INTO THE FIRST YEAR OF THE SECOND CYCLE ENS BAMBILI
CYCLE: 2ND CYCLE
LEVEL: 2ND YEAR
OPTION: ENGLISH MODERN LETTERS
PAPER 1: ENGLISH MODERN LETTERS
SESSION: JULY 2012
DURATION: 3 HOURS
SECTION A: READING COMPREHENSION
Read this passage and answer the questions that follow it.
Twenty-eight days after the woman died, Walter Post, special investigator for the traffic division, squatted on his heels in a big parking lot and ran his fingertips lightly along the front right fender of the car which had killed her. It was a blue and gray four-door sedan, three years old, in the lower price range.
The repair job had probably been done in a haste and panic. But it had been completely done. The blue paint was an almost perfect match. He stood up and looked towards the big insurance company office building, large windows and aluminum panels glinting in the morning and wondered where Mr. Wade Addams was, which window was his. A vice president, high up, looking down upon the world.
It had been a long hunt. Walter Post had examined many autombilies. The killing had occurred on a rainy Tuesday morning in September at 9:30 in Harding Avenue. Residents in this new suburban area south of the city used Harding Avenue in preference to Wright Boulevard when they drove to the centre of the city. Harding Avenue had been resurfaced a year ago. There were few traffic lights. The people who lived on Harding Avenue had complained about fast traffic before Mary Berris was killed.
The only witness was a thirteen-year-old girl, walking from her home to the bus stop. Though careful and repeated interrogations of that girl after she had quitted down; authorities were able to determine that the street had been momentarily empty of traffic, that the car had been proceeding toward the centre of town at a high rate of speed.
The child had not seen the drive of the car. She said it was a pale car, a gray or blue, not a big car and not a shiny new. Almost too late she realized shoe should look at the license number. But by then, it was so far away that she could only tell that it was not an out-of-state license and that it ended in her words, “in tow fat numbers. Not sharp numbers like ones and sevens and fours. Fat ones, like sixes and eights and nines”. And Walter Post knew there would be no joy in solving the case because he would find at the end of his search not some monster, some symbol of evil, but merely another victim, a human animal.
Questions
1. Why did Walter Post run his fingertips lightly along the fender of the car? (2 marks)
2. What does Mr. Walter Post mean when he says Mr. Wade Addams is “looking down upon the world”? (2 marks)
3. Why was tracking down the murderer of Mary Berries a long hunt? (2 marks)
4. What does the writer suggest as the remote cause of the accident? (2 marks)
5. What accurate evidence did the witness give which helped Mr. Walter Post to arrest the murderer of Mary Berries? (2 marks)
6. What does Mr. Walter Post mean when he says that the murderer will be “another human animal”? (2 marks)
7. Give the grammatical function of the following:
a. “Four-door” in the phrase: “a blue and gray four-door sedan” (1 mark)
b. “Many” in the sentence: Walter Post had examined many automobiles” (1 mark)
8. Make a clause analysis of the last sentence in bold print in paragraph four. State the main clause, the type of subordinate clauses and the type of sentence (6 marks)
SECTION B: ESSAY
Write an essay of 450 words on one of the following topics listed below:
1. Democracy in Africa
2. Equal rights for men and women. Discuss
3. World Peace. A reality or Farce? ( 20 marks)
SECTION C: GRAMMAR
From the word or group of words lettered A – C, choose the word or group of words which best completes each of the following sentences.
1. The manager wants that the meeting___________ early.
a. Starts
b. Start
c. Can start
2. I do not want to___________ the opportunity offered to me by Charles.
a. Loss
b. Loose
c. lose
3. Many researcher often___________ the works of other writers
a. Site
b. Cite
c. sight
4. In a kingdom the king’s___________ must be obeyed.
a. Edic
b. Edict
c. edit
5. In the past, girls interested for marriage did not care about the man’s
a. Statute
b. Status
c. state
6. The two families are
a. At daggers down
b. At daggers up
c. At daggers drawn
7. The voters have___________ their votes
a. Casted
b. Cast
c. Being casting
8. In this school one is not allowed to do what___________ wants
a. He
b. She
c. one
9. She soon forgot all the pain she had___________ during labour
a. Born
b. Borne
c. Browned
10. Nobody should play except
a. She
b. He
c. me
11. You are a better cook than
a. Him
b. Me
c. I
12. Between John and___________ who is to blame?
a. He
b. I
c. we
13. The garagist advised him to keep the___________ up.
a. Reeves
b. Refs
c. revs
14. Be careful not to___________ the engine
a. Stoll
b. Stall
c. Steer
15. My mother is of___________ decent
a. Negroic
b. Negro
c. negroid
16. Michael has his in his___________ boots
a. Soul
b. Mind
c. heart
17. The man behaved like a___________ in the manager
a. Cat
b. Cock
c. dog
18. The teacher had to cudgel his___________ to solve the problem
a. Heart
b. Head
c. brain
19. The woman’s money is___________ in the bank
a. Save
b. Safe
c. saved
20. This man wears his heart on his ___________
a. Tie
b. Sleeve
c. knee
See also Competitive Entrance into ENS Bambili - Modern Letters 2011