MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

SECONDARY ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMME

SEPTEMBER 2020

WEEK SIX: LESSON TWO

SUBJECT: English ‘A’
GRADE: Eleven
TOPIC: Comprehension
OBJECTIVE(S): With the aid of a text students will select the correct answer to given question by choosing
the letter next to the correct answer.

Directions: Read the following extract carefully and then answer the following questions based on what is stated
or implied.

Leaving the house today? Think again. You may be walking – or driving through death’s door!

Road safety has become something of an antique, a relic of the past, a concept citizens scoff at on the
mere mention of the words. Scarcely does a week pass without the newspapers’ headlines screaming: ‘Fatal
accident; dead are …’. Rarely are we spared the television images of bloody bodies lying next to the crumpled
masses of once sleek driving machines glaring at us on the evening news.

Every User – the experienced driver, the learner, the pedestrian and law enforcement officer has a duty
to make the road transport system efficient by reversing the incidence of road accidents and fatalities.
Escalating commercialization in automobile trade cannot be exclusively blamed for the butchery on the streets.

Motorist and pedestrians who use the road ways are not innocent. Apparently motorists have developed
their own driving code; to illustrate, consider their interpretation of the traffic lights: Red means Stop, Green
means Go, and Amber means See If You Can Make It!

Not surprising pedestrians are consistently more inclined to perish on the roadways, trailed closely by
motorist. Naturally, both categories ought to be considerably concerned about this threat to their existence.

The prevention of accidents begins with a conservative effort to do what is ‘just’. Drinking and driving,
speeding and the blatant disregard for the law are just some of the plethora of offences responsible for the
carnage presently plaguing our roads.

It is believed that at the age of seventeen an individual is not mature enough to handle the
responsibilities that come with a licence – especially in the light of the youth culture of consuming alcohol and
driving. At twenty – one, an individual would be thought to have more experience and better maturity of mind.

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Thus, priorities dictate that the threat presented by reckless motorist poses too great a risk to submit to the
economy of teenage drivers.

Further, pedestrians and drivers should seriously consider forming themselves into pressure group. This
would allow them to articulate their concerns with the strength of a collective voice. Therefore, traffic lights,
formal bridges, bypasses, and even toll-roads can be carefully contemplated and suggestions put forth to the
authorities to ensure swift and effective solutions to potential hazards on the roads

1. What does the writer suggest in the 2. According to the writer, everyone can play a
statement “Road safety has become part in making the transport system effective
something of an antique” (line 2)? by
(A) People no longer practise safety on (A) maximizing the possibility of road
roads. accidents
(B) People often practise safety on roads. (B) minimizing the possibility of road
(C) Many people care about road safety but accidents
do not practise it. (C) making sure that there are no road
(D) Road safety is an old practise that still accidents at all
persists (D) reversing carefully when driving on the
roads

3. According to the extract, the number of accidents and deaths on the road is due to the
(A) increase in the number of residents
(B) great increase in imported vehicles
(C) irresponsible use of the road ways by motorist and pedestrians
(D) increase in young drivers

4. according to the writer, the most common fatalities on the road are the
(A) motorists
(B) pedestrians
(C) experienced drivers
(D) learner drivers

5. why does the writer believe that the age for obtaining a licence should be increased from seventeen to
twenty-one?
(A) At the age of twenty-one young people would be more experienced and responsible
(B) At seventeen young people would look forward to age twenty-one when they could receive a licence
(C) At twenty-one a person would be more experienced and would still drink and drive
(D) A person at seventeen is given a licence, although he commits many offences

6. The writer recommends all the following EXCEPT

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 (A) increasing the drivers age for a licence
(B) drinking and driving only when mature
(C) forming pressure groups
(D) encouraging citizens’ participation in the reduction of accidents

7. The writer believes that pedestrians

(A) are the second highest road fatalities
(B) are generally careful when using the road
(C) are also to be blamed for road accidents
(D) should not be blamed for road accidents

8. What effect is created by the writer’s use of “crumpled masses” (line 4), “butchery” (Line 8) and
“carnage” (line 15)
(A) Shock
(B) Surprise
(C) Relaxation
(D) Humour
Directions: Read the following extract carefully and then answer the question on the basis on what is stated or
implied

Kino and Juana came to the place where the brush houses stopped and the city of stone and plaster began,
the city of harsh outer walls and inner cool gardens where a little water played and the bougainvillea crusted the
walls with purple and brick-red and white. They heard from the secret gardens the singing of caged birds and
heard the splash of cooling water on hot flagstones. The procession crossed the blinding plaza and passed in front
of the church. It had grown now, and in the outskirts the hurrying newcomers were being softly informed how
the baby had been stung by a scorpion, how the father and mother were taking it to the doctor.

And the newcomers, were particularly the beggars from the front of the church who were great experts in
financial analysis, looked quickly at Juana’s old blue skirt, saw the tears in her shawl, appraised the green ribbon
on her braids, read the age of Kino’s blanket and the thousand washings of his clothes, set them down as poverty
people and went along to see what kind of drama might develop. The four beggars in front of the church knew
everything in the town. They were students of the expression of young women as they went in to confession, and
they saw them as they came out and read the nature of the sin. They knew every little scandal and some very big
crimes. They slept at their posts in the shadow of the church so that no one crept in for consolidation without
their knowledge. And they knew the doctor. They knew his ignorance, his cruelty, his avarice, his appetites, his
sins. They knew his clumsy abortions and the little brown pennies he gave sparingly for alms.

They had seen his corpses go into the church. And, since early Mass was over and business was slow,
they followed the procession, these endless searchers after perfect knowledge of their fellowmen, to see what the
fat, lazy doctor would do about an indigent baby with a scorpion bite.

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 The scurrying possession came at last to the big gate in the wall of the doctor’s house. They could hear
the splashing and the singing of caged birds and the sweep of the long brooms on the flagstones. And they could
smell the frying of good bacon from the doctor’s house.

Kino hesitated a moment. This doctor was not of his people. This doctor was of a race which for nearly four
hundred years had beaten and starved and robbed and despised Kino’s race, and frightened it too, so that the
indigent humbly came to the door. And as always when he came near to one of this race, Kino felt weak and
afraid and angry at the same time. Rage and terror went together. He could kill the doctor more than he could
talk to him, for all of the doctor’s race spoke to those of Kino’s race as though they were simple animals. And as
Kino raised his right hand to the iron ring knocker in the gate, rage swelled in him, and the pounding music of the
enemy beat in his ears, and his lips drew tight against his teeth but with his left hand he reached to take off his
hat. The iron ring pounded against the gate. Kino took off his hat and stood waiting. Coyotito moaned a little in
Juana’s arms, and she spoke softly to him. The procession crowded close the better to see and hear.

9. The writer uses “secret” (line 3) to describe 10. The word “procession” (line 4) indicates that
the gardens because the crowd was
(A) they were hidden from view (A) going to a funeral
(B) many treasures were concealed there (B) moving in a long orderly group
(C) the occupants whispered there (C) walking together like a mob
(D) many people did not know of them (D) moving about aimlessly

11. Which of the following statements is not true about the beggars?
(A) They were inquisitive about people
(B) They knew about human nature
(C) They had a good relationship with the doctor
(D) They knew everything that happened around them

12. In the passage, “great experts of financial analysis” (line7-8) means that the beggars
(A) could immediately determine the rich from the poor
(B) could analyse the financial state of the country
(C) were able to add their alms quickly
(D) had many years of experience in begging

13. The description in paragraph 2 (lines 7-15) conveys to the reader the impression of
(A) comfort and prosperity
(B) harshness and poverty
(C) happiness and love
(D) fear and hatred

14. According to the passage “Kino hesitated a moment” (line 22) because he
(A) wondered whether he had enough money
(B) wanted to kill the doctor with his bare hands

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 (C) was afraid to approach from the doctor
(D) had to calm his anger and hatred

15. In the passage, the sentence, “This doctor was not of his people” (line 22) suggest that the doctor
(A) did not respect Kino’s people
(B) came from a different background from Kino’s
(C) did not understand Kino’s people
(D) was not born in the city as Kino was

16. Which of the following is NOT illustrated in the passage?

(A) The Kindness of the beggars
(B) The curiosity of the city people
(C) The suffering of Juana and Kino
(D) The contrast between the rich and the poor

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