - English Paper 2

Course:Secondary Level

Exam Year:2008

NAME…………………………………………………. INDEX No…………………………………..
School……………………………………………………
101/2
ENGLISH
PAPER 2
(Comprehension, literary , Appreciation and Grammar)
July/August 2008
Time: 2 ½ HOURS
NANDI – NORTH DISTRICT MOCK EXAMINATION 2008
Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (K.C.S.E)
101/2
ENGLISH
PAPER 2
(Comprehension, Literary Appreciation and Grammar)
July/August 2008
Time: 2 ½ HOURS
INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES:
• Write your name and index number in the spaces provided
• Answer ALL the questions in this question paper
This paper consists of 12 printed pages
Candidates should check the question paper to ensure
that all the pages are printed as indicated and no questions are missing .
Q.1. Reading the passage below and answer the questions that follow.
Two thousand kilometers separate the hot swamps of the sudd from the naked wastes of the Nubian desert in the North,yet both are in Sudan, Africa’s largest country. Khartoum, the capital city, strategically located where the white Nile meets the Blue Nile, is in an intermediate position, in a country of arid but edible pasture where the herding of stock has been practiced for as long as man remembers. In recent years, Khartoum has watched the implacable advance of the desert, moving down from the North at an inexorable rate of five to seven kilometers per year, from beyond Atbara to the very outskirts of the capital itself. The herds which once pastured to the North of Khartoum have been driven Southward.
Landscapes generally devoid of life, true deserts extend over areas where less than 100mm or rain falls annually. Above the 100mm, say upto 250mm, the presence of plants, however skimpy and scattered they are biologically adapted to arid conditions, will usually signal intrusions by livestock, herded by means of nomadic techniques in the driest portions of pasture.
But the amount of rain, or lack of it, is not the sole determinant of deserts other factors are also involved such as the quality of the soil, or how rapidly the rainfall evaporates. Even so the deserts are the products of dry climate and they prevail where global patterns of atmospheric circulation dictate that rain will be absent, in the great sub tropical regions of descending air,as in northern Sudan for example.
Since at least 1942, Sudanese scientists who have been very aware of what is happening to their once productive pastures,have been asking if the climate of Africa has been getting drier. The earth’s climate is always changing and farmers and herdsmen are sustained through lean years by the expectation that the fat years will soon return. However, constant fluctuation in weather statistics make it very difficult to detect long term trends, and even after a third of a century of investigation, the question of whether Africa is moving into a drier climatic era cannot be answered. Research at present indicates that most of the new desert lands seem to be getting as much, or as little, rain it did when it was pasture. Even if there is a long-term shift towards more arid
conditions, it would operate too slowly to account for an advance of the desert as rapid as that taking place in the Sudan.
Indeed the rate at which usable land is dying has sharply accelerated in recent years, and is now proceeding at a rate in excess of 5 million hectares a year. This is alarming news in a world that must increase its total food production by a minimum of one third by the end of the century.
From a strictly climatic point of view, much of the Sudanese desert should not be a desert. What then is the reason for advance of the desert Thirty years ago Sudanese scientists concluded that the spread of deserts is the work of man. This is the answer that has since become universally accepted. Paradoxically, it is an optimistic and heartening conclusion. For if climate were the cause, there would be little that man could do about it. But as long as he as himself the cause he can find the remedy.
It is universally agreed that man makes deserts by bad, short sighted land use practices, by mismanaging the land that he tills, mines, lives in, drives over and pastures his livestock on. It is a subject on which experts surprisingly say that –further research is not essential. Certainly, some research leads, if followed up, might help provide solutions (For example the development of reliable long-term weather prediction). But even today we know enough to stop the advance of deserts and even to reclaim recently formed desert areas. Soil and plant specialists, agronomists, geographers and others have compiled encyclopedias of good land use practices. If degraded land is carefully studied, they say, then they can determine precisely what to do to restore it to full and sustained productivity.
To this it can be answered that many such experts have given advice whose expensive application has resulted in the end in the further degradation of the land. For example, the establishment of additional watering points sometimes via bore-holes, in such arid areas as the African Sahel, or the innoculation of Sahelian livestock against disease, has resulted in an explosion of livestock numbers. The increase livestock has then overgrazed meagre pastures to extinction. It is now sad that such bad advice has come from experts too narrowly focused on that particular specialities They have lacked the modern attitude, “the ecological point of view” according to which land and its life forms are seen as complicated interlocking systems. A change in any one of the elements may have important effects on the whole system. Thus the whole system needs to be studied and understood before any change is attempted.
a) What does the writer imply when he says that “Khartoum, the capital city, strategically located
where the white Nile meets the Blue Nile, is in an intermediate position” (2mks)
b) In about 50 words , summarize the definition of a true desert. (5mks)
Rough draft
Fair copy
c). How has man contributed to desertification according to the passage ? (2mks)
d) “Thus the whole system needs to be studied and understood before any change is attempted”
Begin the sentence with : They ......... (1mk)
e) The increased livestock has then overgrazed meagre pastures to extinction....(Add a question tag)
f) What is the attitude of the writer towards the experts ? (2mks)
g) According to the writer, what was the common mistake made by the many ‘experts’ in the
last paragraph? (3mks)
h) Explain the meaning of the following words and phrases as used in the passage. (4 marks )
Devoid of life…………………………………………………………………………………….
Lean years.......................................................................................................................................
Instrusions....................................................................................................................................
Product.........................................................................................................................................
2. Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow
It was on a visit to the tailor’s that Paulina found herself briefly in the news. She was on her way to pick up a suit of Mr. M’s that had been made larger, and paused to stare in a shop window at one of those ornaments where a bird dips and raises its head without visible mechanism over a seeming pool of water. From a side alley came shouts and scuffling, then the sound of a small boy crying. One or two people stopped to stare, then hurried on. Paulina peered round the corner. She saw two big boys,perhaps eleven and twelve, holding down a smaller boy on the ground, a few coins clutched in his hand. One of the big boys had his foot on the child’s chest and was trying to prise open his fist: the other was slapping his face.
“Let me go, let me go,” the little one howled. “It’s my money. You can’t take it:”
“But I bet you on the next lorry in the garage. You owe me eighty cents.”
“No, no, I don’t, wailed the urchin. You took the twenty cents I had then”
The little boy was wearing a rugged pair of shorts and an oversized T-shirt that read, between holes, ‘University of California’ His head was cropped almost bare and he was reasonably sturdy. The boy threatening him was tall and skinny, with stick-like arms and legs. Every rib showed under his bottomless shirt and his shorts were made up of patches. His eyes were red and sore, his hair long and gingerly with wisps of straw and wood shaving adhering to it. The princely character with his feet on the victim’s chest wore,with an air of condescension, odd sandals, one red, one blue, knickerbockers to mid –calf, a Blue-Band Magrine T-shirt and an eye-shade on a piece of elastic. A one-inch fag-end hung from the corner of his mouth.
‘Stop it’, said Paulina firmly in Swahili. “let the little boy alone” They took no notice, nor did passers-by. Paulina was surprised at
herself. “I told you to stop it”, she repeated. “Two big boys against one little one. That’s not fair.” To her surprise the slapping stopped, though the arrogant foot remained in place.
“It’s my money, missus” said a small voice. “A man gave me. I didn’t steal it. I want to eat , not to bet with it.”
“Betting is wrong” Paulina could hear herself, sententious, like a very young curate. “ And also silly when you have so little. Keep
the money for food:”
A crowd was beginning to collect. “They can go to Kariokor,” “said a man in messenger’s uniform. They get looked after there if
there really isn’t any family: If there is, they have to go home. But some of these Nairobi boys are just sent out to beg.”
“He’s got a mother and a room to live in, “announced the skinny one, pointing at the small boy. “He doesn’t have to work for his
food like some of us”
But she doesn’t come till night –time, Che, “ cried the small one. “you think I’m going to stay hungry till then?’
“You got something, Jonny, “ the possessor of the eye-shade pronounced judgement: someone in the crowd addressed him as
Muhammad Ali.
“But Che aint got nothing. That’s why I have got to help him more than you. It isn’t just a matter of size.”
This philosophic statement impressed the onlookers.
“What about you?” asked a big boy in the crowd.
Mohammed Ali removed his foot, acknowledging himself outnumbered, but kept a firm hand on Jonny’s shoulder when he
bounced to his feet. “Me? I can work when I have to. I got a brother who sells things.” “Oh yes, we know what kind of things,”
“said a shopkeeper, menacingly.
Paulina felt the initiative slipping from her and for the first time in her life she resented it. “You three-would you like something to
eat?”
They did not need asking twice and suddenly small, rugged, doubtless hungry boys bristled from the pavement. They seemed to
appear from nowhere.
“You and you and you,” she repeated. I can’t treat everybody. But no more fighting now. Let him keep his money . And she led
them off to a snack bar with wall painting of smartly dressed customers with forkfuls of chips and mugs of tea. She was surprised
to find someone at the edge of the crowd taking photographs, deeply offended when he asked for her name and her opinion on child Vagrants. Haughtily, she turned her back on him and led her charges to a table where,despite raised eyebrows behind the counter, they were served with tea and large sticky buns, after much splashing of hands under a running tap.
a) Explain why the big boys were mistreating the smaller one. (1mk)
b) “Stop it,” said Paulina firmly in Swahili “Let the little boy alone” (rewrite in reported speech)
(1mk)
c) Make notes on the aspects from the passage that show that these boys were very poor. (6mks)
d) Identify and explain the attitude of the city people towards the boys. (3mks)
e) Paulina engages in a dialogue with small boys when everybody else doesn’t .What does this tell us about her character? (4mks)
f) What seems to be the difference between the small boy and the skinny boy in terms
of family background ? (2mks)
g) In about 100 words summarize the problems experienced in the city that are brought
out in this extract (7mks)
Rough copy
...................................................................................................................................................................Fair copy
h) What does the children’s account remind Paulina of? (1mk)
3. ORAL LITERATURE. (20mks)
Read the Oral narrative below and then answer the question that follows:
Once upon a time there was an old Kuria woman. She was very old and used to remain with her grandchildren when all the able bodied members of the family went out to work in the shamba. One of those peculiar truths or realities which you come across in the world of stories of long ago, is that this old woman I’m telling you about wasn’t at all what she appeared to be. Each time the woman was left at home to look after her grandchildren she would behave in a most unnatural way, and would frighten the children so much that they would wail and cry , calling for their parents to come to their rescue. You see, the woman just swelled and swelled until she looked grotesque like a huge mould of earth, a shapeless monstrous creature. She used to terrify the children so much that some of the very nervous one actually became dumb with fright.
One day the children couldn’t keep this strange behaviour of their grandmother as a secret any more. They reported the matter to their father who couldn’t believe his children. He even swore he would beat all of them and their mother. But the little ones stood their grounds, and at last their father agreed to investigate the matter. So one day when everybody else went to the shamba, he stayed behind and hid in his house to watch and see for himself if it was really true that his mother could swell and transform herself into a monster. And true enough, he did see for himself. It was such a sight! Even old as he was, the man shuddered and cowered with fright. He couldn’t believe his eyes! “That thing, the dark shapeless lifeless monster,” he croaked with fright, “that can’t be the mother who gave birth to me,” he was thoroughly appalled. While he was still shaking, he heard his children crying terrified to death, running and scrambling away to find safety.
Soon the old woman realized that her secret must have been discovered and she didn’t feel safe remaining in the home.
One day she turned into an elephant and went to live in the bush. So up to now, the Kuria people neither kill nor eat the elephant’s
meat! It is supposed be their grandmother.
Questions
i) Classify the above narrative. (2mks)
ii) Identify and explain the features unique to oral narratives found in the passage. (6mks)
iii) Mention two economic activities of the people mentioned in the passage . (4mks)
iv) State and explain two functions of the above genre. (4mks)
v) What two problems, are you likely to encounter while collecting oral literature materials in the fields? (2mks)
vi) State the occasion when such a narrative can be performed. (2mks)
4. GRAMMAR (15MKS)
1. Fill in the blanks with a correct preposition. (3mks)
i) The interest charged is inclusive ................................... V.A.T
ii) Regular exercises are beneficial ............................................... health.
iii) Jenny’s brother is an engineer but he’s out of work .....................the moment.
2. Rewrite the following sentences according to the instructions given (4mks)
i) He did not pass his examination because of his carelessness. (Begin, But for ....)
ii) Come here ...... (Add a question tag....)
iii) It was the first time the school performed well. (Begin Never before......)
iv) “Don’t let the dog get out of its kennel!” The father ordered him. (Rewrite in reported speech)
3. Replace the underlined words in each of the following sentences with an appropriate phrasal verb
(3mks)
I) The deputy represented the principal in the meeting. (stand)
ii) Their plan to steal did not succeed. (come)
iii) The students performed a nice play during the prize giving ceremony (act)
4. Fill in the blanks spaces with the opposite of the words in brackets. (3mks)
i) His ........................................................... life is riddled with stress. (public)
ii) The court was filled with .................................... looking faces (innocent)
iii) The glass was totally ...............................(transparent)
5. Rewrite the following sentences using correct punctuation marks. (2mks)
i) Our school establishment is comprised of the following the head teacher his deputy the
bursar the teachers and the students.
ii) II Word war 11 1939- 1945 was a great drawn back to many development projects in this country
END

Nandi North District Mock - English Paper 2 Question Paper

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