Read carefully the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:

From thousands of kilometres out in space, astronauts have taken photographs of Earth.
If you were to look at one of those photographs, you would see something that looks
like a snake, winding its way across northern China. You would in fact be looking at
a huge wall.
The Great Wall of China stretches, with all its loops and curves, for about 6000 5
kilometres. It's the only object built by man that is large enough to show up on a
photograph taken from space. Yet this wall doesn't belong to the space age. It was
rather built 2200 years ago.
In 246 BC, Qin Shi Huang became the king of one of China's many small states. Qin
was only thirteen years ·old then, but he was very ambitious. He set about conquering 10
all the other states and turning them into one empire with himself as its emperor. By
221 BC, he had succeeded in his mission.
Even though he was the richest and the most powerful man in China, Qin lived in
fear. To the north of his empire lay Mongolia. For 500 years, the Mongols had raided
Chinese farms and villages. The raids of those savage horsemen were sudden, and they 15
were terrible.
In some parts of the empire, walls had bee11: built to try and keep the Mongols out.
But Qin's army hadn't been successful. So, Qin decided that the only answer was to
have one huge wall running right across northern China. The wall would be guarded
~~o~a~ ~
Many thousands of workers were needed to build the wall. They were brought from
all parts of China, by force, when necessary. Hardly an able-bodied person escaped the
call to work. For instance, men who had never held a tool in their hands were sent
·to the stone pits. Murderers and thieves were ~ade to_ do work on it too. In fact, the
wall became the Emperor's jail. Cruel masters w1~ whips kept the workers constantly 25'
on the job. And those who fell sick were left to die.
 The wall was begun at Qi
nhuangdao on the shores of
were cut 75 metres a~art. Hu the Yellow Sea. Two trenche
moulded and baked m the ge stone squares were cut and moved by hand . Brick
s
sun, and were then carried s were
The stones an d bricks were to the site.
The space m · b tw
e ee fi laid in the trenches and built up to h · ht f ·
· n wa s lled with Earth The top of tr
bn ck s. 11111s
·
pavement a long the top. of · the wall aw e1gth o stx m e es. 30
enough to ta ke tw o ca~s.) h . the wall became a roadway as en pave d w1'th
T ~ sid es of the wa ll we f h
or or s. (It's WI'de
There were many d1fficulhe re th en bu llt up ev en sehigher.
s to overcome while build
kilometres, tl1e wo rk ers d 'd , fin d ing the wall F h fi
1 nt a lev el
d d h str etc h for we · or t e rst 50 ()
hills, they ragge t e hea
the ir backs. vy sto ne , wh ile
eks at a tim
their masters urged th em e. P t e steep 35
u h
on by whi .n
ln China's pre~ent capital PP1 g
Beijing, the workers foun
da y. So, they ch am ed d that the ground was he
th e logs together an d bu avy
mould for th e wall. Each ilt them up in two rows to
worker in a lo ng line carri m ake
on a bamboo pole . The soil ed two baskets of da y soil
was du m pe d between the h a
packed it do w n. As each str rows of logs . Other worke;s
etch wa s finished, the log t': :! 40
then moved on. The wall m ou ld wa s pulled down .
stood m ad e only of ha rd -p It was
Every 80 metres or so, towe ac ke d clay.
rs 10 to 12 metres hi gh we
wi th bows an d ar ro ws re built. Here soldiers arm
were left to de fe nd th e wa ed
houses th at were bu ilt ab ll. Th ese soldiers lived in blocks
ou t every two kilometres of
wall against in va di ng ar m . Pa rt of their job was to 45
ie s. But they also ha d to gu ar d th e
of outlaws. The caravans protect China's traders fro
of tra de rs m ov ed slowly m ba nd s
were an ea sy pr ey for ou th ro ug h the wi ld, hilly co
tlaws. untry an d
Month af te r m on th , year
after year, the wall pr og re
climbed m ou nt ai ns , dr op ss ed . It sw ep t in da rin g cu
pe d into valleys an d le ap rves, 50
At last, it wa s finished . It t rivers.
en de d at a 60 -m et re cl iff
the Mongolian Pl at ea u. over a river at Jiuquan, hi
gh on
How long ha d it ta ke n to
build? N o one kn ow s for
hundreds of th ou sa nd s of sure. It's kn ow n th at Qin
workers. H e also us ed str used
built. So it's possible th at etches of wall th at ha d alre
th e job m ay only ha ve ta ady be en 55
As it ha pp en ed , th e wall ke n ab ou t 18 ye ar s.
di dn't save Q in's em pi re
the em pi re w as ov er th ro wn . On ly fo ur ye ar s after he
by a revolt in sid e O un a di ed ,
But th e wa ll di d st an d th its elf .
e te st of tim e. M od er n-da
the greatest w or ks of m an y en gi ne er s sa y th at it's
ki nd . Fo r ov er a th ou sa nd on e of
China. But th en Ge ng hi s ye ar s, it ke pt th e M on go ls ou t of
Khan's m ig ht y ar m y sw ep 60
the wall. Th ey ca pt ur ed t do w n from th e hills an d ov er
O un a an d ru le d it for ov ra n
The wall w e se e to da y isn er a hu nd re d ye ars.
't wh ol ly th at of Em pe ro
year s, m os tly be tw ee n 13 r Qi n. It w as w or ke d on
80 an d 1644. Pa rts of it in la te r
nearly co ve re d by sa nd , ris ar e in go od co nd iti on . O th er pa rts
e on ly a fe w m et re s ab ,
stands. It is a la sti ng re co ov e th e de se rt. Yet th e G re at
rd of on e m an 's de si re fo Wall still 65
thousands. r po we r, an d th e w or k of un kn ow n
(a) (i) Gi ve n be lo w ar e
th re e w or ds or ph ra se s.
m ea ni ng in th e pa ss ag e: Fi nd th e w or ds w hi ch ha
ve a sim ila r
1. be nd in g an d tu rn in g (31
2. su rp ris e at ta ck s 3. fie rc e an d cr ue l
 (ii) For -each of the words given below write a sentence of at least 10 words, using the
same word unchanged in form, but witl1 a different meaning from that it carries in
the passage: [3]
1. states (line 9) 3. present (line 38)
2. left (line 45)
(b) Answer the following questions as briefly as possible in your own words:
1. Why did Qin live in fear? [2]
2. What according to Qin was the only way to protect his kingdom? Why? [21
3. Explain the sta.tement 'the wall became the Emperor's jail'. [2]
(c) In about 100 words of your own describe how the Great Wall was built and the difficulties
that the workers faced. Failure to keep within the word limit will be penalised. You will
·be required to write y~ur points in the form of a connected passage in about 100 words