English

Stage 8

Paper 1 Non-fiction 2024

1 hour 10 minutes

Additional materials: Insert

INSTRUCTIONS
• Answer all questions.
• Write your answer to each question in the space provided.
• You should pay attention to punctuation, spelling and handwriting.

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 50.
• The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].
• Suggestions for how long to spend on each section are given in the booklet.

3139_01_5RP
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Section A: Reading

Spend 35 minutes on this section.

Read the text, written by a journalist after he visited a NASA mission controller, in the insert, and
answer Questions 1–10.

1 Look at the first paragraph (lines 2–9).

(a) Steve Howard does not have a lot of room on his table. Give one word that tells the reader
this.

[1]

(b) Steve’s office is in an unexciting location. Explain two ways that the writer shows this.
Support each way with a quotation.

The writer does this by:

Quotation 1:

The writer does this by:

Quotation 2:
[4]

(c) Look at the last sentence. What does the writer use this sentence to do?
Tick () one box.

to add more detail to the description of Steve’s office

to emphasise a contrast between the first and second paragraphs

to draw a conclusion based on the evidence in the first paragraph

to introduce other colleagues working in Steve’s office in the second paragraph

[1]

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2 Look at the second paragraph (lines 10–13).

(a) The writer begins the paragraph with a short sentence about Steve’s job. What effect does
this have?

[1]

(b) The second sentence refers back to an opinion in the first paragraph.
What is the opinion from the first paragraph?

[1]

3 Look at the third paragraph (lines 14–20).

(a) The writer believes Voyager is the greatest-ever feat of human exploration. Give one phrase
that tells the reader this.

[1]

(b) What does the word puny tell the reader?

[1]

4 Look at the fourth paragraph (lines 21–29).

(a) How does the writer build up detail in the first sentence?

[1]

(b) An exclamation mark ( ! ) is used to show how the speaker feels. What feeling is this?
Tick () one box.

joy

horror

disgust

wonder

[1]

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5 Look at the fifth paragraph (lines 30–35).

Inverted commas ( ‘ ’ ) are used twice in two different ways. What are they?
Tick () two boxes.

to show words that disagree with the writer’s point of view

to show words borrowed from another language

to show words that usually mean something different

to show words spoken or written by someone

to show words that have been made up

[2]

6 Look at the sixth and seventh paragraphs (lines 36–45).

Which idea links these paragraphs?
Tick () one box.

Although the team members joined the mission at different times,

they were all at school together.

they agree on everything except one part of it.

they have worked together on other missions for over 30 years.

they all witnessed the launch of the mission.

[1]

7 Look at the eighth paragraph (lines 46–51).

Who are the messages on the recording intended for?

[1]

8 Look at the ninth paragraph (lines 52–55).

Who does the speaker mean when she says us?

[1]

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9 Look at the tenth paragraph (lines 56–60).

(a) Explain the contrast between two places that the writer makes in this paragraph.

[2]

(b) Give one phrase from the final paragraph that links it back to the first paragraph.

[1]

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10 Look at lines 10–45.

(a) Complete this table with information from the text.

Voyager space mission information

Date of launch
•

Purpose of original
•
mission

Equipment carried
•
on board spacecraft

Achievements of the
mission • discovery:

• image:

• journey:

Current position
•

[3]

(b) Using the information from your table, write a summary of the Voyager mission. Write up to
50 words. Use your own words as much as possible.

[2]

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Section B: Writing

Spend 35 minutes on this section.

11 Write a report for your school’s online magazine about some teamwork that you took part in.

You should consider:

• what you and your team had to do, and why

• what you were able to achieve as a team, and what you might do differently in future
• how the experience affected you and other team members.

Space for your plan:

Write your report on the next page. [25 marks]

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BLANK PAGE

Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every
reasonable effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the
publisher will be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge
Assessment International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced annually and is available to download at
https://lowersecondary.cambridgeinternational.org/

Cambridge Assessment International Education is part of Cambridge Assessment. Cambridge Assessment is the brand name of the University of Cambridge
Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which is a department of the University of Cambridge.

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