REVISION EOS

FORMAT

Section A: Listening (10 marks)

5 MCQ
5 SAQ

Section B: Reading (10 marks)

5 MCQ
5 SAQ

Section C: Writing (30 marks)

2 essay topics (Argumentative and Discursive) – Choose 1

SECTION A: LISTENING (10 MARKS)

Practiced

SECTION B: READING (10 MARKS)

Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow.

This passage is adapted from MacDonald Harris, The Balloonist. ©2011 by The Estate of Donald
Heiney. During the summer of 1897, the narrator of this story, a fictional Swedish scientist, has set
out for the North Pole in a hydrogen-powered balloon.

I My emotions are complicated and not readily verifiable. I feel a vast yearning that is
simultaneously a pleasure and a pain. I am certain of the consummation of this yearning, but
I don’t know yet what form it will take, since I do not understand quite what it is that the
yearning desires. For the first time there is borne in upon me the full truth of what I myself
said to the doctor only an hour ago: that my motives in this undertaking are not entirely clear.

II For years, for a lifetime, the machinery of my destiny has worked in secret to prepare for this
moment; its clockwork has moved exactly toward this time and place and no other. Rising
slowly from the earth that bore me and gave me sustenance, I am carried helplessly toward
an uninhabited and hostile, or at best indifferent, part of the earth, littered with the bones of
explorers and the wrecks of ships, frozen supply caches, messages scrawled with chilled
fingers and hidden in cairns that no eye will ever see.

III Nobody has succeeded in this thing, and many have died. Yet in freely willing this enterprise,
in choosing this moment and no other when the south wind will carry me exactly northward
at a velocity of eight knots, I have converted the machinery of my fate into the servant of my
will. All this I understand, as I understand each detail of the technique by which this is carried
out. What I don’t understand is why I am so intent on going to this particular place. Who
wants the North Pole! What good is it! Can you eat it? Will it carry you from Gothenburg to
Malmö like a railway?

IV The Danish ministers have declared from their pulpits that participation in polar expeditions
is beneficial to the soul’s eternal well-being, or so I read in a newspaper. It isn’t clear how
this doctrine is to be interpreted, except that the Pole is something difficult or impossible to
attain which must nevertheless be sought for, because man is condemned to seek out and
 know everything whether or not the knowledge gives him pleasure. In short, it is the same
unthinking lust for knowledge that drove our First Parents out of the garden.

V And suppose you were to find it in spite of all, this wonderful place that everybody is so
anxious to stand on! What would you find? Exactly nothing. A point precisely identical to all
the others in a completely featureless wasteland stretching around it for hundreds of miles.
It is an abstraction, a mathematical fiction. No one but a Swedish madman could take the
slightest interest in it. Here I am. The wind is still from the south, bearing us steadily northward
at the speed of a trotting dog.

VI Behind us, perhaps forever, lie the Cities of Men with their teacups and their brass bedsteads.
I am going forth of my own volition to join the ghosts of Bering and poor Franklin, of frozen
De Long and his men. What I am on the brink of knowing, I now see, is not an ephemeral
mathematical spot but myself. The doctor was right, even though I dislike him. Fundamentally
I am a dangerous madman, and what I do is both a challenge to my egotism and a surrender
to it.

Question 1-5
Choose one (1) best option.

1. Over the course of the passage, the narrator’s attitude shifts from
A) fear about the expedition to excitement about it.
B) doubt about his abilities to confidence in them.
C) uncertainty of his motives to recognition of them.
D) disdain for the North Pole to appreciation of it.

The narrator initially expresses uncertainty, or uneasiness, over his decision to set out for
the North Pole: “my motives in this undertaking are not entirely clear” (lines 9-10). At the
end of the passage, the narrator recognizes that because of this journey he is “on the brink
of knowing . . . not an ethereal mathematical spot,” the North Pole, but himself (lines 56-57).
Choices A, B, and D are incorrect because the narrator does not suggest that he fears going
on the expedition, doubts his own abilities, or feels disdain for the North Pole.

2. Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question (Q1)?
A) Lines 10-12 (“For... moment”)
B) Lines 21-25 (“Yet... will”)
C) Lines 42-44 (“And... stand on”)
D) Lines 56-57 (“What... myself”)

Lines 56-57 provide evidence that the narrator eventually recognizes his motives for
traveling to the North Pole: “What I am on the brink of knowing, I now see, is not an
ephemeral mathematical spot but myself.” The narrator initially was unsure of why he was
traveling to the North Pole, but realizes that he has embarked on a journey to find himself.
Choices A, B, and C are incorrect because they do not provide the best evidence that the
narrator eventually recognizes his motives for traveling to the North Pole. Rather, choices A,
B, and C all focus on the narrator’s preparations and expectations for the journey.
 3. The narrator indicates that many previous explorers seeking the North Pole have
A) perished in the attempt.
B) made surprising discoveries.
C) failed to determine its exact location.
D) had different motivations than his own.

In lines 20-21, the narrator states that many people have perished while journeying to the
North Pole: “Nobody has succeeded in this thing, and many have died.” Choices B, C, and D
are incorrect because the narrator does not indicate that previous explorers have made
surprising discoveries, have failed to determine the exact location of the North Pole, or had
different motivations than his own

4. Which best describes the narrator’s view of his expedition to the North Pole?
A) Immoral but inevitable
B) Absurd but necessary
C) Socially beneficial but misunderstood
D) Scientifically important but hazardous

In lines 27-39, the narrator states that he is “intent” on traveling to the North Pole but
acknowledges that the journey is absurd: “Who wants the North Pole! What good is it! Can
you eat it? Will it carry you from Gothenburg to Malmö like a railway?” By asking these
questions, the narrator recognizes that the North Pole has no practical value. 3 Still, the
narrator admits that finding the North Pole is necessary, as it “must nevertheless be sought
for.” Choices A, C, and D are incorrect because the narrator does not view his expedition to
the North Pole as immoral, socially beneficial, or scientifically important.

5. The question the narrator asks in lines 30-31 (“Will it... railway”) most nearly implies that
A) balloons will never replace other modes of transportation.
B) the North Pole is farther away than the cities usually reached by train.
C) people often travel from one city to another without considering the implications.
D) reaching the North Pole has no foreseeable benefit to humanity.

In lines 27-31, the narrator asks a series of rhetorical questions about the North Pole: “Who
wants the North Pole! What good is it! Can you eat it? Will it carry you from Gothenburg to
Malmö like a railway?” In this context, the narrator is suggesting that reaching the North
Pole has no foreseeable benefit or value to humanity; unlike trains that bring travelers to
specific destinations, the North Pole does not provide humans with a specific benefit or form
of convenience. Choices A, B, and C are incorrect because the question posed in lines 30-31
does not debate modes of travel, examine the proximity of cities that can be reached by
trains, or question how often people travel.

Question 6-10

Fill in the blanks with not more than three (3) words or number.

6. The author told the doctor that he was unclear of his motives.
7. The Danish ministers have professed that it is beneficial to participate in polar expeditions.
 8. Lust for knowledge shoved our First Parents out of the garden .
9. A Swedish madman was interested in the abstraction, a mathematical fiction.
10. The author challenge and surrender to egotism.

SECTION C: WRITING (30 MARKS)

Choose ONE (1) of the topics and write an essay for the chosen topic. The essay should be
between 350-400 words.

Animals should be used for research. Agree or Disagree?

Cosmetic surgery – Is it necessary?