MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

FIJI SEVENTH FORM EXAMINATION 2008

ENGLISH

Time Allowed : Three Hours

(An extra ten minutes is allowed for reading this paper.)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Write all your answers in the Answer Book provided.

2. Write your Index Number on the front page and inside the back flap of the Answer Book.

3. If you use extra sheets of paper, be sure to show clearly the number of the questions being
answered and to tie each sheet securely in the Answer Book in the appropriate place.

4. There are five sections in this paper. All sections are compulsory.
Note the choices in Sections D and E.

SUMMARY OF QUESTIONS
Section Guidelines Total Suggested
Marks Time
Writing
A There are two questions. 25 50 minutes
Both are compulsory.
B Comprehension 15 25 minutes
Compulsory.
C Summary Writing 8 15 minutes
Compulsory.
Varieties of English
D Part I. Language Usage Compulsory 10 10 minutes
Part II. Register Study Answer any two
questions out of the four questions given. 12 25 minutes
Literature
There are three parts in this section.
E Each part has four questions. 30 55 minutes
Answer any two questions, one each from two
different parts.

COPYRIGHT : MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, REPUBLIC OF THE FIJI ISLANDS, 2008.

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SECTION A : WRITING [25 marks]

Both Questions 1 and 2 are compulsory.

QUESTION 1 (15 marks)

Write an expository essay of about 250 words on one of the following topics. (13 marks)
Write a plan. (2 marks)

(a) Backyard gardening : A solution to rising food prices.

(b) Freedom comes with responsibilities.

(c) Skilled and educated youths are vital for progress in Fiji.

(d) Modern technology has adversely affected today’s youth.

(e) The role of the media in promoting Values Education.

(f) Diligence.

QUESTION 2 (10 marks)

Write about 200 words using an appropriate style on one of the following
topics. (9 marks)
Write a plan. (1 mark)

(a) You are a journalist for a local newspaper company. Write an article about a youth
conference that you covered recently.

(b) Include the sentence given below as the last sentence in the final paragraph :

“Joy, peace and hope overcame me completely.”

(c) Write a dialogue between a parent and his son or daughter on responsible leadership.
The son or daughter has been chosen as the Head Boy or Head Girl of a large multiracial,
co-educational secondary school.

(d) As the Director of Hope Development Bank, you have been invited to address school
leavers at the Korosomo Settlement on how to start a small business.
Write the text of your speech.

(e) You have just watched an educational movie which you would like to promote to your
peers.
Write an analysis of the movie stating clearly at least three interesting issues and why you
think your peers should watch the movie.

(f) Write about the picture on page 3 in any style you wish.

© MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, FSFE 2008 : ENGLISH.

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Source : Personal Collection, 2006.

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© MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, FSFE 2008 : ENGLISH.
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SECTION B : COMPREHENSION [15 marks]

QUESTION 3

Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. Use your own words as far
as possible and write in complete sentences.

Sudden City

There once was a shiek who dreamed big. His realm, on the shores of the Persian Gulf,
was a sleepy, sun-scorched village occupied by pearl divers, fishermen and traders who
docked their ramshackle dhows and fishing boats along a narrow creek that snaked
through town. But where others saw only a brackish creek, this shiek, Rashid bin Saeed
5 al Maktoum, saw a highway to the world.

His son, Shiek Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, now rules Dubai, and around that
creek has built towering dreams of his own, transforming the sunrise vision of his
father into a floodlit, air-conditioned, sky-scrappered fantasy world of a million people.
With its Manhattan-style sky line, world-class port, and colossal, duty-free shopping
10 malls, little Dubai now attracts more tourists than the whole of India, more shipping
vessels than Singapore, and more foreign capital than many European countries. The
people of 150 nations have moved here to live and work. Dubai has even built man-
made islands, some in the shapes of palm trees in order to accommodate the wealthiest
of them. Its economic growth rate, 16 percent, is nearly double that of China.
15 Construction cranes punctuate the skyline like exclamation points.

Dubai is also a rare success story in the Middle East, a region with a history of failure
and stagnation. Whether Dubai represents a glitzy anomaly or a model to be copied by
other Arab nations, is a question worth asking these days as the Islamic world struggles
to cope with modernisation. Abdulrahman al Rashid, a Saudi journalist and director of
20 the Al Arabia news channel put it this way: “Dubai is putting pressure on the rest of the
Arab and Muslim world. People are beginning to ask their governments: if Dubai can
do it, why can’t we?”

Dubai, it must be said is like no other place on Earth. This is the world capital of living
large; the air practically crackles with a volatile mix of excess and opportunity, where
25 millions of people a year fly in just to go shopping. It is a quirky multicultural city
where one can eat in an Italian restaurant run by an Egyptian, with an Indian head chef
and Filipino waiters.

Many Americans first heard of Dubai, one of the seven emirates that make up the United
Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), when the state-owned Dubai Ports World, purchased a British
30 firm that managed six U.S. ports. Some members of Congress reacted with alarm,
charging, correctly, that the 9/11 conspirators used Dubai as a key financial transit point.
Others supported the deal, noting that the U.A.E. had proved a staunch ally in the war
on terror, and that U.A.E. ports host more U.S. navy ships than any port outside the

© MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, FSFE 2008 : ENGLISH.

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United States. In the end Dubai decided to pass on managing the U.S. ports. “We’re
35 too busy for politics,” said Sultan bin Sulayem. “The Americans didn’t want us on that
deal. Fine. We move on. There’s a lot of business to be done.”

Indeed, Dubai has created one of the most dynamic business environments in the world.
“It’s not just the buildings and the islands and the hotels,” says Ali al Shihabi, the
Princeton-educated director of a leading investment bank. “It’s the soft stuff: the laws,
40 the regulations, the liberal social environment.” With no corporate or income taxes, a
top-notch banking system, and a legal code that favours property and ownership, Dubai
embodies old Rashid’s motto: “What’s good for the merchants is good for Dubai.”

Unlike a traditional Middle Eastern autocrat, Shiek Mohammed manages Dubai like a
good CEO. Besides keeping a full schedule of public appearances, he’s often seen
45 driving himself around the back lots of Dubai, surveying his construction sites, as his
father did, at the crack of dawn. He’ll sometimes show up unannounced in the
workplace to ask tough questions, fire poor managers on the spot, and reward the
hardest workers. From these he handpicks Dubai’s next generation of executives,
including many women.

50 One of Shiek Mohammed’s chosen executives is Mohammed Alabbar. He grew up, like
many Dubaians in a tent made of palm fronds. His father supported a wife and 12
children with a fishing net. Then in 1966, Dubai struck oil, and Alabbar went to college
in the United States on a government scholarship paid for by oil revenues. After
graduation, he impressed Shiek Mohammed during a six-year stint in Singapore, where
55 he turned a stagnant retail enterprise into a thriving business.

Today he travels the world in a private jet and oversees Emaar, one of the richest real
estate development companies in the world. “We have come a long way,” Alabbar said.
“But we must always remember where we came from. Our kids must know that
we worked very hard to get where we are now, and there’s a lot more work to do.”

Adapted from : National Geographic. 2007.

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© MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, FSFE 2008 : ENGLISH.
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SECTION B (continued)

Questions

(a) Explain what the phrase “highway to the world” (line 5) means. (1 mark)

(b) Describe two contrasting features of Dubai as presented in the passage. (2 marks)

(c) Identify and explain a possible problem Dubai would encounter through the
transformation of the “sunrise vision of his father” (line 7). (2 marks)

(d) How has Dubai been a friend to the United States ? (1 mark)

(e) What does Sultan bin Sulayem imply by the statement

“We’re too busy for politics” (line 34 to 35) ? (2 marks)

(f) Identify two factors mentioned in the text that contribute to the booming business
in Dubai. (2 marks)

(g) What is revealed about traditional Middle Eastern leaders in the passage ? (1 mark)

(h) What message is Alabbar conveying to young people in the statement :

“But we must always…………………” (line 56 to 58) ? (2 marks)

(i) From the list given below, write down the meaning closest to each given word as
it is used in the passage.

1. punctuate (line 15) − spoil, mark, malign, mar.

2. volatile (line 24) − erratic, erroneous, energetic, evasive.

3. staunch (line 32) − resolute, resilient, reticent, responsive.

4. stagnant (line 55) − staid, steady, sedentary, sluggish.

(2 marks)

© MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, FSFE 2008 : ENGLISH.

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SECTION C : SUMMARY WRITING [8 marks]

QUESTION 4

In your Answer Book, write a summary of the following passage, using your own words.
Your summary should be between 95 to 100 words.

LAST OF THE AMAZON

The market forces of globalisation are invading the Amazon, hastening the demise of the forest and
thwarting its most committed stewards. In the past three decades, hundreds of people have died in
land wars; countless others endure fear and uncertainty, their lives threatened by those who profit
from the theft of timber and land. In this Wild West frontier of guns, chain saws, and bulldozers,
government agents are often corrupt and ineffective or ill-equipped and outmatched. Now,
industrial-scale soyabean producers are joining loggers and cattle ranchers in the land grab,
speeding up destruction and further fragmenting the great Brazilian wilderness.

During the past 40 years, close to 20 percent of the Amazon rain forest has been cut down more
than in all the previous 450 years since European colonization began. The percentage could well be
far higher; the figure fails to account for selective logging, which causes significant damage but is
less easily observable than clear-cuts. Scientists fear that an additional 20 percent of the trees will
be lost over the next two decades. If that happens, the forest’s ecology will begin to unravel.
Intact, the Amazon produces half its own rainfall through the moisture it releases into the
atmosphere. Eliminate enough of that rain through clearing, and the remaining trees dry out and
die. When desiccation is worsened by global warming, severe droughts raise the specter of
wildfires that could ravage the forest. Such a drought afflicted the Amazon in 2005, reducing river
levels as much as 40 feet and stranding hundreds of communities. Meanwhile, because trees are
being wantonly burned to create open land in the frontier states of Pará, Mato Grooso, Acre, and
Rondônia, Brazil has become one of the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases. The danger
signs are undeniable.

All of it starts with a road. Except for a handful of federal and state highways, nearly every road in
the Amazon is unauthorized. There are more than 105,000 miles of these roads, most made
illegally by loggers to reach mahogany and other hardwoods for the lucrative export market.

In Brazil, the events set in motion by logging are almost always more destructive than the logging
itself. Once the trees are extracted and the loggers have moved on, the roads serve as conduits for
an explosive mix of squatters, speculators, ranchers, farmers and invariably hired gunmen.

Source : National Geographic, 2007.

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© MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, FSFE 2008 : ENGLISH.
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SECTION D : VARIETIES OF ENGLISH [22 marks]

PART I LANGUAGE USAGE (10 marks)

Answer all questions in Part I.

QUESTION 5

(a) Word Form

Use the correct form of the words in brackets to fill in the blank in each of the
following sentences.

(i) Her (tenacious) was well known.

(ii) The sole (survive) of the shipwreck was a fifteen year old boy.

(iii) Mere’s (generous) was commended by all the visitors.

(iv) My mother was very (sympathise) when she heard that my friend was not
permitted to go to the Youth Rally.
(2 marks)

(b) Synonyms

Select one word that is similar in meaning to the underlined words.

(i) vestige – allowance original garment trace

(ii) poignant – painful happy frenzied rushed

(1 mark)

(c) Confusing Pairs

Use one of the words in brackets to replace the underlined word.

(i) The Principal’s agreement was needed for the fieldtrip.

(ascent/assent)

(ii) The chair was quite comfortable.

(luxurious/luxuriant)
(1 mark)

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(d) Word Connotation

From the sentences below, write whether the underlined words have a negative
or positive connotation.

(i) Sally was notorious for being late.

(ii) Your perseverance will be rewarded someday.

(iii) His obsession with the movies is such that he watches one every day.

(iv) He looked disdainfully at the beautiful girl.

(2 marks)

(e) Tense

Fill in the blank spaces in the chart below with the correct form of the verbs in
your Answer Book.

Present Tense Past Tense Past Participle

be (i)_________________ (ii)________________

(iii)__________________ did (iv)________________

(2 marks)

(f) Idiom

Write the meaning of the idiom given below.

To burn your bridges.

(2 marks)

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© MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, FSFE 2008 : ENGLISH.
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SECTION D (continued)

PART II REGISTER STUDY [12 marks]

Answer any two questions from Questions 6, 7, 8 and 9.

QUESTION 6 LEGAL LANGUAGE (6 marks)

Study the sample given below and answer the questions that follow.

IN THE ESTATE OF MAKO GONE, LATE OF KALOKALO VILLAGE,

NASIRI, REPUBLIC OF THE FIJI ISLANDS, VILLAGER, DECEASED

NOTICE is hereby given that after the expiration of twenty-one (21) days from
the date hereof, an application will be made to the High Court of Fiji for the grant
of Letters of Administration in the Estate of the above described AND
FURTHER NOTICE is hereby given enabling Creditors and other persons
having claims in respect of the Estate of the above-named deceased who died on
the 14th day of August, 2007 at Nasiri Hospital, Nasiri, aforesaid are required by
the intended Administratrix to send particulars of their claims in writing to the
undersigned within the said twenty-one (21) days after which date the intended
Administratrix may convey and distribute the assets having regard only to the
claims of which he has notice.

And all persons indebted to the said deceased are requested to pay their accounts
to the intended Administratrix within the said twenty-one (21) days.

DATED at Suva this 3rd day of March, 2008.

VUKI DAKU
INTENDED ADMINISTRATRIX
KALOKALO VILLAGE
NASIRI

Adapted from : The Fiji Times, 2008.

Questions

(a) For whom is the above extract intended ? Quote a line to support your answer. (1 mark)

(b) Comment on the sentence structure beginning “And all persons…..”

(paragraph 2) (2 marks)

(c) Quote an example of redundancy and explain why it is used in the extract. (1½ marks)

(d) Comment on the use of the non-linguistic features in this extract. (1½ marks)

© MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, FSFE 2008 : ENGLISH.

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QUESTIONS 7 LANGUAGE OF ORATORY (6 marks)

Study the sample given below and answer the questions that follow.

We live in a society that has decided to reward my profession and yours, when we
succeed in them, very highly. It can sometimes be easy to forget that the cab driver also
works 14 or 15 hours a day and is also drained of energy when he is through. It’s easy to
think, that because our society grants us privilege, we’re entitled to it.

Privilege feels good, but it can be intoxicating. As good doctors, I hope you’ll be
able to keep yourself free of toxins.

It’s no wonder, though, that people will hold you in awe. I know I do.

You’ve spent years in grueling effort to know the structure and process of human life. I
can’t imagine a more difficult task. It has required the understanding of complexities
within complexities and there has been more pressure placed on you in four years than
most people would be willing to take in a lifetime. I stand here in utter amazement at
what you’ve accomplished. And I congratulate you.

I only ask one thing of you : possess the skills, but don’t be possessed by them.

Certainly your training has encouraged you to see the human side of your work, and
you’ve examined the doctor-patient relationship. But still, the enormity of your task has
required you to focus to such an extent on technique and data that you may not have had
time enough to face your feelings along the way.

You’ve had to toughen yourself to death. From your first autopsy, when you may have
been sick, or cried, or just been numb, you’ve had to inure yourself to death in order to be
useful to the living. But I hope in the process you haven’t done too good a job of burying
that part of you that hurts and is afraid.

Source : The Art of Public Speaking, 1995.

Questions

(a) Who are being addressed in this speech ? Quote a line to support your answer. (1 mark)

(b) The first sentence of paragraph 1 is an example of what sentence type ? (1 mark)

(c) Comment on the tense used in the text. (2 marks)

(d) What feature of this register (not already mentioned above) is brought out in the
line beginning : “Privilege feels good ….” (paragraph 2). Give a reason for your
answer. (2 marks)

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© MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, FSFE 2008 : ENGLISH.
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SECTION D (continued)

QUESTION 8 LANGUAGE OF NEWSPAPER REPORTING (6 marks)

Study the sample given below and answer the questions that follow.

GATES SLIPS IN ‘RICH LADDER’

BILL Gates is no longer the world’s richest man
– or even the second richest.
The Microsoft co-founder has been
overtaken by US financier Warren Buffet in first
place and Mexican telecoms mogul Carlos Slim
Helu.
Forbes magazine lists Australia’s richest
person as mining entrepreneur Andrew Forrest,
officially overtaking media and gambling tycoon
James Packer.
Australia boasts 14 billionaires on the list,
with Forrest at 145 and Packer at 173.
Forbes’s annual billionaires list has also this
year noted Russia, China and India making
increasing inroads into the rich elite.
Forbes says Buffet, the 77 year old chief of
the Berkshire Hathaway holding company, saw
his wealth jump from $US52 billion ($FJ77.9
billion)last year to $US62 billion ($FJ92 billion),
pushing Gates into third position after 13 years at
the top.
Slim grabbed second place with a tidy
$US60 billion, up from $US49 billion last year.
This year’s list has 1125 people around
the world making the billionaire’s list, up
from 946 last year.
Their total net worth stands at $US4.4
trillion, up from $US3.5 trillion in 2007.
By nationality, the US still easily led
the rankings, with 469 billionaires up from
415 last year, but Russia replaced Germany
as the second-placed country with 87.
Third placed India saw the number of
its super-rich jump to 53 – four of them in
the top ten – although China and Hong
Kong if taken together would overtake it,
with 42 and 26 billionaires respectively.
Japan, although still the world’s
second-largest economy, had its number of
billionaires trailing at 24 – overtaken by
Turkey, which this year scored 35, up from
22 last year.
Moscow is now the world’s billionaire
centre, the magazine said. The Russian
capital is now home to more billionaires
than New York City.
The Australian

Source : The Fiji Times, 2008.

Questions

(a) What is the purpose of the extract ? (1 mark)

(b) Comment on the headline and state whether it has any bearing on the actual article.
(2 marks)

(c) Give a reason for the use of italics in the extract. (1 mark)

(d) Quote an example of a reported speech. (1 mark)

(e) Quote an example of a non-linguistic feature (not already mentioned in any of

your answers above). (1 mark)

© MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, FSFE 2008 : ENGLISH.

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QUESTION 9 LANGUAGE OF SCIENCE (6 marks)

Study the sample given below and answer the questions that follow.
ACTIVITY 5 – 3 INVESTIGATING COPPER SULFATE

Dissolve half a spoonful of blue copper sulfate in 20mL of water in a small beaker. Pour
the solution into an evaporating basin and heat to near dryness. Turn off the heat before
the last lot of water disappears to avoid spitting.
Are the crystals that are left blue or white ? If they are blue, heat them a little more till
they are white. Once white, allow them to cool, then add a couple of drops of water. What
colour do the crystals become now ? Explain your observations.

evaporating basin

wire mat
Eyedropper
COOL white CuSO4 of water
tripod

Bunsen
burner

Figure 5.6 Apparatus for Activity 5-3.

QUESTIONS
10 Copy and complete : “When mineral salts are crystallized from
__________________, water is often incorporated into the structure of
the crystal. Such substances are said to be ___________________.
Crystalline substances that do not contain water of crystallisation are
said to be __________________.
11 Used to make plaster of Paris, gypsum has the formula CaSO4.2H2O.
What does this formula tell you about gypsum ?
12 A student heated a solution of copper sulfate to dryness. A white
powder was left. What is the name of the powder ? How could the
student obtain blue copper sulfate from the white form ?
13 Name the two hydrated salts that you might find at home. What is
each salt used for ?

Source : Science : A New Approach-Book 4.

Questions
(a) Who is the target audience of this extract ? Quote a line to support your answer. (1 mark)
(b) (i) What is the tone used in the text ? (1 mark)
(ii) Mention two ways in which the tone mentioned in (b)(i) above is achieved.
(2 marks)
(c) Name another two science features (not mentioned already) found in this sample
and give an example for each. (2 marks)

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© MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, FSFE 2008 : ENGLISH.
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SECTION E : LITERATURE [30 marks]

There are three Parts to this section. Answer any two questions from two different Parts.
Each question carries 15 marks. You are reminded that a good answer makes close
references to the work(s) studied. Write the title and author of the text you use in the space
provided in the Answer Book.

PART I GENRE – PROSE (15 marks)

Use about 200 words to write an essay on one of the following questions. (13 marks)

Write a plan. (2 marks)

EITHER

QUESTION 10 The beginning and ending of any literary work are important because
they influence a reader’s opinion on how he/she feels about the literary
text.

With reference to a novel you have studied this year, discuss whether you
agree or disagree with the statement given above.

OR

QUESTION 11 Choose two short stories you have studied this year and,

(i) identify and describe two features of short stories which figure
prominently in each of the story.

(ii) what effect do the features discussed in 11(i) above have on the
deliverance of the main messages in each short story.

OR

QUESTION 12 The experiences one encounters affect one’s life.

With reference to a novel or two short stories you have studied this year,
justify the statement given above.

OR

QUESTION 13 The background and setting always determine the roles the characters
play in any literary text.

With reference to a novel or two short stories or non-fiction prose, discuss

the relevance of the statement given above.

© MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, FSFE 2008 : ENGLISH.

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PART II GENRE – DRAMA (15 marks)

Use about 200 words to write an essay on one of the following questions. (13 marks)

Write a plan. (2 marks)

EITHER

QUESTION 14 The pursuit of truth figures prominently in Shakesperian tragedies.

With close reference to a Shakespearian play you have studied this year,
discuss whether you agree or disagree with the above statement.

OR

QUESTION 15 With reference to a play you have studied this year, choose two central
messages the playwright wishes to convey to his or her readers.

OR

QUESTION 16 With reference to a play you have studied this year, discuss the
techniques used by the playwright to make his or her play appealing to the
readers.

OR

QUESTION 17 The use of irony in literature serves as a very powerful device in

depicting the ills of society.

From a play you have studied this year identify and discuss any two
incidents to justify the above statement.

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SECTION E (continued)

PART III GENRE – POETRY (15 marks)

Use about 200 words to write an essay on one of the following questions. (13 marks)

Write a plan. (2 marks)

EITHER

QUESTION 18 Change takes place in many ways and it often happens at a cost.

Choose two poems on the theme Progress and discuss the statement given
above.

OR

QUESTION 19 Choose two poems on the theme Alienation and discuss how the poets or
poet have used poetic devices to convey his or her themes.

OR

QUESTION 20 Good communication creates a healthy relationship, however, this is

absent in many relationships today.

Choose two poems on the theme Relationship and discuss your views on the
statement given above.

OR

QUESTION 21 A poet’s creativity in expressing his/her thoughts through his or her style
of writing results in the excitement and enjoyment of studying poetry.

With reference to two poems you have studied this year from either Progress
or Alienation or Relationships, justify the statement given above.

THE END

COPYRIGHT : MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, REPUBLIC OF THE FIJI ISLANDS, 2008.