CAMBRIDGE LOWER SECONDARY ENGLISH 9: END OF UNIT 9 TEST

Name Date

End of unit 9 test

Section A: Reading
Read the extract from an article from Teen Vogue by Kristen Bobst about Christina Koch,
a woman who was selected from 6000 applicants to train as an astronaut, then answer
questions 1–6.

Who inspired you along your journey to become a NASA Astronaut?

Outside of my family, I was always inspired by true heroic stories of leadership and
survival. For example, the story of the Shackleton expedition, when their ship became
lodged in the Antarctic ice pack while exploring.
5 What was your favorite part of astronaut training?
My favorite was spacewalk training. You get to wear a full spacesuit just like the ones
they use in orbit. It is very physically demanding as well, so I loved the challenge of
having to get super in-shape just to be ready to focus on learning the tools and skills
needed for the spacewalk tasks.
10 What’s been your greatest challenge so far?
Recently, I got to train to be an aircraft commander of another military high-
performance plane called a T-6. It took every bit of grit and dedication to get
through that course. Along with the challenge of learning skills like this is the every-
day challenge of adapting to the wide range of new circumstances you encounter
15 in this job.
What will you eat in space? Are you looking forward to any particular space meal?
There’s a team of people that provide really good space food. We’ve gotten to try a
lot of it and it’s really good. I am looking forward to trying some of the Japanese
space food too! I wish I could say I’ll be eating astronaut ice cream, but that’s actually
20 not something that’s on NASA’s standard menu!
If you could bring three people (non-astronauts) to space with you, who
would you bring?
My husband and my parents. My parents gave me everything I needed to chase my
dreams. And my husband is my best friend.
25 If you weren’t an astronaut, what other profession would you be interested in?
I love building and fixing things, and so I always gravitated toward engineering or

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science instrumentation work. It’s a bonus if I get to do that work in an

interesting place like in the Antarctic or a remote island. I also love community
service, tutoring or anything that spreads the love of science or reading.
(Note that this extract uses American spellings.)

1 What are the two purposes of this text?

Tick () two boxes.

to entertain

to inform

to argue

to analyse

to persuade [1]

2 Suggest two ways that using an interview format is effective for readers.

• [2]

3 Give one word from paragraph 1 that means ‘stuck’.

[1]

4 What tone is created by the exclamation marks in paragraph 4?

[1]

5 Write a list of the skills and qualities Christina shows in the article.

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• [3]

6 Write a summary of up to 40 words about what skills and qualities Christina needs to be a
trainee astronaut.

[2]

Section B: Writing
1 Write an article for your school magazine with the title, ‘My Perfect Job’.
You could:
• outline your ambitions for the future
• explain why this job interests you so much
• consider the skills and qualities you will need. [10]

Space for your plan:

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