DELHI PUBLIC SCHOOL, NACHARAM

CAMBRIDGE LOWER SECONDARY ENGLISH 9: END OF UNIT 1 TEST

CAMBRIDGE ASSESSMENT INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION – IN174
(AY 2022 -2023)
Name
SUBJECT: English Subject Facilitator: Giri Sankar PDate
V/ Porna Ojha

End of unit 1 test

GRADE: 8 Section: Worksheet No: AY2022-23/Eng/20 Date: 10.02.2023

Student Name:
_______________________________________________________________________

Section A: Reading
Read the extract from the travel article ‘Coober Pedy: Getting below the surface’,
then answer questions 1–8.

I spent three days travelling to Coober Pedy. The nearest town is 400 miles away,
there’s no wi-fi, and I’ve just spent the night sleeping in what is effectively a hole in the
ground. When I decided to be a travel writer, I was expecting something much more
glamorous than this . . .
5 Coober Pedy is in the middle of the South Australian desert. It’s 1,800 miles from
Canberra, Australia’s capital city, but it might as well be on Mars. As you approach by
car, your vision is filled with otherworldly images: the long stretches of dusty red
landscape, strange hills of white soil and randomly scattered mining holes make this
place look like something from science fiction. It’s a little bit unnerving.
10 The weather is otherworldly too. Summers are hotter than the sun and the winters are
colder than Mars. That’s why most of the townspeople live under the ground in
dugouts, trying to make a living in this place of extremes. People started coming here
in the 1920s, attracted by the precious opals to be found buried here. They sought
their riches by blasting and digging their way through the rocks in a desperate attempt
15 to get rich quick. The harsh surroundings were just something they had to put up with.
Living below the surface was the best option.
When I first arrived in the town, it struck me just how unreal the whole place seemed –
like a deserted film set for a Martian movie where I was the unwilling heroine. The red
dust and mine shafts of this new reality didn’t seem real at all.
20 But it did make for some nice photos.

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1 What is the main purpose of paragraph 1?

Tick () one box.

to inform the reader about Coober Pedy’s location

to show the challenges of being a travel writer

to advise the reader not to visit Coober Pedy

to describe the journey to Coober Pedy [1]

2 Give one way that the writer uses interesting sentence structures in paragraph 1, and
explain the effect on the reader.

Sentence structure:

Effect:

[2]

3 ‘As you approach by car, your vision is filled with otherworldly images: the long stretches
of red dusty landscape, strange hills of white soil and randomly scattered mining holes
make this place look like something from science fiction.’

What simile does the writer use in these lines? What effect does it have?

Simile:

Effect:

[2]

4 Explain, using your own words, why the writer uses the phrase ‘this place of extremes’
in paragraph 3.

[1]

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5 Give one phrase from paragraph 3 which suggests that the people who looked for precious
metals were unlikely to succeed.

[1]

6 Why does the writer describe herself as ‘the unwilling heroine’ in line 18?

[1]

7 Explain how the single-sentence paragraph at the end of the article changes the
writer’s tone.

[1]

8 Explain how the article title, ‘Coober Pedy: Getting below the surface’, has a
double meaning.

[1]

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Section B: Writing
1 Write a travel article about a place that you (the writer) have visited but did not like.
You can make up a place or base it on something real.
You could:
• describe the place and where it is
• outline what there is for tourists to see and do
• explain why you did not enjoy your visit. [10]

Space for your plan:

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