CGS S4 EL P2 Prelim 2010

CRESCENT GIRLS’ SCHOOL

SECONDARY FOUR

PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION 2010

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 1127/02

PAPER 2 Comprehension 26 August 2010

1 hr 40 minAdditional Materials: Answer Paper

READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST

1. Write your name on all the work you hand in.

2. Write in dark blue or black pen on both sides of the paper.

3. Do not use staples, paper clips, highlighters, glue or correction fluid.

4. Answer all questions.

5. Leave a space of one line between your answers to each part of a question, e.g. between 11(a) and 11(b).

6. Leave a space of at least three lines after your completed answer to each whole question.

7. Mistakes in spelling, punctuation and grammar may be penalized in any part of the paper.

8. Begin Question 16, the summary question, on a fresh sheet of paper.

9. At the end of the examination, hand in the Comprehension and Summary questions separately.

10. The number of marks is given in brackets [ ] at the end of each question or part question.

Class: Register No: Name:

This paper consists of 6 printed pages, including the cover page.

Read PASSAGES A and B carefully before you attempt any questions and then answer all the questions which follow.

Passage A

1 Even though it was only a week before the Spring Festival — the most important family holiday on the Chinese calendar — Wang Hongxia was forcing her son out of the house. She took her 12-year-old from their home in the northwestern city of Xian to a secluded Beijing military compound more than 700 miles away. Like many other parents across China today, Wang felt as though she had no choice. "Things have absolutely gone out of control," said Wang, 45, almost in tears. "My son just beat and bit me again this morning after I wouldn't let him touch the computer."

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2 With the world's largest netizen population of 300 million, China is struggling with a new plight: Internet obsession among its youth. Since the 2004 establishment of the country's first Internet Addiction Center, the military-run boot camp in Beijing where Wang took her son, more than 3,000 adolescent and young-adult patients have been treated for Internet addiction. Hundreds of similar treatment centers have mushroomed in recent years in China, joining other centers operating elsewhere in Asia and the U.S. The U.S.-based Center for Internet Addiction Recovery classifies the disorder as compulsive behavior in which "the Internet becomes the organizing principle of addicts' lives."

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3 Though the fledgling disorder has been widely identified, defining it in China has not been easy. Tao Ran, director of the Beijing treatment center and a colonel in the People's Liberation Army (PLA), helped come up with a strict definition of Internet addiction last fall: consecutive usage of the Web for 6 hours a day for three straight months is addiction. The new standard, which is still pending official endorsement by the Ministry of Health, has aroused widespread skepticism in Chinese cyberspace, with many arguing that too many people could be wrongly categorized as Internet addicts under this definition.

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4 The murky guidelines have not stopped anxious parents like Wang from dragging their children to Tao's camp, a grim, four-story building in Beijing's major military compound. Once checked in, most patients are required to stay for three months, without access to the outside world, cell phones or, of course, computers. But unlike in other similar camps, parents of patients at the Internet Addiction Center have to stay at the camp to receive "treatment" too — because, according to Tao, Internet addiction is often a result of parenting mistakes. For most families, providing this treatment to a child is already a sacrifice. The total cost for a family usually amounts to nearly $3,000 — almost as much as an average Chinese couple earns in three months.

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© CGS S4 Preliminary Examination 1127/02/2010

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http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1873560,00.html

5 Life in the treatment camp, not surprisingly, is defined by strict, semimilitary disciplines. Patients get up at 6:30 a.m. and go to bed at 9:30 p.m. Their daily schedule includes military drills, therapy sessions, reading and sports. "At first, I felt like [I was] living in hell," says 22-year-old Yang Xudong, a camp resident for two months. "But over time, it gets more comfortable and peaceful." Despite the small steps he's made, like eating a diet that consists of something other than instant noodles, the Beijing native admitted he still got upset too easily and was "afraid of people" — two signature symptoms of Internet addiction, according to Tao. "I think life in this camp has definitely calmed me down to some degree," says Yang. "But I'm far from ready to get out, since I don't know what to do with my life yet."

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6 That lack of motivation is widely shared by the young adults at the camp, even among patients with decorated academic backgrounds. Didi, a 20-year-old college sophomore who did not disclose his full name, picked up online gaming almost as soon as he got into the prestigious Tsinghua University. He says he became so obsessed that he skipped all his classes for an entire semester and eventually received academic warnings from the school. As many as 30 students from Beida and Tsinghua — China's most storied universities — have been to the camp, says Tao, and it's becoming an increasing trend among students from other top schools. "Our kids are all very special and intelligent," says the PLA colonel. "It's only normal for people to make detours when they're young. Our mission is to help them get back on track before it's too late."

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7 On the same afternoon that Wang Hongxia and her son arrived at the boot camp, an 18-year-old boy was ready to leave after months of strenuous training. As part of the camp's tradition, he hugged every one of his fellow patients. "It's certainly an emotional moment for the kids, as they have bound together over the months," says Tao. "And to me, it's especially rewarding to see them step out of here with all the confidence that they deserve."

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Adapted from Inside China’s Fight Against Internet Addiction by Jessie Jiang; http://www.time.com

Passage B

1 MOKCHEON, South Korea — The compound — part boot camp, part rehab centre — resembles programmes around the world for troubled youths. Drill instructors drive young men through military-style obstacle courses, counsellors lead group sessions, and there are even therapeutic workshops on pottery and drumming.

2 South Korea boasts of being the most wired nation on earth. In fact, perhaps no other country has so fully embraced the Internet. Ninety percent of homes connect to cheap, high-speed broadband, online gaming is a professional sport, and social life for the young revolves around the “PC bang,” dim Internet parlours that sit on practically every street corner.

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3 But such ready access to the Web has come at a price as legions of obsessed users find that they cannot tear themselves away from their computer screens.

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4 Compulsive Internet use has been identified as a mental health issue in other countries, including the United States. However, it may be a particularly acute problem in South Korea because of the country’s nearly universal Internet access.

5 It has become a national issue here in recent years, as users started dropping dead from exhaustion after playing online games for days on end. A growing number of students have skipped school to stay online, shockingly self-destructive behaviour in this intensely competitive society.

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6 Up to 30 percent of South Koreans under 18, or about 2.4 million people, are at risk of Internet addiction, said Ahn Dong-hyun, a child psychiatrist at Hanyang University in Seoul who just completed a three-year government-financed survey of the problem.

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7 They spend at least two hours a day online, usually playing games or chatting. Of those, up to a quarter million probably show signs of actual addiction, like an inability to stop themselves from using computers, rising levels of tolerance that drive them to seek ever longer sessions online, and withdrawal symptoms like anger and craving when prevented from logging on.

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8 To address the problem, the government has built a network of 140 Internet-addiction counselling centres, in addition to treatment programs at almost 100 hospitals and, most recently, the Internet Rescue camp, which started this summer. Researchers have developed a checklist for diagnosing the addiction and determining its severity, the K-Scale. (The K is for Korea.)

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9 In September, South Korea held the first international symposium on Internet addiction.

10 “Korea has been most aggressive in embracing the Internet,” said Koh Young-sam, head of the government-run Internet Addiction Counselling Centre. “Now we have to lead in dealing with its consequences.”

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11 Doctors in China and Taiwan have begun reporting similar disorders in their youth. In the United States, Dr. Jerald J. Block, a psychiatrist at Oregon Health and Science University, estimates that up to nine million Americans may be at risk for the disorder, which he calls pathological computer use. Only a handful of clinics in the United States specialize in treating it, he said.

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12 “Korea is on the leading edge,” Dr. Block said. “They are ahead in defining and researching the problem, and recognise as a society that they have a major issue.”

13 The rescue camp, in a forested area about an hour south of Seoul, was created to treat the most severe cases. This year, the camp held its first two 12-day sessions, with 16 to 18 male participants each time. (South Korean researchers say an overwhelming majority of compulsive computer users are male.)

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14 The camp is entirely paid for by the government, making it tuition-free. While it is too early to know whether the camp can wean youths from the Internet, it has been receiving four to five applications for each spot. To meet demand, camp administrators say they will double the number of sessions next year.

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15 During a session, participants live at the camp, where they are denied computer use and allowed only one hour of cellphone calls a day, to prevent them from playing online games via the phone. They also follow a rigorous regimen of physical exercise and group activities, like horseback riding, aimed at building emotional connections to the real world and weakening those with the virtual one.

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16 “It is most important to provide them experience of a lifestyle without the Internet,” said Lee Yun-hee, a counsellor. “Young Koreans don’t know what this is like.”

17 Initially, the camp had problems with participants sneaking away to go online, even during a 10-minute break before lunch, Ms. Lee said. Now, the campers are under constant surveillance, including while asleep, and are kept busy with chores, like washing their clothes and cleaning their rooms.

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Adapted from In Korea, a Boot Camp Cure for Web Obsession by Martin Fackler, New York Times, November 18, 2007

You are advised to answer all questions in the order set.

Mistakes in grammar, punctuation and spelling may be penalised in any part of the paper.

NOTE: When a question asks you to answer in your own words, YOU MUST NOT COPY THE WORDS IN THE PASSAGE IN YOUR ANSWER.

From Passage A:

From paragraph 1:

1. Why did Wang feel that she had no choice? [1]

From paragraph 2:

2. Which word conveys the idea that many other centres treating internet addiction have sprouted up quickly in recent years?

[1]

From paragraph 3:

3. Why does the author use the word ‘fledgling’ when describing internet addiction as a disorder?

[1]

4. In your own words, explain why there was widespread skepticism over the new definition of Internet addiction.

[2]

From paragraph 4:

5. Explain clearly why providing treatment to a child is considered a ‘sacrifice’. [1]

From paragraph 5:

6. What you understand by the expression ‘signature symptoms’? [1]

From paragraph 6:

7. What does the use of the phrase ‘decorated academic backgrounds’ suggest about the type of patients found at the camp?

[1]

8. What evidence is there to show that the authorities were willing to give internet addicts a second chance? Answer in your own words.

[2]

From paragraph 7:


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9. What two benefits would patients have gained from going through the boot camp? [2]

From Passage B:

From paragraph 2:

10. Which single word conveys the idea that South Korea has adopted the Internet as a way of life?

[1]

From paragraph 5:

11. Why would students skipping school to stay online be considered ‘shockingly self-destructive behaviour’?

[2]

From paragraph 7:

12. Explain fully how internet addiction is similar to any other known addiction. [2]

From paragraph 8:

13. What does the creation of checklist known as the K-Scale suggest about Internet addiction in Korea?

[1]

From paragraph 15:

14. In your own words, explain what the camp administrators hoped to achieve by conducting physical exercise and group activities.

[2]

From Passage A and Passage B:

15. For each of the following words, give one word or short phrase (of not more than seven words) which has the same meaning that the word has in the passage.

From Passage A: From Passage B:1 murky (line 25) 3 legions (line 10)2 storied (line 50) 4 wean (line 49)

5 regimen (line 54)[5]

From Passage B:

16. Using your own words as far as possible, summarise Korea’s attempt at tackling Internet addiction and the types of treatment available at the camps.

USE ONLY THE MATERIAL FROM PASSAGE B FROM PARAGRAPHS 8 TO 17.

Your summary, which must be in continuous writing (not note form), must not be longer than 150 words (not counting the words given to help you begin).

Begin your summary as follows:

One way to tackle Internet addiction in South Korea has seen the government …[25]


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CGS S4 EL P2 Prelim 2010