ENGLISH LANGUAGE 9093/12

Paper 1 Passages June 2022

2 hours 15 minutes
No Additional Materials are required.
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READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST

An answer booklet is provided inside this question paper. You should follow the instructions on the front cover
of the answer booklet. If you need additional answer paper, ask the invigilator for a continuation booklet.

Answer two questions: Question 1 and either Question 2 or Question 3.

You should spend about 15 minutes reading the passages and questions before you start writing your answers.
You are reminded of the need for good English and clear presentation in your answers.

The number of marks is given in brackets [ ] at the end of each question or part question.
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Answer Question 1 and either Question 2 or Question 3.

1 The following is a magazine article about people taking up running.

(a) Comment on the style and language of the article. [15]

(b) Write the opening of an article (120–150 words) about taking up a different hobby or activity.
Base your answer closely on the style and language of the original. [10]

MAY 7, 2015

CONGRATULATIONS, YOU’RE A RUNNER NOW

Hey, buddy! You’re receiving this letter because I recently saw you choking your
way through a one-mile jaunt around the neighborhood. ‘It’s spring!’ you thought.
‘Maybe I’ll go for a run!’ You laced up your sneakers, and you got out there. You 5
did it (barely)! I’m Marcus, the senior associate running ambassador at ‘Runners,
Runners, Everywhere’, and I’ll be your go-to guy for life as a brand-new runner. This
will be a challenging time; you might even be asking yourself, as you’re lying on the
floor, perspiring through your high-school-volleyball T-shirt, ‘Am I a runner?’ Yes. Yes,
you are. You’re one of us now, and it’s important that you tell everyone you know 10
about it immediately and purchase the required gear. We certainly can’t have you
running in that again.

First and foremost, know that, as a runner, you are an athlete. You are not just
shedding those winter pounds. Those people go to the gym. You went outside.
Attached is a list of running groups in your area. They’re all ready to welcome you 15
with open arms, and won’t all sprint out of sight two blocks in, leaving you to find
your way back to the designated meeting spot. All paces are welcome!!!

Your next step is to get yourself to a running-specialty store. We at ‘Runners,

Runners, Everywhere’ have experienced exactly what you’re going through (albeit,
like, a really, really long time ago). So drop by! I’ll have you run on a treadmill while 20
wearing a pencil skirt, because you came all the way uptown from work for this. I’ll
use scientific expertise to diagnose your stride. I’ll also hook you up with running
socks, headbands, underwear, and tank tops that cost eighty-six dollars; trust me:
they make a world of difference!

Next step: your first race. It’s an important decision every runner must make, one 25
that will establish how committed you are to your new life style. A 5 K? 10 K? 8 K?
6.2 K? Runner to runner, just go right for the half-marathon. This will set you up
with a super-long training schedule, meaning more weeks to talk about it on social
media. Which, I cannot stress enough, is one of the key aspects of being a runner. If
a runner collapses in joy at the finish line but no one Instagrams it, did she collapse 30
at all? Post photos plus commentary on your morning run, your evening run, your
vacation run; show us your kit, your medals, your post-run celebration. Let us
see your sneakered feet—on grass, on sand, in the snow, on a track. Share it all!
Everyone you know is incredibly invested in your new endeavor. Plus, when people
see your progress you’ll inspire a whole new crop of runners. They’ll think, ‘If that 35
idiot can do it, I can probably do it.’ You could be that idiot!
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And please visit us at the shop once you’ve completed your half-marathon.
We’ll give you a congratulatory certificate and a list of full marathons to sign up
for. After you’ve completed one of those, we’ll upgrade your membership to Actual
Runner. 40

[Turn over
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2 The following is a newspaper article about the attractions of Lake Baringo in Kenya as a holiday
destination.

(a) Comment on the language and style of the article and the ways in which it creates a sense
of place. [15]

(b) Basing your answer closely on the style and language of the original, write the opening
of a similar article (120–150 words) about a tourist destination in your own country. [10]

Island life on Lake Baringo

The first stunning sight upon setting sail on Lake Baringo is a Goliath heron wading
in the marshes. It’s the world’s largest heron, this one is out hunting. We haven’t
even had to search for it. With a beautiful lake that’s dazzling jade-green in the
midday sun, it’s a world of superlatives. Everything is stunning. 5
Next on the list is a Verraux’s eagle owl perched high on a shady tree. It is Africa’s
largest owl. With its droopy pink eyelids that make it easy for anyone to identify it,
it opens its huge round eyes just to keep watch on us. Life’s good for this top
predator – there’s plenty of food for it to hunt around the lake.
I’m with Peter Leweri, the boat captain at Island Camp on Ol Kokwa Island 10
inside Lake Baringo.

Colour intensity
The sail from Kampi ya Samaki on the mainland to Island Camp on the lake’s
largest island – Ol Kokwa – is filled with Great cormorants, African darters and
fairytale-like White terns that we’re told are migrating by. 15
Hopping on to the island paradise that’s now actually in three parts thanks
to the phenomenal water increase between 2010 and 2014, is like stepping into
a dream world. Gibralter Rock across Ol Kokwa is awash in deep copper-red. The
vertical rock outcrop shows marks of the lake level going down. But the two end bits
of the rock island still look like they are tiny islets on their own. 20
“The lake’s at a nice, sustainable level now,” says Dr Bonnie Dunbar of Island
Camp, who has been monitoring the lake for some years. It’s good for the tilapia 1
and a bonanza for the local fisherman on the island.

Fabulous catch
Leweri is at hand to sail us around the island. Submerged trees in the water 25
pose as natural sculptures adorned with hundreds of Red-rumped swallows on the
dry branches. “They are migratory,” he tells. Here to escape the cold northern winter,
these fast-flying birds scoop up insects in mid-air. A trio of the nobly-attired African
fish eagle enjoys the sun perched on the submerged trees. Leweri throws the fish
but they are so well fed that at first they ignore him. On the second throw, the African 30
fish eagle lifts and scoops the fish from the water surface with outstretched talons
and wings. It’s a picture-perfect shot.
Suddenly, a crocodile appears, swimming leisurely, and we round the bend to
the furthest end of the island. The water level is going down. The previous year, the
hot springs at the end of the island were submerged – now we can see them, white 35
hot steam drifting upwards. Splashes of red aloes and pink-flowered desert rose
break the monotony of bare rocks.
There are only a few kadishes2 asail on the lake looking worn and withered,
some left to dry on the rocky shores. At the village, Francis Lekae steps off the
motor-boat and returns with his catch for the day – tilapia and catfish. It’s been a 40
good morning for him with a tally of 40.
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Back at the luxury island camp, the menu is freshly-bought tilapia. Baringo’s
tilapia is healthy – high in omega-3 which is the good fat for the body. Meanwhile,
the resident pair of Spotted-eagle owls on the huge acacia tree by the restaurant is
in deep sleep announcing an afternoon siesta for the rest. 45

1
tilapia: a type of fish.
2
kadishes: traditional local canoes.

[Turn over
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3 The following text is the opening of J G Farrell’s novel The Siege of Krishnapur. The novel is set in
India in 1857.

(a) Comment on the ways language and style are used to describe the approach to Krishnapur.
[15]

(b) Describe a place you know well from the point of view of someone seeing it for the first time
(120–150 words). Base your answer closely on the style and features of the original extract.
[10]

Anyone who has never before visited Krishnapur, and who approaches from the
east, is likely to think he has reached the end of his journey a few miles sooner
than he expected. While still some distance from Krishnapur he begins to ascend a
shallow ridge. From here he will see what appears to be a town in the heat-distorted
distance. He will see the white glitter of walls and roofs and a handsome grove of 5
trees, perhaps even the dome of what might be a temple. Round about there will be
the unending plain still, exactly as it has been for many miles back, a dreary ocean
of bald earth, in the immensity of which an occasional field of sugar cane or mustard
is utterly lost.
The surprising thing is that this plain is not quite deserted, as one might expect. 10
As he crosses it towards the white walls in the distance the traveller may notice an
occasional figure way out somewhere between the road and the horizon, a man
walking with a burden on his head in one direction or another … even though, at
least to the eye of a stranger, within the limit of the horizon there does not appear to
be anywhere worth walking to, unless perhaps to that distant town he has spotted; 15
one part looks quite as good as another. But if you look closely and shield your eyes
from the glare you will make out tiny villages here and there, difficult to see because
they are made of the same mud as the plain they came from; and no doubt they melt
back into it again during the rainy season, for there is no lime1 in these parts, no
clay or shale that you can burn into bricks, no substance hard enough to resist the 20
seasons over the years.
Sometimes the village crouches in a grove of bamboo and possesses a frightful
pond with a water buffalo or two; more often there is just a well to be worked from
dawn till dusk by the same two men and two bullocks every single day in their lives.
But whether there is a pond or not hardly matters to a traveller; in either case there 25
is no comfort here, nothing that a European might recognize as civilization. All
the more reason for him to press on, therefore, towards those distant white walls
which are clearly made of bricks. Bricks are undoubtedly an essential ingredient of
civilization; one gets nowhere at all without them.
But as he approaches he will see that this supposed town is utterly deserted; 30
it is merely a melancholy cluster of white domes and planes surrounded by a few
trees. There are no people to be seen. Everything lies perfectly still. Nearer again,
of course, he will see that it is not a town at all, but one of those ancient cemeteries
that are called ‘Cities of the Silent’, which one occasionally comes across in northern
India. Perhaps a rare traveller will turn off the road to rest in the shade of a mango 35
grove which separates the white tombs from a dilapidated mosque; sometimes one
may find incense left smouldering in an earthenware saucer by an unseen hand.
But otherwise there is no life here; even the rustling leaves have a dead sound.

1
lime: an ingredient of cement.
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