South Tuen Mun Government Secondary School

Half-yearly Examination 2022-2023

S1 English Language Paper 1 – General English

Question Paper
(This Question-Answer Book consists of 12 pages)

Maximum mark: 120

Time allowed: 1 1/4 hours

Class: ____________ Name: _____________________________ Class No.: ____________

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Write your Name, Class and Class Number in the spaces provided on this page.

2. There are two parts (Part I: Reading Comprehension and Reader, and Part II: Usage) in this paper. You
should attempt ALL questions in this paper. Each question carries ONE mark unless otherwise stated.

3. Write your answers clearly and neatly in the spaces provided in this Question-Answer Book.

4. For multiple-choice questions and True / False / Not Given questions, use a PENCIL so that wrong
answers can be completely erased with a clean rubber. Mark only ONE answer to each question. Two
or more answers will score NO MARKS.

5. TWO marks will be deducted from the actual score if you do not follow any of the instructions.

Part I: ___________________ / 60 marks

Part II: ___________________ / 60 marks Penalty: 0 / -2 marks

Raw score: _______________ / 120 marks Actual score: ________________ / 120 marks

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Part I: Reading Comprehension and Reader (60 marks)

Text 1 (31 marks)

Read Text 1 on page 2 of the Reading Passages and answer Questions 1 to 22.

1 Which of the following pictures best shows Neil Armstrong’s most famous achievement?
A B

C D

A B C D
   

2 How many women have travelled to space? Answer in a complete sentence. (2 marks)

3 How old was Tereshkova when she travelled to space? Answer in a complete sentence.
(2 marks)

4 Tereshkova was selected for the Vostok 6 mission because she _____.

A had been on a space programme

B was an experienced pilot
C was not afraid of being alone A B C D
D was very good at parachuting    

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5 Number the following events from paragraph 3 in the correct order. Write 1–4 in the
boxes provided. The first event is number 1.

Savitskaya became the second woman in space.

Savitskaya earned her pilot’s license.
Savitskaya flew to space on Soyuz T-12.
Savitskaya got a job teaching people how to fly.

6 When the writer says ‘followed in the Soviets’ footsteps’ (line 15), he / she means that the
United States _____.

A did something that the Soviet Union had failed to do

B had more success in space than the Soviet Union
C was able to do the same thing that the Soviet Union had done A B C D
D worked with the Soviet Union to train female astronauts    

7 What does ‘the agency’ (line 16) refer to? Answer in a complete sentence. (2 marks)

8 What happened to the space shuttle Challenger in 1986? Answer in a complete sentence.
(2 marks)

9 Find two words in paragraph 5 which have a similar meaning to ‘journey’. (2 marks)

a)

b)

10 According to paragraph 5, the writer’s attitude towards space mission is Positive /

Negative / Neutral . (circle the best answer)

11 Find a word from paragraph 6 that means “a successful task”. ______________________

12 Which of the following is the best subtitle for the article?

A Space missions by the US and Russia
B The first people to travel to space
C The history of female space travel A B C D
D Valentina Tereshkova’s spaceflight    

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13 Which person mentioned in the article is most likely to have said the following? Write the name of
each person on the blank. (3 marks)
A B IÕm really proud to be the first
I feel so happy to be able to
make history in the 21st person in history to set foot on
century. the moon.

I was alone in a tiny spacecraft,

C
going round and round the earth.

Complete the following timeline using information from the text. Write ONE word or the correct year to
fill in each blank. (8 marks)
Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in history to go into space. She
1963 flew on the Soviet spacecraft Vostok 6, and spent nearly
(14) ________________full days in space, going 48 times around the earth.

The Soviet Union sent Svetlana Savitskaya on a space mission along with
1982
(15) _________________ other cosmonauts.

NASA astronaut Sally Ride went into space for the first time on the space
(16) ________
shuttle Challenger.

Savitskaya returned to space. While staying at the Salyut 7 space station, she
(17)_________
completed a (18) ______________.

1984 Sally Ride completed her (19) ________________ space mission.

The space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after take-off. The accident
1986
led to the (20) _________________ of NASA astronaut Judith Resnik.

2012 (21) ______________ became the first Chinese woman to make the journey
to space. 4
22 Do you want to be an astronaut when you grow up? Why or why not? Answer in complete sentences.
(3 marks)
___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

Text 2 (23 marks)

Read Text 2 on page 3 of the Reading Passages and answer Questions 23 to 35.

23 Which of the following is NOT mentioned in paragraph 1 as a feature of crime stories?

They need to _____.

A be quite long stories.

B entertain readers.
A B C D
C have a good storyline.
   
D include mysteries.

24 Find a word in paragraph 1 that can replace ‘crime story’.

25 According to paragraph 2, crime writers should create crime scenes that are _____.

A believable
B frightening
C memorable A B C D
D unusual    

26 In line 17, ‘jaw-dropping’ means _____.

A boring
B expected
A B C D
C funny
   
D surprising

27 Complete the sentence using information from paragraph 3. (2 marks)

When students are not attending Zoom sessions, they can share their ideas with other workshop

participants by __________________________________________________________________.
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 28 According to paragraph 3, which of the following will students do during the Zoom sessions?

 1 take part in group discussions


2 listen to the teachers talk about how to write crime stories

 3 perform scenes from famous crime stories
4 mark crime stories written by other students

A 1 and 2
B 2 and 3 A B C D
C 2 and 4    
D 3 and 4

29 What are the following words refer to? (4 marks)

a) You (line 6) __________________________________________________

b) they (line17) __________________________________________________

c) their (line 21) __________________________________________________

d) our (line 21) __________________________________________________

30 The following students want to learn how to write crime stories. Should they sign up for the workshop?
Tick () ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ for each student. (3 marks)

a) Amy b) Brad c) Mark

I want to sign up for a I learn best when I can My weekends are very
workshop to keep me work with others in busy, but I have free time
busy in the summer. person. in the evening on weekdays.

Yes No Yes No Yes No

31 According to the webpage, are the following statements True (T), False (F) or Not Given (NG)?
Blacken ONE circle only for each statement. (3 marks)

Statements T F NG
1 Students need to be at least twelve years old to join the workshop.   
2 Students will not learn any grammar rules during the workshop.   
3 Students will receive feedback from their peers during the workshop.   

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For Questions 32-34, complete the following text message with words taken from the webpage.
Write ONE word in each blank. You should make sure your answers are grammatically correct. (3 marks)

Hey, Tony! I just came across a really cool writing workshop. It’s for people who want

to learn how to write stories about (32) ________________. Do you want to sign up

with me? The workshop will include (33)__________________ online sessions. Only

(34) ___________________ people can enrol in each workshop, so let me know as soon

as possible if you want to sign up.

35 Do you want to sign up for the Crime Stories Writing Workshop? Why or why not? Answer in
complete sentences. (3 marks)
___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

(C) Reader: Peter Pan (6 marks)

Complete the short summary of the reader, Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie, with the correct words. Use each
word or phrase ONCE only. (6 marks)
Starkey happily swimming Wendy Neverland
captain rock The Lost Boys Hook’s running

Smee and (1) _________________ pulled Tiger Lily out of the boat.
They tied her to a (2) _________________ Peter made his voice like
(3) ___________________. They untied Tiger Lily. The real Hook was
(4) __________________ towards his men.

Finally, Tinker Bell’s light shone brightly and she flew about
(5) __________________. All the pirates were gone and Peter was the
(6) __________________.

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Part II: Usage (60 marks)

(A) Vocabulary (20 marks)

Complete the blog entry below with suitable words from Units 3 and 4. Each word or phrase from the
Vocabulary List may be used once only. One has been done for you as an example. For Questions 1 to 5,
choices are given. Circle the correct answer from the choices given. For Questions 6 to 10, the first letter
of each word is given. Fill in ONE word in each blank.

Do you think you can (e.g.) look for clues and more evidence to solve the case?

I want to share with you a (1) detective / feature / character story I read recently. It was set in a

(2) dangerous / rainforest / dive in Amazon.

There was a group of tourists listening to the explanation from the tour guide. They were (3) exotic/

amazed / observed by how tall trees in Amazon can grow (500m tall). This was really an (4) eye-opening

/memborable / endures experience. A (5) cave / pickpocket / wealthy woman wanted to take beautiful

photos, so she brought 2 single-lens digital cameras and was always walking slowly at the end of the group.

Suddenly, there was a loud scream. The woman fell into a long, dark (6) t_________________. The tour

guide called the police for help to (7) i______________________ the case. Five days later, the

(8) v_______________’s body was found underwater with cuts on her arms. Her expensive cameras were

still there, but all SD cards disappeared. The police said that it was only an accident. She fell and died

because she (9) l __________ h__________ b________________ . However, the tourists thought that

it was a crime. One of them must be the (10) s ________________________.

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(B) Tenses (10 marks)
Complete the interview below using the simple present tense, present continuous tense, simple past tense or
future tense of the verbs in brackets. One has been done for you as an example.

Sam: Why did you start playing ice hockey?

John: I started because of the club. It welcomes players of all abilities and

(e.g.)_______________
offers (offer) a lot of chances to play and practise. Our coach

(1) ____________________ (divide) us into different teams based on ability for extra

training. Look! Some of my teammates (2) ___________________ (practise) over there.

Sam: (3) ____________________ (be) your teammates friendly?

John: In the first training session, they (4) ____________________ (teach) me different skills

patiently. Everyone is so supportive.

Sam: What are the benefits of playing ice hockey?

John: It (5) _________________________ (help) you to stay active and fit. You can also

(6) ____________________ (make) a lot of friends.

Sam: Is it dangerous?

John: Yes, it can be. I got hit and (7) _______________________ (fall) down when I

(8) _________________ (play) ice hockey last year. I (9) ________________ (be)

seriously hurt. I missed a few matches while I was recovering in hospital.

Sam: Did you consider dropping the sport?

John: No, I love my second family too much! I (10) __________________________ (continue)

to play in the future.

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(C) Prepositions of location and movement (8 marks)
Complete the diary entry below with the prepositions of location and movement in the word box. You may
use them more than once.

across around in the corner of inside

out of towards under along

Dear Diary

I can’t believe that it’s been a week since Dad brought Bustle home. I enjoy walking him

(1) ___________________ the path in the park. He’s a very playful puppy. When we get home from

school or work, he runs (2) __________________ us to greet us. Then he runs (3) _____________________

us in circles until we tell him to stop.

Today, he got so excited that he ran (4) _____________________ the house and (5) ___________________

the road. I had to chase after him, calm him down and bring him back home.

Yesterday, we bought him a new basket. We put it (6) __________________________ the living room.

However, he wasn’t happy with this sleeping arrangement. This morning, we found him asleep

(7) _________________________ the dining table. Then, in the afternoon, we found him asleep

(8) _________________________ the shoe cabinet!

May

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(D) Article (12 marks)
Complete the email below with ‘a’, ‘an’ or ‘the’. If no article is needed, write an ‘X’ in the blank.

Dear Tracy

I hope you are feeling much better.

We have spent (1) __________ hour making spaghetti bolognaise today. It is (2) __________easy to

make. You can make it at (3) ______________ home too. You just need the following ingredients:

(4) __________ onion, a pack of minced beef, (5) ___________ tin of tomatoes, (6) _____________

mushrooms and some herbs. You can buy them from (7) __________ supermarket near where you live.

Today, my sister Dorothy tried to follow the recipe and bought some meat and vegetables, but there was

(8) __________________________ accident because she didn’t follow Miss Lee’s (9) ________________

instructions. She burnt (10) _______________ vegetables and the pan!

Have (11) ________________ good rest. See you at (12) _________________ school soon.

Carol

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(E) Proofreading (10 marks)

You are reading a story about Horrid Henry, a cartoon character. There is ONE mistake in each numbered
line.
For Questions 1 to 5, write the correct word above each underlined word.
For Questions 6 to 10, underline the wrong word and write the correct word above it.
One has been done for you as an example.

Dear Diary

1 The day before (1) yeterday, I had the most amazing experience in my life so far! I went
want
e.g. skydiving with Dad. At first, I didnÕt (e.g.) wanted to do it, but he kept encouraging me to

2 give it a try. Finally, I (2) agree. Dad made a few calls and a few hours later, we were at

3 an airfield, ready to get on a small plane. As we took off, I (3) sudden felt like IÕd made a big

mistake!

4 It all happened very (4) fastly. The instructor double-checked the straps attaching himself

to Dad, gave a quick thumbs-up and jumped from the plane. Then the other instructor

5 (5) leads me to the open door. The next thing I knew, I was falling

6 quick through the air! At first, I was too scared to open my eyes, but when I did … Wow!

7 What an amazing sight! I felt like I was flying. The instructor said I did really good.

8 Just two days last, I never wouldÕve imagined myself jumping

9 down of a plane. The experience was truly life-changing. Now I canÕt

10 waiting to do it again! IÕm so glad IÕd listened to Dad.

End of Question-Answer Book

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