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UK GCSE MAY 2009 : Higher Tier, English Paper 1

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General Certificate of Secondary Education 2009 Paper 1 Higher Tier G2903 English [G2903] TUESDAY 2 JUNE, MORNING TIME 2 hours. INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES Write your Centre Number and Candidate Number on the Answer Booklet provided. Answer all four questions. Answer the three questions in Section A and the one question in Section B. Spend one hour on Section A and one hour on Section B. INFORMATION FOR CANDIDATES The total mark for this paper is 60. Figures in brackets printed down the right-hand side of pages indicate the marks awarded to each question. G291H9R 4342.06 Section A This section tests reading skills. Spend about 15 minutes reading the passage carefully. Answer all three questions. You can both come with me to the peat bog, Grandma Kate said as we wiped the last chocolate off our fingers. I want to continue with that sketch of the tree. Good, I ll make some sketches too, said Susy. I want to be an artist when I grow up. But not hedgehogs and bunnies and daisies and that kind of stuff. I want to be a scary, horror artist. How could I resist an opening line like that? You already are a scary horror, I said. Not much more you d have to learn about that, is there? Susy s face turned into a squashed cherry, all red and wrinkled. She started to say something but Grandma Kate cut in. Cool it, she said, taking her battered straw hat from a nail behind the kitchen door. Come on, before the light begins to fade. We took the grassy path that led through the forest to the bog. Our feet made squishy sounds on the long grass. The trees still rustled, but that didn t matter now that there were three of us. Except it made me realise all the more what a nerd I d been earlier on to be spooked by them. We came to the part of the bog where Grandma Kate did most of her work. This was a smaller bog surrounded by trees and shrubs. Beyond the trees was the main bog where people spent their summers cutting and bagging turf. You could hear the distant throb of the machines, but all that activity never intruded on this secluded spot. Apart from Grandma Kate, nobody bothered to come here much. She said that the whole ancient spirit of the bog was in this small haven. She called it her secret garden. The sun wasn t shining any more. A sort of mist seemed to be rising from the bog. A wispy mist that floated about like when you drip some milk into a glass of water. I made my way to the edge of the swampy part of the bog. It was like a dark brown lake, except there was no water, just marshy bog. My dad said that sometimes they used to find the bodies of people who d tried crossing the bogs in the old days and got sucked under. Their bodies were preserved by the peat so that, when they were dug up, they looked like they d just died. I wondered what I d do if I suddenly saw a body. Might be interesting. Or not. I jumped up and down and could feel the springy surface shaking. Look at those colours, Grandma Kate said to Susy and me. Purple heather, brown peat and green shrubs. Look at those pinks and mauves. Susy and I glanced at one another and sniggered. Grandma Kate gets totally hyper about colours. If the world suddenly turned black and white she d go mental. And the wild flowers, she went on. Can you smell them? She looked at Susy and me and caught us sniggering. She pretended disgust. Might have known, she said. You re just a couple of ... She broke off and looked beyond us, frowning. A man was walking along the perimeter of the bog. Every now and then he d stop, pick up a handful of peat and crumble it between his fingers. He was small and thin, with a stoop which made his jacket hang like a cheap curtain over his baggy pants. His black hair was gelled so much it looked like plastic. When he saw us, he wandered over. Evening, Ma am, he nodded. G291H9R 4342.06 2 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 [Turn over Grandma Kate bristled slightly. Evening, she said stiffly. Are you admiring the scenery, Mr Kitt? The man smiled and shook his head. Getting ready to move the heavy machinery, he said. This place will be a hive of activity next week. So, you re going ahead with this scheme after all? said Grandma Kate. You ve made up your mind? In spite of what David Bellamy and the other conservation people have said about this ... this unique haven? In spite of the petition that so many of us signed? Doesn t that mean anything to you? You know very well, the man s smile was replaced by a hostile glare, you know I m going to drain and develop this place. I know what you re after, young man, snapped Grandma Kate. But your father told me many times that he would never do anything to this piece of bog. He loved it as much as I do. He liked to come here. He was proud of this place, your father. Susy and I forgot our sniggering and looked at one another with amazement. We d never seen our grandma like this before. My father is dead, retorted Mr Kitt. I ve taken over now and I intend to make the land pay. He left this place idle for years, but I intend selling the turf ... You can t do that! exclaimed Grandma Kate. You can t cut big drains like ... like scars through this lovely spot. Haven t you any feelings for nature and beauty? What about the wildlife? Your father was content to work the larger bog on the other side of the forest. He made his fortune from that and you re still making your fortune from it. He said he d never touch here, that he would leave it to nature. Susy moved closer to me. Neither of us said anything, but we felt that we were the troops waiting to go to battle. Any more guff out of this creep and we d knock him into the swampiest part of the bog. He was getting angry now. Like I just said, Missus, he snarled, I m in charge now. There s plenty of room in the rest of the countryside for flowers and things. You can paint your pretty pictures there. I m more interested in people, in giving them turf for their fires. Cheap fuel. You re interested in lining your pockets, you mean, put in Grandma Kate. How much of the land do you need to tear up for that? That s my business, snapped Mr Kitt. Fuel is my business and this, he gestured towards the peaceful bog, this is part of my business. All you do-gooders ever do is make trouble. Protecting our Irish heritage is trouble? scoffed Grandma Kate. People like you can t see that you re tearing the very soul of the country. If all the natural pockets of wilderness are wiped out, we ll lose more of our native birds and animals and plants. It s no skin off the nose for the likes of you to leave small areas to nature. Look, Missus, Mr Kitt said with exaggerated patience, you re welcome to come here with your sketchbooks and what-have-you, but don t get in the way of my business. Good day to you. He strode off towards the track that led to the road on the far side of the bog. Grandma Kate reached down to restrain Susy who made to run after the retreating figure. Let me just give him one kick, she snarled. Just one. Grandma Kate laughed and gave the little spitfire a hug. Don t waste your good kick, she said. He s just a greedy little upstart. I ll fight the so-and-so to preserve this little bit of heaven. Do you know, she went on, leading us towards a raised bank, that if they were lucky enough in Holland to have a spot like this they d declare it a national monument? All their bogs were destroyed by years of cutting and draining. And now people like cruddy Kitt are doing the same to ours. Should ve let me kick him, muttered Susy. G291H9R 4342.06 3 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 [Turn over He s not worth the anger, said Grandma Kate, even though you could see that her hands were still trembling with her own fury. She sighed, took some pencils out of her satchel and opened her big sketchbook. A huge chunk of Ireland was once bogland, 95 she continued. Now, because of drainage and cutting it away for turf, and exporting peat abroad as fertiliser, we ll be lucky to have any natural bog by 2015. The plants and wildlife will be extinct. All they re asked to do is leave some. She gave another great sigh and sat on the bank, propping her sketchbook on her knee. Now I d better get my drawing done while there s still something to draw. 100 Susy was peering over Grandma Kate s shoulder. It s different, she said. I said that, I snorted. Back at the studio, I said that. Can t you come up with ...? It s not that, put in Susy, pointing to the sketch. Look, that tree has moved. I snorted again and went to look. The three of us looked at the drawing and then at the tree Grandma Kate had been sketching. 105 You re right, said Grandma Kate. It does seem to have moved since yesterday s part of the drawing. How odd! It looks like it s trying to get out of the bog, said Susy, nodding towards the tree. What does it mean? I croaked, on account of my throat having suddenly gone dry. Copyright, The Spirits of the Bog by Mary Arrigan, 1997, ISBN 1901737101, Reprinted by kind permission of Mercier Press Ltd., Cork G291H9R 4342.06 4 [Turn over 1 Spend about 10 minutes on this question. Use evidence from lines 16 36 to support your answer. How does the writer s description of the bog create a sense of a beautiful place that can also be mysterious? [8] 2 Spend about 15 minutes on this question. Use evidence from line 37 to the end of the passage. What do you learn about Mr Kitt? 3 [10] Spend about 20 minutes on this question. Use evidence from the whole passage. How has the writer tried to capture and sustain the reader s interest? You should consider how the writer: develops an intriguing situation creates interesting characters in Kate and her two grandchildren uses descriptive words and phrases. [12] TURN OVER FOR SECTION B G291H9R 4342.06 5 [Turn over Section B This section tests writing skills: to review, analyse and comment. Write in a way that suits this type of task. The answer should be developed fully. You will be expected to write at least two sides in the answer booklet. Leave enough time to re-read your work so that you can make any changes you feel are necessary. 4 Consider the following statement and the issues it raises: Today, it s not the taking part in sport that s important, it s the winning! The opinions below raise a series of points about the purpose of sport today. The examiner wants you to review the points that you consider to be important, along with ideas of your own. Analyse these in an extended piece of writing. At school level there is too much emphasis on winning the big competitions. We take part in sport because it s good for our health, not for silly medals. Professional sportsmen and women these days will go to any lengths to win. People enjoy taking part in all sorts of non-competitive sport just for the fun of it look at the numbers taking part in marathons and fun runs. Remember to include your own ideas, comments and conclusions. [30] THIS IS THE END OF THE QUESTION PAPER G291H9R 4342.06 6 [Turn over Permission to reproduce all copyright material has been applied for. In some cases, efforts to contact copyright holders may have been unsuccessful and CCEA will be happy to rectify any omissions of acknowledgement in future if notified. S 11/07 938-005-1 [Turn over

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