Edu-Line
(MALAYSIA)

Ijazah Pertama
Matrikulasi
SPM
PMR
UPSR

 

 

Peperiksaan Percubaan SPM MRSM 1997
Bahasa Inggeris 2
Dua Jam Lima Belas Minit

Hakcipta terpelihara © Bahagian Pelajaran Menengah, MARA


SECTION A : Directed Writing
(You are advised to spend about 30 minutes on this part of the paper)

1. You are an officer from the Tourist Information Bureau. You have been invited to give a talk to a group of foreign tourists. The title of your talk is "Things To Do In Taman Negara".

Write out your speech using the notes below. Give any necessary elaboration.

  1. Trekking - cool jungle paths

  2. Boating through rapids

  3. Fishing - rivers full of fish

  4. Camping - tropical rainforest

  5. Exploring - limestone caves

  6. Wildlife observation - take photos

Your speech should be 200 - 300 words long and set out correctly.

SECTION B : Summary
(You are advised to spend not more than 45 minutes on this section)

Read the following passage carefully and then answer the question which follows.

Sunday, 2nd November, will remain in my memory because I did a very stupid thing. For some days my health had not been too good. The change of food and the constant humidity had caused a number of painful spots to form on my skin. I hoped to prevent them forming scabs by resting my weight on a little air cushion, the only one I had. Some clumsy movement must have knocked it overboard, a fact I only realized when I saw it floating a couple of hundred yards or so asstern. I lowered the sail, put out the sea anchor and dived in to fetch it. I am a strong swimmer and reached the cushion in a few minutes. Imagine my horror, when I turned round, to see the boat sailing off without me, too fast for me to be able to catch it. The sea anchor, normally shaped like a parachute, had become entangled and was no longer stopping the drift. It was quite clear that I would become exhausted long before I could overhaul it. At that moment L’Heretique very nearly continued the voyage without me.

When I was training to swim the English Channel in 1951, in top physical condition, I once swam for twenty-one hours. Weakend as I was I colud not possibly have equalled the feat. I abandoned the cushion to its fate and concentrated on the fastest swim of my life. I managed to cut down the distance a little, but then had difficulty in even maintaining it. Suddenly I saw L’Heretique slow down. I caught it up and just managed to hoist myself on board. By a miracle the cords of the sea anchor had disentangled themselves just in time. I was exhausted and swore it was the last dip I would take on the journey.

My marine neighbours became almost like family friends. There were five or six dolphins and a petrel, which paid me a flying visit every day at four o’clock. It was a little black bird, its tail feathers tipped with white, about as large as a sparrow. It puzzled me how it had managed to cover such distances to seek its food in the middle of the ocean. It approached me from astern every day, sometimes settling down in the sea after four little steps on the water, and disappeared the moment the sun set. The dolphins were much more faithful and stayed with me twenty-four hours a day. They were quite easy to recognise. In trying to catch them with my bent knife the first day, I had wounded them, and the marks still showed. I noted with interest that fish, like human beings, seem to heal slowly in sea-water. One of my dolphins had an open wound about the size of a 30 half crpwn towards the end of its back, and another had been hurt on one of its fins.

There were five or six I recognised in the same manner, and I gave them all names. The largest one I called ‘Dora’. She never left me, but took good care not to come near enough for a second thrust. She cast a fishy eye in my direction whenever she came near enough to the boat, and sometimes turned on her side to look at the sky. When the wind was slight and my speed dropped, they used to take quick runs at the dinghy and smack the floats with their tails, as if to ask why I was moving so slowly. They were joined regularly by newcomers, and these were the ones I managed to catch. All I needed was my bone hook, fixed to a length of string, baited with the flying fish I picked up every morning on my tent. I pulled the bait rapidly across the surface of the water, as if it was a flying fish skidding over the surface before diving again. The dolphins fought for it, like dogs for a bone, and one of them usually took the hook. All the new arrivals fell for this trap, but my old friends, knowing me too well, never as much as moved from their tracks.

During the night of 3rd November, I caught a long, thin, villainous-looking fish, with a mouthful of vicious teeth, which, by night, seemed to drip a sort of whitish poison. Curiously enough, in spite of the fight it had put up on the water, after one final contortion, it seemed to go dead the moment I pulled it aboard. Most fish flop around for some time after they are landed. I assumed it was a fish normally inhabiting great depths. Its eyes were huge in proportion to its head and its teeth enormous. I completely failed to identify it and in view of its menacing copper colour and the poisonous look of the slime it was dripping on my sleeping bag, where it had landed, I picked it up by the tail with immense care and threw it back in the water.

Adapted from Alain Bomhard
Diary (A French Doctor)

 

In not more than 130 words, (including the words provided in the opening sentence), descrebe the animals and their actions throughout the journey. (Use information from line 21 to line 53). Your answer must be in one paragraph.

Start your summary in the following way:

"My marine neighbours consisted of ........"

(30 marks)

SECTION C : Continuous Writing
(You are advised to spend about 60 minutes on this part of the paper)

Write a composition of not fewer than 350 words on ONE of the following topics.

1. Write a story with the following ending:

"..........I’m so proud of you, son." All I could see was tears of happiness.

2. The knowledge in computers is extremely important nowadays. Explain your reasons for either agreeing or disagreeing.

3. Things that drive me mad.

4. Social problems among teenagers have become a great concern nowadays. Discuss ways to overcome these problems.

5. Friendship.

(40 marks)

KERTAS SOALAN TAMAT

ad_jambak.jpg (44650 bytes)


Hakcipta terpelihara © Bahagian Pelajaran Menengah, MARA
Kembali ke Edu-Line (Malaysia)