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Inter-School English P2 Question Paper

Inter-School English P2

Course:Secondary Level

Exam Year:2009

COMPREHENSION
Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow: (20Marks)
This is an African story:it is also an Asian story and any cursory glance at the history of China,Vietnam,India,Africa,The west indies,Afro-American,will see the testimony in tears and blood.We are truly a colonial people whose sweat has been cruely exploited by Western monopoly capital to build the monument called western civilisation.We groaned while they ate:our skins were caked dry in the mines and plantations while they drank water in the shade.We build their cities for them and ourselves slept in the gutter.They scattered us all over the globe and then added insult to the injury by coming to our homes and using their superior technology,itself built on a black cargo across the middle passage,gunned us out and said the homes were theirs.
Let me for a few minutes confine myself to Kenya.Here the missionary,the settler and the colonial governor came as three imperial missives of Western monopoly capital.The settler grabbed the land and used African labour.The governor protected him with the political machinery and the gun.As black people were taken to work on the tea and coffee plantations or conscripted to fight in European wars.The European had the audacity to tell them to lift their eyes unto the Lord and sing halleluyah-Amen!
In their books and in their schools were the poetic and intellectual exultation of our humiliation and degradation.They sang of us as people without history and without meaningful values.This was drummed into our heads through their literatures and schools:Europe was the centre:the universe revolved around Europe,the fountain head of universal values and civilisation
In the name of that civilisation they destroyed our dances,our songs,our languages,our poetry.This was not a case of wanton carelessness;it was calculated Literature,songs,dances,stories embody the image people have of themselves and of their place in their universe as they struggle to harness the energies of nature for their use.Colonialism then systematically tried to kill the African individual and collective image of self.Get at their selfhood,feverently urged the governor and the settler:The spiritual policemen wearing the cloak of a priest or a man of letters went about his task sometimes with the subtleness of a serpent,often with awkward crudeness of the one eyed giant.They told their African converts to sing,"Wash me redeemer and i shall be whiter than snow."They knew that a slave was not a slave until he accepted he was a slave.So economical exploitation,political repression had to be accompanied by racism and spiritual genocide.This made a few of our westernised bourgeoisie cry in the words of Okot p'Bitek in his song of Ocol: "Mother,oh mother,why was i born black?"
Questions
1.In note form,write down how Africans were exploited by the whites(4 Marks)
2.What methods did the colonialists use to brainwash the Africans(2 Marks)
3.Pick any two instances of irony from the last paragraph(4 Marks)
4.(i) Let us for a few minutes confine ourselves to Kenya,(Add a question tag)(1 Mark)
(ii) They scattered us all over the globe.(Rewrite in the passive)(1Mark)
(iii)Wash me Redeemer and i shall be white as snow.(Rewrite in the reported speech)(1 Mark)
5.According to the passage how did colonialism destroy the African individual?(2 Marks)
6.What is the meaning of the following words and expressions as used in the passage?(5 Marks)
(i)Drummed into our heads
(ii)One-eyed giant
(iii)Exultation
(iv)This was not a case of wanton carelessness
(v)Baked dry
QUESTION 2: COMPULSORY SET TEXT- AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE By Henrik Ibsen
Read the following extract and then answer the questions that follow.
DR.STOCKMANN:Take care of it as it were a treasure!No misprint-every word is important.I will look in a little later;perhaps you will be able to let me see a proof.I can't tell you how eager i am to see it in print,and see it fired off..
BILLING:Yes,like a flash of lightning!
DR.STOCKMANN:...and to have it submitted to the judgement of my intelligent fellow townsmen.You cannot imagine what i have gone through today.I have been threatened with all sorts of things;they have tried to rob me of my most elementary rights as a man....
BILLING:What!Your rights as a man!
DR.STOCKMANN:...they have tried to intimidate me,to make a coward of me,to force me to put personal interests above my most sacred convictions.
BILLING:This is outrageous-I'm damned if it isn't.
HOVSTAD:Oh,you mustn't be surprised at anything from that crowd.
DR.STOCKMANN:Well,they will get the worst of it with him;they can rest assured of that.I shall consider the People's messanger my arsenal now and every single day i will bombard them with one article after another,like bombshells...
ASLAKSEN:Yes,but look here...
BILLING:Hurray!It is war,it is war!
DR.STOCKMANN:I shall crush them-I shall break down all their defenses,before the eyes of the honest public!That is what i shall do!
ASLAKSEN:Yes,but with moderation,Doctor-proceed with moderation.
BILLING:Not a bit of moderation,I say!Don't spare the dynamite!
DR.STOCKMANN:Because it is not merely a question of water supply and drains now,you know.No-it is the whole of our social life that has got to be purified and disinfected...
BILLING:Spoken like a saviour!
DR.STOCKMANN:All the bunglers must be turned out,you understand-and that in every nook of life!Endless vitas have opened themselves to my mind's eye today.I cannot see it quite clearly yet,but i shall in time.Young blood and vigoroud standard bearers-those are what we need and must seek,my friend;we must have new men in command at all our outposts.
BILLING:Hear,hear!
DR.STOCKMANN:We only need to stand together,and it will all be perfectly easy.The revolution will be launched like a ship that runs smoothly off the stocks.Don't you think so?
HOVSTAD:Personally,I think we now have good prospects of getting the municipal authority into the right hands at last!
ASLAKSEN: And if only we proceed with moderation,I don't think there will be any risk.
DR.STOCKMANN:Who the devil cares if there is any risk or not!What I am doing,I am doing in the name of truth and for the sake of my conscience.
HOVSTAD: You deserve to be supported,Doctor.
ASLAKSEN:Yes, there is no denying that the Doctor is a true friend of the town-a real friend to society.
BILLING:Take my word for it,Aslaksen,Dr.Stockmann is a friend of the people.
ASLAKSEN:I fancy the Householders' Association will adopt that expression before long.
DR.STOCKMANN:(affected, grasps their hands):Thankyou,thankyou,my dear friends.It is very refreshing to hear you say that;my brother called me something quite different.By jove,he shall have it back,with interest!But now i must be off to see a patient-I will come back,as i said.Keep a very careful eye on the manuscript,Aslaksen,and don't leave out any exclamation mark.If anything,you can add one or two more!Well,goodbye for now-goodbye,Goodbye!(They show him to the door,and bow him out.)
HOVSTAD:He may prove an invaluably useful man to us.
ASLAKSEN:Yes,so long as he confines himself to this matter of the baths.But if he goes beyond that,I don't think it would be prudent to follow him.
HOVSTAD:Hm!-that all depends...
BILLING:You are so infernally timid,Aslaksen!
ASLAKSEN:Timid?Yes,when it is a question of the local authorities,I am cautious,Mr.Billing;it is a lesson I have learned in the school of experience,let me tell you.But try me in high politics,in matters that concern the government itself,and then see if i am timid.
BILLING:No,you aren't,I admit.But this is simply contradicting yourself.
ASLAKSEN:I am a man with conscience,and that is the whole matter.If you attack the government,you don't do the community any harm,anyway;those fellows pays no attention to attacks,you see-they go on just as they are,in spite of them.But local authorities are different;they can be turned out,and then perhaps you may get a more ignorant lot into office who may do irreparable harm to the householders and everybody else.
HOVSTAD:But what about the progress education of citizens in civic responsibilities-don't you attach any importance to that?
ASLAKSEN:Where a man has solid interests of his own to protect,he cannot think of everything,Mr.Hovstad.HOVSTAD:Then i hope I shall never have solid interests of my own to protect!
BILLING:Hear,hear!
ASLAKSEN:(with a smile):Hm!(Points to the desk.)Mr.Stensgaard was your predecessor at that editorial desk.He used to be sherrif.
BILLING:(spitting):Bah!That turncoat
1.Place this extract in its immediate context (4 Marks)
2.Describe any two character traits of
(4 Marks)
(i)Dr.Stockmann
(ii)Aslaksen
3.Why is Dr.Stockmann threatened and by whom? (2 Marks)
4. (a)You cannot imagine what i have gone through today.(Rewrite ending with...'Imagination'...) (1 Mark)
(b)You are so infernally timid,Aslaksen. (invert the sentence) (1 Mark)
5.Explain the use of imagery in this except (4 Marks)
6.From your understanding of the play,explain how the behaviour of the three journalists turns ironical later (2 Marks)
7.Explain one theme brought out in this extract (2 Marks)
8.What do you think Dr.Stockmann means by saying,"the whole of our social life has to be purified and disinfected." (2 Marks)
9.Explain the meaning of the following words and phrases as used in the excerpt (3 Marks)
(i) Moderation
(ii) have it back,with interest
(iii)Turncoat
Q.3 POETRY
Read the following poem and then answer the question after it.Pledging my soul
When i was a boy
I climbed onto your granite breasts
Smooth and round
I trailed my body
from the small of your back
to your yielding neck
the cup of your breasts
was my pillow
the rivers of your tears
drowned me down to your depths
and smooth plain of your flat belly
yielding to mine
i was yours
and you were mine
Now a man
in exile from the warmth of your arms and the milk of your teeth
The breath of your secret whispers in my ears
Shall I not stride back to you in haste?
rout all my enemies and bind the wicked husbandmen
Shall I not kneel to kiss the grains of your sand?
to rise naked before you.A bowl of incense!
and the smoke of my nakedness shall be an offering to you
Pledging my soul.
(Charles Marechera-Zimbabwe)
QUESTIONS
1.Who is the persona in the above poem? (2 Marks)
2.What is the subject matter of the poem? (2 Marks)
3.Contrast the two stages of life of the persona in the poem. (4 Marks)
4.Comment on the poet's use of stylistic devices in the poem (6 Marks)
5.What is the attitude of the persona to the addressee? (2 Marks)
6.Explain the meaning of the following lines as used in the poem. (4 Marks)
(i) I was yours and you were mine (4 Marks)
(ii)Rout all my enemies and bind the wicked husbandmen
Q.4 GRAMMER
A.Rewrite the following sentences according to the instructions given after each.Do not change the meaning. (3 Marks)
(i)This engine is too noisy,I don't like it.(end with...........liking)
(ii)Our school doesn't own a bus that is why we always use public means.(Begin:If....)
(iii)That is the lady.She sells jewellery in the mall.(Combine into one sentence using relative pronoun)
B.Choose the correct preposition
(i)The job was divided......Sally,Beth and Andrew(Between,Among).
(ii)Who......you is joining the band(Beside,Besides).
(iii)We took the plants......the greenhouse(in,into)
C.Fill in the missing gaps with the correct phrasal verb formed from the given verb.
(i)She had only meant to defend herself,but it had......all wrong.(come)
(ii)The company had to.......all the money customers had paid.(give)
(iii)The police have.......the high street to traffic.(close)
D.Rewrite the following sentences correctly (3 Marks)
(i)The child inflated the ballon too much it burst
(ii)The student knocked on the door continuously as the others watched.
(iii)He has instructed the boy in a blue shirt to sit down
E.Use the word in brackets in its most appropriate
(i)None of the students was a.......(benefit) of the scheme.
(ii)The irrational behaviour has earned him great........(notorious).
(iii)Maria has been asked not to do any..........(strain) duties for two months.

Inter-School English P2 Question Paper

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