Read the text below.

GIVING LIFE

It was a hot summer day. My dad and I were getting ready to go out for a ride on the boat
with my friend, Katie. That’s when the phone call came - the call that made that bright,
beautiful day a cold, dark, gloomy one.

I had just put on my suit, shorts, and tank top, and packed my bag with sunscreen and
everything else I would need for the day. I ran into my parents’ room to find Dad. When I
saw him on the phone, he was crying. I’d never seen my dad cry before. My heart sank.
What possibly could have happened?

“Max, I’m so sorry,” I heard him say. That’s when it hit me. I knew that Suzie had died.

Max has been my dad’s best friend for years. Suzie, his daughter had a rare disease that
mainly affected her body. She knew what was going on. She knew that she had problems
and was different from other kids. Although she couldn’t live a normal life, she was still
happy.

When Suzie and I were little, we spent quite a bit of time together. As we grew up, we
grew apart. She lived in New York and I lived in a nearby town. When Suzie was ten, she
had to live in a hospital. About eight months before she died, Max had given us her
number at the hospital and we talked at least twice a week until the end. Suzie was
always so excited to talk to us and wanted to know every detail about my life. She wanted
to know everything I did and everything I ate. In a way, she lived through me.

After we found out about her death, we made our plan to go to New York for the funeral.
When she was alive, I sent her a Beanie Baby and she sent one back to me. I had bought
her another one but never had the chance to send it to her, so I took it to put in her
casket.

I learned so much from her. She gave me more than what I could ever give her. I will
never forget her or the talks we had. I now know that I must never take anything for
granted especially my health and the gifts of life.

Adapted from BBC Narrative Stories

 Read the text carefully and answer questions (a) – (i).

(a) What was the writer and her dad’s holiday plan?
[1 mark]

(b) Who passed away?

[1 mark]

(c) What can you tell about Suzie’s character from this sentence
“Although she couldn’t live a normal life, she was still happy.”

[1 mark]
(d) What was Suzie looking forward to hear from the writer whenever she received the call?
i. [1 mark]
ii. [1 mark]

(e) Fill in the table with an appropriate word/ phrase from the article.
Meaning Word/ Phrase
i. A sleeveless collarless shirt with wide [1 mark]
shoulder straps
ii. Seldom occuring / found [1 mark]
iii. A coffin [1 mark]
iv. Fail to remember [1 mark]

(f) What did the writer give to Suzie during her funeral?
[1 mark]
(g) Why do you think Suzie was not given the gift much earlier?

[1 mark]
(h) How does the writer feel when she thinks of Suzie? Why?

[2 marks]
(i) Who is the most important person in your life? Why is the person important to you?

[2 marks]
(15 marks)
Read the text below.

Once upon a time, there was an affluent couple planning to throw a lavish party at their big

mansion. In the morning, they went shopping at the market where everything was of high cost and fixed

price. They wanted to maintain their level of standard so both didn’t mind paying for it. After purchasing

all they needed, they called a porter to carry everything and drop it at their home. The porter who came

was of an old age, frail and looked as if he was not even able to meet his daily needs.

They asked the old porter about the charges for delivering their goods at their home. He quoted

just a $20, a well below the market rate for delivering goods at couple’s home in his cart. Yet, the couple

argued and bargained with the old porter and finally settled for $15. The poor porter was struggling to

make even one time’s meal so he needed anything he could earn.

The couple happily paid the old porter $15 in advance and left after giving him their address for

delivery. They reached their home and an hour passed, two hours passed, but the old porter still had

not delivered their stuff. The wife started to be mad at her husband, “I always tell you to not to trust such

person still, you never listen to me! Such person who is not even able to earn to feed himself for 1 time

in a day, you just handed him everything. I am sure instead of delivering at our home; he must have

disappeared with everything. We must immediately go back to the market to inquire and then to the

police station to file the complaint against him”.

They both hurriedly walked towards the market. On their way near the market, they saw another

porter. They stopped the young boy to inquire about the old porter and noticed that he was carrying

their stuff in his cart! The angry wife asked him, “Where is that old thief? This is our stuff and he

supposed to deliver it. It seems you poor thieves are stealing our stuff and going to sell it”.

The young porter patiently replied, “Madam, Please calm down. That poor old man was sick

since last month. He wasn’t able to earn enough to even have a single meal of the day. He was on the

way to deliver your stuff, but he who was famished and sick, could not gather the strength to go any

further in this heat of the noon”. He fell down and while handing me $15, his last words were, “I had

taken an advance for this delivery, and you take this and please deliver to this address”.

“Madam, He was hungry, he was poor, but he was an honest man. I was just on the way to
complete old man’s last delivery at your home”, the young porter said. Upon hearing this, the husband
had tears in his eyes. The wife felt so ashamed and had no courage to see up in her husband’s eyes.
Read the text carefully and answer questions (a) – (j).

(a) How much did the rich couple pay to the old porter to deliver their things?

_________________________________________________________________ [1 mark]

(b) Why did the old porter still accept the job although he was underpaid?

_________________________________________________________________ [1 mark]

(c) Why was the wife angry at her husband after waiting for hours at home?

_________________________________________________________________ [1 mark]

(d) Where did the couple find the young porter?

_________________________________________________________________ [1 mark]

(e) Fill in the table with an appropriate word from the passage.

Meaning Word
[1 mark]
(i) a person hired to carry things

(ii) made a deal [1 mark]

(iii) bought [1 mark]

[1 mark]
(iv) hungry

(f) State the good qualities of the old porter.

i) ____________________________________________________________ [1 mark]

ii) ____________________________________________________________ [1 mark]

(g) What does the phrase “his last words” refer to?

_________________________________________________________________ [1 mark]

(h) Why did the wife feel so ashamed after listening to the young porter?

_________________________________________________________________ [1 mark]

(i) If you were the young porter, would you complete the old man’s last

delivery? Why?

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________ [2 marks]

(j) Give a lesson that we can learn from this story.

_________________________________________________________________ [1 mark]

[15 marks]
Why Are Traffic Lights Red, Yellow and Green?
By Morgan Cutolo

Ever wondered why blue doesn't mean go and brown mean

stop? Turns out, there's a perfectly good explanation for it.
The idea that red means stop and green means go has
impacted our lives in more ways than just traffic signals. We
have been taught from a young age that the colour red means
danger and green means it’s OK to move forward. But why were those particular colours chosen for
traffic lights in the first place? For something we have to look at every day, why couldn’t they have
been prettier colours like magenta and turquoise?
Well, it’s important to know that before traffic lights for cars even became a thing, there were
traffic signals for trains. At first, railroad companies used red to mean stop, white to mean go, and
green to mean caution. As you could imagine, train conductors ran into a few problems with white
meaning go. For instance, one train conductor mistook a bright star for a white light and thought he
was all clear. Because of incidents like that, railway companies eventually moved to green meaning
go, and it’s been that way ever since.
As far as red goes, that’s always been a colour that indicated danger, long before cars were
even around. This most likely started because it’s the colour with the longest wavelength so it can be
seen from a greater distance than other colours. As far as yellow goes, it was used to caution drivers
because it has a slightly shorter wavelength than red, but not as short as green.
But, believe it or not, yellow was once used to mean stop, at least as far as signage goes.
Back in the 1900s, some stop signs were yellow because it was too hard to see a red sign in a poorly
lit area. Eventually, materials were developed that were highly reflective and red stop signs were
born. Since yellow can be seen well at all times of the day, school zones, some traffic signs and
school buses continue to be painted yellow.
So next time you’re impatiently waiting at a traffic light, don’t get so mad at them; they’ve certainly
come a long way. Taken from Source: thrillist.com

Read the text carefully and answer questions (a) – (j).

a) What is the colour red means?

____________________________________________________________________ (1 mark)

b) What is the problem faced by the train conductors with the white light?

_________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________ (1 mark)
 c) State the reasons these two colours are used
i. Red :
________________________________________________________________________

ii. Yellow :

____________________________________________________________________ (2 marks)

d) Back in the 1900s, why yellow is used as a stop sign instead of red?

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________ (1 mark)

e) Fill in the table with appropriate word / phrases from the text
Meaning Word / Phrase
i. specific
ii. showed
iii. further away
iv. sky-blue or greenish-blue
(4 marks)
f) What colour has the shortest wavelength?

____________________________________________________________________ (1 mark)

g) Before the invention of the traffic lights, how do colours benefit the train conductors?

_________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________ (1 mark)
h) When did the red stop signs are born?
_______________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________ (1 mark)
i) Why are some signage and school buses are still been painted yellow?

_________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________(1 mark)
j) Give two reasons why do you think that the use of traffic lights is important?

i. ________________________________________________________________

ii. _______________________________________________________________ (2 mark)

Read the story below.

The Inspiring Story of Aman Dani

Born healthy, Arman Dani, or commonly known as Aman, touched the hearts of many
Malaysians with his story. It begin in March 2014, when his family received a devastating news that
Aman, aged three at the time, was diagnosed with a type of cancer that is rare in Malaysia that is
Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL). It is a type of cancer of the blood and bone marrow where
blood cells are made.

His story was told by his own mother through her Instagram account @Molie Arie, and also
from the mother’s best friend’s blog (nurul-izwa.blogspot.com).He had undergone five intensive
weeks of chemotherapy treatment .

On Apr 10, 2014, she continued to share her son’s struggle. He vomited blood and was sent
to ICU. He lost a large amount of blood and kept on bleeding. He was pale and his eyes were
sunken. More platelets and blood were transfused to stop the bleeding and to replace the lost one,
but still he vomited blood. It had been 24 hours post operation and Aman was doing fine. Once
Aman was stable, he could continue with the chemotherapy again.

According to ‘Bicara Hati' blog, Aman needed blood donation from men with O+ blood type.
Through their social media postings, friends and even strangers offered their words of support and
came forward to donate blood to the poor child.

Despite the massive amount of blood donated to him, it was still not enough to keep him
going in the long term. Sadly after a year, Aman left us on the 16 th of May. The sad story of Arman
Dani, made us realised the importance of donating blood. As the saying goes, "blood donation will
cost you nothing but it is so powerful that it helps to save lives." Do your part today !

References:

Mayo Clinic (mayoclinic.org) ,WebMD (webmd.com),Bicara Hati (nurul-izwa.blogspot.com

Read the story carefully and answer questions (a)-(j)

a) What had happened to Aman Dani?

____________________________________________________________(1 Mark)

b) When was the terrible news received by the family?

____________________________________________________________(1 Mark)

c) Who is Nurul Izwa?

____________________________________________________________(1 Mark)

d) The story was told by his mother through what type of social media?
____________________________________________________________(1 Mark)

e) How many weeks of chemotheraphy Aman had to undergo ?

____________________________________________________________(1 Mark)

f) Fill in the table with an appropriate word/phrase form the story.

No Meaning Word/phrase
i Detected
ii Shocking
iii Fight
iv Give

(4 Marks)

g) List 2 symptoms of losing large amount of blood that faced by Aman.

____________________________________________________________(1 Mark)
____________________________________________________________(1 Mark)
h) What type of blood donation needed by Aman?
____________________________________________________________(1 Mark)
i) What did Aman’s mother best friend do to get moral support?
____________________________________________________________(1 Mark)
j) In your opinion,give two suggestions to help cancer victims and their family?
i) ______________________________________________________(1 Mark)
ii) ______________________________________________________(1 Mark)
(15 Marks)
Read the text below.

Dengue fever is contracted from the bite of a striped Aedes aegypti mosquito . The
mosquito flourishes during rainy seasons but can breed in water-filled flower pots, plastic bags, and
cans year-round. One mosquito bite can cause the disease.

The virus is not contagious and cannot be spread directly from person to person. It is
mosquito-borne, so there must be a person-to-mosquito-to-another-person pathway. The full life
cycle of the virus involves the mosquito as the vector (transmitter) and the human as the source of
infection.

The symptoms are headache, fever, exhaustion, severe muscle and joint pain, swollen
lymph nodes(lymphadenopathy), itchy rash, and headache . Other signs of dengue fever include
bleeding gums, severe pain behind the eyes, and red palms and soles.

There are currently no vaccines for dengue fever. The best way to prevent the disease is to
avoid being bitten by aedes mosquitoes. Although there is no certain treatment for dengue, it can be
treated as long as it is caught before developing into dengue shock syndrome or dengue
hemorrhagic fever. Prevention the most important step, and prevention means avoiding mosquito
bites. If a clinical diagnosis is made early, a health care provider can effectively treat Dengue
Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) using fluid replacement therapy.

People can get more information on Disease Control and Prevention by surfing this website
http://www.cdc.gov/Dengue/
Read the text carefully and answer questions (a)-(j)

a) Name the mosquito that can spread Dengue.

_____________________________________________________________(1Mark)
b) How is Dengue fever contracted?
_____________________________________________________________(1Mark)
c) How is the virus spread?
_____________________________________________________________(1Mark)
d) What is the best way to prevent the dengue fever ?
_____________________________________________________________(1Mark)
e) What is the source of infection?
_____________________________________________________________(1Mark)

f) Fill in the table with an appropriate word/phrase form the text.

No Meaning Word/phrase
i infectious
ii increases
iii extreme
iv avoid
(4
Marks
)
g) List 2 symptoms of Dengue fever?

____________________________________________________________(1 Mark)
____________________________________________________________(1 Mark)

h) What is the most effective way to treat Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF)?
____________________________________________________________(1 Mark)
i) What is the website address to get more information?
____________________________________________________________(1 Mark)
j) In your opinion, give two suggestions to fight dengue?
____________________________________________________________(1 Mark)
____________________________________________________________(1 Mark)

(15 Marks)
Read the text below.

Dinosaurs were animals that lived million of years ago. There were lots of different
types of dinosaurs – little ones, big ones, fierce ones and shy ones. All dinosaurs lived
on land – and they died out a long time ago. There are no dinosaurs living today.
It is thought that the first dinosaurs lived around 230 million years ago. They roamed
the Earth for the next 165 million years, before becoming extinct about 65 million years ago.
Dinosaurs lived all over the world. At that time, the weather was much hotter than it
is today. The word ‘dinosaur’ means ‘terrible lizards’, even though dinosaurs weren’t lizards!
Lots of plant-eating dinosaurs swallowed their food without chewing. Instead, they gobbled
stones and pebbles, which stayed in their stomachs. When they swallowed food, the stones
helped to mash the food up, turning it into a pulp.
Early plant-eating dinosaurs did not eat fruit or grass – none had appeared yet!
Instead, they ate plants called horsetails, ferns, cycad and conifer trees. Like reptiles today,
such as crocodiles and alligators, dinosaurs were covered in super-tough scaly skin. The
scales would have protected a dinosaur against the teeth and claws of enemies and the bites
of pests such as mosquitoes and flies.
About 65 million years ago, the dinosaurs became extinct. No one knows for sure
why this happened, but something HUGE must have taken place to affect all life on the
planet. It is thought that more than two-thirds of all living things died at the same time as the
dinosaurs, including sea creatures and plants.

Read the text carefully and answer questions (a) to (i)

( a ) When did dinosaurs live on Earth?

__________________________________________________________________________

[ 1 mark ]

( b ) What does the word ‘dinosaur’ mean?

__________________________________________________________________________

[ 1 mark ]

( c ) Why did the dinosaurs gobble stones and pebbles?

__________________________________________________________________________

[ 1 mark ]
( d ) What were the names of the plants that the dinosaurs ate? Name any two.

(i) ________________________________________________________________[ 1 mark ]

(ii) ________________________________________________________________[ 1 mark ]

( e ) Fill the table with an appropriate word / phrase from the text.

Meaning Word / Phrase

(i) moved about or travelled aimlessly
(ii) crushing food into smaller pieces
(iii) lost or died out
(iv) rough and dry skin
[ 4 marks ]

( f ) What was the function of dinosaurs’ super tough scaly skin?

__________________________________________________________________________

[ 1 mark ]

( g ) When did the dinosaurs become extinct?

__________________________________________________________________________

[ 1 mark ]

( h ) Which of the animals today that you think are similar to the dinosaurs? Give two

examples.

(i)________________________________________________________________ [ 1 mark ]

(ii)________________________________________________________________ [ 1 mark ]

( i ) State two possibilities of what might happen if the dinosaurs still exist today.

(i)_______________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________[ 1 mark ]

(ii)_______________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________[ 1 mark ]

(15 marks)