LYCEUM INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

FIRST SEMESTER EXAMINATION ­ MARCH 2017

ENGLISH LANGUAGE
PAPER II (INSERT)
9 (Cambridge)..........

Duration : 1 hour & 45 minutes

Read these instruction first : This insert contains the two reading passages.

Candidate's name : ........................................................... Admission no : ........................

 1

PASSAGE 1
How do animals communicate?
(Whether people actually speak or not, they communicate with each other as they
smile, hug, wave, shrug or simply turn away. Did you know that other animals also use
body language and sounds to communicate?)
(1) Suppose you were unable to talk. If you had to invent methods to tell your family what
you want, how would you do it? Animals do it by their body movements, some by the
strange sounds they make. Honeybees have solved this problem in a unique way. When
a worker bee finds a good supply of nectar she goes back to the hive and does a dance,
which describes exactly where the nectar is and what kind it is. She even gives the
audience, the other worker bees; a taste of the nectar at the end of her dance. First the
bee lines up with the sun, and then turns around to point in the direction of the food.
Then she dances in a figure of eight, wriggling her head and tail from side to side. The
further away the food is, the faster she dances. The other bees move up to touch her as
she vibrates her wings. Then they taste a drop of the nectar she has found. Soon the
bees know exactly where the nectar is. They line up in the direction of the sun and take
off in the direction that the dancer has pointed. Following the bees direction the
workers locate the flowers where the nectar is found.
(2) Dogs use body language much like their wild ancestors, the wolves. Wolves live in
close family units called packs. All wolves in a pack bow down to their leader, showing
their leader that they are glad that he is their boss and that they will do anything for
him. When you come home after a day’s work, your dog may be so glad to see you,
that it wags its tail and even rolls over its back in greeting. Your dog is responding to
you as his leader. It is believed that dogs have retained this instinct because they are
descendants of wolves. Cats, too, behave much like their wild cousins. Their body
language is sometimes easy to understand. It is easy to infer when a cat is stalking and
is ready to pounce on its prey. Luckily, birds understand the message communicated by
the habitual behavior and will get away if they see a stalking feline.
(3) Bats on the other hand use sound to communicate with other bats and to learn about the
environment. Bats are able to give off a continuous stream of sounds from their
nostrils. When the sounds bounce off things, the sound waves echo back and are picked
up by the bats’ ears. This method of locating objects is called echolocation. Bats use
echolocation when they fly. They bounce the sounds they make off the objects as they
fly. These sounds are ultrasonic, meaning that they are too high for humans to hear. As
they fly, their echolocation tells them where objects are so that they can avoid them.
Echolocation also tells the bats the location of flying insects, their major source of
food. Mother bats also use sounds to locate their progeny. As many as a million bats
live together in a cave. When a mother bat has spent the night looking for food, she might
contd.....to page 2
 2
Grade 9 English Language II contd.....from page 1
have trouble finding her babies. Even though most of the millions of bats may be screaming
when the mother bat returns, she sends out her call. She hears her own baby answer her
with its own call. Then the mother bat sends out a special two­note call. The baby answers
continually until the mother is close enough to recognize the smell of her baby.

(4) Some whales can make sounds that no human can hear. The fin whale, the second
largest mammal in the world, stays in touch with the other fin whales swimming
hundreds of miles away, using infrasonic vibrations to produce sound that is below the
level that humans can hear. Modern technology in the 20th century has enabled people
to hear infrasonic vibrations using special equipment. Other whales make sounds that
can be heard by human beings. Humpback whales make a variety of sounds, including
high squeaks, low rumbles, whistles and strange groans. When humpback whales
migrate to their breeding grounds, they sing special songs. These melodies are
complicated and beautiful and last for hours. However, they change their songs every
season. They adapt the old melody to make the new melody, which may be lower,
higher, faster or slower. When one whale sings the new song other whales pick it up.
Yet, what they are singing about, no one knows.
PASSAGE 2
Thakur's Well
(1) Jokhu brought the lota to his mouth but the water smelled foul. He said to Gangi, ‘What kind
of water is this? It stinks so much I can’t drink it. My throat’s burning.’ Every evening Gangi
filled the water jugs. The well was a long way off and it was hard for her to make several
trips. She’d brought this water yesterday and there’d been no smell at all in it then. How
could it be there now? Surely some animal must have fallen into the well and died. But she
didn’t know where else she could get any water. No one would let her walk up to the
Thakur’s well. Even while she was far off, the people would start yelling at her. At the other
end of the village the shopkeeper had a well but even there they wouldn’t let her draw any
water. For people like her there wasn’t any well in the village. Jokhu, who had been sick for
several days held back his thirst for a little while. Then he said, ‘­ I am so thirsty, my throat is
burning. I can’t stand it. Bring me the water. I’ll hold my nose and drink a little.’
Gangi gave it to him. His sickness would get worse from drinking bad water. That much she knew.
But she did not know that by boiling the water it would be safe. She said, ‘How can you drink it?
Who knows what kind of beast had died in it? I’ll go and get you some water from the well.’
(2) Surprised, Jokhu stared at her. ‘Where can you get more water?’
‘The Thakur and the shop keeper both have wells. Won’t they let me fill just one lota?’
‘You will come back with your arms and your legs broken. That’s all. You’d better just sit down and
keep quiet. Do you think that the people like that are going to let you draw water from their well?’
She felt it was the harsh truth was in these words and Gangi could not deny it. But she
wouldn’t let him drink that stinking water..
contd.....to page 4
 3
Grade 9 English Language II contd.....from page 2
By nine o’clock at night the dead tired hands were fast asleep but half a dozen idlers were
gathered at the Thakurs door. At this moment Gangi reached the Thakur’s property to get the
water from his well. The dim glow of the small oil lamp lit up the well. Gangi sat hidden behind
the well and began to wait for the right moment. Everybody in the village drank from this well. It
was closed to nobody, only those unlucky ones like herself could not fill their buckets here.

(3) Gangi’s resentful heart cried against the restraints and bars of custom. Why was she so low
and others so high? Because they wore a thread round their necks? There wasn’t one of the
village who wasn’t rotten. They stole, they cheated, they lied in court. That very day the
Thakur had stolen a sheep from the poor shepherd, then killed and eaten it. They gambled in
the priest’s house all twelve months of the year. The shopkeeper mixed oil with ghee before
he sold it. They’d get you to do their work, but they wouldn’t pay you wages for it. Just how
were they so high and mighty? She heard some people coming to the well and her heart
began to pound. If anyone saw her there’d be devil to pay and she’d be beaten and kicked.
She grabbed her bucket and rope and crept away to hide in the dark shadows of a tree. Two
women came to draw water from the well and went away unaware of Gangi’s presence.
When the two of them had gone away Gangi came out from the shadow of the tree and drew
close to the well platform. The idlers had left. The Thakur had shut the door and gone inside
to sleep. Gangi took a moment to sigh with relief.

(4) On every side the field was clear. Never before had she felt such a sense of triumph. She
looped the rope around the bucket. Like some soldier stealing into the enemy fortress at night
she peered cautiously on every side. If she were caught now, she knew that there was not the
slightest hope of leniency or mercy. Finally with a prayer to the gods, she mustered courage
and cast the bucket into the well.
Slowly, slowly it sank in the water. There was not the slightest sound. Gangi yanked it back
up with all her might to the rim of the well. No strong­armed athlete could have dragged it up
more swiftly. She had just stopped to catch it and set it on the wall when the door opened.
The jaws of a tiger could not have terrified her more.
The rope escaped from her hand. With a crash the bucket fell into the well, the rope after it
and for a few seconds there was sounds of splashing.
Yelling, ‘Who’s there? Who’s there?’ the Thakur came towards the well and Gangi jumped
from the platform and ran away as fast as she could.
When she reached home Jokhu, with the lota at his mouth was drinking the dirty stinking water.
Edited from The Thakur’s Well by Premchand
Thakur – a high caste land owner
Lota ­ a mug
END Ref : NR