VISITING DIUDIU By Sheelaa.

S
QUESTION 1 (ORIGINAL)
Imagine that you are Donovan Webster. You are being interviewed for a television programme about your visit to Diudiu in
Mongolia.

Your interviewer asks the following questions:

• Could you start by telling the viewers a little about Diudiu’s lifestyle?
• What did you admire most about Diudiu?
• How has your meeting with her made you consider your own life-style and values?

Write the words of the interview.

Begin as follows:
Interviewer: Could you start by telling the viewers a little about Diudiu’s lifestyle?
Donovan Webster: Yes, of course. I think the first thing I noticed was…
Write about 250 – 350 words.
Up to 15 marks are available for the content of your answer, and up to 5 marks for the quality of your writing.
SOURCE:
Source: http://www.asa-
agency.com/en/-/galleries/asa-
imagenes/asa-
fotografos/steinmetz-
george/desiertos/gobi/page/1
MARK SCHEME
Mark A: Could you start by telling the viewers a little about Diudiu’s lifestyle?
Reward candidates who provide sound overviews such as: frugal, healthy, satisfying, lonely AND who support
their judgements from the text.
Reward candidates who prioritise details that they have noticed. Less good candidates will rehearse the text,
sometimes at undue length.
Mark B: What things do you admire most about Diudiu?
Reward candidates who infer qualities from what they have read, such as independence, cheerfulness,
doggedness (persistence), etc. Two would be enough, but they require explanation and support from the text to
score highly. Less good candidates list, or provide only loosely relevant ideas.
Mark C: How has your meeting with her made you consider you own lifestyle and values?
Allow any relevant viewpoint and allow from the variety of candidate backgrounds.
1 Candidates may take up the final paragraph and agree that Diudiu is the last of her kind.
2 They may discuss the simple life and how theirs is complex and hectic: How to be satisfied with little (‘Everything
she needs’).
3 Some may be attracted by her connection with animals and birds.
4 They may discuss her ideas of entertainment and company (there is a hint that she might have occasional
company from visitors).
5 Candidates may decide that their life has been proved to be greedy and selfish.
SAMPLE STUDENT ANSWER
SAMPLE ANSWER
Interviewer: Could you start by telling the viewers a little about Diudiu’s lifestyle?
Donovan Webster: Yes, of course. I think the first thing I noticed was her hospitality. She took
me in, on no other account but my smiling face. She emanated an innocent quality, which can
only be seen in those few people that have not been corrupted by the outside world. These
qualities could be seen in every aspect of her lifestyle. She lives her life rhythmically; though
she does not have much, each object she owns has a place and multiple uses for it. For
example; she uses an iron fitting, the size and shape of a small TV satellite dish, to reflect the
sun causing the same effect a magnifying glass would. She uses these intense beams of
refracted light for, cooking, boiling water and as a substitute for fire. Genius! Another thing
quickly realised, is just how much her nomadic life has benefited not only her mind, but her
physical body as well. This woman, Diudiu, at the age of 72 could perform tasks that would
make even me break a sweat! When I say she was as fit as an ox, I mean it literally! To be
able to manage a farm of sheep, goats and then still grow crops throughout the year, on her
own; that’s unreal!
SAMPLE ANSWER
Interviewer: What did you admire most about Diudiu?
Donovan Webster: That’s an easy one. Above all her outstanding, stellar qualities and
abilities, I have the utmost admiration for her ability to survive. Here is a woman that has lived
for 72 years off tools that would fit in a back-pack. Imagine yourself having to get by with
only what you can carry! Not only has Diudiu survived, she has thrived. Mongolia is known to
have bitter cold winters, but it in no way stops this remarkable woman from any of her daily
tasks. Using age old methods, pasted down to her by her predecessors, Diudiu is able to
cultivate her crops and fatten her livestock. Her unique ways of survival has inspired me. No,
not to carry all my worldly belongings on my back; rather to optimize the way I live. Like
Diudiu, I too, want not just to survive, but thrive while doing it.
SAMPLE ANSWER
Interviewer: How has your meeting with her made you consider your own life-style and
values?
Donovan Webster: As I was saying. My visit with Diudiu has not made me want to become a
nomad. I would not be able to handle that type of lifestyle. Being a nomad requires you to
know no other life but that; it is a weather beaten, time and toil life that only the very
strongest could survive. I personally like the comfort of my bed too much. A nomadic life has
been endured by many generations; sadly as said by Diudiu it has fast become a thing of the
past.
I have come to realise that we take too many things for granted. People today, myself being
a big part of this, tend to think of an object to have only one use. A TV dish is a TV dish; we
do not see an inventive way to boil our water with it. My visit to Diudiu has opened my eyes to
this. Already I have started looking for ways of optimizing everything I touch; by doing this I
have begun to thrive mentally. It has had a dramatic change on my life, because my mind is
being strengthened, so too is my body. It is marvellous how by changing a simple thing, your
outlook and understanding on life, can make such a significant impact. I am almost in jealous
awe of Diudiu, who has lived her entire life with, as I now call it, ‘the key of life’.
QUESTION 1 (EDITED)
Imagine that you are Donovan Webster who works as a travel journalist. You were recently invited to give a speech
to your colleagues about your visit to Diudiu in Mongolia.
Your speech includes the following points:
•Details about Diudiu’s lifestyle
•What you admired most about Diudiu
•How your meeting with her has made you consider your own life-style and values

Base your speech on what you have read in Passage A, but be careful to use your own words. Address each of the
three bullet points.
Begin your speech: ‘Good morning dear colleagues…’

Write about 250 – 350 words.

Up to 15 marks are available for the content of your answer, and up to 5 marks for the quality of your writing.
QUESTION 1 (EDITED)
Imagine that you are Donovan Webster. You write a letter to your brother abroad about your visit to Diudiu in Mongolia.
Your letter includes the following points:
Details about Diudiu’s lifestyle
What you admired most about Diudiu
How your meeting with her has made you consider your own life-style and values

Base your letter on what you have read in Passage A, but be careful to use your own words. Address each of the three
bullet points.
Begin your letter: ‘Dear Ray, I just returned from a trip to some of the remote areas of Mongolia…’

Write about 250 – 350 words.

Up to 15 marks are available for the content of your answer, and up to 5 marks for the quality of your writing.
WRITER’S EFFECT
SELECT FOUR POWERFUL WORDS OR PHRASES FROM EACH PARAGRAPH. EXPLAIN HOW
EACH WORD OR PHRASE SELECTED IS USED EFFECTIVELY IN THE CONTEXT.
1. Word or phrase: ________________________________________________ (1 mark)
Writer’s effect: __________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________ (2 marks)
2. Word or phrase: ________________________________________________ (1 mark)
Writer’s effect: __________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________ (2 marks)
3. Word or phrase: ________________________________________________ (1 mark)
Writer’s effect: __________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________ (2 marks)
 A) THE COUNTRYSIDE IN PARAGRAPH 1 – OVERALL: CONTRAST IN SHAPES
AND COLOURS BETWEEN THE DUNES, GRASS & LAKE.
• Giant sand dunes: credit candidates who see this as a suggestion of the extreme (not just ‘big’ or even ‘huge’,
but it makes you think of a giant, out of all proportion to a human).
• Bowl-shaped valley: an image that makes you think of shape and possibly smoothness (imaginative rather than
exact).
• Fringed: perhaps as of hair, suggesting around the perimeter and neat – the grasses were perhaps of regular
height/ shorter than usual.
• Rich: again a partial image, giving ideas of well-being, in this case, supplied with water and nutrients and
growing particularly well.
• Saturated: useful scientific word, again extreme, suggesting that the water could not take any more.
• Glittering: visual effect suggesting that it catches the eye, perhaps dazzles the sight; an attractive effect.
• Vermilion: to say ‘red’ would be general and the word would have no special effect. To say ‘vermilion’ makes you
think of the exact shade, which is remarkably bright and out of place for a lake. A bit of a shock word.
• Drifts: of the sheep – establishes a peaceful atmosphere.
• Sit: of the blockhouses; sounds out of place as if they had just settled there for a moment.
A) DIUDIU IN PARAGRAPH 6 – OVERALL: A LIVELY PERSON, USED TO
LIVING A HARD, OUTDOOR LIFE.
• Loose trousers…blue cotton: is a good example of how a few well chosen simple words can give a
clear picture of how someone looks. (loose trousers & cotton – comfort clothing/ warmth)
• Bandanna: we are not told the colour, but it seems to add a touch of liveliness (the sound of the word
itself) and one might think that it had some brightness.
• Dark eyes sharp and quick: suggests that she would notice anything, is intelligent, lively, certainly
not depressed or on her last legs.
• Broad planes of cheek-bones: we are already aware that her face is ‘wide’: this helps to define the
shape of her face.
• Weathered into a map of wrinkles: good image emphasises her outdoor life, but also suggests
there are many wrinkles (like rivers or other details on a map) and that they all go in different
directions. They may stress her age.
SUMMARY
WRITER’S LIFESTYLE A CHALLENGE (PASSAGE B)
1 It is very cold
2 Has to sleep in his clothes/extra clothing
2a Wakes up early in the morning
2b Long/2 hour journey to work
3 He gets too hot when he runs for the bus
4 His workmates tease him/say he is mad
5 Uses his energy to keep warm at night
6 The heating at work makes him feel ill
7 Has to concentrate on survival
8 Difficult to get to the gym so often/is not fit/needs to be fit
9 Gets clothes mixed up/in wrong places/hangs them up in woods/laundry/only a few clothes
10 Exhausted/tired/sleeps many hours
11 Interference with his social life
12 Ill from badly cooked food/unfiltered water/bronchitis
13 Gets grimy at weekends
14 Frightened by noises/sound of branch breaking/fear of axe murderers/animals